Great navigators and their discoveries. What did Christopher Columbus discover? Voyage of Christopher Columbus Through which ocean did the expedition of Christopher Columbus pass?
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The Middle Ages is rich in biographies of people with amazing destinies. In that harsh time, everything was possible: beggars became dukes and kings, apprentices created masterpieces of art, and dreamers discovered new worlds. For some, everything was easy and effortless, and for some, on the way to the top, they had to overcome all imaginable and unimaginable obstacles...
Few people today know that the greatest of medieval navigators, the legendary Christopher Columbus may well deservedly and reasonably be called one of the biggest losers of the Age of Discovery and the Middle Ages in general.
Why is that? It is enough to read at least a little bit into his biography to understand everything.
The most interesting for you!
Italian in the service of the Spanish crown
Let's start with the fact that Columbus is not a Spaniard or even a Portuguese, as many people think. He is an ardent son of Italy, from Genoa. It was there that he was born somewhere between August 26 and October 31, 1451 (and 29 years later, another famous navigator Ferdinand Magellan was born in Portugal). It is generally accepted that Christopher Columbus grew up in a poor family. But in general, not much is known about his childhood and youth. In general, it is amazing that in the biography of a person so famous even in his era, there are a lot of “blank spots”.
Since the future discoverer grew up near the sea, from childhood he raved about the profession of a sailor. By the way, from childhood he dreamed of the sea and Admiral Nelson is one of the most famous personalities in England. This did not stop Columbus from studying a little at the University of Pavia, after which he entered the service of the Genoese fleet around 1465. It is known that some time after that he was seriously wounded and temporarily left the sea. By the way, further Columbus sailed exclusively under the Spanish and Portuguese flags, and turned out to be unclaimed at home.
In 1470, Christopher married Doña Felipe Monis de Palestrello, who was the daughter of a prominent navigator of those times. He managed to live quietly almost without the sea until 1472 in Genoa. From 1472 he showed up in Savona, lived there for a while and moved to Portugal in 1476, and again began to actively participate in sea trading expeditions.
Until 1485, Columbus sailed on Portuguese ships, living either in Lisbon, or in Madeira, or in Porto Santo. At this time, he was mainly engaged in trade, raising his educational level and compiling maps. In 1483, he already had a ready-made project for a new sea trade route to India and Japan, with which the navigator went to the Portuguese king.
But the time of Columbus had not yet come, or he could not properly argue the need to equip the expedition, or for some other reason, but the monarch, after two years of deliberation, rejected this enterprise, and even put the impudent sailor in disgrace.
Columbus left him, going to the Spanish service, where a few years later, through a series of complex and subtle intrigues, he still managed to persuade the king to finance the expedition.
The birth of a great project
No one can say exactly when the project for the western sea route to India was drawn up. Scientists have proven that in their calculations, Columbus was based on ancient knowledge about the sphericity of the Earth, and also studied the calculations and maps of scientists of the 15th century. Presumably, the very idea of sphericity and the possibility of such a voyage in 1474 was suggested by the geographer Paolo Toscanelli, which is confirmed by his letter to Columbus. The navigator began to make his own calculations and decided that if you sail through the Canary Islands, then from them to Japan should not be more than five thousand kilometers.
The improvement of the Columbus project was also facilitated by a visit to England, Ireland and Iceland in 1477, where he collected rumors and data from the Icelanders that there were vast lands in the west. He perfected his seafaring skills on long trips in 1481, when he sailed to Guinea, being the captain of one of the ships in the Diogo de Azambuja expedition sent to build the fortress of São Jorge da Mina. Apparently, it was after this voyage that Columbus had not only a firm conviction about the possibility of success of his project, but also a good evidence base was collected in his favor. It only remained to learn how to persuade those in power to finance ...
It should be noted that he made the first proposal to organize an expedition to the authorities and merchants of his native Genoa after about 1476, but then he was still too young and could provide very little evidence for his thoughts to be taken seriously. But Genoa, modest at all times, eclipsed by Venice and Rome, could become the center of the world instead of Spain for several centuries, by the time of Columbus's expedition the former weak and rather poor country.
