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December 1, 2017

Christopher Columbus and his Discovery of the New World

The voyage and expedition that changed the world forever was captained by the adventurous Christopher Columbus. Our story begins with him as a young lad, who had a heart for adventure and an extensive imagination.

Christopher Columbus had an obsession with trade at a very young age. This was because his father was in debt “and only by trade can money be quickly got to pay debts.”1 Christopher Columbus had little education, having been an apprentice to a trader when he was young.2 Even though he did not grow rich through trade, he was satisfied with his life as a trader. Columbus gained confidence and skill navigating and trading on the Mediterranean sea.3 He also learned physical and commercial geography while trading. After learning many of these things, he became an excellent tradesman and in his adulthood excelled at his craft.

Christophorus Columbus Liguriensis Indiarum Primus Inventor Anno MCCCCXCII, 23 July 2014 | Royal Museums Greenwich, United Kingdom | Courtesy of National Maritime Museum, London

In adulthood, Columbus continued to trade, though he now became infatuated with discovering new trade routes. Through this infatuation, he began to seek a trade route by sea to India. To start such an expedition, he would need money and approval, which he sought from many royal families. Columbus originally went to seek approval from Portugal’s king, John II. After being shut down by King John II, he went to Spain’s Ferdinand and Isabelle, who also told him no. After that, he went to the first Duke of Medina Sidonia, who yet again told him no. Finally, Columbus went to talk to the Duke of Medina Coeli. While Columbus was talking with the Duke, Queen Isabelle sent a message saying she wanted to meet with Columbus. The Queen had become interested in his expedition, but she left the judgement of it up to the King. The King, seeing Columbus’ importance, had a committee created so it could decide whether or not to allow the expedition, and he kept Columbus at court while the committee decided.

In 1488, Columbus went to Portugal only to find that “a Portuguese navigator Bartholomew Dias… had at least succeeded in rounding the southern tip of Africa…”4 This made him aware that he could have found a route to India if he had not been held at court these many years. Columbus finally received approval in Castile with the Custodian, Friar Juan Perez. Perez had friends in high places and when the Reconquista finally ended in Spain between Christians and Muslims, the King and Queen said, “Let this man be employed.”5 With the King and Queen of Spain providing support for his voyage, Christopher Columbus set off in the year 1492.

From the start of Columbus’s voyage problems arouse. One of these problems was that their ship Pinta had a rudder that came loose and could not be fixed until many days later.6 More problems arose when they discovered that the curvature of the Earth was affecting the compasses, which affected their navigation. At dawn, after a night of navigating by stars, their compass told them that they were many degrees off course. They didn’t start seeing signs of land until the fourth of October. On October 13, they finally reached land.7 On this land, they met the native people who inhabited the land.

Christopher Columbus landing in 1492 Bahamas (Watling Island), 23 July 2014 | Royal Museums Greenwich, United Kingdom | Courtesy of National Maritime Museum, London

“Christopher Columbus became one of the most important figures in western civilization by changing the very thrust of European expansion for the next five hundred years.”8 New industries, such as the sugar cane industry, started to open through his arrival in the New World. The founding of the New World also expanded the power of many imperial lands. The kings and queens of the lands of Europe sent people to the “New World” for colonization and to use its resources.

Christopher Columbus endured many struggles during his quest in trying to find a route to India. He impacted the world politically, economically, and culturally. Christopher Columbus was persistent and did everything he could to achieve his goals. Even though he did not reach the goal he wanted, he did make one of the greatest discoveries in history.

  1. Daniel Sargent, Christopher Columbus (Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Co., 1941), 4.
  2. Salem Press Biographical Encyclopedia, January 2016, s.v. “Christopher Columbus 1451- 1506,” by Daniel C. Scavone.
  3. Daniel Sargent, Christopher Columbus (Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Co., 1941), 9.
  4. Daniel Sargent, Christopher Columbus (Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Co., 1941), 83.
  5. Daniel Sargent, Christopher Columbus (Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Co., 1941), 89.
  6. Oliver Dunn and James E. Kelley Jr., The Dario of Christopher Columbus’s first Voyage to America (United States of America: University of Oklahoma Press,  1989), 25.
  7. Oliver Dunn and James E. Kelley Jr., The Dario of Christopher Columbus’s first Voyage to America (United States of America: University of Oklahoma Press, 1989), 51-69.
  8. James Cortada, “Who was Christopher Columbus,” Renaissance and Reformation 10, no. 2 (1974): 99.

Tags from the story

Christopher Columbus

Exploration

New World

Recent Comments

Hector Garcia

I have to say that this article is interesting and its concise. Its fascinating to read of Columbus’ background and the events that lead up to discovery of the Americas. It incredible to see how persistent he was on his cause to discover a new trade route. Although most people didn’t have faith in him, he would never let that stop him from discovering a new trade route. There is no doubt that his persistence was the one of the major contributing factors to the discovery of the Americas.

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21/01/2018

1:49 pm

Jason Garcia

In modern times, there are people that believe that we should have a “Columbus Day” because of the acts that he performed on the native people of the “New World”. While that is a controversial topic amongst the people nowadays, we cannot deny the impact that he and his crew had on the world. If he hadn’t had made the discovery the entire world could have been so much different. The article tells of Columbus’s willpower and determination. His hard work landed him in history forever.

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26/01/2018

1:49 pm

Hanadi Sonouper

Since the beginning of my early education as a child, the most important fact that we had to remember was that Christopher Columbus was the first expedition to discover “the Americas.” It reigns true today as it is still part of our history courses that his travels serve as a great significance to a present day understanding of our north American country. With his determination to travel west and make it to Asia served as a platform for exploration, even though his judgment of location was off by about 7,000 miles, he managed a greater discovery that harvests the settlements here in the Americas. The descriptive article does a great job at showcasing his journey through a brief summarization, it was interesting to read with great visual representations.

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30/01/2018

1:49 pm

Samuel Stallcup

I was not aware of Columbus being an apprentice to a tradesman, and therefore making trade his primary focus for his expedition. I knew that originally he wanted to go to India, but I was never entirely sure on what the reason was. It’s interesting that Columbus wanted to do this incredible expedition just to start trade route, and was kind of successful, although not for his own gain. Great article!

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04/02/2018

1:49 pm

Arianna Kennet

This was a very informative article about the voyage and the youth of the founder of the United States of America Christopher Columbus. I remember a few years back watching a documentary on Christopher Columbus one thing I did not know previously is that the Europeans were struggling to find new land because Europe has become overpopulated. One thing the documentary did not note that this article did is that in his youth Christopher Columbus was a trader Which I found extremely interesting. His passion wasn’t in travels or expiration rather in trading. Christopher Columbus resilience to find new land should be remembered throughout history.

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04/02/2018

1:49 pm

Joshua Castro

This was a very interesting article that shed light on things I had not known before. For example, I have wondered what Colombus’ motivation was behind his thirst of adventure. I was also very unaware of all the problems that arose on his journey such as the compasses giving inaccurate readings due to the curvature of the earth or that the rudder on the Pinta has come loose. Overall, this was a very informative article.

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04/02/2018

1:49 pm

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