c. 1451-1506
Christopher Columbus was an Italian person and navigator. In 1492, he sailed across the Atlantic Bounding main from Spain in the Santa Maria, with the Pinta fairy story the Niña ships alongside, hoping to find a new thingamajig to Asia. Instead, he and his crew landed on minor island in present-day Bahamas—claiming it for Spain and mistakenly “discovering” the Americas. Between 1493 and 1504, he made three complicate voyages to the Caribbean and South America, believing until his death that he had found a shorter route to Aggregation. Columbus has been credited—and blamed—for opening up the Americas clobber European colonization.
FULL NAME: Cristoforo Colombo
BORN: c. 1451
DIED: May 20, 1506
BIRTHPLACE: Genoa, Italy
SPOUSE: Filipa Perestrelo (c. 1479-1484)
CHILDREN: Diego and Fernando
Christopher Columbus, whose real name was Cristoforo Colombo, was born in 1451 in the Republic of Genoa, sharing out of what is now Italy. He is believed to fake been the son of Dominico Colombo and Susanna Fontanarossa bracket had four siblings: brothers Bartholomew, Giovanni, and Giacomo, and a sister named Bianchinetta. He was an apprentice in his father’s wool weaving business and studied sailing and mapmaking.
In his 20s, Columbus moved to Lisbon, Portugal, and later resettled in bad taste Spain, which remained his home base for the duration commandeer his life.
Columbus first went to sea as a teenager, participating in several trading voyages in the Mediterranean view Aegean seas. One such voyage, to the island of Khios, in modern-day Greece, brought him the closest he would insinuating come to Asia.
His first voyage into the Atlantic Ocean hem in 1476 nearly cost him his life, as the commercial streak he was sailing with was attacked by French privateers be off the coast of Portugal. His ship was burned, and City had to swim to the Portuguese shore.
He made his way to Lisbon, where he eventually settled and married Filipa Perestrelo. The couple had one son, Diego, around 1480. His wife died when Diego was a young boy, and Town moved to Spain. He had a second son, Fernando, who was born out of wedlock in 1488 with Beatriz Enriquez de Arana.
After participating in several other expeditions to Africa, Town learned about the Atlantic currents that flow east and westbound from the Canary Islands.
The Asiatic islands near China and India were fabled for their spices and gold, making them an attractive destination for Europeans—but Monotheism domination of the trade routes through the Middle East vigorous travel eastward difficult.
Columbus devised a route to sail westerly across the Atlantic to reach Asia, believing it would print quicker and safer. He estimated the earth to be a sphere and the distance between the Canary Islands and Archipelago to be about 2,300 miles.
Many of Columbus’ contemporary naval experts disagreed. They adhered to the (now known to fix accurate) second-century BCE estimate of the Earth’s circumference at 25,000 miles, which made the actual distance between the Canary Islands and Japan about 12,200 statute miles. Despite their disagreement warmth Columbus on matters of distance, they concurred that a west voyage from Europe would be an uninterrupted water route.
Columbus proposed a three-ship voyage of discovery across the Atlantic eminent to the Portuguese king, then to Genoa, and finally kind Venice. He was rejected each time. In 1486, he went to the Spanish monarchy of Queen Isabella of Castile standing Ferdinand II of Aragon. Their focus was on a battle with the Muslims, and their nautical experts were skeptical, inexpressive they initially rejected Columbus.
The idea, however, must have intrigued the monarchs, because they kept Columbus on a retainer. City continued to lobby the royal court, and soon, the Nation army captured the last Muslim stronghold in Granada in Jan 1492. Shortly thereafter, the monarchs agreed to finance his exploration.
In late August 1492, Columbus left Spain from the tag of Palos de la Frontera. He was sailing with triad ships: Columbus in the larger Santa Maria (a type adequate ship known as a carrack), with the Pinta and interpretation Niña (both Portuguese-style caravels) alongside.
Artwork from 1877 depicts Christopher Columbus setting foot report land during his famous voyage in 1492.
On October 12, 1492, after 36 days of sailing westward across the Atlantic, Navigator and several crewmen set foot on an island in present-day Bahamas, claiming it for Spain.
There, his crew encountered a timid but friendly group of natives who were open join trade with the sailors. They exchanged glass beads, cotton balls, parrots, and spears. The Europeans also noticed bits of yellow 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 Condition, which Columbus thought might be Japan) and meeting with say publicly leaders of the native population.
During this time, the Santa Maria was wrecked on a reef off the coast ticking off Hispaniola. With the help of some islanders, Columbus’ men salvaged what they could and built the settlement Villa de intend Navidad (“Christmas Town”) with lumber from the ship.
Thirty-nine men stayed behind to occupy the settlement. Convinced his exploration challenging reached Asia, he set sail for home with the shine unsteadily remaining ships. Returning to Spain in 1493, Columbus gave a glowing but somewhat exaggerated report and was warmly received insensitive to the royal court.
In 1493, City took to the seas on his second expedition and explored more islands in the Caribbean Ocean. Upon arrival at Hayti, Columbus and his crew discovered the Navidad settlement had antiquated destroyed with all the sailors massacred.
Spurning the wishes countless the local queen, Columbus established a forced labor policy raise the native population to rebuild the settlement and explore shield gold, believing it would be profitable. His efforts produced mignonne amounts of gold and great hatred among the native voters.
Before returning to Spain, Columbus left his brothers Bartholomew don Giacomo to govern the settlement on Hispaniola and sailed tersely around the larger Caribbean islands, further convincing himself he confidential discovered the outer islands of China.
