Essay: Christopher Columbus

In the year 1451, the great explorer Christopher Columbus was born.  He was born in Genoa, Italy.  As he was growing up, Columbus went on multiple sea voyages in the nearby seas.  During his first voyage into the Atlantic, he almost died when his ship was attacked by pirates.  The ship was on fire, but luckily he was near the coast of Portugal.  He swam to the coast.  While Columbus was in Lisbon, Portugal, he met and married Filipa Perestrelo.  Columbus had one child with her before she died, and his name was Diego.  Columbus had another child later with a woman that’s name was Beatriz Enriquez de Arana.  His name was Ferdinand, but he was better known as Fernando.  After a few trips through the Atlantic under his belt, he had some knowledge about how the Atlantic worked.  He was getting an idea of how the currents worked.  It was around this time Columbus had the idea to sail East to see if he could get to the West.  He thought this was the only reasonable way to avoid the Muslims that were in control of the trade routes.  Columbus went to the Portuguese king for funding for the voyage, but he was denied.  He went around and asked in some other cities, but they denied him also.  When Columbus went to the Spain, he was rejected at first.  The king and queen liked the idea he had though so they kept in touch.  After the Spanish defeated the Muslims, the king and queen on Spain decided to fund Columbus’s voyage.  In 1492, Columbus went out searching for a new route to India.  He had been given three ships, and they were the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria.  It took thirty-six days to make landfall.  If it had taken a day or two more, the crew probably would have turned on Columbus.  They landed in what is now known as the Bahamas.  There, they ran into natives of the area, and Columbus called them Indians.  He traded with them.  Columbus explored some of the nearby islands. Thirty-nine men stayed behind in the first settlement of the Europeans.  This settlement was built from the wood of the Santa Maria since it wrecked on a reef and was called Villa de la Navidad.  With the two ships Columbus had left, he went back to Europe convinced he had found a new trade route to Asia.  After he returned to Spain, he was praised for his discovery.  He went back for another trip hoping to find some treasures in 1493.  When he went back to check on the settlement, he found it to be in ruins.  All of the crewmen who had stayed behind had been killed. Columbus blamed the Indians for this so he enslaved some Indians and forced them to help rebuild.  He established a colony where the other settlement used to be and named it Santo Domingo.  The enslaving of Indians made them angry.  They slowly started to resent the Europeans.  Columbus decided to go back to Spain, but before he left he put his brothers in charge over the settlement.  In 1498, Columbus went back for a third time.  Columbus found out the settlement he made had taken a turn for the worst.  The settlers had started a revolt because of the bad management.  Spain appointed a new governor for the settlement.  They also sent over someone to arrest Columbus. He returned to Spain and had to go to court.  Although most charges were dismissed, Columbus had lost his titles.  Columbus did manage to convince the King of Spain to let him go on one more voyage in 1502. He was exploring through present-day Panama when his ships started to have problems Columbus was stranded for a while, and he had to be rescued.  He made it back to Spain in 1504.  As Columbus was reaching the last years of his life, he made an effort to regain everything he had lost.  On May 20, 1506, Christopher Columbus died.  Columbus had many accomplishments and discoveries.  He saved some Indians by teaching them about Christ.  This was something new to the Indians, and it helped some of them get saved.  Columbus made the first European settlement in the New World.  One of the biggest accomplishments was that he crossed the Atlantic Ocean.  While he was in the New World, he discovered multiple new islands.  He also established the Columbian Exchange.  These accomplishments had many impacts.  It opened up the idea of going to the New World.  This led to new foods being discovered and helped Spain become wealthier.  Many Indians were saved because of the influence of religion by the Europeans, but it also started the destruction of the Indians.  Columbus faced many dangers throughout his life.  Here are some of them:  he almost died when his ship was attacked by pirates,  his crew almost turned on his while going across the Atlantic,  he fought with the Indians,  he was arrested and had to go to court,  he was stranded while exploring because of ship problems, he had to deal with bad weather while voyaging, and he had to deal with diseases.
Biography Information found here: http://www.biography.com/people/christopher-columbus-9254209#mixed-legacy
http://geography.about.com/od/christophercolumbus/a/columbus.htm
http://www.history.com/topics/exploration/christopher-columbus
Voyage Routes
Routes of Columbus to the New World
Timeline
• 1451-Columbus was born in Genoa
• 1465-First time sailing
• 1476-Almost died when his ship was attacked by pirates
• 1479-Married Felipa Perestrelo; was living in Portugal
• 1480-Had his son, Diego
• 1484-Gets rejected by the king of Portugal to sail into the Atlantic
• 1485-Moved to Spain to try to be funded by the king of Spain
• 1488-Had a child with Dona Beatriz Enriquez named Ferdinand
• 1492-The King and Queen of Spain decide to support Columbus
o August of 1492- Set sail into the Atlantic with three ships
o October 1492- Made landfall at what they thought was Asia
o December of 1492-Established first settlement
• 1493-Goes back to Spain to tell what he found; goes on his second voyage to the New World
• 1494-Went back to Spain
• 1498-Third voyage to the New World; Columbus to be investigated because of his management of his settlement
• 1500-Columbus was arrested and brought back to Spain
• 1502-Charges were dropped; went on his last voyage to the New World
• 1504-Returned to Spain
• 1506-Columbus died