Columbus's voyages
Christopher Columbus, an Italian explorer born in 1451, is best known for his voyages across the Atlantic Ocean, which began in 1492 under the Spanish flag. He set sail with three ships—the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria—aiming to find a westward route to the East Indies. On October 12, 1492, he made landfall on an island he named San Salvador, mistakenly believing he had reached Asia. His initial encounters with the indigenous Arawak people were characterized by mutual exchange, but subsequent interactions led to exploitation and violence, as Columbus sought gold and established settlements such as La Isabela.
Columbus embarked on three more voyages, facing challenges such as resistance from the native populations, civil unrest among his crew, and ultimately, a loss of support from the Spanish crown. His expeditions marked the beginning of sustained European contact with the Americas, leading to significant cultural and demographic changes. However, his legacy is deeply complex; while he is celebrated in some contexts for his role in exploration and the expansion of European empires, he is also criticized for his part in the colonization and suffering of indigenous peoples. This duality in perception continues to influence discussions regarding his legacy today, with some regions observing Indigenous Peoples’ Day in recognition of the impacts of colonialism.
Columbus's voyages
Christoper Columbus was probably born in Genoa, Italy, in 1451. Around 1476, he went to Portugal and settled in Lisbon, the center of Portuguese maritime activities. There Columbus received an education, sailed on several voyages, married a Portuguese lady of the lower nobility, and became a prosperous ship captain.
Columbus became convinced the East Indies could be reached by sailing west. The idea was not new, but most experts agreed the voyage was too long and difficult. When Columbus offered the plan to King John II of Portugal in 1484, the king rejected it in favor of the route around the tip of South Africa. In 1485, Columbus moved to Spain and was introduced to King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I. Isabella showed interest in Columbus’s ideas but would not consider the project at the time because she was fighting an expensive war with the Moors. Columbus returned to Portugal to try a second time to persuade King John II. While Columbus was in Lisbon, Bartolomeu Dias returned from his trip around the Cape of Good Hopethe voyage that gave Portugal its route to the spice wealth of India. King John had no interest in another route. Columbus then returned to Spain and sent his brother Ferdinand to King Henry VII of England and King Charles VIII of France to seek support. Both kings rejected the project.
The First Trip
In January 1492, Granada, the last Moorish stronghold, fell. Isabella signed an agreement with Columbus on April 17, 1492. Three ships were readiedthe Niña, the Pinta, and the slightly larger Santa Maria. Ninety men and boys were enlisted for the voyage. The expedition sailed on August 3, 1492, stopping in the Canary Islands then proceeding west. On October 12, Columbus discovered an island that he named San Salvador. Because he believed he had reached the outer islands of the East Indies, Columbus called the natives there "Indians." He described them as without clothes, friendly and loyal, guileless and unwarlike, and ready for conversion to the true faith.
Martín Alonso Pinzón left in the Pinta on a private gold-hunting expedition. The remaining two ships sailed to the north coast of Haiti. Columbus named the island La Isla Española, later called Hispaniola. On Christmas morning, the Santa Maria was caught on a reef and wrecked. With help from the native Arawaksled by their chief, Guacanagaríthe crew and most of the supplies were saved. Guacanagarí was a paramount chief who trusted Columbus and exchanged gifts with him, thinking they were trading as equals. Columbus, however, interpreted Guacanagarí’s gifts as a gesture of submission to the Spaniards.
Because of the gold ornaments worn by the Arawaks, Columbus determined the island was suitable for settlement and decided to return to Spain. Before sailing, Columbus had a fort built at a site he called La Navidad, and the forty-four men of the wrecked Santa Maria were left with orders to seek more gold. In mid-January 1493, Pinzón rejoined Columbus, and the two ships sailed for Spain, reaching it on March 15, 1493. Columbus was greeted joyously by the people and with honors by Isabella and Ferdinand.
The Second Voyage
To assure Spanish control of the new lands, Columbus was sent on a second voyage on September 25, 1493, with seventeen ships and twelve hundred to fifteen hundred men, including soldiers, artisans, nobles, and five priests. They took with them horses, cattle, sheep, seeds, fruits, tools, and shoots of sugar cane, which would later become the chief crop of the Caribbean Islands.
