christopher columbus voyage facts

The Ages of Exploration

Christopher columbus, age of discovery.

Quick Facts:

He is credited for discovering the Americas in 1492, although we know today people were there long before him; his real achievement was that he opened the door for more exploration to a New World.

Name : Christopher Columbus [Kri-stə-fər] [Kə-luhm-bəs]

Birth/Death : 1451 - 1506

Nationality : Italian

Birthplace : Genoa, Italy

Christopher Columbus leaving Palos, Spain

Christopher Columbus aboard the "Santa Maria" leaving Palos, Spain on his first voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. The Mariners' Museum 1933.0746.000001

Introduction We know that In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. But what did he actually discover? Christopher Columbus (also known as (Cristoforo Colombo [Italian]; Cristóbal Colón [Spanish]) was an Italian explorer credited with the “discovery” of the America’s. The purpose for his voyages was to find a passage to Asia by sailing west. Never actually accomplishing this mission, his explorations mostly included the Caribbean and parts of Central and South America, all of which were already inhabited by Native groups.

Biography Early Life Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa, part of present-day Italy, in 1451. His parents’ names were Dominico Colombo and Susanna Fontanarossa. He had three brothers: Bartholomew, Giovanni, and Giacomo; and a sister named Bianchinetta. Christopher became an apprentice in his father’s wool weaving business, but he also studied mapmaking and sailing as well. He eventually left his father’s business to join the Genoese fleet and sail on the Mediterranean Sea. 1 After one of his ships wrecked off the coast of Portugal, he decided to remain there with his younger brother Bartholomew where he worked as a cartographer (mapmaker) and bookseller. Here, he married Doña Felipa Perestrello e Moniz and had two sons Diego and Fernando.

Christopher Columbus owned a copy of Marco Polo’s famous book, and it gave him a love for exploration. In the mid 15th century, Portugal was desperately trying to find a faster trade route to Asia. Exotic goods such as spices, ivory, silk, and gems were popular items of trade. However, Europeans often had to travel through the Middle East to reach Asia. At this time, Muslim nations imposed high taxes on European travels crossing through. 2 This made it both difficult and expensive to reach Asia. There were rumors from other sailors that Asia could be reached by sailing west. Hearing this, Christopher Columbus decided to try and make this revolutionary journey himself. First, he needed ships and supplies, which required money that he did not have. He went to King John of Portugal who turned him down. He then went to the rulers of England, and France. Each declined his request for funding. After seven years of trying, he was finally sponsored by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain.

Voyages Principal Voyage Columbus’ voyage departed in August of 1492 with 87 men sailing on three ships: the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa María. Columbus commanded the Santa María, while the Niña was led by Vicente Yanez Pinzon and the Pinta by Martin Pinzon. 3 This was the first of his four trips. He headed west from Spain across the Atlantic Ocean. On October 12 land was sighted. He gave the first island he landed on the name San Salvador, although the native population called it Guanahani. 4 Columbus believed that he was in Asia, but was actually in the Caribbean. He even proposed that the island of Cuba was a part of China. Since he thought he was in the Indies, he called the native people “Indians.” In several letters he wrote back to Spain, he described the landscape and his encounters with the natives. He continued sailing throughout the Caribbean and named many islands he encountered after his ship, king, and queen: La Isla de Santa María de Concepción, Fernandina, and Isabella.

It is hard to determine specifically which islands Columbus visited on this voyage. His descriptions of the native peoples, geography, and plant life do give us some clues though. One place we do know he stopped was in present-day Haiti. He named the island Hispaniola. Hispaniola today includes both Haiti and the Dominican Republic. In January of 1493, Columbus sailed back to Europe to report what he found. Due to rough seas, he was forced to land in Portugal, an unfortunate event for Columbus. With relations between Spain and Portugal strained during this time, Ferdinand and Isabella suspected that Columbus was taking valuable information or maybe goods to Portugal, the country he had lived in for several years. Those who stood against Columbus would later use this as an argument against him. Eventually, Columbus was allowed to return to Spain bringing with him tobacco, turkey, and some new spices. He also brought with him several natives of the islands, of whom Queen Isabella grew very fond.

Subsequent Voyages Columbus took three other similar trips to this region. His second voyage in 1493 carried a large fleet with the intention of conquering the native populations and establishing colonies. At one point, the natives attacked and killed the settlers left at Fort Navidad. Over time the colonists enslaved many of the natives, sending some to Europe and using many to mine gold for the Spanish settlers in the Caribbean. The third trip was to explore more of the islands and mainland South America further. Columbus was appointed the governor of Hispaniola, but the colonists, upset with Columbus’ leadership appealed to the rulers of Spain, who sent a new governor: Francisco de Bobadilla. Columbus was taken prisoner on board a ship and sent back to Spain.

On his fourth and final journey west in 1502 Columbus’s goal was to find the “Strait of Malacca,” to try to find India. But a hurricane, then being denied entrance to Hispaniola, and then another storm made this an unfortunate trip. His ship was so badly damaged that he and his crew were stranded on Jamaica for two years until help from Hispaniola finally arrived. In 1504, Columbus and his men were taken back to Spain .

Later Years and Death Columbus reached Spain in November 1504. He was not in good health. He spent much of the last of his life writing letters to obtain the percentage of wealth overdue to be paid to him, and trying to re-attain his governorship status, but was continually denied both. Columbus died at Valladolid on May 20, 1506, due to illness and old age. Even until death, he still firmly believing that he had traveled to the eastern part of Asia.

Legacy Columbus never made it to Asia, nor did he truly discover America. His “re-discovery,” however, inspired a new era of exploration of the American continents by Europeans. Perhaps his greatest contribution was that his voyages opened an exchange of goods between Europe and the Americas both during and long after his journeys. 5 Despite modern criticism of his treatment of the native peoples there is no denying that his expeditions changed both Europe and America. Columbus day was made a federal holiday in 1971. It is recognized on the second Monday of October.

• Fergus Fleming, Off the Map: Tales of Endurance and Exploration (New York: Grove Press, 2004), 30.
• Fleming, Off the Map, 30
• William D. Phillips and Carla Rahn Phillips, The Worlds of Christopher Columbus (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993), 142-143.
• Phillips and Phillips, The Worlds of Christopher Columbus, 155.
• Robin S. Doak, Christopher Columbus: Explorer of the New World (Minneapolis: Compass Point Books, 2005), 92.

Bibliography

Doak, Robin. Christopher Columbus: Explorer of the New World. Minneapolis: Compass Point Books, 2005.

Fleming, Fergus. Off the Map: Tales of Endurance and Exploration. New York: Grove Press, 2004.

Phillips, William D., and Carla Rahn Phillips. The Worlds of Christopher Columbus. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993.

Map of Voyages

Click below to view an example of the explorer’s voyages. Use the tabs on the left to view either 1 or multiple journeys at a time, and click on the icons to learn more about the stops, sites, and activities along the way.

• Original "EXPLORATION through the AGES" site
• The Mariners' Educational Programs

Christopher Columbus

By michele debczak | mar 20, 2020.

SCIENTISTS (1451–1506); GENOA, ITALY

Most people who went to elementary school in the United States know the name Christopher Columbus. Born Cristoforo Colombo, he's one of history's most famous explorers, but his accomplishments and legacy are hotly disputed today. Christopher Columbus may not have discovered America, but he did take several voyages to the continent that helped ignite Europe’s Age of Exploration. And while he's celebrated for his achievements in some circles, he's vilified in others, due to his mistreatment of indigenous populations and even his own crew. Find out more about the complicated life of Christopher Columbus.

1. Most historians believe Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa, Italy.

According to the consensus among historians, Christopher Columbus was born in the Republic of Genoa (or Genova) in what would later become Italy. The exact date of his birth is unknown, but it’s estimated he was born sometime in 1451. It’s possible that his mother was Susanna Fontanarossa and his father was a wool merchant named Domenico Colombo.

2. There's also the theory that Christopher Columbus was from Portugal.

Italians have long claimed Christopher Columbus as one of their own, but not everyone is in agreement about the explorer’s birthplace. In 2012 , University of Lisbon professor Fernando Branco published a book proposing that Columbus was actually born in Portugal. The theory states that Columbus was really a man named Pedro Ataíde and his more famous identity was a cover. Pedro Ataíde allegedly died during a naval battle in 1476, but Branco postulates that he survived and washed up on the shores of the Algarve in Southern Portugal. One of the first historical records of Columbus describes him swimming away from a shipwreck. Much of the evidence Branco presents can be chalked up to coincidence, but the theory does highlight the fact that many details are missing from historical records of Columbus’s early life.

3. Christopher Columbus's voyage to America started from Spain, not Italy.

To make the question of his ethnicity even more confusing, Christopher Columbus didn’t take his famous voyage under the flags of Italy or Portugal. In the late 15th century, Columbus hatched a plan to chart a passage to the East Indies by sailing West instead of East. If his trip was successful, the profits he’d gain through an alternative spice trading route could make him rich—but he still needed funds to get a ship out of the dock. Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon ultimately agreed to sponsor his journey, and in August 1492, he led the Pinta , the Niña , and the Santa Maria out of the port of Palos in Spain and into the New World.

4. The ships Christopher Columbus used to sail to America were a nightmare.

The two smaller boats that made up Christopher Columbus's fleet—the Niña and the Pinta (which were nicknames , not official names)—were state-of-the-art caravels . These vessels were known for their aerodynamic sails and lightweight build that made them fast and easy to navigate. They were also famously uncomfortable. The one cabin at the back of the ship was reserved for its captain, and the rest of the 20 to 30 crew members had to sleep on the cramped deck—that is, if they could ever stop working long enough to actually rest for a moment. The situation was slightly better on the larger Santa Maria, where there were cabins for both Columbus and his crew. Even so, the sailors were close to mutiny by the time the fleet reached the Bahamas following roughly two months at sea.

5. Christopher Columbus wasn’t the first European to discover North America.

For centuries, Christopher Columbus has been erroneously credited with discovering North America—a continent where human civilization had already been flourishing for thousands of years . But even his title as the first European to travel to the Americas is inaccurate. Viking explorer Leif Erikson beat Columbus by about 500 years , likely landing in Newfoundland, Canada, around 1000 CE. Some legends even suggest that Irish monks traveled to Canada by the North Sea before either explorer set sail.

6. Christopher Columbus’s voyage in 1492 wasn’t his only trip to North America.

Following his initial contact with the Americas in 1492, Columbus made a few return trips. He was back in Spain for less than a year when he boarded a ship in September 1493 and crossed the Atlantic a second time. There was a five-year gap between this trip and his third journey to North America in 1498, which eventually involved him being arrested for his mismanagement and cruelty during the whole fiasco.

His fourth and final voyage to the Caribbean took place in 1502. Columbus never found China or India or the gold he was looking for, but he did manage to terrorize and enslave native islanders, turn his crews against him ( feeding them worm-infested biscuits will do that), and get stranded in Jamaica for a year after wrecking a four-boat fleet. Christopher Columbus would die on May 20, 1506.

7. Columbus Day became a federal holiday in 1937—but not everyone is a fan.

In 1937, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt declared October 12 as Columbus Day, a federal day of observance that became a reality thanks to the influence of a Catholic group called the Knights of Columbus. In 1971 , President Richard Nixon created the modern version of Columbus Day by declaring that it be observed on the second Monday of every October. This was in an attempt to make  uniform holidays that took place on Mondays to create more three-day weekends for Americans.

That doesn't mean everyone is a fan of the holiday. Due to Columbus's malicious treatment of Native Americans and other indigenous people, many states and cities refuse to recognize Columbus Day, instead opting for Indigenous Peoples' Day, while others celebrate Leif Erikson Day to honor the traveling Norseman.

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Christopher Columbus Facts, Voyages, and Accomplishments

Published: Aug 18, 2011 · Modified: Nov 12, 2023 by Russell Yost · This post may contain affiliate links ·

Christopher Columbus was born to his father, Domenico Colombo, and mother, Susanna Fontanarossa. There are many interesting Christopher Columbus facts about his family.

His father was a weaver in Genoa and then owned a tavern when they moved to Savona. He was obviously a resourceful man and had a good business head because he owned each of those businesses at a time when it was hard to do so.

