Columbus and his Voyages

Christopher Columbus and the ‘’Enterprise of the Indies’’
Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa Italy between 1450 and 1451 and
practised mapmaking along with his two brothers. Columbus showed a keen
interest in exploration. To get ships and men to embark on voyages,
Christopher Columbus had to find a monarch who was willing to risk money
and men for such an expedition. He began to persuade the court of Portugal
to support his venture. Columbus’ main point was that he could get to the
East by sailing West. By sailing across the Atlantic he claimed that he could
reach Cipangu, Marco Polo’s name for Japan. He called this bold adventure
‘’Enterprise of the Indies’’. The Portuguese refused to accept his explanation/
his point of view. They were sure that Japan was more than 10 000 miles
away. They stated that the plan could not work and that it was too risky.
Columbus crossed the border and presented his plans to King Ferdinand and
Queen Isabella of Spain. The Spanish King and Queen were at this time
fighting the Moors, a group of Muslims, from North Africa who had colonized
a part of the Spanish Empire. They did not have the money to support
Columbus. For seven years he tried to get the Spanish Monarchs to support
him. He even decided that he was going to get the French to support him. He
was on his way to the French when he received word that the Spanish were
willing to finance his voyages of exploration in order to beat Portugal in the
race to the East. Columbus first set sail on August 3rd, 1492 and landed in
San Salvador in the Bahamas first. His three ships were called the Niña,
Pinta, and the Santa María (his flagship).

Voyages to the New World (The Americas)
First Expedition
On August 3, 1492, Columbus sailed from Palos, Spain, with three small
ships, the Santa María, commanded by Columbus himself, the Pinta under
Martín Pinzón, and the Niña under Vicente Yáñez Pinzón. After halting at the
Canary Islands, he sailed due west from September 6th until October 7th,
when he changed his course to the southwest. On October 10th, a small
mutiny was quelled, and on October 12th, he landed on a small island called
San Salvador in the Bahamas. He took possession for Spain and, with
impressed natives aboard, discovered other islands in the neighbourhood.
On October 27th, he sighted Cuba and on December 5th reached Hispaniola.
On Christmas Eve, the Santa María was wrecked on the north coast of
Hispaniola, and Columbus, leaving men there to found a colony, hurried back
to Spain on the Niña. His reception was all he could wish; according to his
contract with the Spanish sovereigns he was made ‘’Admiral of the Ocean
Sea’’ and Governor-General of all new lands he had discovered or should
discover.

Second Expedition
Fitted out with a large fleet of 17 ships, with 1,500 colonists aboard,
Columbus sailed from Cádiz in October of 1493. His landfall this time was
made in the Lesser Antilles, and his new discoveries included the Leeward
Islands and Puerto Rico. The admiral arrived at Hispaniola to find the first
colony destroyed by the indigenous natives. He founded a new colony
nearby, then sailed off in the summer of 1494 to explore the southern coast
of Cuba. After discovering Jamaica, he returned to Hispaniola and found the
colonists, interested only in finding gold, completely disorderly; his attempts
to enforce strict discipline led some to seize vessels and return to Spain to
complain of his administration. Leaving his brother Bartholomew in charge at
Hispaniola, Columbus also returned to Spain in 1496.

Third Expedition
On his third expedition, in 1498, Columbus was forced to transport convicts
as colonists, because of the bad reports on conditions in Hispaniola and
because the novelty of the New World was wearing off. He sailed still farther
south and made his landfall on Trinidad. He sailed across the mouth of the
Orinoco River (in present day Venezuela) and realized that he saw a
continent, but without further exploration, he hurried back to Hispaniola to
administer his colony. In 1500, an independent governor arrived, sent by
Isabella and Ferdinand as the result of reports on the wretched conditions in
the colony, and he sent Columbus back to Spain in chains. The admiral was
immediately released, but his favour was on the wane; other navigators,
including Amerigo Vespucci, had been in the New World and established
much of the coast line of NE South America.

Fourth Expedition
It was 1502 before Columbus finally gathered together four ships for a fourth
expedition, by which he hoped to re-establish his reputation. If he could sail
past the islands and far enough west, he hoped he might still find lands
answering to the description of Asia or Japan. He struck the coast of
Honduras in Central America and coasted southward along an inhospitable
shore, suffering terrible hardships, until he reached the Gulf of Darién.
Attempting to return to Hispaniola, he was marooned on Jamaica. After his
rescue, he was forced to abandon his hopes and return to Spain. Although
his voyages were of great importance, Columbus died in relative neglect,
having had to petition King Ferdinand in an attempt to secure his promised
titles and wealth.

Problems Columbus faced while at sea
 Columbus first stopped at the Canary Islands to do some repairs.
 After 3 weeks without sight of land, the sailors began to murmur
among themselves wondering if there was really land beyond the
horizon.
 In the mid- Atlantic, they noticed the compasses in their ships were no
longer pointing to the true north. Columbus had to explain that it was a
normal occurrence. There was a variation in the compass because the
ships were going so far west that the natural pull of the magnetic north
was altered.
 After two days at sea without sight of land, the seamen became violent
and rebellious. They wanted to return to Europe and Columbus
convinced them that land was near and promised that if landfall was
not made soon he would turn back.