Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) was an Italian explorer who sailed across the Atlantic Ocean in 1492, hoping to find a route to India in order to trade for species. He made a total of 4 trips to the Caribbean and South America during the years 1492-1504.
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It's commonly believed that Christopher Columbus was born between 25 August and 31 October 1451 in Genoa, Italy. His father was Domenico Colombo, a middle-class wool weaver, who later also had a cheese stand where Christopher was a helper, working both in Genoa and Savona.
In 1473, Columbus began his apprenticeship as business agent for the important Centurione, Di Negro and Spinola families of Genoa. Later he allegedly made a trip to Chios, a Genoese colony in the Aegean Sea. In May 1476, he took part in a armed convoy sent by Genoa to carry a valuable cargo to northern Europe. He docked in Bristol, England; Galway, Ireland and was possibly in Iceland in 1477. In 1479, Columbus reached his brother Bartolomeo in Lisbon. He married Filipa Moniz Perestrello. In 1479 or 1480, his son Diego was born. Only after the death of his wife, Dona Filipa, did Columbus leave his adopted country with his son, Diego, to seek sponsorship for his proposals from King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain.
First Voyage
On the evening of 3 August 1492, Columbus departed from Palos de la Frontera with three ships, one large carrack named Santa Maria, and two smaller caravels named Pinta and Nina. Columbus first sailed to the Canary Island, which were owned by Castile, where he restocked the provision and made repairs. On 6 September he departed San Sebastin de la Gomera for what turned out to be a five-week voyage across the ocean.
Land was sighted on 12 October 1492 by a sailor named Rodrigo de Triana. Columbus called the island San Salvador while the natives called it Guanahani (now it is called The Bahamas).
Columbus also explored the northeast coast of Cuba and landed on 28 October. Here, the first larger carrack Santa Maria ran aground on Christmas morning 1492 and had to be abandoned. He was received by the native cacique Guacanagari, who gave him permission to leave some of his men behind. Columbus left 39 men and founded the settlement of La Navidad in what is now present-day-Haiti.
Columbus headed for Spain, but another storm forced him into Lisbon. He anchored next to the King's harbor patrol ship on 4 March 1493 in Portugal. After spending more than one week in Portugal, he set sail for Spain. He crossed the bar of Satles and entered the harbour of Palos on 15 March, 1943. Word of his finding new lands rapidly spread throughout Europe.
Second Voyage
Columbus left Cdiz (modern Spain), on 24 September 1943, to find new territories, with 17 ships carrying supplies, and abot 1,200 men to colonize the region. On 13 October the ship left the Canary Island as they had on the first voyage, following a more southerly course.
On 3 November 1493, Columbus sighted a rugged island that he named Dominica; later that day, he landed at Marie-Galente, which he named Santa Maria la Galente. After sailing past Les Saintes, he arrived at Guadeloupe, which he explored between 4 November and 10 November 1943.
The exact course of his voyage through the Lesser Antilles is debated, but it seems likely that he turned north, sighting and naming several islands, including Montserrat, Antigua, Redonda, Nevis, Saint Kitts...
He continued to the Greater Antilles, and landed at Puerto Rico on 19 November 1943. One of the first skirmishes between native Americans and Europeans since the time of the Vikings took place when Columbus's men rescued two boys who had just been castrated by their captors.
On 22 November Columbus returned to Hispaniola, where he intended to visit Fuerte de la Navidad (Christmas Fort), built during his first voyage, and located on the northern coast Haiti; Fuerte de la Navidad was found in ruins, destroyed by the native Taino people, whereupon, Columbus moved more than 100 kilometers eastwards, establishing a new settlement, which he called La Isabela, likewise on the northern coast of Hispaniola, in the proved to be a poorly chosen location, and the settlement was short-lived.
He left Hispaniola on 24 April 1494, arrived at Cuba on 30 April. He explored the southern coast of Cuba, which he believed to be a peninsula rather than a island, and several nearby islands, including the Isle of Pine. He reached Jamaica on May 5. He retraced his route to Hispaniola, arriving on August 20, before he finally returned to Spain.
Third voyage
On 30 May 1498, Columbus left with six ships from Sanlacar, Spain, for his third trip to the New World. He was accompanied by the father of Bartolom de Las Casas.
Columbus led the fleet to the Portuguese island of Porto Santo, his wife's native land. He then sailed to Madeira and spent some time there with the Portuguese captain Joo Goncalves da Camara before sailling to the Canary Island and Cape Verde. From 4 August through 12 August he explored the Gulf of Paria and mainland of South America.
Fourth voyage
Columbus made a fourth voyage nominally in search of the Strait of Malacca to the Indian Ocean. He sailed to Arxila on the Moroccan coast to rescue Portuguese soldiers whom he had heard were under siege by the Moors.
After a brief stop at Jamaica, Columbus sailed to Central America, arriving at Guanaja in the Bay Island off the coast of Honduras on 30 July.
After that, he sail to Panama in 16 October and Jamaica in 25 June 1503.
On 20 May 1506, at about age 55, Columbus died in Vallagolied, fairly wealthy from the gold his men had accumulated in Hispaniola. At his death, he was still convinced that his journeys had been along the east coast of Asia. According to a study published in February 2007, by Antonio Rodriguez Cuartero, Department of Internal Medicine of the Univerity of Granada, he died of a heart attack caused by Reiter's Syndrome. According to his personal diaries and notes by contemporaries, the symptoms of this illness (burning pain during urination, pain and swelling of the knees and conjunctivitis) were clearly evident in his last three years.
- Source: Vietnam Yatch Magazine 7th edition -