Early Life and Accomplishments

Plans to sail to asia, first voyage, other voyages, later life and death, online resources.

Domenico and Susanna had three other children outside of the infamous Christopher Columbus: Bartolomeo, Giovanni Pellegrino, and Giacomo, all of whom were brothers.

Christopher's brother Bartolomeo was a successful weaver in Lisbon for a portion of his life.

Christopher Columbus began his navigation career at the age of 10. This resulted in him gaining experience at a young age.

Due to his taking to the sea at such an early age, Columbus never knew how to write in his native language.

In 1470, Columbus' parents and the family moved to Savona, where his dad began a tavern. This was also the year that Columbus and others attempted an attack on the Kingdom of Naples.

In 1473, Columbus began an apprenticeship with some of the most influential families in Genoa. During this time, he made trips to England, Ireland, and possibly Iceland.

In 1479, he married Filipa Moniz Perestrelo, who was the daughter of a Portuguese governor and nobleman. A year later, his first son, Diego Columbus, was born.

In 1485, Filipa either died or Columbus left her for 20-year-old-orphan Beatriz Enriquez de Arana. It is certain that he found a mistress in Spain in 1485 if Filipa had not died. However, there is no more information about her.

Between 1482 and 1485, Columbus gained more knowledge of the ocean when he traded around the coast of Africa. He sailed as far as Guinea.

Throughout his life, Columbus was an ambitious learner. He was fluent in Latin, Castilian, and Portuguese.

He also studied astronomy, navigation, geography, and history, which included The Travels of Marco Polo, The Travels of Sir John Mandeville, and The Works of Ptolemy. Each of these works was influential in his life.

Columbus was a self-educated man who developed deep convictions during this time. Some of these convictions were wrong, and some would be earth-changing. Columbus was an avid reader of the Bible and especially biblical prophecy. At the end of his life, he authored a Book of Prophecies in which he interpreted his career as an explorer as part of biblical prophecy.

During the Mongolian Empire, Europe enjoyed a time referred to as Pax Mongolica. There was peace throughout Europe and Asia, and passage on the so-called "Silk Road" was easy and profitable.

After the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks, the road became much tougher. This resulted in Europeans trying to find alternate ways to India and China.

Portugal believed that they could sail around Africa and reach India and China. This belief was furthered when Bartolomeu Dias sailed around the Cape of Good Hope in 1488. During this time, Christopher and his brother began to believe there was another way to reach the Indies.

A popular myth that surrounds Columbus is that people would not fund his trip due to the belief that the earth was flat.  This false information comes from Washington Irving's writings in which he said that Columbus had trouble with funds because the Catholic church insisted that the earth was flat.

Columbus' difference was not that he believed the Earth was a sphere, and everyone else believed it was square. Columbus believed that he could reach the Indies based on three misconceptions.

• His gross miscalculation of the size of the earth
• His high estimate of the size of Asia
• His belief was that Japan and other inhabited islands were far to the east of China.

All three of these convictions were wrong and against the belief of most scholars that day. This is why he had a hard time receiving funding and not because the earth was flat.

Although Columbus was wrong in his calculations, he was an exceptional navigator and perhaps the best navigator in history. He knew the trade winds of the Atlantic and how to navigate them. This would be one of the reasons he was successful.

Columbus traveled to Europe in search of someone who would sponsor his voyage. He visited King John II in Portugal but was rejected because they believed his calculations to be wrong. He then visited King Henry VII, who considered it, and eventually decided to send Columbus. However, his decision was too late because Spain had decided to sponsor his trip.

Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I Castile had been approached by Columbus in 1486. They denied his request, but Columbus continued to lobby for their support. In 1492, Columbus finally won their support after their important victory in Granada, which was the last Muslim stronghold.

Columbus set sail for the Indies from a port in Palos de la Frontera on August 3, 1492, in his three ships: Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria.

The lookout on the Pinta, Rodrigo de Triana, spotted land at 2 am on October 12. He would have been given a lifetime pension from Ferdinand if Columbus had not claimed that for himself by undermining Rodrigo when he returned to Spain by saying he saw the land two hours earlier.

Columbus landed on what is now the Bahamas. He called it San Salvador, although the locals called it Guanahani.

The natives here had many scars, and when Columbus asked where they came from, they told him that a tribe from another island had come to conquer them and take them away.

Columbus thought that they would make excellent servants and could easily be converted to Christianity, so he took 6 of them to Europe with him.

On October 28, 1492, Columbus explored the coast of Cuba. Here, the Santa Maria ran aground and had to be abandoned. Columbus was received by the natives who lived in Cuba, who gave him permission to leave 39 of his men behind to build a settlement.

He encountered his only resistance in what is now known as the Dominican Republic. He returned home on March 15, 1493. His first voyage was complete. News of his discoveries spread quickly throughout Europe.

Columbus's second voyage was much more sophisticated. Rather than 3 ships, he had 17 and 1,500 people to colonize the Indies with. He set sail for the Indies with his large caravan on September 24, 1493. During this voyage , he took a more northerly route. Along the way, he found and named many new islands.

• Saint Kitts
• St. Eustachius
• Saint Martin
• Saint Croix
• Virgin Islands

He then sailed onto Hispaniola, where he planted a small colony of 39 men in 1492. He returned and saw it in ruins. It had been destroyed by the Taino people.

What Columbus did afterward is not confirmed. Perhaps he was brutal to the natives, or he took a more diplomatic approach. Whatever he did is not documented and is speculation. There are not many primary sources that still exist during this time period.

After Hispaniola, he explored the coast of Cuba. After his exploration of Cuba, he returned to Spain on August 20, 1494.

Afterward, Columbus sailed on two more voyages and had little success.

Christopher Columbus demanded that the Spanish Crown give him 10% of all profits made in the New World.

The crown reneged on their original offer in the Capitulation of Sante Fe as they did not feel obligated to oblige to his commands after he was relieved of his governorship.

Columbus died on May 20, 1506, at around the age of 54, of a heart attack. He died believing that he had reached Asia.

• Wikipedia - Christopher Columbus
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• The History Junkie's Guide to Spanish Conquistadors
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History Resources

Columbus reports on his first voyage, 1493

A spotlight on a primary source by christopher columbus.

On August 3, 1492, Columbus set sail from Spain to find an all-water route to Asia. On October 12, more than two months later, Columbus landed on an island in the Bahamas that he called San Salvador; the natives called it Guanahani.

For nearly five months, Columbus explored the Caribbean, particularly the islands of Juana (Cuba) and Hispaniola (Santo Domingo), before returning to Spain. He left thirty-nine men to build a settlement called La Navidad in present-day Haiti. He also kidnapped several Native Americans (between ten and twenty-five) to take back to Spain—only eight survived. Columbus brought back small amounts of gold as well as native birds and plants to show the richness of the continent he believed to be Asia.

When Columbus arrived back in Spain on March 15, 1493, he immediately wrote a letter announcing his discoveries to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, who had helped finance his trip. The letter was written in Spanish and sent to Rome, where it was printed in Latin by Stephan Plannck. Plannck mistakenly left Queen Isabella’s name out of the pamphlet’s introduction but quickly realized his error and reprinted the pamphlet a few days later. The copy shown here is the second, corrected edition of the pamphlet.

The Latin printing of this letter announced the existence of the American continent throughout Europe. “I discovered many islands inhabited by numerous people. I took possession of all of them for our most fortunate King by making public proclamation and unfurling his standard, no one making any resistance,” Columbus wrote.

In addition to announcing his momentous discovery, Columbus’s letter also provides observations of the native people’s culture and lack of weapons, noting that “they are destitute of arms, which are entirely unknown to them, and for which they are not adapted; not on account of any bodily deformity, for they are well made, but because they are timid and full of terror.” Writing that the natives are “fearful and timid . . . guileless and honest,” Columbus declares that the land could easily be conquered by Spain, and the natives “might become Christians and inclined to love our King and Queen and Princes and all the people of Spain.”

An English translation of this document is available.

I have determined to write you this letter to inform you of everything that has been done and discovered in this voyage of mine.

On the thirty-third day after leaving Cadiz I came into the Indian Sea, where I discovered many islands inhabited by numerous people. I took possession of all of them for our most fortunate King by making public proclamation and unfurling his standard, no one making any resistance. The island called Juana, as well as the others in its neighborhood, is exceedingly fertile. It has numerous harbors on all sides, very safe and wide, above comparison with any I have ever seen. Through it flow many very broad and health-giving rivers; and there are in it numerous very lofty mountains. All these island are very beautiful, and of quite different shapes; easy to be traversed, and full of the greatest variety of trees reaching to the stars. . . .

In the island, which I have said before was called Hispana , there are very lofty and beautiful mountains, great farms, groves and fields, most fertile both for cultivation and for pasturage, and well adapted for constructing buildings. The convenience of the harbors in this island, and the excellence of the rivers, in volume and salubrity, surpass human belief, unless on should see them. In it the trees, pasture-lands and fruits different much from those of Juana. Besides, this Hispana abounds in various kinds of species, gold and metals. The inhabitants . . . are all, as I said before, unprovided with any sort of iron, and they are destitute of arms, which are entirely unknown to them, and for which they are not adapted; not on account of any bodily deformity, for they are well made, but because they are timid and full of terror. . . . But when they see that they are safe, and all fear is banished, they are very guileless and honest, and very liberal of all they have. No one refuses the asker anything that he possesses; on the contrary they themselves invite us to ask for it. They manifest the greatest affection towards all of us, exchanging valuable things for trifles, content with the very least thing or nothing at all. . . . I gave them many beautiful and pleasing things, which I had brought with me, for no return whatever, in order to win their affection, and that they might become Christians and inclined to love our King and Queen and Princes and all the people of Spain; and that they might be eager to search for and gather and give to us what they abound in and we greatly need.

Questions for Discussion

Read the document introduction and transcript in order to answer these questions.

• Columbus described the Natives he first encountered as “timid and full of fear.” Why did he then capture some Natives and bring them aboard his ships?
• Imagine the thoughts of the Europeans as they first saw land in the “New World.” What do you think would have been their most immediate impression? Explain your answer.
• Which of the items Columbus described would have been of most interest to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella? Why?
• Why did Columbus describe the islands and their inhabitants in great detail?
• It is said that this voyage opened the period of the “Columbian Exchange.” Why do you think that term has been attached to this period of time?

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The Fourth Voyage of Christopher Columbus

The Famous Explorer's Final Voyage to the New World

• History Before Columbus
• Colonialism and Imperialism
• Caribbean History
• Central American History
• South American History
• Mexican History
• American History
• African American History
• African History
• Ancient History and Culture
• Asian History
• European History
• Medieval & Renaissance History
• Military History
• The 20th Century
• Women's History

Before the Journey

• Hispaniola & the Hurricane

Across the Caribbean

Native encounters, central america to jamaica, a year on jamaica, importance of the fourth voyage.

• Ph.D., Spanish, Ohio State University
• M.A., Spanish, University of Montana
• B.A., Spanish, Penn State University

On May 11, 1502, Christopher Columbus set out on his fourth and final voyage to the New World with a fleet of four ships. His mission was to explore uncharted areas to the west of the Caribbean in hopes of finding a passage to the Orient. While Columbus did explore parts of southern Central America, his ships disintegrated during the voyage, leaving Columbus and his men stranded for nearly a year.

Much had happened since Columbus’ daring 1492 voyage of discovery . After that historic trip, Columbus was sent back to the New World to establish a colony. While a gifted sailor, Columbus was a terrible administrator, and the colony he founded on Hispaniola turned against him. After his third trip , ​Columbus was arrested and sent back to Spain in chains. Although he was quickly freed by the king and queen, his reputation was in shambles.

At 51, Columbus was increasingly being viewed as an eccentric by the members of the royal court, perhaps due to his belief that when Spain united the world under Christianity (which they would quickly accomplish with gold and wealth from the New World) that the world would end. He also tended to dress like a simple barefoot friar, rather than the wealthy man he had become.

Even so, the crown agreed to finance one last voyage of discovery. With royal backing, Columbus soon found four seaworthy vessels: the Capitana , Gallega , Vizcaína , and Santiago de Palos . His brothers, Diego and Bartholomew, and his son Fernando signed on as crew, as did some veterans of his earlier voyages.

