Ankur khanna biography of christopher columbus

Columbus learned Latin, Portuguese, and Castilian. According to historian Edmund Morgan. Columbus was not a scholarly man. Yet he studied these books, made hundreds of marginal notations in them and came out with ideas about the world that were characteristically simple and strong and sometimes wrong Inthe Florentine astronomer Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli suggested to King Afonso V of Portugal that sailing west across the Atlantic would be a quicker way to reach Asia than the route around Africa, but Afonso rejected his proposal.

Columbus supposedly wrote to Toscanelli in and received encouragement, along with a copy of a map the astronomer had sent Afonso implying that a westward route to Asia was possible. Columbus had to wait until for King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain to support his voyage across the Atlantic to find gold, spices, a safer route to the East, and converts to Christianity.

Carol Delaney and other commentators have argued that Columbus was a Christian millennialist and apocalypticist and that these beliefs motivated his quest for Asia in a variety of ways. Columbus often wrote about seeking gold in the log books of his voyages and writes about acquiring it "in such quantity that the sovereigns Despite a popular misconception to the contrary, nearly all educated Westerners of Columbus's time knew that the Earth is sphericala concept that had been understood since antiquity.

However Columbus made several errors in calculating the size of the Earth, the distance the continent extended to the east, and therefore the distance to the west to reach his goal. First, as far back as the 3rd century BC, Eratosthenes had correctly computed the circumference of the Earth by using simple geometry and studying the shadows cast by objects at two remote locations.

These measurements were widely known among scholars, but Ptolemy's use of the smaller, old-fashioned units of distance led Columbus to underestimate the size of the Earth by about a third. Second, three cosmographical parameters determined the bounds of Columbus's enterprise: the distance across the ocean between Europe and Asia, which depended on the extent of the oikumenei.

From Pierre d'Ailly 's Imago MundiColumbus learned of Alfraganus 's estimate that a degree of latitude equal to approximately a degree of longitude along the equator spanned Columbus believed an even higher estimate, leaving a smaller percentage for water. Based on his ankur khanna biographies of christopher columbus, Columbus estimated a distance of 2, nmi 4, km; 2, mi from the Canary Islands west to Japan; the actual distance is 10, nmi 19, km; 12, mi.

Most European navigators reasonably concluded that a westward voyage from Europe to Asia was unfeasible. The Catholic Monarchs, however, having completed the Reconquistaan expensive war against the Moors in the Iberian Peninsulawere eager to obtain a competitive edge over other European countries in the quest for trade with the Indies. Columbus's project, though far-fetched, held the promise of such an advantage.

Though Columbus was wrong about the number of degrees of longitude that separated Europe from the Far East and about the distance that each degree represented, he did take advantage of the trade windswhich would prove to be the key to his successful navigation of the Atlantic Ocean. He planned to first sail to the Canary Islands before continuing west with the northeast trade wind.

The navigational technique for travel in the Atlantic appears to have been exploited first by the Portuguese, who referred to it as the volta do mar 'turn of the sea'. Through his marriage to his first wife, Felipa Perestrello, Columbus had access to the nautical charts and logs that had belonged to her deceased father, Bartolomeu Perestrellowho had served as a captain in the Portuguese navy under Prince Henry the Navigator.

In the mapmaking shop where he worked with his brother Bartholomew, Columbus also had ample opportunity to hear the stories of old seamen about their voyages to the western seas, [ 77 ] but his knowledge of the Atlantic wind patterns was still imperfect at the time of his first voyage. By sailing due west from the Canary Islands during hurricane seasonskirting the so-called horse latitudes of the mid-Atlantic, he risked being becalmed and running into a tropical cycloneboth of which he avoided by chance.

That meeting also proved unsuccessful, in part because not long afterwards Bartolomeu Dias returned to Portugal with news of his successful rounding of the southern tip of Africa near the Cape of Good Hope. Columbus sought an audience with the monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castilewho had united several kingdoms in the Iberian Peninsula by marrying and now ruled together.

On 1 Maypermission having been granted, Columbus presented his plans to Queen Isabella, who in turn referred it to a committee. The learned men of Spain, like their counterparts in Portugal, replied that Columbus had grossly underestimated the distance to Asia. They pronounced the idea impractical and advised the Catholic Monarchs to pass on the proposed venture.

