Christopher Columbus

So Far in Our Quest•We caught a glimpse of the Vikings

•Eric the Red•Bjarni Herjolfsson•Leif Eriksson•Snorre•Are Marsson

•Greenland•L’Anse Aux Meadows•Reviewed their ships•Got a chance to see how they traveled•Got a better understanding of why they traveled.

We’ve studied Dias and DaGama

We reviewed the importance of Balboa

And Magellan’s Contribution

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But Did You Ever Stop To Think . . .

Where would we be without Columbus?

Who was Columbus?• Born in Genoa, Italy in 1451.

• Son of a wool merchant and weaver.• Becomes a seaman

• His ship is sunk in a battle off the coast of Portugal in 1476.• Lives with his brother Bartholomew in Lisbon• Learns cartography from his brother.

• Makes merchant trips to Iceland and Guinea from 1477-1482.

• Concocts a plan to go west to the Indies in 1484

• King John of Portugal rejects his idea.• Moves to Spain in 1485.

Spain and Portugal

•THEN

•NOW

The Beginning of the Adventure• Portugal was committed to discovering the sea-

route to India via Africa. • Exploration along the African coast demonstrated

potential to Portugal's leaders.• King John felt there was no need to explore a

disappointing Atlantic. • Columbus turned to Spain in 1486.

• His first attempt to enlist the support of the Spanish Crown was unsuccessful. They were in a fight!

• Turned to support from France and England with no success.

• Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand finally agreed to sponsor Columbus in 1492. • Isabella's desire to spread Christianity (GOD).• Compete with Portugal for new sources of wealth

(GLORY/GOLD).• Re-fill the treasury depleted in the reconquista of Iberia

from the Moors (GOLD).

Specifics• Prior to 1492 and Christopher

Columbus' voyage to the Americas, Spain's only possession outside Europe were the Canary Islands.

• Christopher Columbus examined the mostly southward voyages of the Portuguese into the Atlantic and Africa and thought that one could also sail westward and ultimately reach India.

The Winds of Exploration

How it happened to be

The Ships•Nina

•Smallest of the fleet

•carried four masts

•best of the three ships at sailing upwind

•length of 15 meters, and depth 2 meters.

•Captained by Vicente Añes Pinzón, brother of Martín.

•Pinta•Captain: Martín Alonso Pinzón, a leading mariner from the town of Moguer in Andalucia

•17 meters in length and a depth of 2 meters. •Three masts.

•smaller, lighter, and faster ship than the tubby Santa Maria

The Santa Maria• The flagship Santa Maria had the nickname La

Gallega. It was a nao, which simply means "ship" • Fat and slow, designed for hauling cargo, not for

exploration. Some sources say that the Santa Maria was about 100 tons.

• length was 18 meters

• Depth 3 meters • three masts

How fast did they go?• Speed of sailing vessels varies with the

speed of the wind. • Columbus's ships would average a little less

than 4 knots. • Top speed for the vessels was about 8 knots.• Minimum speed was zero.

• Of the three ships, the Santa Maria was the slowest, and the Pinta was the fastest. The difference was about 0.1 knot between them.

• These speeds were quite typical for vessels of the period. • Overall, they would average 90 or 100 miles

per day • 200 miles in one day was phenomenal.

The First Voyage•Christopher Columbus departed on his first voyage from the port of Palos (near Huelva) in southern Spain, on August 3, 1492.

•Columbus called first at the Canary Islands, the westernmost Spanish possessions.

• delayed for four weeks by calm winds and the need for repair and refit. •Left the island of Gomera on September 6, 1492, •Calms left him within sight of the western island of Hierro until September 8.

Track Across The Ocean

Landfall October 12, 1492

•Reaches Bahamas on October 12th

•Names Island San Salvador.•Actually: Plana Cays

•Proceeds to Cuba on October 28th

It’s not all Peachy•Martin Pinzon leaves Columbus in the Pinta and searches for gold on his own (Nov 22d)•Santa Maria hits a reef and sinks on Dec 24th

•Columbus builds a fort with the

wreckage.

•With only one ship left, Columbus

has to leave 39 men behind.

•Bumps into the Pinta on Jan 6th

•Forgives Pinzón! He needs the ship

Going Home: Race for Glory

•Two ships depart on Jan 16th

•Separated by a severe storm on Feb 14th

•Columbus sights the Azores on Feb 15th

•Pinzón misses the Azores and ends up in

Northern Spain and repairs his ship.

•Columbus beats Pinzón to Palos by a few

hours.

•Pinzón dies a few days later.

Second Voyage 1493-1496•Massive colonization effort.

•Seventeen ships •Over a thousand men. •Brought European livestock (horses, sheep, and cattle) to America for the first time.

