Word of his voyage soon spread throughout Europe.Ĭolumbus made three further voyages to the Americas, exploring the Lesser Antilles in 1493, Trinidad and the northern coast of South America in 1498, and the east coast of Central America in 1502. Columbus returned to Castile in early 1493, with captured natives.
He then visited the islands now known as Cuba and Hispaniola, establishing a colony in what is now Haiti. His landing place was an island in the Bahamas, known by its native inhabitants as Guanahani. Columbus left Castile in August 1492 with three ships and made landfall in the Americas on 12 October, ending the period of human habitation in the Americas now referred to as the pre-Columbian era. After the Granada War, and Columbus's persistent lobbying in multiple kingdoms, the Catholic Monarchs Queen Isabella I and King Ferdinand II agreed to sponsor a journey west. He developed a plan to seek a western sea passage to the East Indies, hoping to profit from the lucrative spice trade. Largely self-educated, Columbus was knowledgeable in geography, astronomy, and history. He later took a Castilian mistress, Beatriz Enríquez de Arana, who bore a son, Ferdinand. He married Portuguese noblewoman Filipa Moniz Perestrelo, who bore a son Diego, and was based in Lisbon for several years. Growing up on the coast of Liguria, he went to sea at a young age and travelled widely, as far north as the British Isles and as far south as what is now Ghana. The name Christopher Columbus is the anglicisation of the Latin Christophorus Columbus. His expeditions were the first known European contact with the Caribbean and Central and South America. There is actually a Leif Eriksson Day on October 9, which receives very little fanfare.Christopher Columbus ( / k ə ˈ l ʌ m b ə s/ between 25 August and 31 October 1451 – ) was an Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed four Spanish-based voyages across the Atlantic Ocean sponsored by the Catholic Monarchs, opening the way for the widespread European exploration and European colonization of the Americas.
The Norse Viking Leif Eriksson, landed in present day Newfoundland around 1000 A.D., almost 500 years before Columbus ever left Europe. The Santa Maria was also nicknamed La Gallega, after the province of Galicia in which it was built.Ĭolumbus was not the first European to cross the Atlantic Ocean. One of the three ships on Columbus’s voyage was nicknamed the Pinta, Spanish for “the painted one” or “prostitute.” The Santa Clara was nicknamed the Nina in honor of its owner, Juan Nino. Less reverent sailors would give their ships saltier nicknames. In 15th-century Spain, ships were traditionally named after saints. But the Nina and the Pinta were actually not the names of two of Columbus’ three ships. We’ve all heard about the Nina and the Pinta and the Santa Maria. Columbus thought only the Atlantic Ocean stood between Europe and the East Indies.
But what they didn’t know was that the Pacific Ocean existed. Columbus did not set out to prove the earth was round. Most educated Europeans in Columbus’ day understood that the world was round, not flat. But we’ve compiled a few facts you may not have known about this famous explorer, and the time he lived in. After all, we celebrate this every October 12th. The story of Christopher Columbus’ journey to the New World is well known to all of us. Painting by Peter Johann Nepomuk Geiger (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)
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