To keep Columbus from taking his ideas elsewhere, and perhaps to keep their options open, the sovereigns gave him an allowance, totaling about 14, maravedis for the year, or about the annual salary of a sailor. Columbus also dispatched his brother Bartholomew to the court of Henry VII of England to inquire whether the English crown might sponsor his expedition, but he was captured by pirates en route, and only arrived in early A council led by Isabella's confessor, Hernando de Talaverafound Columbus's proposal to reach the Indies implausible.

Columbus had left for France when Ferdinand intervened, [ e ] first sending Talavera and Bishop Diego Deza to appeal to the queen. He would be entitled to one-tenth diezmo of all the revenues from the new lands in perpetuity. He also would have the option of buying one-eighth interest in any commercial venture in the new lands, and receive one-eighth ochavo of the profits.

Induring his third voyage to the Americas, Columbus was arrested and dismissed from his posts. He and his sons, Diego and Fernando, then conducted a lengthy ankur khanna biography of christopher columbus of court cases against the Castilian crown, known as the pleitos colombinosalleging that the Crown had illegally reneged on its contractual obligations to Columbus and his heirs.

Diego resumed litigation inwhich lasted untiland further disputes initiated by heirs continued until Between andColumbus completed four round-trip voyages between Spain and the Americaseach voyage being sponsored by the Crown of Castile. On his first voyage he reached the Americas, initiating the European exploration and colonization of the continentas well as the Columbian exchange.

His role in history is thus important to the Age of DiscoveryWestern historyand human history writ large. In Columbus's letter on the first voyagepublished following his first return to Spain, he claimed that he had reached Asia, [ 97 ] as previously described by Marco Polo and other Europeans. Over his subsequent voyages, Columbus refused to acknowledge that the lands he visited and claimed for Spain were not part of Asia, in the face of mounting evidence to the contrary.

On the evening of 3 AugustColumbus departed from Palos de la Frontera with three ships. On 7 October, the crew spotted "[i]mmense flocks of birds". At around the following morning, a lookout on the PintaRodrigo de Trianaspotted land. I saw some who had marks of wounds on their bodies and I made signs to them asking what they were; and they showed me how people from other islands nearby came there and tried to take them, and how they defended themselves; and I believed and believe that they come here from tierra firme to take them captive.

They should be good and intelligent servants, for I see that they say very quickly everything that is said to them; and I believe they would become Christians very easily, for it seemed to me that they had no religion. Our Lord pleasing, at the time of my departure I will take six of them from here to Your Highnesses in order that they may learn to speak.

Columbus called the inhabitants of the lands that he visited Los Indios 'Indians'. I could conquer the whole of them with fifty men, and govern them as I pleased. Columbus also explored the northeast coast of Cuba, where he landed on 28 October. The wreck was used as a target for cannon fire to impress the native peoples. Columbus left 39 men, including the interpreter Luis de Torres[ ] [ i ] and founded the settlement of La Navidadin present-day Haiti.

Ankur khanna biography of christopher columbus

Half of his crew went ashore to say prayers of thanksgiving in a chapel for having survived the storm. But while praying, they were imprisoned by the governor of the island, ostensibly on suspicion of being ankur khanna biographies of christopher columbus. After a two-day stand-off, the prisoners were released, and Columbus again set sail for Spain.

Another storm forced Columbus into the port at Lisbon. After spending more than a week in Portugal, Columbus set sail for Spain. Returning to Palos on 15 Marchhe was given a hero's welcome and soon afterward received by Isabella and Ferdinand in Barcelona. Initially, Diego had been recognized for his intelligence and rapid acquisition of Spanish customs, and would serve as a guide and interpreter on each of Columbus's subsequent voyages.

By the second voyage's departure later inDiego was the only Native out of the ten taken to Europe who had not died or become seriously ill as the result of disease; while on this voyage, he played a vital role in the discovery of La Navidad. He subsequently married and had a son, also named Diego, who died of illness in Following Columbus's death, Diego spent the rest of his life confined to Santo Domingoand does not reappear in the historical record following a smallpox epidemic that swept Hispaniola in Columbus's letter on the first voyageprobably dispatched to the Spanish court upon arrival in Lisbon, was instrumental in spreading the news throughout Europe about his voyage.

Almost immediately after his arrival in Spain, printed versions began to appear, and word of his voyage spread rapidly. They were replaced by the Treaty of Tordesillas of He sailed with nearly 1, men, including sailors, soldiers, priests, carpenters, stonemasons, metalworkers, and farmers. On 3 November, they arrived in the Windward Islands ; the first island they encountered was named Dominica by Columbus, but not finding a good harbor there, they anchored off a nearby smaller island, which he named Mariagalantenow a part of Guadeloupe and called Marie-Galante.