Hispaniola & the Hurricane

Columbus was not welcome when he returned to the island of Hispaniola. Too many settlers remembered his cruel and ineffective administration . Nevertheless, after first visiting Martinique and Puerto Rico, he made Hispaniola his destination because had hopes of being able to swap the Santiago de Palos for a quicker ship while there. As he awaited an answer, Columbus realized a storm was approaching and sent word to the current governor, Nicolás de Ovando, that he should consider delaying the fleet that was set to depart for Spain.

Governor Ovando, resenting the interference, forced Columbus to anchor his ships in a nearby estuary. Ignoring the explorer's advice, he sent the fleet of 28 ships to Spain. A tremendous hurricane sank 24 of them: three returned and only one (Ironically, the one containing Columbus’ personal effects that he'd wished to send to Spain) arrived safely. Columbus’ own ships, all badly battered, nevertheless remained afloat.

After the hurricane passed, Columbus’ small fleet set out in search of a passage west, however, the storms did not abate and the journey became a living hell. The ships, already damaged by the forces of the hurricane, suffered substantially more abuse. Eventually, Columbus and his ships reached Central America, anchoring off the coast of Honduras on an island that many believe to be Guanaja, where they made what repairs they could and took on supplies.

While exploring Central America, Columbus had an encounter many consider to be the first with one of the major inland civilizations. Columbus’ fleet came in contact with a trading vessel, a very long, wide canoe full of goods and traders believed to be Mayan from the Yucatan. The traders carried copper tools and weapons, swords made of wood and flint, textiles, and a beerlike beverage made from fermented corn. Columbus, oddly enough, decided not to investigate the interesting trading civilization, and instead of turning north when he reached Central America, he went south.

Columbus continued exploring to the south along the coasts of present-day Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. While there, Columbus and his crew traded for food and gold whenever possible. They encountered several native cultures and observed stone structures as well as maize being cultivated on terraces.

By early 1503, the structure of the ships began to fail. In addition to the storm damage the vessels had endured, it was discovered they were also infested with termites. Columbus reluctantly set sail for Santo Domingo looking for aid—but the ships only made it as far as Santa Gloria (St. Ann’s Bay), Jamaica before they were incapacitated.

Columbus and his men did what they could, breaking the ships apart to make shelters and fortifications. They formed a relationship with the local natives who brought them food. Columbus was able to get word to Ovando of his predicament, but Ovando had neither the resources nor the inclination to help. Columbus and his men languished on Jamaica for a year, surviving storms, mutinies, and an uneasy peace with the natives. (With the help of one of his books, Columbus was able to impress the natives by correctly predicting an eclipse .)

In June 1504, two ships finally arrived to retrieve Columbus and his crew. Columbus returned to Spain only to learn that his beloved Queen Isabella was dying. Without her support, he would never again return to the New World.

Columbus’ final voyage is remarkable primarily for new exploration, mostly along the coast of Central America. It's also of interest to historians, who value the descriptions of the native cultures encountered by Columbus’ small fleet, particularly those sections concerning the Mayan traders. Some of the fourth voyage crew would go on to greater things: Cabin boy Antonio de Alaminos eventually piloted and explored much of the western Caribbean. Columbus’ son Fernando wrote a biography of his famous father.

Still, for the most part, the fourth voyage was a failure by almost any standard. Many of Columbus’ men died, his ships were lost, and no passage to the west was ever found. Columbus never sailed again and when he died in 1506, he was convinced that he'd found Asia—even if most of Europe already accepted the fact that the Americas were an unknown “New World." That said, the fourth voyage showcased more profoundly than any other Columbus’ sailing skills, his fortitude, and his resilience—the very attributes that allowed him to journey to the Americas in the first place.

• Thomas, Hugh. "Rivers of Gold: The Rise of the Spanish Empire, from Columbus to Magellan." Random House. New York. 2005.
• Biography of Christopher Columbus
• The Third Voyage of Christopher Columbus
• Biography of Christopher Columbus, Italian Explorer
• 10 Facts About Christopher Columbus
• The Truth About Christopher Columbus
• The Second Voyage of Christopher Columbus
• Where Are the Remains of Christopher Columbus?
• The First New World Voyage of Christopher Columbus (1492)
• Biography of Juan Ponce de León, Conquistador
• Amerigo Vespucci, Explorer and Navigator
• Amerigo Vespucci, Italian Explorer and Cartographer
• Biography and Legacy of Ferdinand Magellan
• Biography of Ferdinand Magellan, Explorer Circumnavigated the Earth
• La Navidad: First European Settlement in the Americas
• A Timeline of North American Exploration: 1492–1585

World History Edu

• Famous Explorers

Christopher Columbus: 8 important facts that you probably didn’t know about the master explorer and navigator

by World History Edu · March 31, 2021

Facts about Christopher Columbus

Every second Monday in October, Columbus Day, or as it is now popularly called Indigenous Peoples’ Day, evokes a lot of mixed feelings across our nation. We are torn between celebrating the perilous voyage the brave Italian explorer and navigator took to get to the shores of South America and feeling uncomfortable once we take into account the horrors the indigenous people suffered at hands of that same explorer. Therefore, which is which: was the Genoa-born explorer a ruthless invader or a courageous adventurer who brought the Western and Eastern Hemispheres together?

Worldhistoryedu.com takes a quick look at 8 important facts about Christopher Columbus.

For years, Christopher Columbus struggled to secure funding for his ground-breaking voyage

Perhaps the only thing that came closest to the dangerous voyage that Columbus embarked on in 1492 was the uphill challenges he went through sourcing for funding for his American voyage. As we shall we see in the next fact, Columbus did not set out to sail to the Americas. His goal was to find an alternative route to Asia. Unbeknownst to many people, Columbus’ expedition plan was rubbished by many naysayers across Europe.

He spent about a decade pitching his voyage to numerous financiers, including John II of Portugal, Henry VII of England, and Charles VIII of France; however, it was all to no avail, as many of monarchs considered his proposed route to Asia too far, risky and costly. After a series of enthusiastic appeals, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain agreed to sponsor Columbus’ voyage. It was a win-win for both parties involved as Columbus’ patrons hoped to use the new territories (i.e. the “New World”) to boost their power in the Europe and beyond.

Christopher Columbus’ voyage was not entirely an altruistic one

Make no mistake, the Italian’s quest to find western sea route to Asia was intended to make him extremely rich and powerful. As part of the deal with the Spanish monarchs, Columbus was entitled to hold 10 percent of all items, be it precious materials or slaves, from the new lands. The Spanish crown also promised to make Columbus not just the admiral but also the governor and viceroy of the newfound territories.

With that amount of wealth and power promised him, as well as the fame that awaited him upon completion of the task, Columbus was certainly an explorer not short on motivation.

Columbus was not the first European to set foot on the shores of the Americas

Perhaps out of European ethnocentrism, Columbus was often revered as the explorer that discovered America. Such a statement totally ignores the fact that there were thriving civilizations across the length and breadth of the Americas for centuries, perhaps millennia, before Columbus sailed the Santa Maria to the Bahamas in 1492. At least, off the top of our heads we can mention the Incas, the Aztecs and the Mayans, all of who were renowned civilizations in their own rights.

Secondly, it is also an erroneous fact to say that Columbus was the first European to arrive on the shores of the Americas. A Norse explorer by the name of Leif Eriksson beat Columbus by about half a millennium. We know of this kind courtesy to the ruins of a Viking settlement that archaeologists discovered in Newfoundland in the 1960s.

So why isn’t the Leif Eriksson Day celebration on October 9 as popular as Columbus Day in the U.S. or in other parts of the Americas? Unlike the Viking explorer’s, Columbus’ voyage ushered in a new age for Europe, as it allowed European powers at the time to completely conquer the Americas in less than two centuries after Columbus’ arrival. Despicable and unpalatable as it may sound, in the eyes of European monarchs back then, Columbus was unquestionably a hero; he had accomplished an arduous task equivalent to what today’s generation might see as splitting the atom.

Christopher Columbus’ journey defied the odds

Imagine being in the late 15 th century in Europe, an Europe that was still in the process of making amends for the Dark Ages ; then imagine planning to sail across an uncharted vast ocean in a wooden ship. That said; now, imagine constantly hearing the dampening words from advisors of leading European monarchs about how ludicrous that plan is.

Well, the above situation was exactly the hurdle Christopher Columbus had to overcome before he, 41, successfully defied the odds to land on the shores of the Americas. One bad wave or say a stormy night on the Atlantic could have ripped apart his wooden ships – the Santa Maria (nicknamed La Gallega ), the  Nina and the Pinta. Therefore, looking solely at the journey that Columbus had to embark on, anyone would be right to revere the explorer as a hero and a pioneer explorer.

Columbus never set out to prove Flat-Earthers community wrong

The idea that the earth was round and that one could go around had already been accepted by a majority of scholars in Columbus’ time. As a matter of fact, the ancient Greeks had already noted this idea in 5 BCE. Therefore, it would have been an outright waste of time and resources had Columbus sailed to the west just to prove that the world is indeed round.

Columbus’ goal was to discover an alternative sea route to Asia. The explorer lobbied all those years for funding so that he could become the first person to circumnavigate the world. It was that simple.

He became the scourge of the indigenous population

It would be an understatement to say Christopher Columbus’ arrival and actions blighted the people and the land of the Americas. Some scholars and historians prefer to use terms such as ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity or say genocide. And they are right to a very large extent.

After setting foot on Hispaniola on October 12, 1492, Columbus and his men went from smiles and handshakes to chopping off the limbs of the indigenous people who refused to be their slaves. That was how quickly things took a turn for the bad for the natives, particularly the Taino people who initially traded peacefully with Columbus and his men.

Capitalizing on their inability to properly defend themselves, the explorer forced them into slavery, stating that “they were very well built…” and hence ideal to be his slaves. Throw in flogging, rape, wars, and executions, and then you have a full scale scourge that nearly made the Taino people extinct. Therefore, it would not be out of place to describe Columbus as the Scourge of the “New World”.

And say an indigenous person somehow managed to escape all the violence and horrors inspired by Columbus and his men, infectious diseases like smallpox was guaranteed to kill him or her as there was no immunity.

Life and Adventures of Leif Eriksson

He atoned for his brutalities in some way

Even though it was the 15 th century, the Spanish monarch still found the level of violence perpetrated by Columbus against the indigenous people and rebel Spanish colonists to be too shocking.

The Spanish crown ordered for his immediate arrest in 1499. The famed explorer was bound in chains and returned to Spain to face the music. When he appeared before King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, he admitted to some part of his cruelties. He did however state that some of the accusations were concocted up or exaggerated by his political foes, who sought to remove him from power in the region. In any case, the Spanish crown removed him from his governorship position.

King Ferdinand did not put Columbus behind bars though. Interestingly, the Spanish crown still went ahead to give some level of funding for Columbus’ fourth voyage to the Americas.

Columbus was born in Italy, but his true nationality and origins have remained a puzzle

After more than 500 years since Columbus’ voyage, it should be common knowledge of where exactly the great explorer was born. However, that is not often the case as a number of countries did try lay claim to Columbus.

Because Spain was the only country at the time that actually bankrolled Columbus’ famed voyage to the Americas, it is sometimes wrongly stated that Columbus was born in Spain. He may have had some family roots to Spain, but all the evidence so far seem to point to the fact that he was born in the region of Liguria in northwest Italy. His birthplace, Genoa, was the commercial hub of Liguria. The city, which was by the way an independent city-state, had strong trading and cultural ties with many Spanish cities. This probably explains why some historians claim the explorer had Spanish origins.

Proponents of Columbus being Spanish state that the explorer tried to hide his Spanish roots because he was Jewish. And because of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella’s animosity towards the Jewish and Muslim communities in Spain, Columbus probably tried as much as possible to disguise his Spanish origins. They also argue that the evidence available so far suggests that Columbus did not use Ligurian – a language of Genoa – thereby supporting claims of his Spanish origins.

There are also other theories that link Columbus to Scotland and Portugal. With regard to the latter country, the theory probably stems from Columbus’ extensive stay in the country as well as his time working with many Portuguese merchant marines; the explorer, who according to a 2012 book by Fernando Branco, was called Pedro Ataíde. It’s been stated that Columbus even married a woman from a noble Portuguese family.