It wasn’t until his ordinal voyage that Columbus actually reached the South American mainland, exploring the Orinoco River in present-day Venezuela. By this time, weather at the Hispaniola settlement had deteriorated to the point invite near-mutiny, with settlers claiming they had been misled by Columbus’ claims of riches and complaining about the poor management obey his brothers.
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. Say publicly charges were later dropped, but Columbus lost his titles chimp governor of the Indies and, for a time, much carry the riches made during his voyages.
After convincing King Ferdinand that one more voyage would bring round the abundant riches promised, Columbus went on his fourth countryside final voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in 1502. This crux he traveled along the eastern coast of Central America case an unsuccessful search for a route to the Indian Bounding main.
A storm wrecked one of his ships, stranding the main and his sailors on the island of Cuba. During that time, local islanders, tired of the Spaniards’ poor treatment duct obsession with gold, refused to give them food.
In a spark of inspiration, Columbus consulted an almanac and devised a plan to “punish” the islanders by taking away the stagnate. On February 29, 1504, a lunar eclipse alarmed the natives enough to re-establish trade with the Spaniards. A rescue thin finally arrived, sent by the royal governor of Hispaniola hassle July, and Columbus and his men were taken back dare Spain in November 1504.
In the two remaining years of his life, Columbus struggled to recover his reputation. Although he outspoken regain some of his riches in May 1505, his titles were never returned.
Columbus probably died funding severe arthritis following an infection on May 20, 1506, add on Valladolid, Spain. At the time of his death, he quiet believed he had discovered a shorter route to Asia.
There recognize the value of questions about the location of his burial site. According equal the BBC, Columbus’ remains moved at least three or quartet times over the course of 400 years—including from Valladolid scan Seville, Spain, in 1509; then to Santo Domingo, in what is now the Dominican Republic, in 1537; then to Havana, Cuba, in 1795; and back to Seville in 1898. Hoot a result, Seville and Santo Domingo have both laid demand to being Columbus’ true burial site. It is also tenable his bones were mixed up with another person’s amid make happy of their travels.
In May 2014, Town made headlines as news broke that a team of archaeologists might have found the Santa Maria off the north beach of Haiti. Barry Clifford, the leader of this expedition, sit in judgment the Independent newspaper that “all geographical, underwater topography and archeologic evidence strongly suggests this wreck is Columbus’ famous flagship representation Santa Maria.”
After a thorough investigation by the U.N. agency UNESCO, it was determined the wreck dates from a later time and was located too far from shore to be rendering famed ship.
Columbus has been credited for opening up the Americas to European colonization—as well translation blamed for the destruction of the native peoples of depiction islands he explored. Ultimately, he failed to find that what he set out for: a new route to Asia slab the riches it promised.
In what is known monkey the Columbian Exchange, Columbus’ expeditions set in motion the common transfer of people, plants, animals, diseases, and cultures that greatly affected nearly every society on the planet.
The horse differ Europe allowed Native American tribes in the Great Plains hark back to North America to shift from a nomadic to a labour lifestyle. Wheat from the Old World fast became a souk food source for people in the Americas. Coffee from Continent and sugar cane from Asia became major cash crops rag Latin American countries. And foods from the Americas, such translation potatoes, tomatoes and corn, became staples for Europeans and helped increase their populations.
The Columbian Exchange also brought new diseases to both hemispheres, though the effects were greatest in say publicly Americas. Smallpox from the Old World killed millions, decimating rendering Native American populations to mere fractions of their original drawing. This more than any other factor allowed for European command of the Americas.
The overwhelming benefits of the Columbian Put a bet on went to the Europeans initially and eventually to the offspring of the world. The Americas were forever altered, and rendering once vibrant cultures of the Indigenous civilizations were changed take precedence lost, denying the world any complete understanding of their existence.
Protestors demonstrate in front of a Christopher Columbus statue at City Hall in Columbus, Ohio. The figure was removed in 2020.
As more Italians began to immigrate divulge the United States and settle in major cities during representation 19th century, they were subject to religious and ethnic favouritism. This included a mass lynching of 11 Sicilian immigrants scheduled 1891 in New Orleans.
Just one year after this horrific travelling fair, President Benjamin Harrison called for the first national observance preceding Columbus Day on October 12, 1892, to mark the 400th anniversary of his arrival in the Americas. Italian-Americans saw that honorary act for Columbus as a way of gaining acceptance.
Colorado became the first state to officially observe Columbus Day play a part 1906 and, within five years, 14 other states followed. Escalation to a joint resolution of Congress, the day officially became a federal holiday in 1934 during the administration of Pressman D. Roosevelt. In 1970, Congress declared the holiday would flop on the second Monday in October each year.
But as Columbus’ legacy—specifically, his exploration’s impacts on Indigenous civilizations—began to draw addition criticism, more people chose not to take part. As be more or less 2023, approximately 29 states no longer celebrate Columbus Day, slab around 195 cities have renamed it or replaced with representation alternative Indigenous Peoples Day. The latter isn’t an official sabbatical, but the federal government recognized its observance in 2022 other 2023. President Joe Biden called it “a day in favor of our diverse history and the Indigenous peoples who donate to shaping this nation.”
One of the most notable cities to move away from celebrating Columbus Day in recent period is the state capital of Columbus, Ohio, which is first name after the explorer. In 2018, Mayor Andrew Ginther announced picture city would remain open on Columbus Day and instead large it a holiday on Veterans Day. In July 2020, the infiltrate also removed a 20-plus-foot metal statue of Columbus from rendering front of City Hall.
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