Christopher Columbus: The Architect of New World Discovery

Christopher Columbus is one of the top most well-known names in history. Columbus was an Italian explorer who in part went on several voyages across seas to discover some of the most prominent land not yet known to exist. Columbus went on four separate voyage each involving new found land. On Columbus’s last voyage he set out to discover a direct water route from Europe to Asia and after many attempts Columbus on his last voyage lead the permeant European discovery of the New World or better known as America. Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer who was in part one of the main participants in the “Age of Discovery.” Columbus growing up studied mathematics, astronomy, cartography and navigation. As Columbus got older he started to

Columbus was in command of three separate ships. The Pinta, the Niña, and the Santa María. Columbus taking overall command captained the Santa María. the Pinta was captained by Martín Alonso Pinzón and the Niña by Vicente Yañez Pinzón. First landfall was on the island of San Salvador. The land turned out to be a small island in the present-day Bahamas. Columbus named the island San Salvador, although he remarked in his journal that the natives referred to it as Guanahani. (Knopf). The second landfall was in Cuba. Columbus being far off on his navigation believed they had found part of China. He sent two men to investigate them being the first two people to observe the smoking of tobacco. The third landfall was Hispaniola or modern day Haití. Columbus grounded the Santa María and had to abandon ship taking command of the Niña. Columbus negotiating with the chief arranged to leave 39 men for settlement. On January 16th, the final two ships the Pinta and the Santa María reunited and departed for Spain and made landfall on March 4th. On my research of the first voyage Columbus made I found an intriguing paragraph written by Christopher Minster,
“In retrospect, it is somewhat surprising that what is today considered one of the most important voyages in history was something of a failure at the time. Columbus had promised to find a new, quicker route to the lucrative Chinese trade markets and he failed miserably.

Ovando was a cruel but effective governor who ruthlessly wiped out native settlements and continued the exploration of the New World, setting the stage for the Age of Conquest.

Although this trip brought many problems it is still said to be very successful due to a settlement being founded. Columbus on his fourth and last voyage ran into many problems in his voyage to find more land. They ran into a massive hurricane and ran into many storms causing massive damages to all ships. In 1503 the ships were so badly damaged they began to fail causing them to be stuck for a year on the island of Jamaica. When saved Columbus made his way back learning that Queen Isabel was dying and causing Columbus to realize that he can no longer afford to return to the New World. Columbus went on to die in 1506. Columbus went on four voyages in his lifetime to the New World accomplishing many great things along the way. Although all the land Columbus had found was already inhabited by other civilizations he was ultimately the first person to lead the permeant European discovery of the New World or better known as