Tags: Christopher Columbus Genoa Italy Spain The New World

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10 Things You May Not Know About Christopher Columbus

By: Christopher Klein

Updated: July 12, 2023 | Original: October 5, 2012

1. Columbus didn’t set out to prove the earth was round.

Forget those myths perpetuated by everyone from Washington Irving to Bugs Bunny. There was no need for Christopher Columbus to debunk the flat-earthers—the ancient Greeks had already done so. As early as the sixth century B.C., the Greek mathematician Pythagoras surmised the world was round, and two centuries later Aristotle backed him up with astronomical observations. By 1492, most educated people knew the planet was not shaped like a pancake.

2. Columbus was likely not the first European to cross the Atlantic Ocean.

That distinction is generally given to the Norse Viking Leif Eriksson , who is believed to have landed in present-day Newfoundland around 1000 A.D., almost five centuries before Columbus set sail. Some historians even claim that Ireland’s Saint Brendan or other Celtic people crossed the Atlantic before Eriksson. While the United States commemorates Columbus—even though he never set foot on the North American mainland—with parades and a federal holiday, Leif Eriksson Day on October 9 receives little fanfare.

3. Three countries refused to back Columbus’ voyage.

For nearly a decade, Columbus lobbied European monarchies to bankroll his quest to discover a western sea route to Asia. In Portugal, England and France, the response was the same: no. The experts told Columbus his calculations were wrong and that the voyage would take much longer than he thought. Royal advisors in Spain raised similar concerns to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. Turns out the naysayers were right. Columbus dramatically underestimated the earth’s circumference and the size of the oceans. Luckily for him, he ran into the uncharted Americas.

4. Nina and Pinta were not the actual names of two of Columbus’ three ships.

In 15th-century Spain, ships were traditionally named after saints. Salty sailors, however, bestowed less-than-sacred nicknames upon their vessels. Mariners dubbed one of the three ships on Columbus’s 1492 voyage the Pinta, Spanish for “the painted one” or “prostitute.” The Santa Clara, meanwhile, was nicknamed the Nina in honor of its owner, Juan Nino. Although the Santa Maria is called by its official name, its nickname was La Gallega, after the province of Galicia in which it was built.

5. The Santa Maria wrecked on Columbus’ historic voyage.

On Christmas Eve of 1492, a cabin boy ran Columbus’s flagship into a coral reef on the northern coast of Hispaniola, near present-day Cap Haitien, Haiti. Its crew spent a very un-merry Christmas salvaging the Santa Maria’s cargo. Columbus returned to Spain aboard the Nina, but he had to leave nearly 40 crew members behind to start the first European settlement in the Americas—La Navidad. When Columbus returned to the settlement in the fall of 1493, none of the crew were found alive.

6. Columbus made four voyages to the New World.

Although best known for his historic 1492 expedition, Columbus returned to the Americas three more times in the following decade. His voyages took him to the Caribbean islands, South America and Central America.

7. Columbus returned to Spain in chains in 1500.

Columbus’s governance of Hispaniola could be brutal and tyrannical . Colonists complained to the monarchy about mismanagement, and a royal commissioner dispatched to Hispaniola arrested Columbus in August 1500 and brought him back to Spain in chains. Although Columbus was stripped of his governorship, King Ferdinand not only granted the explorer his freedom but subsidized a fourth voyage.

8. A lunar eclipse may have saved Columbus.

In February 1504, a desperate Columbus was stranded in Jamaica, abandoned by half his crew and denied food by the islanders. The heavens that he relied on for navigation, however, would guide him safely once again. Knowing from his almanac that a lunar eclipse was coming on February 29, 1504, Columbus warned the islanders that his god was upset with their refusal of food and that the moon would “rise inflamed with wrath” as an expression of divine displeasure. On the appointed night, the eclipse darkened the moon and turned it red, and the terrified islanders offered provisions and beseeched Columbus to ask his god for mercy.

9. Even in death, Columbus continued to cross the Atlantic.

Following his death in 1506, Columbus was buried in Valladolid, Spain, and then moved to Seville. At the request of his daughter-in-law, the bodies of Columbus and his son Diego were shipped across the Atlantic to Hispaniola and interred in a Santo Domingo cathedral. When the French captured the island in 1795, the Spanish dug up remains thought to be those of the explorer and moved them to Cuba before returning them to Seville after the Spanish-American War in 1898. 

However, a box with human remains and the explorer’s name was discovered inside the Santo Domingo cathedral in 1877. Did the Spaniards exhume the wrong body? DNA testing in 2006 found evidence that at least some of the remains in Seville are those of Columbus. The Dominican Republic has refused to let the other remains be tested. It could be possible that, aptly, pieces of Columbus are both in the New World and the Old World.

10. Heirs of Columbus and the Spanish monarchy were in litigation until 1790.

After the death of Columbus, his heirs waged a lengthy legal battle with the Spanish crown, claiming that the monarchy short-changed them on money and profits due the explorer. Most of the Columbian lawsuits were settled by 1536, but the legal proceedings nearly dragged on until the 300th anniversary of Columbus’ famous voyage.

HISTORY Vault: Columbus the Lost Voyage

Ten years after his 1492 voyage, Columbus, awaiting the gallows on criminal charges in a Caribbean prison, plotted a treacherous final voyage to restore his reputation.

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Was Christopher Columbus a Hero or Villain?

Columbus Day churns up a stormy sea of controversy every year: Was Christopher Columbus a gifted navigator or reckless adventurer?

Columbus never discovered America but his voyage was no less courageous

Even if you were to overlook the not-so-minor fact that millions of people were already living in the Americas in 1492, the fact is that Columbus never set foot on the shores of North America. In fact, October 12 marks the day of his arrival to the Bahamas. While he did reach the coasts of what today are Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic, as well as explore the Central and South American coasts, he never unfurled a Spanish flag in North America. ( Leif Eriksson is the first European believed to have sailed to North America, having reached Canada 500 years before Columbus set sail to the west.)

He didn’t reached Asia as planned, but you can’t discount the sheer will required to make his journey. Beginning at the age of 41, he defied naysayers across Europe and led four voyages across an uncharted ocean in wooden sailing ships that weren’t designed to take on the punishing waters of the Atlantic.

Many already believed the world was round

By 1492, most educated Europeans already believed the earth was round. In fact, it was an idea that had been established by the ancient Greeks in the 5 th century BCE. Contrary to the popular myth, Columbus didn’t set out to prove that the world was round, but rather that it was possible to sail around it, a voyage the explorer drastically underestimated.

He had struck a lucrative deal with the Spanish

Columbus stood to gain significant wealth and power from his voyage, terms he negotiated with King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella of Spain. His contract with the monarchs, called The Capitulations of Santa Fe, named Columbus the admiral, viceroy, and governor of any land he discovered. It also stated that Columbus could keep 10 percent of any “merchandise, whether pearls, precious stones, gold, silver, spices, and other objects” that he “acquired” within the new territory. Columbus might indeed have had noble intentions when he sailed west, but his agreement with Spain suggests his intentions were far from selfless.

He enslaved and mutilated Indigenous peoples

When Columbus first set foot on Hispaniola (what is now Haiti and the Dominican Republic), he encountered a population of Indigenous peoples called the Taino. A friendly group, they willingly traded jewelry, animals, and supplies with the sailors. “They were very well built, with very handsome bodies and very good faces,” Columbus wrote in his diary. “They do not carry arms or know them... They should be good servants.” The Indigenous peoples were soon forced into slavery and punished with the loss of a limb or death if they didn’t collect enough gold. Between the European’s brutal treatment and their infectious diseases, within decades, the Taino population was decimated.

He was arrested by the Spanish Government

In 1499, the Spanish monarchs got wind of the mistreatment of Spanish colonists in Hispaniola, including the flogging and executions without trial. Columbus, who was governor of the territory, was arrested, chained up, and brought back to Spain. Although some of the charges might have been manufactured by his political enemies, Columbus admitted to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella that many of the accusations were true. Columbus was stripped of his title as governor.

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Several european countries had rejected columbus.

For nearly a decade, Columbus lobbied European monarchs to bankroll his expensive quest to discover a western sea route to Asia. In 1484, he tried unsuccessfully to get support from King John II of Portugal, whose experts believed Columbus had underestimated how far he would need to sail. Three years later, he appealed to King Henry VII of England and King Charles VIII of France but was once again turned down. He was even initially rejected by Spain in 1486, but the Spanish monarchs changed their mind and eventually agreed to fund his trip.

Good or bad, Columbus created a bridge between the old and new world

In what has become known as the Columbian Exchange, Columbus’ voyages enabled the exchange of plants, animals, cultures, ideas, and, yes, disease between the Western and Eastern Hemispheres. Once the Europeans were able to reach nearly all parts of the globe, a new modern age would begin, transforming the world forever.

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Voyages of Christopher Columbus facts for kids

Between 1492 and 1504, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus led four Spanish transatlantic maritime expeditions of discovery to the Americas . These voyages led to the widespread knowledge of the New World . This breakthrough inaugurated the period known as the Age of Discovery , which saw the colonization of the Americas , a related biological exchange , and trans-Atlantic trade . These events, the effects and consequences of which persist to the present, are often cited as the beginning of the modern era.

Born in the Republic of Genoa , Columbus was a navigator who sailed for the Crown of Castile (a predecessor to the modern Kingdom of Spain ) in search of a westward route to the Indies , thought to be the East Asian source of spices and other precious oriental goods obtainable only through arduous overland routes . Columbus was partly inspired by 13th-century Italian explorer Marco Polo in his ambition to explore Asia and never admitted his failure in this, incessantly claiming and pointing to supposed evidence that he had reached the East Indies. Ever since, the Bahamas as well as the islands of the Caribbean have been referred to as the West Indies .

At the time of Columbus's voyages, the Americas were inhabited by Indigenous Americans . Soon after first contact, Eurasian diseases such as smallpox began to devastate the indigenous populations . Columbus participated in the beginning of the Spanish conquest of the Americas , brutally treating and enslaving the natives in the range of thousands.

Columbus died in 1506, and the next year, the Americas were named after Amerigo Vespucci , who realized that these continents were a unique landmass. The search for a westward route to Asia was completed in 1521, when another Spanish voyage, the Magellan-Elcano expedition sailed across the Pacific Ocean and reached Southeast Asia , before returning to Europe and completing the first circumnavigation of the world.

Diameter of Earth and travel distance estimates

Trade winds, funding campaign, discovery of the americas, first return, caribbean exploration, hispaniola and jamaica, slavery, settlers, and tribute, colonist rebellions, bobadilla's inquiry, trial in spain, fourth voyage (1502–1504).

Many Europeans of Columbus's day assumed that a single, uninterrupted ocean surrounded Europe and Asia, although Norse explorers had colonized areas of North America beginning with Greenland c.  986 . The Norse maintained a presence in North America for hundreds of years, but contacts between their North American settlements and Europe had all but ceased by the early 15th century.

Until the mid-15th century, Europe enjoyed a safe land passage to China and India —sources of valued goods such as silk , spices , and opiates—under the hegemony of the Mongol Empire (the Pax Mongolica , or Mongol Peace). With the Fall of Constantinople to the Turkish Ottoman Empire in 1453, the land route to Asia (the Silk Road ) became more difficult as Christian traders were prohibited.

Portugal was the main European power interested in pursuing trade routes overseas, with the neighboring kingdom of Castile —predecessor to Spain —having been somewhat slower to begin exploring the Atlantic because of the land area it had to reconquer from the Moors during the Reconquista . This remained unchanged until the late 15th century, following the dynastic union by marriage of Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon (together known as the Catholic Monarchs of Spain ) in 1469, and the completion of the Reconquista in 1492, when the joint rulers conquered the Moorish kingdom of Granada, which had been providing Castile with African goods through tribute . The fledgling Spanish Empire decided to fund Columbus's expedition in hopes of finding new trade routes and circumventing the lock Portugal had secured on Africa and the Indian Ocean with the 1481 papal bull Aeterni regis .