Upon landing, Columbus christened the island San Juan Bautista after John the Baptistand remained anchored there for two days from 20 to 21 November, filling the water casks of the ships in his fleet. On 22 November, Columbus returned to Hispaniola to visit La Navidad in modern-day Haitiwhere 39 Spaniards had been left during the first voyage.

Columbus found the fort in ruins. Columbus then established a poorly located and short-lived settlement to the east, La Isabela[ ] in the present-day Dominican Republic. A number of Spanish were killed in retaliation. By the time Columbus returned from exploring Cuba, the four primary leaders of the Arawak people in Hispaniola were gathering for war to try to drive the Spanish from the Island.

Columbus assembled a large number of troops, and joined with his one native ally, chief [Guacanagarix], met for battle. Columbus implemented encomienda[ ] [ ] a Spanish labor system that rewarded conquerors with the labor of conquered non-Christian people. It is also recorded that punishments to both Spaniards and natives included whippings and mutilation cutting noses and ears.

Columbus and the colonists enslaved many of the indigenous people, [ ] including children. In FebruaryColumbus rounded up about 1, Arawaks, some of whom had rebelled, in a great slave raid. About of the strongest were shipped to Spain as slaves, [ ] with about two hundred of those dying en route. In Junethe Spanish crown sent ships and supplies to Hispaniola.

He renewed his effort to get supplies to Columbus, and was working to organize a fleet when he suddenly died in December. On 8 June the crew sighted land somewhere between Lisbon and Cape St. The fleet called at Madeira and the Canary Islands, where it divided in two, with three ships heading for Hispaniola and the other three vessels, commanded by Columbus, sailing south to the Cape Verde Islands and then westward across the Atlantic.

It is probable that this expedition was intended at least partly to confirm rumors of a large continent south of the Caribbean Sea, that is, South America. On 31 July they sighted Trinidad[ ] the most southerly of the Caribbean islands. On 5 August, Columbus sent several small boats ashore on the southern side of the Paria Peninsula in what is now Venezuela, [ ] [ ] near the mouth of the Orinoco river.

On 19 August, Columbus returned to Hispaniola. There he found settlers in rebellion against his rule, and his unfulfilled promises of riches. Columbus had some of the Europeans tried for their disobedience; at least one rebel leader was hanged. In OctoberColumbus sent two ships to Spain, asking the Court of Spain to appoint a royal commissioner to help him govern.

The sovereigns sent Francisco de Bobadillaa relative of Marquesa Beatriz de Bobadillaa patron of Columbus and a close friend of Queen Isabella, [ ] [ ] to investigate the accusations of brutality made against the Admiral. Arriving in Santo Domingo while Columbus was away, Bobadilla was immediately met with complaints about all three Columbus brothers.

Bobadilla reported to Spain that Columbus once punished a man found guilty of stealing corn by having his ears and nose cut off and then selling him into slavery. He claimed that Columbus regularly used torture and mutilation to govern Hispaniola. In early OctoberColumbus and Diego presented themselves to Bobadilla, and were put in chains aboard La Gordathe caravel on which Bobadilla had arrived at Santo Domingo.

Not long after, the king and queen summoned the Columbus brothers to the Alhambra palace in Granada. The sovereigns expressed indignation at the actions of Bobadilla, who was then recalled and ordered to make restitutions of the property he had confiscated from Columbus. New light was shed on the seizure of Columbus and his brother Bartholomew, the Adelantadowith the discovery by archivist Isabel Aguirre of an incomplete copy of the testimonies against them gathered by Francisco de Bobadilla at Santo Domingo in The ships were crewed by men, including his brother Bartholomew as second in command and his son Fernando.

The siege had been lifted by the time they arrived, so the Spaniards stayed only a day and continued on to the Canary Islands. On 15 June, the fleet arrived at Martiniquewhere it lingered for several days. A hurricane was forming, so Columbus continued westward, [ ] hoping to find shelter on Hispaniola. He arrived at Santo Domingo on 29 June, but was denied port, and the new governor Francisco de Bobadilla refused to listen to his warning that a hurricane was approaching.

