When we think of Christopher Columbus we think of his great voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas. He may not have been the first to “discover” America but he definitely made some great attributes to the knowledge of the new continent. He did not discover the whole continent in one voyage; this is the same with other countries that made their voyages or migrations to the continent that was untouched. Not only did it take him time to get across the ocean to his discoveries that were to be made but it also took lots of money and many people of power to back his exploration up.
Columbus was not the first to discover America there were many other voyages made by other countries to the new continent, which held so much of the unknown. Almost all of the other countries made at least one voyage to the new world to find out what it held. Almost 12,000 to 42,000 years ago the Asians found the Bering Strait and migrated across it to North America. Then the Vikings had a short voyage circa 1000, they established a settlement at L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland. Even Columbus took many different voyages between 1492 and 1500 to discover different parts of the continent (Bartosik-Velez 3).
The first European power to take interest in the voyage was Portugal. They wanted to follow the idea of new trade routes overseas. It took Spain until the 15th century to become committed to looking for trade routes. In 1485 King John the II of Portugal said he would equip Columbus with three ships and a single year to sail west in the Atlantic Ocean. This was not enough for Columbus he requested to be deemed the “Great Admiral of the Ocean Sea”. This stated that he was the governor of all of the land he would discover. He also wanted one-te...
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...story. He discovered America and made it known on the map, while in the mean time finding trade routes and many things that he discovered to trade. If Columbus went on four different voyages to discover different parts of the land and named these things.
Works Cited
Bartosik-Vélez, Elise. "Globalization And Christopher Columbus In The Americas." Clcweb: Comparative Literature & Culture: A Wwweb Journal 8.4 (2006): 1-10. Humanities International Complete. Web. 20 Feb. 2014.
Young, Filson, and Windham Thomas Wyndham-Quin Dunraven. Christopher Columbus and the New World of His Discovery. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1906.
Winsor, Justin. Christopher Columbus and How He Received and Imparted the Spirit of Discovery. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1892.
Zinn, Howard (2009). A People's History of the United States: 1492 to Present. New York, NY: Harper Collins. p. 3.
One question posed by the authors is “How did Columbus’s relationship with the Spanish crown change over time, and why?” In simple terms, Columbus’s relationship with the
Christopher Columbus was a European explorer who a more fitting title would be a conqueror. He didn't discover anything as the common believe would say, rather he conquered already inhabited land. Christopher Columbus "exploration" had a bunch of direct and indirect effects. The exploration sponsored by the King and Queen of Spain had direct effects such as giving Spain control over new land and giving Christopher Columbus the fame he so desired, furthermore the so-called exploration also had some indirect effects such as allowing other nations to sail West and it also affected the Natives and increased the slave trade.
Washington Irving, Voyages and Discoveries of the Companions of Columbus (New York: Frederick Unger Publishing Company,) 323.
In 1492, Christopher Columbus was a self-made man who worked his way up to being the Captain of a merchant vessel. He gained the support of the Spanish monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, for an expedition to the Indies. With the support of the Spanish monarchy, he set off to find a new and faster trade route to the Indies. Upon the arrival of his first voyage, Columbus wrote a letter to Luis de Santangel, a “royal official and an early supporter of his venture,” in February 1493 (35). The epistle, letter, entitled “Letter to Luis de Santangel Regarding the First Voyage” was copied and then distributed in Spain before being translated and spread throughout Europe. The Letter is held in such regard with the people as it is considered the first printed description of the new world. Through his description of the nature of the islands, Columbus decided the future fate of the islands. His description of the vast beauty of the nature around him, declares both the economic and nationalistic motivations for colonizing the new world.
Christopher Columbus has been discredited with discovering America, because for thousands of years, Native Americans had thrived on the land he claimed he discovered. There are also claims that the Phoenicians, Jews, Romans, Hoei-shins, Vikings, and the Portuguese landed in America long before Columbus; but these claims have yet to be backed by solid evidence. Columbus was not the first person to be on the shores of America, or maybe not even the first European; but when he landed, he brought the new land to the attention of a growi...
Columbus does not deserve to be praised for the discovery of America. In short, if he didn't do it, someone else would have within 10 years. He was not the only one who believed that the earth was round, and the ideas of similar voyages had been previously proposed.
Howarth, William. "Putting Columbus in his place." Southwest Review, Spring/Summer 92, Volume 77, Issue 2/3, p153.
It is thought by many that Christopher Columbus was a skilled sailor on a mission of greed. Many think that he in fact did it all for the money, honor and the status that comes with an explorer, but this is not the case entirely. Columbus was an adventurer and was enthused by the thrill of the quest of the unknown. “Columbus had a firm religious faith and a scientific curiosity, a zest for life, the felling for beauty and the striving for novelty that we associate with the advancement of learning”. He had heard of the legendary Atlantic voyages and sailors reports of land to the west of Madeira and the Azores. He believed that Japan was about 4,800 km to the west of Portugal. In 1484, Columbus wanted support for an exploratory voyage from King John II of Portugal, but he was refused. In 1485, Columbus took his son Diego and went to Spain to get some help.
As there is a letter to which Columbus himself admits on 'discovering' west Indies. In the time, the news was spread in Europe and the arawaks were not aware. One would like to thoroughly explore the meaning of discover, to discover a place means to be the only person to find something before anyone else. How can Columbus 'discover' when people already inhabited it? How can he claim he was the s...
“When Worlds Collide the Untold Story of the Americas after Columbus.” Red Hill Productions. Pbs.org, 2010.Web. 30 April 2014.
Meanwhile, they make up all kinds of details to tell a better story and to humanize Columbus so that readers will identify with him” (1). On American textbooks, Christopher Columbus was portray as the first person who discovered America, but it is actually a lie that Columbus is the first America’s “great” hero. In my opinion, American textbooks put more emphasis on making significant heroic character rather than giving a true detail of history. Also, it provides a mythical hero and covers up anything that shows in the history of the America in a negative light and made them look bad. Explorers who reached America before Columbus are well underplayed. They should stick to the facts of what Columbus really did and should focus on as many accurate details of Columbus’ life, without overcompensating for his
In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. However, even after centuries later, little is truly known of the mysterious voyage and findings of the new world.1 By examining “Letter from Columbus to Luis Santangel”, one can further contextualize the events of Columbus' exploration of the New World. The letter uncovers Columbus' subtle hints of his true intentions and exposes his exaggerated tone that catered to his lavish demands with Spain. Likewise, The Columbian Voyage Map read in accordance with the letter helps the reader track Columbus' first, second, third, and fourth voyage to the New World carefully and conveniently. Thus, the letter and map's rarity and description render invaluable insight into Columbus' intentionality of the New World and its indigenous inhabitants.
The main sources used in this investigation are Christopher Columbus: The Master of the Atlantic written by David A.Thomas, which goes extensively into the facts about Christopher Columbus’ life and accomplishments and the website History, which has an abundance of information and videos on the exploration and discovery of the Americas.
Before the most famous historic voyage to the Americas Christopher Columbus had no support to go on his expedition. Christopher Columbus tried to get support from the King of Portugal John II, but he was turned down. Spain finally agreed to sponsor his voyage in 1492 across the Atlantic Ocean. By agreeing to sponsor Christopher Columbus voyage they believed they would have gained leverage in what they were trying to do in Spain. The Reconquista made the Spaniards very powerful. By Christopher Columbus finding new land with people and gold it convinced King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to continue to support his voyages. Even though the king and queen believed that allowing him to go on the voyages benefited them it actually allowed Christopher