Navigation plans

In response to the need for a new route to Asia, by the 1480s, Christopher and his brother Bartholomew had developed a plan to travel to the Indies (then construed roughly as all of southern and eastern Asia) by sailing directly west across what was believed to be the singular "Ocean Sea," the Atlantic Ocean. By about 1481, Florentine cosmographer Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli sent Columbus a map depicting such a route, with no intermediary landmass other than the mythical island of Antillia . In 1484 on the island of La Gomera in the Canaries , then undergoing conquest by Castile , Columbus heard from some inhabitants of El Hierro that there was supposed to be a group of islands to the west.

A popular misconception that Columbus had difficulty obtaining support for his plan because Europeans thought the Earth was flat can be traced back to a 17th-century campaign of Protestants against Catholicism, and was popularized in works such as Washington Irving 's 1828 biography of Columbus. In fact, the knowledge that the Earth is spherical was widespread, having been the general opinion of Ancient Greek science, and gaining support throughout the Middle Ages (for example, Bede mentions it in The Reckoning of Time ). The primitive maritime navigation of Columbus's time relied on both the stars and the curvature of the Earth.

Eratosthenes had measured the diameter of the Earth with good precision in the 2nd century BC, and the means of calculating its diameter using an astrolabe was known to both scholars and navigators. Where Columbus differed from the generally accepted view of his time was in his incorrect assumption of a significantly smaller diameter for the Earth, claiming that Asia could be easily reached by sailing west across the Atlantic. Most scholars accepted Ptolemy 's correct assessment that the terrestrial landmass (for Europeans of the time, comprising Eurasia and Africa ) occupied 180 degrees of the terrestrial sphere, and dismissed Columbus's claim that the Earth was much smaller, and that Asia was only a few thousand nautical miles to the west of Europe.

Columbus believed the incorrect calculations of Marinus of Tyre, putting the landmass at 225 degrees, leaving only 135 degrees of water. Moreover, Columbus underestimated Alfraganus's calculation of the length of a degree, reading the Arabic astronomer's writings as if, rather than using the Arabic mile (about 1,830 m), he had used the Italian mile (about 1,480 meters). Alfraganus had calculated the length of a degree to be 56⅔ Arabic miles (66.2 nautical miles). Columbus therefore estimated the size of the Earth to be about 75% of Eratosthenes's calculation, and the distance from the Canary Islands to Japan as 2,400 nautical miles (about 23% of the real figure).

There was a further element of key importance in the voyages of Columbus, the trade winds. He planned to first sail to the Canary Islands before continuing west by utilizing the northeast trade wind. Part of the return to Spain would require traveling against the wind using an arduous sailing technique called beating, during which almost no progress can be made. To effectively make the return voyage, Columbus would need to follow the curving trade winds northeastward to the middle latitudes of the North Atlantic, where he would be able to catch the " westerlies " that blow eastward to the coast of Western Europe.

The navigational technique for travel in the Atlantic appears to have been exploited first by the Portuguese, who referred to it as the volta do mar ('turn of the sea'). Columbus's knowledge of the Atlantic wind patterns was, however, imperfect at the time of his first voyage. By sailing directly due west from the Canary Islands during hurricane season , skirting the so-called horse latitudes of the mid-Atlantic, Columbus risked either being becalmed or running into a tropical cyclone , both of which, by chance, he avoided.

Around 1484, King John II of Portugal submitted Columbus's proposal to his experts, who rejected it on the basis that Columbus's estimation of a travel distance of 2,400 nautical miles was about four times too low (which was accurate).

In 1486, Columbus was granted an audience with the Catholic Monarchs, and he presented his plans to Isabella. She referred these to a committee, which determined that Columbus had grossly underestimated the distance to Asia. Pronouncing the idea impractical, they advised the monarchs not to support the proposed venture. To keep Columbus from taking his ideas elsewhere, and perhaps to keep their options open, the Catholic Monarchs gave him an allowance, totaling about 14,000 maravedís for the year, or about the annual salary of a sailor.

In 1488 Columbus again appealed to the court of Portugal, receiving a new invitation for an audience with John II. This again proved unsuccessful, in part because not long afterwards Bartolomeu Dias returned to Portugal following a successful rounding of the southern tip of Africa. With an eastern sea route now under its control, Portugal was no longer interested in trailblazing a western trade route to Asia crossing unknown seas.

In May 1489, Isabella sent Columbus another 10,000 maravedis , and the same year the Catholic Monarchs furnished him with a letter ordering all cities and towns under their domain to provide him food and lodging at no cost.

As Queen Isabella's forces neared victory over the Moorish Emirate of Granada for Castile, Columbus was summoned to the Spanish court for renewed discussions. He waited at King Ferdinand's camp until January 1492, when the monarchs conquered Granada. A council led by Isabella's confessor, Hernando de Talavera , found Columbus's proposal to reach the Indies implausible. Columbus had left for France when Ferdinand intervened, first sending Talavera and Bishop Diego Deza to appeal to the queen. Isabella was finally convinced by the king's clerk Luis de Santángel , who argued that Columbus would bring his ideas elsewhere, and offered to help arrange the funding. Isabella then sent a royal guard to fetch Columbus, who had travelled several kilometers toward Córdoba.

In the April 1492 " Capitulations of Santa Fe ", Columbus was promised he would be given the title "Admiral of the Ocean Sea" and appointed viceroy and governor of the newly claimed and colonized for the Crown; he would also receive ten percent of all the revenues from the new lands in perpetuity if he was successful. He had the right to nominate three people, from whom the sovereigns would choose one, for any office in the new lands. The terms were unusually generous but, as his son later wrote, the monarchs were not confident of his return.

First voyage (1492–1493)

For his westward voyage to find a shorter route to the Orient , Columbus and his crew took three medium-sized ships, the largest of which was a carrack (Spanish: nao ), the Santa María , which was owned and captained by Juan de la Cosa , and under Columbus's direct command. The other two were smaller caravels ; the name of one is lost, but is known by the Castilian nickname Pinta ('painted one'). The other, the Santa Clara , was nicknamed the Niña ('girl'), perhaps in reference to her owner, Juan Niño of Moguer. The Pinta and the Niña were piloted by the Pinzón brothers ( Martín Alonso and Vicente Yáñez , respectively). On the morning of 3 August 1492, Columbus departed from Palos de la Frontera , going down the Rio Tinto and into the Atlantic.

Three days into the journey, on 6 August 1492, the rudder of the Pinta broke. Martín Alonso Pinzón suspected the owners of the ship of sabotage, as they were afraid to go on the journey. The crew was able to secure the rudder with ropes until they could reach the Canary Islands, where they arrived on 9 August. The Pinta had its rudder replaced on the island of Gran Canaria , and by September 2 the ships rendezvoused at La Gomera, where the Niña ' s lateen sails were re-rigged to standard square sails. Final provisions were secured, and on 6 September the ships departed San Sebastián de La Gomera for what turned out to be a five-week-long westward voyage across the Atlantic.

As described in the abstract of his journal made by Bartolomé de las Casas , on the outward bound voyage Columbus recorded two sets of distances: one was in measurements he normally used, the other in the Portuguese maritime leagues used by his crew. Las Casas originally interpreted that he reported the shorter distances to his crew so they would not worry about sailing too far from Spain, but Oliver Dunn and James Kelley state that this was a misunderstanding.

On 13 September 1492, Columbus observed that the needle of his compass no longer pointed to the North Star . It was once believed that Columbus had discovered magnetic declination, but it was later shown that the phenomenon was already known, both in Europe and in China.

After 29 days out of sight of land, on 7 October 1492, the crew spotted "[i]mmense flocks of birds", some of which his sailors trapped and determined to be "field" birds (probably Eskimo curlews and American golden plovers ). Columbus changed course to follow their flight.

On 11 October, Columbus changed the fleet's course to due west, and sailed through the night, believing land was soon to be found. At around 10:00 in the evening, Columbus thought he saw a light "like a little wax candle rising and falling". Four hours later, land was sighted by a sailor named Rodrigo de Triana (also known as Juan Rodríguez Bermejo) aboard the Pinta . Triana immediately alerted the rest of the crew with a shout, and the ship's captain, Martín Alonso Pinzón, verified the land sighting and alerted Columbus by firing a lombard. Columbus would later assert that he had first seen land, thus earning the promised annual reward of 10,000 maravedís .

Columbus called this island San Salvador, in the present-day Bahamas ; the indigenous residents had named it Guanahani . According to Samuel Eliot Morison , San Salvador Island is the only island fitting the position indicated by Columbus's journal. Columbus wrote of the natives he first encountered in his journal entry of 12 October 1492:

Many of the men I have seen have scars on their bodies, and when I made signs to them to find out how this happened, they indicated that people from other nearby islands come to San Salvador to capture them; they defend themselves the best they can. I believe that people from the mainland come here to take them as slaves . They ought to make good and skilled servants, for they repeat very quickly whatever we say to them. I think they can very easily be made Christians, for they seem to have no religion. If it pleases our Lord, I will take six of them to Your Highnesses when I depart, in order that they may learn our language.

Columbus called the indigenous Americans indios (Spanish for Indians) in the mistaken belief that he had reached the East Indies; the islands of the Caribbean are termed the West Indies after this error. Columbus initially encountered the Lucayan , Taíno , and Arawak peoples. Noting their gold ear ornaments, Columbus took some of the Arawaks prisoner and insisted that they guide him to the source of the gold. Columbus noted that their primitive weapons and military tactics made the natives susceptible to easy conquest.

Columbus observed the people and their cultural lifestyle. He also explored the northeast coast of Cuba , landing on 28 October 1492, and the north-western coast of Hispaniola , present day Haiti , by 5 December 1492. Here, the Santa Maria ran aground on Christmas Day , 25 December 1492, and had to be abandoned. Columbus was received by the native cacique Guacanagari , who gave him permission to leave some of his men behind. Columbus left 39 men, including the interpreter Luis de Torres , and founded the settlement of La Navidad. He kept sailing along the northern coast of Hispaniola with a single ship, until he encountered Pinzón and the Pinta on 6 January.

On 13 January 1493, Columbus made his last stop of this voyage in the Americas, in the Bay of Rincón at the eastern end of the Samaná Peninsula in northeast Hispaniola. There he encountered the Ciguayos , the only natives who offered violent resistance during his first voyage to the Americas. The Ciguayos refused to trade the amount of bows and arrows that Columbus desired; in the ensuing clash one Ciguayo was stabbed and another wounded with an arrow in his chest. Because of this and because of the Ciguayos' use of arrows, he called the inlet where he met them the Bay of Arrows (or Gulf of Arrows). On 16 January 1493, the homeward journey was begun.

Four natives who boarded the Niña at Samaná Peninsula told Columbus of what was interpreted as the Isla de Carib (probably Puerto Rico ), which was supposed to be populated by cannibalistic Caribs, as well as Matinino, an island populated only by women, which Columbus associated with an island in the Indian Ocean that Marco Polo had described.

While returning to Spain, the Niña and Pinta encountered the roughest storm of their journey, and, on the night of 13 February, lost contact with each other. All hands on the Niña vowed, if they were spared, to make a pilgrimage to the nearest church of Our Lady wherever they first made land. On the morning of 15 February, land was spotted. Columbus believed they were approaching the Azores Islands , but other members of the crew felt that they were considerably north of the islands. Columbus turned out to be right. On the night of 17 February, the Niña laid anchor at Santa Maria Island , but the cable broke on sharp rocks, forcing Columbus to stay offshore until the morning, when a safer location was found to drop anchor nearby. A few sailors took a boat to the island, where they were told by several islanders of a still safer place to land, so the Niña moved once again. At this spot, Columbus took on board several islanders who had gathered onshore with food, and told them that his crew wished to come ashore to fulfill their vow. The islanders told him that a small shrine dedicated to Our Lady was nearby.

Columbus sent half of the crew members to the island to fulfill their vow, but he and the rest of the crew stayed on the Niña , planning to send the other half to the island upon the return of the first crew members. While the first crew members were saying their prayers at the shrine, they were taken prisoner by the islanders, under orders from the island's captain, João de Castanheira, ostensibly out of fear that the men were pirates. The boat that the crew members had taken to the island was then commandeered by Castanheira, which he took with several armed men to the Niña , in an attempt to arrest Columbus. During a verbal battle across the bows of both craft, during which Columbus did not grant permission for him to come aboard, Castanheira announced that he did not believe or care who Columbus said that he was, especially if he was indeed from Spain. Castanheira returned to the island. However, after another two days, Castanheira released the prisoners, having been unable to get confessions from them, and having been unable to capture his real target, Columbus. There are later claims that Columbus was also captured, but this is not backed up by Columbus's log book.