Instead, while Columbus's ships sheltered at the mouth of the Rio Jaina, the first Spanish treasure fleet sailed into the hurricane. Columbus's ships survived with only minor damage, while 20 of the 30 ships in the governor's fleet were lost along with lives including that of Francisco de Bobadilla. Although a few surviving ships managed to straggle back to Santo Domingo, Agujathe fragile ship carrying Columbus's personal belongings and his 4, pesos in gold was the sole vessel to reach Spain.

Here Bartholomew found native merchants and a large canoe. Sailing south along the Nicaraguan coast, he found a channel that led into Almirante Bay in Panama on 5 October. Columbus left for Hispaniola on 16 April. On 10 May he sighted the Cayman Islandsnaming them Las Tortugas after the numerous sea turtles there. For six months Columbus and of his men remained stranded on Jamaica.

Columbus had always claimed that the conversion of non-believers was one reason for his explorations, and he grew increasingly religious in his later years. In his later years, Columbus demanded that the Crown of Castile give him his tenth of all the riches and trade goods yielded by the new lands, as stipulated in the Capitulations of Santa Fe.

After his death, his heirs sued the Crown for a part of the profits from trade with America, as well as other rewards. This led to a protracted series of legal disputes known as the pleitos colombinos 'Columbian lawsuits'. During a violent storm on his first return voyage, Columbus, then 41, had suffered an attack of what was believed at the time to be gout.

In subsequent years, he was plagued with what was thought to be influenza and other fevers, bleeding from the eyes, temporary blindness and prolonged attacks of gout. The attacks increased in duration and severity, sometimes leaving Columbus bedridden for months at a time, and culminated in his death 14 years later. Based on Columbus's lifestyle and the described symptoms, some modern commentators suspect that he suffered from reactive arthritisrather than gout.

InFrank C. Arnett, a medical doctor, and historian Charles Merrill, published their paper in The American Journal of the Medical Sciences proposing that Columbus had a form of reactive arthritis; Merrill made the case in that same paper that Columbus was the son of Catalans and his mother possibly a member of a prominent converso converted Jew family.

Some historians such as H. He stubbornly continued to make pleas to the Crown to defend his own personal privileges and his family's. Columbus's remains were first buried at the Chapel of Wonders at the Convent of St. Francis, Valladolid[ ] but were then moved to the monastery of La Cartuja in Seville southern Spain by the will of his son Diego.

In aboutthe remains of both Columbus and his son Diego were moved to a cathedral in Colonial Santo Domingoin the present-day Dominican Republic ; Columbus had requested to be buried on the island. These matched corresponding DNA from Columbus's brother, supporting that the two men had the same mother. Inscriptions found the next year read "Last of the remains of the first admiral, Sire Christopher Columbus, discoverer.

Assistant Secretary of State John Eugene Osbornewho suggested in that they travel through the Panama Canal as a part of its opening ceremony. The authorities in Santo Domingo have never allowed these remains to be DNA-tested, so it is unconfirmed whether they are from Columbus's body as well. The figure of Columbus was not ignored in the British colonies during the colonial era: Columbus became a unifying symbol early in the history of the colonies that became the United States when Puritan preachers began to use his life story as a model for a "developing American spirit".

The use of Columbus as a founding figure of New World nations spread rapidly after the American Revolution. This was out of a desire to develop a ankur khanna biography of christopher columbus history and founding myth with fewer ties to Britain. Columbus's name was given to the newly born Republic of Colombia in the early 19th century, inspired by the political project of "Colombeia" developed by revolutionary Francisco de Mirandawhich was put at the service of the emancipation of continental Hispanic America.

To commemorate the th anniversary of the landing of Columbus, [ ] the World's Fair in Chicago was named the World's Columbian Exposition. Postal Service issued the first U. The policies related to the celebration of the Spanish colonial empire as the vehicle of a nationalist project undertaken in Spain during the Restoration in the late 19th century took form with the commemoration of the 4th centenary on 12 October in which the figure of Columbus was extolled by the Conservative governmenteventually becoming the very same national day.

For the Columbus Quincentenary ina second Columbian issue was released jointly with Italy, Portugal, and Spain. The Boal Mansion Museum, founded incontains a collection of materials concerning later descendants of Columbus and collateral branches of the family. The chapel interior was dismantled and moved from Spain in and re-erected on the Boal estate at BoalsburgPennsylvania.