In 1485, the project of sailing to India was rejected by the Portuguese king João II, so categorically that Columbus and his family were forced to urgently flee to Spain. Oddly enough, it was this flight that became fateful for Columbus, because he found his first refuge in the monastery of Santa Maria da Rabida, whose rector, Juan Perez de Marchena, was a close acquaintance of Hernando de Talavera, the queen's confessor. It was through him that it was possible to convey to the reigning lady a letter with the ideas of Columbus. The royal couple at that time lived in Cordoba, preparing the country and the army for war with Granada, but the grain was sown.
Already in 1486, Columbus managed to ignite with his project the fantasy of the rich and influential Duke of Medina Seli, who, moreover, introduced the essentially poor navigator into the circle of royal financial advisers, bankers and merchants. But the most useful was the acquaintance with his uncle, the Spanish Cardinal Mendoza. This one has already taken up the project in all seriousness, having gathered by his authority a commission of theologians, lawyers and courtiers. The commission worked for four whole years and did not give anything, since here Columbus let down his character - secretive and distrustful.
In any case, from 1487 to 1492, Columbus did not so much swim as travel around Spain after the Royal couple. In 1488, he received an invitation from the Portuguese king to return to Portugal, but it was too late - Columbus felt that here, in Spain, he would definitely achieve something. However, he sent letters with his proposals to all the influential courts of Europe, but received a response only from the English King Henry VII, who in 1488 expressed his support to the navigator, but did not offer anything concrete. Who knows, perhaps if Henry VIII, the son of Henry VII, was on the throne at that time, Christopher Columbus would have gone on an expedition under the flag of England. Henry VIII was very fond of the fleet, which only cost him the creation of huge ships by those standards Great Harry and Mary Rose!
The Spaniards wanted to organize an expedition, but the country was in a protracted war and it was not possible to allocate funds for swimming. In 1491, Columbus in Seville again personally met with Ferdinand and Isabella, but to no avail - they did not give money and help. In January 1492, Granada fell, Spain ended the war, and Columbus had the opportunity to organize an expedition almost immediately, but his character let him down again! The requirements of the sailor were exorbitant: the appointment of viceroy of all new lands, the title of "chief admiral of the sea-ocean" and a lot of money. The king refused.
The situation was saved by Queen Isabella, who dissuaded Columbus from emigrating to France and threatened to pawn her family jewels to organize the expedition. As a result, an enterprise was drawn up, according to which one ship was given by the state, one by Columbus himself, and one by Martin Alonso Pinson, who equipped the Pint. In addition, this magnate lent money to Columbus, who, according to the agreement, was supposed to take on an eighth of the expenses of the expedition.
On April 30, 1492, the king officially granted Christopher Columbus the title of “don”, making him a nobleman, and also confirmed all the requirements of a daring sailor, up to the title of viceroy of all newly discovered lands and his inheritance.
Expeditions of Christopher Columbus
The first expedition of Columbus took place on August 3, 1492 and was small - about 90 people on three ships - Santa Maria, Pinte and Nina, set off from Palos. Having reached the Canary Islands, she turned west, crossed the Atlantic along a small diagonal, opening the Sargasso Sea along the way. The first land he saw was one of the islands of the Bahamas, called San Salvador. Columbus landed on it October 12, 1492 and this day became the official date of the discovery of America.
It is noteworthy that until 1986, geographers and historians did not know exactly which of the islands Columbus discovered first, until the geographer J. Judge proved that it was Samana Island. In the following days, Columbus discovered a number of the Bahamas, and on October 28, washed up on the coast of Cuba. Already on December 6, he saw Haiti and moved along the northern coast. There, on December 25, the Santa Maria landed on a reef, although the crew was saved.
It was after the crash of the Santa Maria, when the sailors had to make room on the remaining ships, that Columbus ordered hammocks to be installed for the sailors instead of beds, having peeped this idea from the natives. So it was possible to compactly accommodate more people, and the method itself took root so much that it went into oblivion only a century ago.