Leaving the island of Santa Maria in the Azores on 23 February, Columbus headed for Castilian Spain, but another storm forced him into Lisbon . He anchored next to the king's harbor patrol ship on 4 March 1493, where he was told a fleet of 100 caravels had been lost in the storm. Astoundingly, both the Niña and the Pinta had been spared. Not finding King John II of Portugal in Lisbon, Columbus wrote a letter to him and waited for the king's reply. After receiving the letter, the king agreed to meet with Columbus in Vale do Paraíso despite poor relations between Portugal and Castile at the time. Upon learning of Columbus's discoveries, the Portuguese king informed him that he believed the voyage to be in violation of the 1479 Treaty of Alcáçovas . After spending more than a week in Portugal, Columbus set sail for Spain. Columbus arrived back in Palos on 15 March 1493 and later met with Ferdinand and Isabella in Barcelona to report his findings.

Columbus showed off what he had brought back from his voyage to the monarchs, including a few small samples of gold, pearls , gold jewelry from the natives, flowers, and a hammock. He gave the monarchs a few of the gold nuggets, gold jewelry, and pearls, as well as the previously unknown tobacco plant, the pineapple fruit, the turkey, and the hammock. The monarchs invited Columbus to dine with them. He did not bring any of the coveted East Indies spices, such as the exceedingly expensive black pepper, ginger or cloves. In his log, he wrote "there is also plenty of 'ají', which is their pepper, which is more valuable than black pepper, and all the people eat nothing else, it being very wholesome".

Upon first landing in the Americas, Columbus had written to the monarchs offering to enslave some of the indigenous Americans. While the Caribs may have met the sovereign's requirements for such treatment on the grounds of their aggressiveness towards the peaceful Taíno, Columbus had yet to meet them and only brought Taínos before the sovereigns. In Columbus's letter on the first voyage , addressed to the Spanish court, he insisted he had reached Asia, describing the island of Hispaniola as being off the coast of China. He emphasized the potential riches of the land and that the natives seemed ready to convert to Christianity. The descriptions in this letter, which was translated into multiple languages and widely distributed, were idealized, particularly regarding the supposed abundance of gold:

Hispaniola is a miracle. Mountains and hills, plains and pastures, are both fertile and beautiful ... the harbors are unbelievably good and there are many wide rivers of which the majority contain gold. ... There are many spices, and great mines of gold and other metals...

Upon Columbus's return, most people initially accepted that he had reached the East Indies, including the sovereigns and Pope Alexander VI , though in a letter to the Vatican dated 1 November 1493, the historian Peter Martyr described Columbus as the discoverer of a Novi Orbis (' New Globe '). The pope issued four bulls (the first three of which are collectively known as the Bulls of Donation ), to determine how Spain and Portugal would colonize and divide the spoils of the new lands. Inter caetera , issued 4 May 1493, divided the world outside Europe between Spain and Portugal along a north–south meridian 100 leagues west of either the Azores or Cape Verde Islands in the mid-Atlantic, thus granting Spain all the land discovered by Columbus. The 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas , ratified the next decade by Pope Julius II , moved the dividing line to 370 leagues west of the Azores or Cape Verde.

Second voyage (1493–1496)

The stated purpose of the second voyage was to convert the indigenous Americans to Christianity. Before Columbus left Spain, he was directed by Ferdinand and Isabella to maintain friendly, even loving, relations with the natives. He set sail from Cádiz , Spain, on 25 September 1493.

The fleet for the second voyage was much larger: two naos and 15 caravels. The two naos were the flagship Marigalante ("Gallant Mary") and the Gallega ; the caravels were the Fraila ('the nun'), San Juan , Colina ('the hill'), Gallarda ('the gallant'), Gutierre , Bonial , Rodriga , Triana , Vieja ('the old'), Prieta ('the brown'), Gorda ('the fat'), Cardera , and Quintera . The Niña returned for this expedition, which also included a ship named Pinta probably identical to that from the first expedition. In addition, the expedition saw the construction of the first ship in the Americas, the Santa Cruz or India .

On 3 November 1493, Christopher Columbus landed on a rugged shore on an island that he named Dominica . On the same day, he landed at Marie-Galante , which he named Santa María la Galante. After sailing past Les Saintes (Todos los Santos), he arrived at Guadeloupe (Santa María de Guadalupe), which he explored between 4 November and 10 November 1493. The exact course of his voyage through the Lesser Antilles is debated, but it seems likely that he turned north, sighting and naming many islands including Santa María de Montserrat ( Montserrat ), Santa María la Antigua ( Antigua ), Santa María la Redonda ( Saint Martin ), and Santa Cruz ( Saint Croix , on 14 November). He also sighted and named the island chain of the Santa Úrsula y las Once Mil Vírgenes (the Virgin Islands ), and named the islands of Virgen Gorda.

The fleet continued to the Greater Antilles , and landed on the island of San Juan Bautista, present-day Puerto Rico, on 19 November 1493.

On 22 November, Columbus sailed from San Juan Bautista to Hispaniola. The next morning, a native taken during the first voyage was returned to Samaná Bay . The fleet sailed about 170 miles over two days. On the night of 27 November, cannons and flares were ignited in an attempt to signal La Navidad, but there was no response. A canoe party led by a cousin of Guacanagari presented Columbus with two golden masks and told him that Guacanagari had been injured by another chief, Caonabo , and that except for some Spanish casualties resulting from sickness and quarrel, the rest of his men were well. The next day, the Spanish fleet discovered the burnt remains of the Navidad fortress, and Guacanagari's cousin admitted that the Europeans had been wiped out by Caonabo. While some suspicion was placed on Guacanagari, it gradually emerged that two of the Spaniards had formed a murderous gang in search of gold, prompting Caonabo's wrath. The fleet then fought the winds, traveling only 32 miles over 25 days, and arriving at a plain on the north coast of Hispaniola on 2 January 1494. There, they established the settlement of La Isabela . Columbus spent some time exploring the interior of the island for gold. Finding some, he established a small fort in the interior.

Columbus left Hispaniola on 24 April 1494, and arrived at the island of Cuba (which he had named Juana during his first voyage) on 30 April and Discovery Bay, Jamaica, on 5 May. He explored the south coast of Cuba, which he believed to be a peninsula of China rather than an island, and several nearby islands including La Evangelista (the Isle of Youth ), before returning to Hispaniola on 20 August.

Columbus had planned for Queen Isabella to set up trading posts with the cities of the Far East made famous by Marco Polo, but whose Silk Road and eastern maritime routes had been blockaded to her crown's trade. However, Columbus would never find Cathay (China) or Zipangu ( Japan ), and there was no longer any Great Khan for trade treaties.

In 1494, Columbus sent Alonso de Ojeda (whom a contemporary described as "always the first to draw blood wherever there was a war or quarrel") to Cibao (where gold was being mined for), which resulted in Ojeda's capturing several natives on an accusation of theft. Ojeda sent them to La Isabela in chains, where Columbus ordered them to be executed. During his brief reign, Columbus executed Spanish colonists for minor crimes. By the end of 1494, disease and famine had claimed two-thirds of the Spanish settlers. A native Nahuatl account depicts the social breakdown that accompanied the pandemic : "A great many died from this plague, and many others died of hunger. They could not get up to search for food, and everyone else was too sick to care for them."

By 1494, Columbus had shared his viceroyship with one of his military officers named Margarit, ordering him to prioritize Christianizing the natives. Columbus's brother Diego warned Margarit to follow the admiral's orders, which provoked him to take three caravels back to Spain. Fray Buil, who was supposed to perform baptisms, accompanied Margarit. After arriving in Spain in late 1494, Buil complained to the Spanish court of the Columbus brothers and that there was no gold. Groups of Margarit's soldiers who remained in the west continued brutalizing the natives. Instead of forbidding this, Columbus participated in enslaving the indigenous people. In February 1495, he took over 1,500 Arawaks, some of whom had rebelled against the oppression of the colonists, and many of whom were subsequently released or taken by the Caribs. That month, Columbus shipped approximately 500 of these Americans to Spain to be sold as slaves; about 40% died en route, and half of the rest were sick upon arrival. In June of that year, the Spanish crown sent ships and supplies to the colony on Hispaniola, which Florentine merchant Gianotto Berardi had helped procure. In October, Berardi received almost 40,000 maravedís worth of slaves, who were alleged to be prisoners.

Columbus's tribute system was described by his son Ferdinand: "In the Cibao, where the gold mines were, every person of fourteen years of age or upward was to pay a large hawk's bell of gold dust; all others were each to pay 25 pounds of cotton. Whenever an Indian delivered his tribute, he was to receive a brass or copper token which he must wear about his neck as proof that he had made his payment; any Indian found without such a token was to be punished." Since there was no abundance of gold on the island, the natives had no chance of meeting Columbus's quota and thousands are reported to have taken their lives. By 1497, the tribute system had all but collapsed.

Columbus became ill in 1495, and during this time, his troops acted out of order, enacting cruelties on the natives to learn where the supposed gold was. When he recovered, he led men and dogs to hunt down natives who fled their forced duties. Brutalities were carried out even against natives who were sick and unarmed. In addition, Spanish colonists under Columbus's rule began to buy and sell natives as slaves.

The Spanish fleet departed La Isabela on 10 March 1496. Again set back by unfavorable trade winds, supplies began to run low; on 10 April, Columbus requested food from the natives of Guadeloupe. Upon going ashore, the Spaniards were ambushed by arrows; in response, they destroyed some huts. They then held a group of 13 native women and children hostage to force a sale of cassava . The Niña and India left Guadeloupe on 20 April. On 8 June, the fleeted landed at Portugal, near Odemira, and returned to Spain via the Bay of Cádiz on 11 June.

Third voyage (1498–1500)

According to the abstract of Columbus's journal made by Bartolomé de Las Casas, the objective of the third voyage was to verify the existence of a continent that King John II of Portugal suggested was located to the southwest of the Cape Verde Islands. King John reportedly knew of the existence of such a mainland because "canoes had been found which set out from the coast of Guinea [West Africa] and sailed to the west with merchandise." Italian explorer John Cabot probably reached the mainland of the American continent in June 1497, although his landing site is disputed.

On 30 May 1498, Columbus left with six ships from Sanlúcar, Spain , for his third trip to the Americas. Three of the ships headed directly for Hispaniola with much-needed supplies, while Columbus took the other three in an exploration of what might lie to the south of the Caribbean islands he had already visited, including a hoped-for passage to continental Asia. Columbus led his fleet to the Portuguese island of Porto Santo, his wife's native land. He then sailed to Madeira and spent some time there with the Portuguese captain João Gonçalves da Camara, before sailing to the Canary Islands and Cape Verde.

On 13 July, Columbus's fleet entered the doldrums of the mid-Atlantic, where they were becalmed for several days, the heat doing damage to their ships, food, and water supply. An easterly wind finally propelled them westwards, which was maintained until 22 July, when birds flying from southwest to northeast were sighted, and the fleet turned north in the direction of Dominica. The men sighted the land of Trinidad on 31 July, approaching from the southeast. The fleet sailed along the southern coast and entered Dragon's Mouth, anchoring near Soldado Rock (west of Icacos Point, Trinidad's southwesternmost point) where they made contact with a group of Amerindians in canoes. On 1 August, Columbus and his men arrived at a landmass near the mouth of South America 's Orinoco river, in the region of modern-day Venezuela . Columbus recognized from the topography that it must be the continent's mainland, but while describing it as an otro mundo ('other world'), retained the belief that it was Asia—and perhaps an Earthly Paradise . On 2 August, they landed at Icacos Point (which Columbus named Punta de Arenal) in modern Trinidad , narrowly avoiding a violent encounter with the natives. Early on 4 August, a tsunami nearly capsized Columbus's ship. The men sailed across the Gulf of Paria , and on 5 August, landed on the mainland of South America at the Paria Peninsula . Columbus, suffering from a monthlong bout of insomnia and impaired vision from his bloodshot eyes, authorized the other fleet captains to go ashore first: one planted a cross, and the other recorded that Columbus subsequently landed to formally take the province for Spain. They sailed further west, where the sight of pearls compelled Columbus to send men to obtain some, if not gold. The natives provided nourishment including a maize wine, new to Columbus. Compelled to reach Hispaniola before the food aboard his ship spoiled, Columbus was disappointed to discover that they had sailed into a gulf, and while they had obtained fresh water, they had to go back east to reach open waters again.