Inside it are numerous religious paintings and other objects including a reliquary with fragments of wood supposedly from the True Cross. The museum also holds a collection of documents mostly relating to Columbus descendants of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. In many countries of the Americas, as well as Spain and Italy, Columbus Day celebrates the anniversary of Columbus's arrival in the Americas on 12 October The voyages of Columbus are considered a turning point in human history, [ ] marking the beginning of globalization and accompanying demographic, commercial, economic, social, and political changes.

His explorations resulted in permanent contact between the two hemispheres, and the term " pre-Columbian " is used to refer to the cultures of the Americas before the arrival of Columbus and his European successors. In the first century after his endeavors, Columbus's figure largely languished in the backwaters of history, and his reputation was beset by his failures as a colonial administrator.

His legacy was somewhat rescued from oblivion when he began to appear as a character in Italian and Spanish plays and poems from the late 16th century onward. Columbus was subsumed into the Western narrative of colonization and empire building, which invoked notions of translatio imperii and translatio studii to underline who was considered "civilized" and who was not.

The Americanization of the figure of Columbus began in the latter decades of the 18th century, after the revolutionary period of the United States, [ ] elevating the status of his reputation to a national myth, homo americanus. This representation of Columbus's triumph and the Native's recoil is a demonstration of supposed white superiority over savage, naive Natives.

Capitol building where it remained until its removal in the midth century, the sculpture reflected the contemporary view of whites in the U. President James Buchananwho proposed the sculpture, described it as representing "the great discoverer when he first bounded with ecstasy upon the shore, ail his toils past, presenting a hemisphere to the astonished world, with the name America inscribed upon it.

Whilst he is thus standing upon the shore, a female savage, with awe and wonder depicted in her countenance, is gazing upon him. The American Columbus myth was reconfigured later in the century when he was enlisted as an ethnic hero by immigrants to the United States who were not of Anglo-Saxon stock, such as Jewish, Italian, and Irish people, who claimed Columbus as a sort of ethnic founding father.

From the s onward, a narrative of Columbus being responsible for the genocide of indigenous peoples and environmental destruction began to compete with the then predominant discourse of Columbus as Christ-bearer, scientist, or father of America. Though Christopher Columbus came to be considered the European discoverer of America in Western popular culture, his historical legacy is more nuanced.

In the 19th century, amid a revival of interest in Norse cultureCarl Christian Rafn and Benjamin Franklin DeCosta wrote works establishing that the Norse had preceded Columbus in colonizing the Americas. Europeans devised explanations for the origins of the Native Americans and their geographical distribution with narratives that often served to reinforce their own preconceptions built on ancient intellectual foundations.

O'Gorman argues that to assert Columbus "discovered America" is to shape the facts concerning the ankur khanna biographies of christopher columbus of to make them conform to an interpretation that arose many years later. He suggests that the word "encounter" is more appropriate, being a more universal term which includes Native Americans in the narrative.

Historians have traditionally argued that Columbus remained convinced until his death that his journeys had been along the east coast of Asia as he originally intended [ ] [ ] excluding arguments such as Anderson's. Washington Irving's biography of Columbus popularized the idea that Columbus had difficulty obtaining support for his plan because many Catholic theologians insisted that the Earth was flat[ ] but this is a popular misconception which can be traced back to 17th-century Protestants campaigning against Catholicism.

As such it contains no sign of the Americas and yet demonstrates the common belief in a spherical Earth. He accounted for the shift by concluding that Earth's figure is pear-shapedwith the 'stalk' portion comparing this to a woman's breast being nearest Heaven and upon which was centered the Earthly Paradise. Columbus has been criticized both for his brutality and for initiating the depopulation of the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean, whether by imported diseases or intentional violence.

Columbus's quest for a new maritime route faced significant challenges; his first major Atlantic expedition in was nearly fatal when his ship was attacked by French privateers. Undeterred, Columbus continued to refine his navigational techniques and studied ocean currents that could facilitate his planned voyage. After years of lobbying, he finally gained the support of Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain, who agreed to sponsor his journey.

Christopher Columbus, an Italian explorer known for his ambitious voyages, achieved remarkable successes in his quest for a new route to Asia. His expedition marked a pivotal moment in history, as he became the first European to make contact with the Americas. His landfall in the Bahamas not only opened the door to further exploration but also signaled the start of European colonization in the New World.