Columbus sailed on a more southerly route, sighted Dominica in the Lesser Antilles, and turned north to Hispaniola, where he learned the men he had left disappeared and Fort Navidad was destroyed. Greed for gold and women had led the Spaniards to mistreat the Arawaks. The Arawaks finally killed the Spaniards and destroyed the fort. Columbus founded a second settlement, La Isabela, farther east on the same coast.
To maintain support in Spain, Columbus had to deliver gold. He sent an expedition into the interior under the leadership of Alonzo de Ojeda, who forced the Arawaks to mine gold under penalty of death. The Arawaks turned against the Spaniards, running off or killing themselves. To satisfy the demand for wealth, Columbus sent five hundred enslaved Arawaks to Spain. More than half of them died on the voyage. Isabella opposed enslavement of the Arawaks and freed the rest.
Columbus landed in Jamaica and Cuba, which he thought were the mainland. Upon returning to La Isabela, he found the colonists in rebellion. To defend himself, Columbus sailed to Spain in June 1496, leaving his brother Bartolomé as governor.
The Third Trip
After some delay, Ferdinand and Isabella received Columbus but refused to provide further support. Most Spaniards, disappointed with the financial returns from the Spanish colony, also denied support. After two years, Columbus was able to finance a third voyage lasing from 1498 to 1500. This time he sailed to Trinidad and continued along the Venezuelan coast. He became convinced this area was Paradise and the Oronoco River was one of the four rivers of Paradise.
Columbus decided to go to the new capital of Hispaniola, Santo Domingo, which Bartolomé founded in 1496. When he arrived, he found the colony in civil war. Columbus appealed to the Spanish Crown for reinforcements. In 1500, Isabella sent Francisco Bobadilla to Santo Domingo as governor. After an investigation, Bobadilla arrested Columbus and shipped him to Spain in chains. Six weeks after he arrived in Spain, Columbus was received by the monarchs, who treated him affectionately and assured him of his rights, although they sent a new governor, Nicolás de Ovando, to Hispaniola.
Isabella decided to give Columbus one last chance. She provided him four ships for his fourth and last voyage from 1502 to 1504. Columbus passed through the Lesser Antilles and headed for Santo Domingo, but Governor Ovando refused him permission to land. Columbus sailed to Central America and for eight months explored the coast, convinced that it was the Malay Peninsula. Storm damage, diseases, and fights with hostile natives forced Columbus to sail back to Santo Domingo. His unseaworthy ships had to be beached in Jamaica, where he was stranded for one year and five days before rescuers arrived.
Columbus returned to Spain in 1504 a broken man. He died on May 20, 1506 in Valladolid, believing he had actually found the route to the east by sailing west.
A Mixed Legacy
Christopher Columbus's reputation and legacy underwent many upward and downward swings in the centuries to come. Following his death, Columbus achieved great renown as Spain eventually spread its dominance throughout South and Central America and deep into the North American continent. The South American country of Colombia is named for him.
Even while the Spanish Empire waned in the Americas in the nineteenth century, Columbus became a symbol for progress and advancement for the young United States This occurred despite the fact that the US was not a former colony of Spain or a land where the Spanish language was predominant at the time. Columbus, nonetheless, became a symbol for Americans as the country extended westward to claim the territories between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The name Columbia, derived from Columbus' last name, became synonymous with the United States itself. Its capital city, Washington District of Columbia (D.C.), reflected the thought of this era, as well as other population centers named for him such as Columbus, Ohio. Columbus Day, celebrated on the reported day of his discovery of the Western Hemisphere on behalf of Spain, became a national holiday in the US. Starting in 1992 in California, this day was alternately called Indigenous Peoples' Day.
In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, Columbus's legacy took another turn as his name became increasingly associated with the evils of colonialism and enslavement. Columbus also became linked to the genocide of indigenous populations at the hands of Europeans, primarily through disease. In the 2020s many communities joined in and renamed October 11 as Indigenous Peoples' Day. Both days are traditionally celebrated on the second Monday of October.
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