Making observations with a quadrant at sea, Columbus inaccurately measured the polar radius of the North Star's diurnal motion to be five degrees, double the value of another erroneous reading he had made from further north. This led him to describe the figure of the Earth as pear-shaped, with the "stalk" portion ascending towards Heaven. (In fact, the Earth ever so slightly is pear-shaped, with its "stalk" pointing north.) He then sailed to the islands of Chacachacare and Margarita (reaching the latter on 14 August), and sighted Tobago (which he named Bella Forma) and Grenada (which he named Concepción).

In poor health, Columbus returned to Hispaniola on 19 August, only to find that many of the Spanish settlers of the new colony were in rebellion against his rule, claiming that Columbus had misled them about the supposedly bountiful riches they expected to find. A number of returning settlers and sailors lobbied against Columbus at the Spanish court, accusing him and his brothers of gross mismanagement. He had an economic interest in the enslavement of the Hispaniola natives and for that reason was not eager to baptize them, which attracted criticism from some churchmen. An entry in his journal from September 1498 reads: "From here one might send, in the name of the Holy Trinity, as many slaves as could be sold ..."

Columbus was eventually forced to make peace with the rebellious colonists on humiliating terms. In 1500, the Crown had him removed as governor, arrested, and transported in chains to Spain. He was eventually freed and allowed to return to the Americas, but not as governor. As an added insult, in 1499, the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama returned from his first voyage to India, having sailed east around the southern tip of Africa—unlocking a sea route to Asia.

Governorship

After his second journey, Columbus had requested that 330 people be sent to stay permanently (though voluntarily) on Hispaniola, all on the king's pay. Specifically, he asked for 100 men to work as wood men soldiers and laborers, 50 farmers, 40 squires, 30 sailors, 30 cabin boys, 20 goldsmiths, 10 gardeners, 20 handymen, and 30 women. In addition to this, plans were made to maintain friars and clergymen, a physician, a pharmacist, an herbalist, and musicians for entertaining the colonists. Fearing that the king was going to restrict money allotted for wages, Columbus suggested that Spanish criminals be pardoned in exchange for a few years unpaid service in Hispaniola, and the king agreed to this. A pardon for the death penalty would require two years of service, and one year of service was required for lesser crimes. They also instructed that those who had been sentenced to exile would also be redirected to be exiled in Hispaniola.

These new colonists were sent directly to Hispaniola in three ships with supplies, while Columbus was taking an alternate route with the other three ships to explore. As these new Colonists arrived on Hispaniola, a rebellion was brewing under Francisco Roldán (a man Columbus had left as chief mayor, under his brothers Diego and Bartolomew). By the time Columbus arrived on Hispaniola, Roldán held the territory of Xaraguá, and some of the new colonists had joined his rebellion. Over months, Columbus tried negotiating with the rebels. At his behest, Roldán tried the other rebels, ordering his former partner, Adrián de Mújica, to be executed.

Columbus was physically and mentally exhausted; his body was wracked by arthritis and his eyes by ophthalmia. In October 1499, he sent two ships to Spain, asking the Court of Castile to appoint a royal commissioner to help him govern. On 3 February 1500, he returned to Santo Domingo with plans to sail back to Spain to defend himself from the accounts of the rebels.

The sovereigns gave Francisco de Bobadilla , a member of the Order of Calatrava, complete control as governor in the Americas. Bobadilla arrived in Santo Domingo in August 1500, where Diego was overseeing the execution of rebels, while Columbus was suppressing a revolt at Grenada. Bobadilla had orders to find out "which persons were the ones who rose up against the admiral and our justice and for what cause and reason, and what ... damage they have done," then "detain those whom you find guilty ... and confiscate their goods." The crown's command regarding Columbus dictated that the admiral must relinquish all control of the colonies, keeping only his personal wealth.

Bobadilla used force to prevent the execution of several prisoners, and subsequently took charge of Columbus's possessions, including papers which he would have used to defend himself in Spain. Bobadilla suspended the tribute system for a twenty-year period, then summoned the admiral. In early October 1500, Columbus and Diego presented themselves to Bobadilla, and were put in chains aboard La Gorda , Columbus's own ship. Only the ship's cook was willing to put the shamed admiral in chains. Bobadilla took much of Columbus's gold and other treasures. Ferdinand Columbus recorded that the governor took "testimony from their open enemies, the rebels, and even showing open favor," and auctioned off some of his father's possessions "for one third of their value."

Bobadilla's inquiry produced testimony that Columbus forced priests not to baptize natives without his express permission, so he could first decide whether or not they should be sold into slavery. He allegedly captured a tribe of 300 under Roldán's protection to be sold into slavery, and informed other Christians that half of the indigenous servants should be yielded to him.

A number of returned settlers and friars lobbied against Columbus at the Spanish court, accusing him of mismanagement. By his own request, Columbus remained in chains during the entire voyage home. Once in Cádiz, a grieving Columbus wrote to a friend at court:

It is now seventeen years since I came to serve these princes with the Enterprise of the Indies. They made me pass eight of them in discussion, and at the end rejected it as a thing of jest. Nevertheless I persisted therein... Over there I have placed under their sovereignty more land than there is in Africa and Europe, and more than 1,700 islands... In seven years I, by the divine will, made that conquest. At a time when I was entitled to expect rewards and retirement, I was incontinently arrested and sent home loaded with chains... The accusation was brought out of malice on the basis of charges made by civilians who had revolted and wished to take possession on the land... I beg your graces, with the zeal of faithful Christians in whom their Highnesses have confidence, to read all my papers, and to consider how I, who came from so far to serve these princes... now at the end of my days have been despoiled of my honor and my property without cause, wherein is neither justice nor mercy.

Columbus and his brothers were jailed for six weeks before the busy King Ferdinand ordered them released. On 12 December 1500, the king and queen summoned the Columbus brothers to their presence at the Alhambra palace in Granada . With his chains at last removed, Columbus wore shortened sleeves so the marks on his skin would be visible. At the palace, the royal couple heard the brothers' pleas; Columbus was brought to tears as he admitted his faults and begged for forgiveness. Their freedom was restored. On 3 September 1501, the door was firmly shut on Columbus's role as governor. From that point forward, Nicolás de Ovando y Cáceres was to be the new governor of the Indies, although Columbus retained the titles of admiral and viceroy. A royal mandate dated 27 September ordered Bobadilla to return Columbus's possessions.

After much persuasion, the sovereigns agreed to fund Columbus's fourth voyage. It would be his final chance to prove himself and become the first man ever to circumnavigate the world . Columbus's goal was to find the Strait of Malacca to the Indian Ocean. On 14 March 1502, Columbus started his fourth voyage with 147 men and with strict orders from the king and queen which instructed him not to stop at Hispaniola, but only to search for a westward passage to the Indian Ocean mainland. Before he left, Columbus wrote a letter to the Governors of the Bank of Saint George, Genoa, dated at Seville, 2 April 1502. He wrote "Although my body is here my heart is always near you." Accompanied by his stepbrother Bartolomeo , Diego Mendez, and his 13-year-old son Ferdinand, he left Cádiz on 9 May 1502, with his flagship, Capitana , as well as the Gallega , Vizcaína, and Santiago de Palos . They first sailed to Arzila on the Moroccan coast to rescue the Portuguese soldiers who he heard were under siege by the Moors.

After using the trade winds to cross the Atlantic in a brisk twenty days, on 15 June, they landed at Carbet on the island of Martinique (Martinica). Columbus anticipated that a hurricane was brewing and had a ship that needed to be replaced, so he headed to Hispaniola, despite being forbidden to land there. He arrived at Santo Domingo on June 29, but was denied port, and the new governor refused to listen to his warning of a storm. While Columbus's ships sheltered at the mouth of the Haina River, Governor Bobadilla departed, with Roldán and over US$10 million worth of Columbus's gold aboard his ship, accompanied by a convoy of 30 other vessels. Columbus's personal gold and other belongings were put on the fragile Aguya , considered the fleet's least seaworthy vessel. The onset of a hurricane drove some ships ashore, with some sinking in the harbor of Santo Domingo; Bobadilla's ship is thought to have reached the eastern end of Hispaniola before sinking. About 20 other vessels sank in the Atlantic, with a total of some 500 people drowning. Three damaged ships made it back to Santo Domingo; one of these had Juan de la Cosa and Rodrigo de Bastidas on board. Only the Aguya made it to Spain, causing some of Columbus's enemies to accuse him of conjuring the storm.

After the hurricane, Columbus regrouped with his men, and after a brief stop at Jamaica and off the coast of Cuba to replenish, he sailed to modern Central America , arriving at Guanaja (Isla de los Pinos) in the Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras on 30 July 1502. Here Bartolomeo found native merchants—possibly (but not conclusively) Mayans —and a large canoe, which was described as "long as a galley" and was filled with cargo. The natives introduced Columbus and his entourage to cacao . Columbus spoke with an elder, and thought he described having seen people with swords and horses (possibly the Spaniards), and that they were "only ten days' journey to the river Ganges ". On 14 August, Columbus landed on the mainland of the Americas at Puerto Castilla, near Trujillo, Honduras. He spent two months exploring the coasts of Honduras, Nicaragua , and Costa Rica looking for the passage, before arriving in Almirante Bay, Panama , on 16 October.

In mid-November, Columbus was told by some of the natives that a province called Ciguare "lie just nine days' journey by land to the west", or some 200 miles from his location in Veragua. Here was supposed to be found "gold without limit", "people who wear coral on their heads" who "know of pepper", "do business in fairs and markets", and who were "accustomed to warfare". Columbus would later write to the sovereigns that, according to the natives, "the sea encompasses Ciguare and ... it is a journey of ten days to the Ganges River." This could suggest that Columbus knew he had found a unknown continent distinct from Asia.

On 5 December 1502, Columbus and his crew found themselves in a storm unlike any they had ever experienced. In his journal Columbus writes,

For nine days I was as one lost, without hope of life. Eyes never beheld the sea so angry, so high, so covered with foam. The wind not only prevented our progress, but offered no opportunity to run behind any headland for shelter; hence we were forced to keep out in this bloody ocean, seething like a pot on a hot fire. Never did the sky look more terrible; for one whole day and night it blazed like a furnace, and the lightning broke with such violence that each time I wondered if it had carried off my spars and sails; the flashes came with such fury and frightfulness that we all thought that the ship would be blasted. All this time the water never ceased to fall from the sky; I do not say it rained, for it was like another deluge. The men were so worn out that they longed for death to end their dreadful suffering.

In Panamá, he learned from the Ngobe of gold and a strait to another ocean. After some exploration, he established a garrison at the mouth of Belén River in January 1503. By 6 April, the garrison he had established captured the local tribe leader El Quibían, who had demanded they not go down the Belén River. El Quibían escaped, and returned with an army to attack and repel the Spanish, damaging some of the ships so that one vessel had to be abandoned. Columbus left for Hispaniola on 16 April; on 10 May, he sighted the Cayman Islands , naming them Las Tortugas after the numerous sea turtles there. His ships next sustained more damage in a storm off the coast of Cuba. Unable to travel any farther, the ships were beached in St. Ann's Bay, Jamaica , on 25 June.

For a year Columbus and his men remained stranded on Jamaica. A Spaniard, Diego Mendez, and some natives paddled a canoe to get help from Hispaniola. The island's governor, Nicolás de Ovando y Cáceres , detested Columbus and obstructed all efforts to rescue him and his men. In the meantime, Columbus had to mesmerize the natives in order to prevent being attacked by them and gain their goodwill. He did so by correctly predicting a lunar eclipse for 29 February 1504, using the Ephemeris of the German astronomer Regiomontanus .