In March 1493, the remaining ships returned to Castile. They brought some gold, some natives, strange plants and bird feathers. Columbus claimed to have discovered the western Indies. After reading about Cook's first expedition, the inquisitive can compare the successes of Columbus and James Cook in the stages of their early careers. The difference between these expeditions is 275 years!
The second expedition set off in the same 1493. Columbus headed it already in the rank of admiral and viceroy of all open lands. It was a grand undertaking, which involved 17 large courts and more than 2,000 people, including priests and officials, as well as lawyers, artisans and soldiers. In November 1493, Dominica, Guadeloupe and the Antilles were discovered. In 1494, the expedition explored the islands of Haiti, Cuba, Youthud and Jamaica, but very little gold was found there.
In the spring of 1496, Columbus set off for home, completing his journey on June 11. This expedition opened the way for colonization, after which settlers, priests and criminals began to be sent to new lands, who turned out to be the cheapest way to settle new colonies.
The third expedition of Columbus began in 1498. It consisted of only six courts and was exclusively research. On July 31, he discovered Trinidad, found the Gulf of Paria, discovered the mouth of the Orinoco and the Peninsula of Paria, finally reaching the continent. Climbing a little further than Columbus, the conquerors Hernan Cortes and Claudio Pizarro invaded the rich lands of South America. On August 15, Margarita Island was discovered, after which the navigator arrived in Haiti, where the Spanish colony was already operating.
In 1500, Columbus was arrested on a denunciation and sent to Castile. However, he did not sit there for very long, but he kept his shackles for life. Having received freedom, Columbus was nevertheless deprived of most of the privileges and most of the wealth. So, he no longer became vice-emperor, and this was the main disappointment of the final part of the navigator's life. From the third expedition, Columbus was disappointed, but survived, but the third expedition of Cook was the last for the traveler.
The fourth expedition began in 1502 and was carried out on only four ships. On June 15, he went traverse Martinique, and on July 30 he entered the Gulf of Honduras, where he first came into contact with representatives of the Mayan state. In 1502-1503, Columbus carefully explored the shores of Central America in search of the coveted passage to the west, because the fabulous wealth of America had not yet been discovered and everyone was eager to get to India. On June 25, 1503, Columbus crashed near Jamaica and was rescued only a year later. The navigator came to Castile on November 7, 1504, seriously ill and upset by failures. This was the end of his epic. Not finding the coveted passage to India, left without rights and money, Christopher Columbus died in Valladolid on May 20, 1506. His merits were appreciated much later, centuries later, and for his era he remained just one of the sailors going to distant lands.
Character of Christopher Columbus
Great people do not have a simple character. The same can be said about Columbus, and this is what largely caused his collapse at the end of his life. Christopher Columbus was a passionate dreamer, a fan of his idea and purpose, which he served all his life. At the same time, historians and contemporaries characterize him as a greedy, immoderately domineering person who all his life dreamed of being superior to others. Immoderate desires did not allow him to remain at the top of wealth and nobility, but nevertheless he lived an outstanding life, having committed outstanding deeds!
Tragedy of Christopher Columbus
If you look deeper, you can understand that Columbus was dying an unfortunate man. He did not get to fabulously rich India, and it was precisely this, and not the discovery of a new continent, that was his goal and dream. He did not even understand what he had discovered, and for the first time the continents he saw received the name of a completely different person - Amerigo Vespucci, who simply slightly extended the paths beaten by Columbus. In fact, the Normans discovered America several centuries before him, so that here the navigator did not become the first. He achieved a lot, and at the same time achieved nothing. And this is his tragedy.
Named after Columbus...
Columbus forever remained in the history and geography of all continents and most countries. In addition to streets, numerous monuments, squares and even an asteroid, an entire state in South America, the highest mountain in Colombia, a federal district in the USA and a province in Canada, a city and province in Panama in the Panama Canal zone Colon, a department in Honduras and many others are named after him. , less significant geographical objects.
