Columbus, Christopher (1451--1506)
Columbus
was born Cristóbal Colón (Sp) or Cristoforo Colombo (It), in
the Italian port city of Genoa, the son of Domenico Colombo, a weaver, and
Suzanna Fontanarossa. There is no real evidence that he was Italian, and it
is thought that his family might have been Spanish Jews; his writings are
in Spanish, including his private notes. Little is recorded of his early life,
but it seems that he went to sea at the age of 14, as a pirate, later visiting
the Greek Island of Chios. In 1476, while fighting against Genoa with the
Portuguese off Cape St Vincent, the ship he was aboard caught fire, and he
swam to the shore of Portugal with the help of a wooden oar. Lisbon was then
a busy commercial centre, at the westernmost edge of the known world, and
congregated there were seafarers, astronomers, geographers, and scientists,
all keenly debating the possibility of the existence and discovery of a "new
world', or of reaching the East by sailing west.
Soon
after coming ashore, he sailed to Iceland and back. However, the imaginative
young Columbus was obsessed with the idea that his landing near Lisbon had
been by divine intervention. Encouraged by a Florentine astronomer, Paolo
Toscanelli, he dreamed of a much greater journey, beyond the W horizons to
reach India; a feat he hoped would bring him glory as well as financial reward.
His ambition was much aided by the wife he took in 1478. She was Felipa Perestrello
e Moniz, and her father was a sea captain from one of Portugal's most influential
families. Columbus settled for a while on Porto Santo in the Madeira Is with
his new family, and gained considerable sailing experience in the South Atlantic,
where his imagination was further roused by sightings of flotsam from other
lands.
He
began to seek a patron for his intended expedition. His plans were vague,
and his proposal to John II of Portugal in 1484 was rejected, so he turned
to Spain. After years of alternately being encouraged and repulsed, his voyage
was patronized by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Castile in April 1492.
On Friday 3 August, he set sail from the Spanish port of Palos in command
of the Santa María - a decked ship 36`m long, with 50 men, and attended
by two little caravels, the Pinta and the Niña , captained by Martin
Alonso Pinzón and his brothers. The whole squadron comprised only 120
adventurers.
He
first reached the Canary Is; and though he found it hard to keep up the courage
of his crews, San Salvador in the Bahamas was sighted on Friday 12 October
1492. The expedition went ashore and planted the royal banner, taking possession
of the land in the name of Spain. Columbus then visited Cuba and Hispaniola
(Haiti), leaving 38 men there among the natives with supplies and munitions
for a year. By this time his flagship had been wrecked, and he set sail on
4 January 1493 with his two caravels on the return journey to Spain. The voyage
was tormented by animosity between Columbus and Pinzón, who disapproved
of leaving the men behind, and by appalling storms. However they reached Palos
on 15 March 1493, and Columbus was received with the highest honours by the
court.
Columbus'
second voyage was altogether a more ambitious one, with a fleet of three carracks
and 17 small caravels sailing from C diz (25 Sep 1493). After calling at the
Canary Is for supplies, they sighted Dominica in the West Indies (3 Nov 1493),
going on to Guadeloupe and Puerto Rico. En route, they found that the colony
left on Hispaniola had been massacred.
The
expedition went on to found the city of Isabella. But after a succession of
wretched quarrels with his associates, and a long illness in Hispaniola, Columbus
returned to Spain much dejected in 1496.
On
his third voyage (1498--1500) he discovered the South American mainland, but
was sent home in irons by a newly appointed royal governor after a revolt
against his despotic command. The King and Queen repudiated this action, and
restored Columbus to favour. His last great voyage (1502--4) along the S side
of the Gulf of Mexico was accomplished against royal orders, and in great
hardship. Columbus had failed to find the straits he believed would lead him
to India; the coveted prize of Indian trade went to the Portugese, when Vasco
da Gama reached it traveling east in 1498.
Columbus
spent his last years more or less forgotten, trying to regain his lost grandeur
- unaware, as was everyone else at that time, that he had reached America.
He died, sick in body and mind, at Valladolid, in Spain, and was buried in
a monastery near Seville. In 1536 his remains were taken to Santa Domingo
in Hispaniola, but in 1899 they were brought back to Spain and buried in Seville
Cathedral in 1902. Undoubtedly one of the greatest mariners of all time, his
tyrannical administration lost him not only the governorship of the lands
he discovered, but the distinction and prosperity he had so craved.
Important Dates
The Early Years:
1451? Born in Genoa, the son of a wool merchant and weaver.
1476 Swims ashore when his ship is sunk in a battle off Portugal.
1476 Joins his brother Bartholomew, a cartographer, in Lisbon.
1477-1482 Makes merchant voyages as far as Iceland and Guinea.
1492/1/2 Ferdinand & Isabella capture Granada, the last Moorish city in
Spain.
The First Voyage:
1492/8/2 Departs from Palos, Spain (near Huelva)
1492/9/6 Departs Gomera (Canary Islands) after repair and refit.
1492/10/12 New world sighted at 2:00 a.m. by Juan Rodriguez Bermejo.
1492/10/29 Arrives at Cuba.
1492/12/24 Flagship Santa Maria sinks off Hispaniola.
1493/1/16 Departs Hispaniola for Spain.
1493/2/15 Sights Santa Maria Island, Azores.
1493/3/4 Arrives in Lisbon.
1493/3/8 Returns to Palos, Spain.
Source:
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