In May 1504 a battle took place between men loyal to Columbus and those loyal to the Porras brothers, in which there was a sword fight between Bartholomew Columbus and Francisco de Porras. Bartholomew won against Francisco but he spared his life. In this way, the mutiny ended. Help finally arrived from the governor Ovando, on 29 June, when a caravel sent by Diego Méndez finally appeared on the island. At this time there were 110 members of the expedition alive out of the 147 that sailed from Spain with Columbus. Due to the strong winds, it took the caravel 45 days to reach La Hispaniola. This was a trip that Diego Méndez had previously made in four days in a canoe.

About 38 of the 110 men that survived decided not to board again and stayed in Hispaniola instead of returning to Spain. On 11 September 1504, Christopher Columbus and his son Fernando embarked in a caravel to travel from Hispaniola to Spain, paying their corresponding tickets. They arrived in Sanlúcar de Barrameda on 7 November and from there they traveled to Seville.

The news of Columbus's first voyage set off many other westward explorations by European states, which aimed to profit from trade and colonization . This would instigate a related biological exchange , and trans-Atlantic trade . These events, the effects and consequences of which persist to the present, are sometimes cited as the beginning of the modern era.

Upon first landing in the West, Columbus pondered enslaving the natives, and upon his return broadcast the perceived willingness of the natives to convert to Christianity. Columbus's second voyage saw the first major skirmish between Europeans and Native Americans for five centuries, when the Vikings had come to the Americas. In 1503, the Spanish monarchs established the Indian reductions , settlements intended to relocate and exploit the natives.

With the Age of Discovery starting in the 15th century, Europeans explored the world by ocean, searching for particular trade goods, humans to enslave, and trading locations and ports. The most desired trading goods were gold, silver and spices. For the Catholic monarchies of Spain and Portugal, a division of influence of the land discovered by Columbus became necessary to avoid conflict. This was resolved by papal intervention in 1494 when the Treaty of Tordesillas purported to divide the world between the two powers. The Portuguese were to receive everything outside of Europe east of a line that ran 270 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands. The Spanish received everything west of this line, territory that was still almost completely unknown, and proved to be primarily the vast majority of the continents of the Americas and the Islands of the Pacific Ocean . In 1500, the Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral arrived at a point on the eastern coast of South America on the Portuguese side of the dividing line. This would lead to the Portuguese colonization of what is now Brazil .

In 1499, Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci participated in a voyage to the western world with Columbus's associates Alonso de Ojeda and Juan de la Cosa. Columbus referred to the West Indies as the Indias Occidentales ('West Indies') in his 1502 Book of Privileges , calling them "unknown to all the world". He gathered information later that year from the natives of Central America which seem to further indicate that he realized he had found a new land. Vespucci, who had initially followed Columbus in the belief that he had reached Asia, suggested in a 1503 letter to Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco that he had known for two years that these lands composed a new continent. A letter to Piero Soderini, published c. 1505 and purportedly by Vespucci, claims that he first voyaged to the American mainland in 1497, a year before Columbus. In 1507, a year after Columbus's death, the New World was named "America" on a map by German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller . Waldseemüller retracted this naming in 1513, seemingly after Sebastian Cabot , Las Casas, and many historians convincingly argued that the Soderini letter had been a falsification. On his new map, Waldseemüller labelled the continent discovered by Columbus Terra Incognita ('unknown land').

On 25 September 1513, the Spanish conquistador Vasco Núñez de Balboa , exploring overland, became the first European to encounter the Pacific Ocean from the shores of the Americas, calling it the "South Sea". Later, on 29 October 1520, Magellan's circumnavigation expedition discovered the first maritime passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, at the southern end of what is now Chile ( Strait of Magellan ), and his fleet ended up sailing around the whole Earth. Almost a century later, another, wider passage to the Pacific would be discovered farther to the south, bordering Cape Horn .

In the Americas the Spanish found a number of empires that were as large and populous as those in Europe. Small bodies of Spanish conquistadors, with large armies of indigenous groups, managed to conquer these states. The most notable amongst them were the Aztec Empire in modern Mexico ( conquered in 1521 ) and the Inca Empire in modern Peru ( conquered in 1532 ). During this time, pandemics of European diseases such as smallpox devastated the indigenous populations . Once Spanish sovereignty was established, the Spanish focused on the extraction and export of gold and silver.

• This page was last modified on 6 November 2023, at 09:15. Suggest an edit .

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Christopher Columbus: Biography, Voyages & Facts

Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean. His exploration opened the way for widespread European exploration as it inspired other explorers leading to discoveries of new lands and territories across the globe.

It also unintentionally led to the discovery of the Americas, which were previously unknown to Europeans. He is a popular but controversial figure as he is well celebrated in America, especially the United States but is also criticized for the negative impacts on the indigenous people of America.

Table of Content

Early Life of Christopher Columbus

Journey to spain, first voyage: 1492-1493 ce, second voyage – 1493-1496 ce, third voyage – 1498-1500 ce, fourth voyage: 1502-1504 ce, facts about christopher columbus, christopher columbus: overview.

• Christopher Columbus was born in 1451 in the Republic of Genoa, present-day Italy. Born to Domenico Colombo, a middle-class wool weaver, and tavern keeper, and Susanna Fontanaros, culturally well connected and being born in the port district exposed young Christopher to the daily life of a sailor and trader.
• Though his schooling was certainly minimal, his father educated him in the ways of the sea and the promise of the far-off seashore. In 1855, he went into business with his father, studying manufacturing assumptions and learning the ropes as a sailor and a navigator.
• He later married Filipa Moniz Perestrello, and in 1480 his son Diego was born. The family stayed in Lisbon until 1485 when Columbus’ wife Filipa died. The father and son decided to move to Spain.
• In Spain, Columbus began trying to obtain a grant to explore western trade routes. He believed that because the earth was a sphere, a ship could reach the Far East and set up trading routes in Asia by sailing west.  
• For many years, Columbus tried proposing plans to Portuguese and Spanish kings but was turned down each time. After the expulsion of Moors from Spain, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella reconsidered his requests.
• Columbus promised to bring back gold, spices, and silk from Asia, to spread Christianity, and to explore China. In return, he asked to be made admiral of the seas and governor of discovered lands.

Following is a closer look at the individual voyages by Christopher Columbus:

With the sponsor from catholic monarchs of Spain, Columbus departed from Palos de la Frontera, Spain on 3rd August, 1942 with three ships: the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. He started sailing across the Atlantic ocean with a mission in mind, which was to find a shorter western sea route to Asia focusing on extension of the route of commerce. The voyage was long and it lasted for two months.

Discovery of The New World

• After 69 days of sailing, on 12th October 1492 he landed on an island in the Bahamas called as guanahani, believing that they landed on the East Indies. He named this land as San Salvador (Holy savior) and he knew that it was not claimed by other sovereign nations and so claimed it for Spain.
• Columbus met the indigenous people living here and this was said to be the first encounter of Europeans with natives. The natives treated the guests very kindly, brought food, water, and even gave the Dutch souvenirs from gold jewelry.
• For several weeks, Columbus and his crew visited several islands in the Bahamas; they met friendly natives everywhere. But then the Santa Maria was tragically lost when it struck a reef. However, the entire crew was rescued when deciding to return.
• Columbus left some of his men on the smaller island to continue in his small ship towards home on January 4th, 1493. Nevertheless, Columbus’ landfall was not what he had thought as  He could not reach Asia but reached a rather different continent.

After the success of his first voyage,Christopher Columbus embarked on his second expedition in 1493. Unlike the former trips, this one was not an exploration but a colonization. This time it consisted of 17 ships and about 1,500 people. Included on this voyage, for the first time, were European domesticated animals such as pigs, horses, and cattle. The aim was to expand the settlement on Hispaniola and convert its population to Christianity.

Colonization Efforts

• They explored many islands, including Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and Jamaica but he soon learned about the tragic destruction of the settlement he had left behind on the island of Hispaniola in his absence.
• To resolve the situation, Columbus settled the second European colony in the new world, La Isabela, in the northern coast of Hispaniola in 1494.
• Thus, this is often considered one of the first significant instances of European colonization of the American continent. However, discontent kept growing, and in 1496, the explorer finally made up his mind to return to Spain.
•  He decided to  assign command in the hands of his brother, Diego. La Isabela, though short-lived, paved the way for future settlements.

In 1498, Christopher Columbus set sail on his third voyage, obsessive with the idea of discovering a western route to the wealth of Asia. But this time his fleet had grown to six ships and a more varied crew, including colonists and administrators. Their journey this time would not lead them to a direct path westwards, but rather to the south, to Trinidad and the Paria Peninsula in present-day Venezuela. This change was motivated by a rapidly growing perspective that the Indies might lay more toward the south than they had originally anticipated.

Further Exploration

•  Landing on the land of Trinidad, he encountered vast unmapped land that he mistakenly believed to be an island on the peripheries of the mainland. Professionally exploring the Gulf of Paria, the fleet reached Orinoco, a mighty river belief from which were his claims that opened up before him into a vast open land.
• Columbus was forced to take severe measures such as killing the offender and organizing expeditions aimed at collecting the gold, which would only escalate the situation among people already hostile towards each other.
• When he arrived at the newly-established colony in 1499, he found it in shambles. For two following years Columbus was under the intensive stress trying to maintain order in Hispaniola.
• Columbus brutally oppressed the local population and established a severe regime of forced labor in an attempt to acquire gold and other valuable items.

Although the Europeans had now firmly established themselves in the New World, Columbus had yet to find a way through the islands he had so far visited and reached Cathay. The final attempts of Christopher Columbus in 1502 were those of a man becoming increasingly desperate to make a name for himself. This journey was significantly less grand, with just four vessels and the Spanish crown’s accusation in the rear of it all.

Last Attempt and Legacy

• On his own, Columbus explored the islands off Honduras, mapped Costa Rica and other sites, and was sailing on when a storm drove his ship toward Jamaica where it was wrecked.
• The man and his followers became stuck for months, subsisting on food and supplies pilfered and dishonestly procured from the local people.
• He and his men were eventually rescued, largely through their own efforts, and Columbus returned to Spain where, in ill-health, he died in Valladolid in May of 1506 CE.
• Christopher Columbus began a career as a seafarer at the age of 14 but later had to support himself by selling maps and charts.
• Columbus was not the first European to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
• His voyage did contribute to a better understanding of the Earth’s geography.
• He never actually set foot on the Mainland of North America.
• Columbus was born in Italy, but he studied in Spain.
• Columbus was owed 10% of all revenues derived from The New World.
• Christopher Columbus didn’t discover that the earth is round.
• Columbus was sent back to Spain in chains and stripped of his governorship.
• It took six years for Queen Isabella to agree on funding Columbus’s voyages.
• Three countries; Portugal, England, and France refused to back Columbus’s voyage.

Related Articles Marco Polo | Biography, Discoveries & Facts Spanish Conquistador: Definition, History & Facts

Christopher Columbus’s voyages were crucial events that transformed the world’s geography, economy, and cultures. Despite this fame, however, Columbus was not the first to visit the Americas. Long before Columbus, various Indigenous peoples had settled and explored different areas of the Americas as he encountered america and not discovered it. Leif Ericson is believed to have been the first European to visit the area and set up a settlement in the northern portion of Canada 500 years before the arrival of Columbus.

Even though he is praised for connecting the Old and New Worlds and his discovery, Columbus’s heritage is darkened by the exploitation, violence, and evil that was done to native peoples. But a holistic view of his life and acts is crucial, people should understand and try to learn more about all sides of this person’s life.

FAQs – Christopher Columbus

How did christopher columbus impact history.

His voyages paved the way for further exploration, cultural exchanges, and economic transformations on a global scale.

What was Columbus’s most important achievement from a historical point of view ?

Columbus’ crowning glory was establishing contact between Europe and the Americas- a monumental discovery that ultimately changed the world’s trading system and overall human interaction.

How did the discovery of the New World change the world?

It made it possible for goods, beliefs, and ideas to be exchanged so freely between two completely different parts of the globe. The Old World was heavily influenced by what was happening over in America, too.

What was the result of Columbus’s voyages for Spain?

The country reaped immense rewards after their investment in Columbus. They became incredibly rich and mighty as an empire, which had far-reaching effects on political affairs globally.

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