What did the discoveries of Columbus give to the world?
First of all, it should be noted that it was Columbus who showed the way to those people who, within a century after him, destroyed the original cultures of South and Central America, turning the history of the continents in a different direction.
Discoveries gave Europe an influx of a huge mass of gold and silver, thanks to which the center of civilization moved there from the East. Europe began to develop, its industry and science grew, its population and its quality of life grew, not only due to the flow of gold, which fell significantly in price, but also due to the import of new fertile crops from America.
Causes of Spain's overseas expansion
In the second half of the XV century. feudalism in Western Europe was in the process of decomposition, large cities grew up, trade developed. Money became the universal medium of exchange, the need for which increased sharply. Therefore, in Europe, the demand for gold has greatly increased, which increased the desire for the "Indies" - the birthplace of spices, where there is supposedly a lot of gold. But at the same time, as a result of the Turkish conquests, it became increasingly difficult for Western Europeans to use the old, eastern combined land and sea routes to the "Indies".
At that time, only Portugal was engaged in the search for southern sea routes. For other Atlantic countries by the end of the XV century. only the path to the west, across the unknown ocean, remained open. The idea of such a path appeared in Renaissance Europe in connection with the spread among a relatively wide range of interested people of the ancient doctrine of the sphericity of the Earth, and long-distance voyages became possible thanks to the achievements made in the second half of the 15th century. progress in shipbuilding and navigation.
These were the general prerequisites for the overseas expansion of Western European countries. The fact that it was Spain that was the first to send the small flotilla of Christopher Columbus to the west in 1492 is explained by the conditions that prevailed in this country towards the end of the 15th century. One of them was the strengthening of the Spanish royal power, previously limited. The turning point was outlined in 1469, when Queen Isabella of Castile married the heir to the throne of Aragon, Ferdinand. After 10 years, he became the king of Aragon. Thus, in 1479, the largest Pyrenean states united and a united Spain arose. Skillful politics strengthened royal power. With the help of the urban bourgeoisie, the crowned couple curbed the recalcitrant nobility and large feudal lords. Having created in 1480-1485. Inquisition, the kings turned the church into the most terrible weapon of absolutism. The last Muslim Pyrenean state, the Emirate of Granada, could not resist their onslaught for long. At the beginning of 1492, Granada fell. The eight-century process of the Reconquista ended, and the "United Spain" entered the world stage.
Bartolome de Las Casas
"India Archives", Seville, Spain
Overseas expansion was in the interests of both the royal power itself and its allies - the urban bourgeoisie and the church. The bourgeoisie sought to expand the sources of primitive accumulation; church - to extend its influence to pagan countries. The military force for the conquest of the "pagan Indies" could be given by the Spanish nobility. It was in his interests, and in the interests of the absolutist royal power and the urban bourgeoisie. The conquest of Granada put an end to the almost continuous war with the Moors in Spain itself, a war that had been a trade for many thousands of hidalgos. Now they sat idle and became even more dangerous for the monarchy and cities than in the last years of the Reconquista, when the kings, in alliance with the townspeople, had to wage a stubborn struggle against the robber noble gangs. It was necessary to find a way out for the accumulated energy of the hidalgo. The way out, beneficial for the crown and cities, for the clergy and nobility, was overseas expansion.
The royal treasury, especially the Castilian one, was constantly empty, and overseas expeditions to Asia promised fabulous incomes. The Hidalgos dreamed of land holdings across the ocean, but even more - of gold and jewels of "China" and "India", since most of the nobles were in debt, as if in silk, from usurers. The desire for profit was combined with religious fanaticism - a consequence of the centuries-old struggle of Christians against Muslims. One should not, however, exaggerate its importance in the Spanish (as well as Portuguese) colonial expansion. For the initiators and organizers of overseas expansion, for the leaders of the Conquest, religious zeal was a familiar and convenient mask, under which the desire for power and personal gain was hidden. A contemporary of Columbus, the author of The Shortest Report on the Devastation of India and the multi-volume History of India, Bishop Bartolome Las Casas, characterized the conquistadors with amazing force with his catchphrase: “They walked with a cross in their hand and with an insatiable thirst for gold in their hearts.” "Catholic kings" zealously defended the interests of the church only when they coincided with their personal interests. That Columbus in this case did not differ from the kings, is clearly seen from those documents that were personally written or dictated by him.