•Returned to Navidad on November 28• The fort had been burned •The men he had left there on the first voyage were dead. •According to the account of Guacanagari, the local chief who had befriended Columbus on the first voyage

• the men argued among themselves over women and gold.• Some abandoned the fort in the intervening months, •Some raided an inland tribe and kidnapped their women. •The inland tribe retaliated by destroying Navidad and killing the few remaining Spaniards.

Where the Heck is China?•Sets up new colony at Isabela•Leaves with 3 ships looking for China.•Finds Cuba on April 30th

•Takes off for Jamaica looking for gold!

•Trouble with Indians•Returns to Cuba•Searches to the west

•Gives up looking for China but makes everyone say they found it!•Columbus gets very sick!!!•Return to Spain on March 10, 1496.

Let’s Try Again!! Voyage #3•Leaves Spain with 6 ships.

•3 went to Isabela with supplies.•3 went with Columbus to find lands south of the known islands.

•Discovers Trinidad•Calls it that because it has 3 hills•Deeply religious.

•Run into the coast of South America.•Columbus gets sick again so they leave for Hispaniola.

Should have stayed in bed!• Columbus arrived at the new city of Santo

Domingo• Disgruntled colonists revolted against his rule. • Unable to put down the revolt. • Agreed to peace on humiliating terms.

BUT. . . • The malcontents continued to grumble

• Amount of gold received from the New World continued to be disappointingly small, both for the colonists and the Sovereigns.

• Ferdinand and Isabela appointed Francisco de Bobadilla as royal commissioner, with powers above those of Columbus himself.

• When de Bobadilla arrived in Santo Domingo• Columbus was arrested.• Columbus was sent home to Spain in shackles in

October of 1500 .

This should be a movie!!•Left Spain in May, 1502

•Looking for the Straits of Malacca (near Singapore) in Central America?•Took his brother and 13 year old son.•4 ships, 140 men.

•Arrived in Santo Domingo, June 29, 1502 and tried to enter the harbor to escape a Hurricane.

•Not welcomed•His warning of the storm was scoffed at and the Treasure fleet (30) ships set sail for Spain.

•Hurricane hit!•Columbus and his ships survive.•20 Treasure ships sink.•9 limp back to Hispaniola•1 makes it to Spain.

•Columbus arrives at coast of Honduras•Reaches Panama.•Told about the Pacific Ocean by the natives.•Traded with the Indians for gold.

#4 gets Interesting!•Builds a fort in western Panama.•Columbus prepares to depart for Spain.

•One ship gets stuck in a sandbar.•Indians attack the fort.•Many die so he abandons the fort and the ship.

•Sail home on three leaky ships.

•One sinks•Remaining two get caught in a storm.

Stormy Weather!!!!

Fun times•Columbus has to beach the ships in St. Anne’s Bay.

•June 25, 1503•Marooned- no colony there!

•Mendez, one of the crew gets a canoe and sails to Hispaniola.

•Arrested.•Rescue refused.

•Half the crew mutinies•Mendez gets a ship and returns to Jamaica on June 29, 1504.•Columbus returns to Spain on Nov 7, 1504.

Columbus's Death and Burial • Christopher Columbus died in Valladolid, Spain, on May 20, 1506, at the age of 54. • Daughter-in-law petitioned the Spanish court to move Columbus and his son Diego

to the cathedral in Santo Domingo on Hispaniola. • So the remains of Columbus were moved across the Atlantic, and were buried under

the right side of the altar in the cathedral in Santo Domingo. And there matters stood for two centuries.

• In 1795, France captured the island of Hispaniola from Spain.• Spanish viewed the Admiral's remains as a national treasure, and wanted to prevent

their capture by the French at all costs. • Remains were removed to Havana, Cuba. • A century later, when Cuba won independence from Spain, the remains were moved

again, from Havana back across the ocean to Seville. And so, if you visit the cathedral in Seville today, you will find the tomb of Columbus.

• But that's not the whole story. • In 1877, workers were restoring the cathedral in Santo Domingo and found, under

the left side of the altar, a box containing human remains. The box bore Columbus's name. It immediately became clear to some that the "left" and "right" sides of the altar depend entirely upon the direction one is facing. And therefore, some argue, the body that had been moved to Havana in 1795 was really that of Diego, while the Admiral's remains had been in Santo Domingo all along. And so, if you visit the cathedral in Santo Domingo today, you will find another tomb of Columbus.

• Meanwhile, one historian has argued that the wrong body was moved from Havana to Seville, and therefore, Columbus's remains are really in Havana.

• Another historian argues that Columbus's remains never left Valladolid! • Portions of the remains in Seville were given to the city of Genoa in 1892 as part of

the quadricentennial celebration.• Recently, Spanish scientists tried DNA analysis to answer the question.• The bones showed that they are those of Columbus's sickly son Diego, not the

Admiral himself.• The discoverer's final resting place is in Santo Domingo after all!!!