On 3 August 1492, Genoese explorer Christopher Columbus departed on the first of four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean to seek out new lands. For years, Columbus had petitioned the nobles and royals of Europe to gain funding for his ventures, before finally receiving backing from Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon.
Christopher Columbus was born sometime in 1451 to Domenico Colombo, a weaver and shopkeeper, and his wife Susanna Fontanarossa, who hailed from a wealthy Corsican family. The couple raised Christopher alongside his four siblings, Giovanni, Bartholomew, Giacomo and Bianchinetta.1 The family are said to have moved around the Ligurian Coast, settling in places such as Genoa and Savona where his father worked in the weaving trade or at his cheese stall. The young Christopher helped in the family businesses before heading out for a life at sea at fourteen.
Christopher Columbus had little formal schooling and was mostly self-taught. Due to the innovations in print at this time, Columbus and other laymen had access to materials previously out of their reach. Over time he learned a number of languages and studied extensively the topics of history, geography and astronomy.2 Columbus wished to be a part of this era of discovery from a young age.
In 1473, heading into his twenties, Columbus began working as an apprentice business agent for a number of wealthy Genoese families, allowing him to gain experience in travel and trade. In the 1470s, it is believed that Columbus visited England, Ireland and even Iceland before settling in Lisbon, Portugal, where he met up with his brother Bartholomew and began working with him for a family called the Centuriones. He spent a long period in Portugal, staying there until 1485. It was on a sugar-buying trip for the family that he met the twenty-five-year-old Filipa Moniz Perestrelo. The pair married in 1477 on the Portuguese island of Maderia. This marriage produced a son named Diego.3
During the 15th and 16th centuries, the royal and noble families of Europe began to sponsor voyages to discover unknown areas in the hope of providing their countries with wealth and new land. The Portuguese were some of the earliest to do this, and Columbus began to come up with plans for his own voyages. He wished to reach China by sailing west from Europe and through the Northwest Passage which had not been discovered by this point.
In order to fund such a trip, Christopher Columbus had to secure the backing of a wealthy benefactor and began approaching royal courts to pitch his plans. In 1484, Columbus approached King John II of Portugal, who would not offer support. The Portuguese stated that Columbus was greatly underestimating the distance he would need to travel to reach Asia by heading west (they were correct!).
After the death of his wife and the rejection of the King of Portugal, Columbus relocated to Castile. Here, he began a relationship with a woman named Beatriz Enriquez de Arana, and the couple had a son named Ferdinand.3 Columbus had gone to Castile to seek funding from the Catholic Monarchs, Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon. His plans were again rebuffed when he met them in 1486, but the monarchs wished to keep Columbus around so that he could not take these ideas elsewhere. He was paid a salary and encouraged to stay on in Castile. His brother Bartholemew had already been sent to England to try to gain funding from King Henry VII but was instead captured by pirates and held in captivity for years. Even when Bartholemew was released the brothers’ plans were again rejected.
By 1491, Ferdinand and Isabella agreed to open discussions again with Columbus. In January 1492, Columbus met with a group of councillors who, as before, rejected his plans because they seemed unrealistic. Feeling defeated, Columbus left for France. Once the explorer had left, King Ferdinand had a change of heart and sent the Queen’s bishop and confessor to plead with her to back the plans. If they did not support Columbus, somebody else would. Isabella finally relented and Columbus was halted as he reached Córdoba. Columbus signed an agreement with Ferdinand and Isabella called The Capitulations of Santa Fe. This stated that if he succeeded, he would receive 10% of the revenue of any discovered lands as well as a range of titles, including those of the Admiral of the Ocean Sea as well as Viceroy and Governor of any founded land.
On 3 August 1492, Christopher Columbus finally set sail from Andalusia with three ships: the Santa Maria, the Niña and the Pinta. The fleet was setting off to discover the riches of India and China, and after sixty-one days, they reached land. Columbus believed he had reached India and incorrectly named the indigenous people “Indians.” He had, in fact, made it to what we now know as The Bahamas, first reaching the island of San Salvador, meaning Holy Saviour. The island was known by the native people as Guanahani. Columbus described the local population in his journal and his plans to bring them into servitude and convert them to Catholicism.4
While on the islands, Columbus searched for precious metals and spices and found very little. He traded with native peoples and took some of them into captivity, not seeing them as equals or even as a threat. He wrote in his journal, “With fifty men, we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.”5 He also wrote extensively about the animals and plant life he discovered.
After exploring other areas and leaving men to create settlements in what we now know as the Dominican Republic and Haiti, Columbus set off on his return to Spain in January 1493. News had spread of his successful voyage and Christopher Columbus returned to Spain as a hero. He met with Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand in Barcelona, where he presented them with goods and plants that he had gathered and news of the new lands.
Christopher Columbus went on to make three further voyages to the “New World” on behalf of Spain. These voyages and his subsequent settlement of areas of the Caribbean, North, and South America changed the world forever. His four voyages provided more than his Spanish benefactors could have imagined, as they were able to conquer the Americas and spread Spanish culture, language, and, of course, Catholicism due to his hard work and perseverance.
While many still celebrate his extensive achievements, even hosting annual parades and holidays in his honour, we now also have the benefit of hindsight and can understand why others see him in a very different light. We can now look back and see the damage caused to native populations by European explorers. Brutal leadership, war, disease and widescale enslavement decimated native peoples, and in most areas, these populations never recovered.6 While it is important to look back at Columbus’ navigational achievements and celebrate the new medicines, foods and minerals brought over to Europe on his voyages, these horrific consequences of European greed cannot be ignored.7
Sources
Columbus, C., First Voyage to America: from the log of the “Santa Maria”
Winsor, J., Christopher Columbus and How He Received and Imparted the Spirit of Discovery
Tremlett, G., Isabella of Castile: Europe’s First Great Queen
Phillips, W.D., The Worlds of Cristopher Columbus
Brink, C., Christopher Columbus: Controversial Explorer of the Americas
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Christopher-Columbus
- Brink, C., Christopher Columbus: Controversial Explorer of the Americas p38
- Phillips, W.D., The Worlds of Cristopher Columbus p35
- Brink, C., Christopher Columbus: Controversial Explorer of the Americas p40
- Tremlett, G., Isabella of Castile: Europe’s First Great Queen p316
- Columbus, C., First Voyage to America: from the log of the “Santa Maria” p41
- Brink, C., Christopher Columbus: Controversial Explorer of the Americas p84
- Tremlett, G., Isabella of Castile: Europe’s First Great Queen p356-364
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