Christopher Columbus and his project
Almost all the facts from the life of Columbus are controversial ( Columbus is a Latinized form of the Italian surname Colombo. In Spain his name was Cristoval Colon) relating to his youth and long sojourn in Portugal. It can be considered established, although with some doubt, that he was born in the autumn of 1451 in Genoa into a very poor Catholic family. At least until 1472, he lived in Genoa itself or (since 1472) in Savona and, like his father, was in the woolen workshop. It is not known whether Columbus studied at any school, but it is proved that he read in four languages - Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Latin, read a lot and, moreover, very carefully. Probably, the first voyage of Columbus dates back to the 70s: the documents indicate his participation in the Genoese trading expeditions that visited in 1474 and 1475. O. Chios in the Aegean.
Columbus Christopher,1451 — 1506
Italian navigator in the Spanish service, discoverer and explorer of the West Indies, South America
In May 1476, Columbus went to Portugal by sea as a clerk of a Genoese trading house and lived there for nine years - in Lisbon, Madeira and Porto Santo. According to him, he visited both England and Guinea, in particular, the Gold Coast. However, we do not know in whose capacity he sailed - a sailor or a clerk in a trading house. But already during his first expedition, Columbus, despite the mistakes and failures inevitable with the novelty of the enterprise, showed himself to be a very experienced sailor, who combined the qualities of a captain, astronomer and navigator. He not only fully mastered the art of navigation, but also raised it to a higher level. According to the traditional version, back in 1474 Columbus asked for advice on the shortest sea route in "India" to Paolo Toscanelli, astronomer and geographer. The Florentine responded by sending a copy of his letter to the Portuguese scholar-monk who had previously contacted him on behalf of the king. Afonso V. In this letter, Toscanelli pointed out that there was a shorter route across the ocean to the countries of spices than the one that the Portuguese were looking for, sailing along the western coast of Africa. “I know that the existence of such a path can be proved on the basis that the Earth is a sphere. Nevertheless, in order to facilitate the undertaking, I am sending ... a map made by me ... It shows your coasts and islands, from where you must sail continuously to the west; and the places where you will arrive; and how far you must keep from the pole or from the equator; and how far you must go to reach the countries where there are most different spices and precious stones. Don't be surprised that I call the spice-growing countries west, when they are commonly called east, because people who sail steadily west will reach the eastern countries across the ocean in the other hemisphere. But if you go overland - through our hemisphere, then the countries of spices will be in the east ... ".
Obviously, Columbus then informed Toscanelli about his project, since he wrote to the Genoese in the second letter: “I consider your project of sailing from east to west ... noble and great. I am pleased to see that I was well understood.” In the XV century. no one yet knew how land and ocean are distributed on Earth. Toscanelli almost doubled the length of the Asian continent from west to east and, accordingly, underestimated the width of the ocean separating Southern Europe from China in the west, defining it as a third of the circumference of the Earth, i.e., according to his calculation, less than 12 thousand km Japan (Cipangu) lay, according to Toscanelli, about 2,000 km east of China, and, consequently, less than 10,000 km must be traveled from Lisbon to Japan; the Azores or Canary Islands and the mythical Antilia could serve as stages on this transition. Columbus made his own corrections to this calculation, based on some astronomical and geographical books: it is most convenient to sail to East Asia through the Canary Islands, from where you need to go 4.5-5.0 thousand km to the west to reach Japan. According to the French geographer of the XVIII century. Jean Anville, it was "the greatest mistake that led to the greatest discovery." Neither originals nor copies of Toscanelli's map have come down to us, but it has been reconstructed more than once on the basis of his letters.
