Christopher Columbus(1451 — 1506)
Christopher Columbus
république de Gênes
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Italian navigator and explorer (1451–1506) who in 1492 completed a transatlantic voyage funded by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain. Although he was seeking a route to Asia, his expedition led to the European discovery of the American continent and marked the beginning of the colonization of the Americas.
Frequently asked questions
Key Facts
- 1492: First transatlantic voyage aboard the Santa María, reaching the Caribbean
- 1492–1493: Discovery of several islands (Guanahani, Cuba, Hispaniola) which he believed to be part of Asia
- 1493–1504: Three further voyages across the Atlantic to explore the New World
- 1506: Death in Valladolid, Spain, without having understood that he had discovered a new continent
- His voyages marked the beginning of European colonization of the Americas and the end of the geographical Middle Ages
Works & Achievements
Crossing of the Atlantic with three ships (Santa María, Pinta, Niña) resulting in the European discovery of the Bahamas, Cuba, and Hispaniola. A founding event of modern history.
Expedition of 17 ships and 1,500 men to establish a permanent colony on Hispaniola. Discovery of Guadeloupe, Puerto Rico, and Jamaica.
Voyage during which Columbus reached the coasts of Venezuela, touching the South American continent for the first time. He was sent back to Spain in chains for mismanagement.
Final voyage exploring the coasts of Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. Columbus was still searching for a passage to Asia.
A foundational document for the history of the Age of Discovery, known through the transcription made by Bartolomé de Las Casas. It describes day by day the crossing and the first encounters.
A compilation of biblical and prophetic texts through which Columbus sought to justify his voyages as a divine mission of Christianization.
Anecdotes
During his first voyage, Columbus's crew was on the verge of mutiny after weeks at sea without sighting land. Columbus reportedly kept a double logbook: one for himself with the actual distances traveled, and another underreporting the distances to reassure his anxious sailors.
On October 12, 1492, it was actually a sailor named Rodrigo de Triana who first spotted land from the crow's nest of the Pinta. Yet Columbus claimed the reward promised by the Catholic Monarchs to the first man to sight land, asserting he had seen a light the previous evening.
Columbus died in 1506 in Valladolid, convinced he had reached the coasts of Asia. He never knew that he had in fact landed on a continent unknown to Europeans. It was Amerigo Vespucci who would understand it was a 'New World', and it is his first name that gave the continent the name 'America'.
During his fourth voyage in 1504, stranded in Jamaica with a starving crew and natives refusing to resupply them, Columbus used his astronomical knowledge to predict a lunar eclipse. Impressed by this accurate prediction, the Taíno resumed providing supplies.
Columbus was sent back to Spain in chains in 1500 after his third voyage. The governor Francisco de Bobadilla, sent by the Catholic Monarchs, had arrested him for mismanagement of the colonies and brutal treatment of settlers and natives. Although quickly released, Columbus never recovered his titles as governor.
Primary Sources
At two hours after midnight the land appeared, from which we were about two leagues distant. We took in all the sails and lay to, waiting for daylight Friday, on which we arrived at a small island of the Lucayos.
I reached the Indies with the fleet which the most illustrious King and Queen our sovereigns gave me, and there I discovered a very great number of islands, peopled with inhabitants beyond number.
Your Highnesses appoint from this time forward the said Don Cristóbal Colón their Admiral in all those islands and mainlands which by his activity and industry shall be discovered or acquired in the said oceanic seas, for the duration of his life.
I have always read that the world, both land and water, was spherical. But I have now seen so much irregularity that I have come to hold another view of the world — not round, but shaped like a pear.
Key Places
Christopher Columbus's birthplace, a major merchant port on the Mediterranean where he discovered navigation and maritime trade from childhood.
Andalusian port from which Columbus's three ships departed on August 3, 1492, for his first transatlantic voyage.
Bahamian island where Columbus landed on October 12, 1492, marking first contact with the New World. He named it San Salvador.
Large Caribbean island where Columbus established the first permanent European settlement in the Americas, La Isabela, during his second voyage.
Franciscan friary near Palos where Columbus found support from the monks in championing his project before the Spanish court.
Castilian city where Christopher Columbus died on May 20, 1506, in relative disgrace, still convinced he had reached Asia.
Liens externes & ressources
Références
Œuvres
Premier voyage transatlantique
1492-1493
Deuxième voyage et colonisation
1493-1496
Troisième voyage : le continent
1498-1500
Quatrième voyage : l'Amérique centrale
1502-1504
Journal de bord du premier voyage
1492
Livre des Prophéties
1501-1505