Columbus' voyages prompted significant exchanges of culture and goods, now referred to as the Columbian Exchange, fundamentally altering global trade and interaction. However, Columbus faced numerous challenges during and after his expeditions. Despite his initial acclaim, his governance of the settlements he established was marred by poor leadership and harsh treatment of Indigenous peoples, resulting in conflict and resistance.

Subsequent voyages revealed the stark realities of colonial exploitation and the devastating impact of introduced diseases on native populations. Compounded by mismanagement, complaints from settlers led to his arrest and loss of authority, showcasing the difficulties of sustaining exploration efforts in the face of political and social obstacles.

Ultimately, Columbus' legacy is a complex tapestry—a journey of exploration intertwined with the consequences of colonization and the suffering of Indigenous cultures. Christopher Columbus's voyages in the late 15th century opened the Americas to European exploration and colonization, fundamentally altering the course of both European and Indigenous civilizations.

His expeditions marked the beginning of extensive transatlantic exchange, known as the Columbian Exchange. This exchange involved not only the transfer of goods but also the sharing of cultures, ideas, and, unfortunately, diseases. The arrival of Europeans led to the introduction of horses, wheat, and coffee to the Americas while crops like potatoes and corn became integral to European diets, significantly impacting agricultural practices on both sides of the Atlantic.

The Europeans also noticed bits of gold the natives wore for adornment. Columbus and his men continued their journey, visiting the islands of Cuba which he thought was mainland China and Hispaniola now Haiti and the Dominican Republic, which Columbus thought might be Japan and meeting with the leaders of the native population. During this time, the Santa Maria was wrecked on a reef off the coast of Hispaniola.

Thirty-nine men stayed behind to occupy the settlement. Convinced his exploration had reached Asia, he set sail for home with the two remaining ships. Returning to Spain inColumbus gave a glowing but somewhat exaggerated report and was warmly received by the royal court. InColumbus took to the seas on his second expedition and explored more islands in the Caribbean Ocean.

Upon arrival at Hispaniola, Columbus and his crew discovered the Navidad settlement had been destroyed with all the sailors massacred. Spurning the wishes of the local queen, Columbus established a forced labor policy upon the native population to rebuild the settlement and explore for gold, believing it would be profitable. His efforts produced small amounts of gold and great hatred among the native population.

Before returning to Spain, Columbus left his brothers Bartholomew and Giacomo to govern the settlement on Hispaniola and sailed briefly around the larger Caribbean islands, further convincing himself he had discovered the outer islands of China. The Spanish Crown sent a royal official who arrested Columbus and stripped him of his authority. He returned to Spain in chains to face the royal court.

The charges were later dropped, but Columbus lost his titles as governor of the Indies and, for a time, much of the riches made during his voyages. After convincing King Ferdinand that one more voyage would bring the abundant riches promised, Columbus went on his fourth and final voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in This time he traveled along the eastern coast of Central America in an unsuccessful search for a route to the Indian Ocean.

A storm wrecked one of his ships, stranding the captain and his sailors on the island of Cuba. On February 29,a lunar eclipse alarmed the natives enough to re-establish trade with the Spaniards. A rescue party finally arrived, sent by the royal governor of Hispaniola in July, and Columbus and his men were taken back to Spain in November In the two remaining years of his life, Columbus struggled to recover his reputation.

Although he did regain some of his riches in Mayhis titles were never returned. Columbus probably died of severe arthritis following an infection on May 20,in Valladolid, Spain. At the time of his death, he still believed he had discovered a shorter route to Asia. Christopher Columbus was a believer in the spherical nature of the world some Christians still held the view that the world was flat.

An ambitious man, Christopher Columbus hoped to find a Western trade route to the lucrative spice markets in Asia. Rather than sailing east, he hoped that sailing west would lead to countries like Japan and China. To gain the necessary funding and support for his journeys, he approached the Catholic Monarchs of Spain. The Spanish monarchs agreed to fund Columbus, partly on the Christian missionary efforts, but also hoping to gain an upper hand in the lucrative trade markets.

One advantage of the westward exploration is that it avoided conflict with the growing power of the Ottomans in the east. A map fromwith the perceived geography of the world in yellow superimposed on actual land. He had intended to sail to Japan but ended up in the Bahamas, which he named San Salvador. Landing of Columbus 12 Octoberpainting by John Vanderlyn.

Columbus made a total of four journeys, where he sailed extensively around the Caribbean islands of Cuba, Jamaica, the Bahamas and also to the mainland, to places such as Panama.