Columbus proposed his project João II. After long delays, in 1484 the Portuguese king handed over his project to the scientific council, which had just been organized to compile navigational manuals. The council rejected Columbus' evidence. A certain role in the refusal of the king was also played by the excessive rights and advantages that Columbus reprimanded himself if the enterprise was successful. The Genoese left Portugal with a young son Diego. According to the traditional version, in 1485 Columbus arrived in the city of Palos near the Gulf of Cadiz and found shelter near Palos, in the monastery of Rabida. The abbot became interested in the project and sent Columbus to influential monks, who recommended him to Castilian grandees, including the Duke Medinaceli. These recommendations only hurt the case: Isabel she was suspicious of an enterprise that, if successful, would enrich her political opponents - the big feudal lords - and contribute to the growth of their influence. The duke asked Isabella to allow the organization of the expedition at her own expense. The Queen ordered that the project be submitted to a special commission for consideration.
The commission, which consisted of monks and courtiers, gave a negative opinion four years later. It has not reached us. According to the biographers of Columbus of the 16th century, the commission cited various ridiculous motives, but did not deny the sphericity of the Earth: at the end of the 15th century. a clergyman who claims to be a scholar would hardly have dared to challenge this truth. ( On the contrary, Christian writers at that time tried to reconcile the data confirming the spherical shape of the Earth with biblical concepts, for a direct denial of the truth, which had become generally known, could damage the already shattered authority of the church. Note by the way: the version of the solemn meeting of the council of the University of Salaman, at which the Columbus project was allegedly rejected on the grounds that pundits were outraged by his considerations about the sphericity of the Earth, is fictional from beginning to end). However, the kings have not yet given their final judgment. In 1487-1488. Columbus received an allowance from the treasury, but his business did not move while the kings were busy with the war. But he found the most reliable point of support: with the help of the monks, he became close to the Spanish financiers. It was the right path that led him to victory. In 1491, Columbus again appears in the Rabida monastery and, through the abbot, gets acquainted with Martin Alonso Ponson, an experienced sailor and an influential Palos shipbuilder. At the same time, Columbus's ties with royal financial advisers, with Seville merchants and bankers are being strengthened.
At the end of 1491, the Columbus project was again considered by the commission, and prominent lawyers took part in it along with theologians and cosmographers. And this time the project was rejected: the demands of Columbus were considered excessive. The king and queen joined in the decision, and Columbus headed to France. At that moment, Isabella appeared Luis Santangel, the head of the largest trading house, the closest financial adviser to the kings, and persuaded her to accept the project, promising a loan to equip the expedition. A policeman was sent for Columbus, who caught up with him near Granada and escorted him to the court. On April 17, 1492, the kings expressed their written consent to the draft treaty with Columbus. The most important article of this document read: “Their Highnesses, as the lords of the seas-oceans, grant Don Cristobal Colon to their admirals of all the islands and continents, which he personally ... will open or acquire in these seas and oceans, and after his death [please] his heirs and descendants forever this title with all the privileges and prerogatives attached to it ... Their Highnesses appoint Columbus as their viceroy and chief ruler in ... the islands and continents that he ... discovers or acquires, and for the management each of them will have to choose the one who is most suitable for this service ... ”(from the candidates put forward by Columbus).
On April 30, the king and queen officially confirmed the granting of the title “don” to Columbus and his heirs (this meant that he was elevated to the dignity of nobility) and, if successful, the titles of admiral, viceroy and governor, as well as the right to receive salaries for these positions , a tenth of the net income from the new lands and the right to deal with criminal and civil cases. The overseas expedition was regarded by the crown primarily as a risky trade enterprise. The Queen agreed, seeing that the project was supported by major financiers. Luis Santangel, with a representative of the Seville merchant class, loaned 1,400,000 maravedis to the Castilian crown. ( This is equivalent to almost 9.7 thousand gold dollars in 1934 prices. At the end of the 15th century. The sailor's salary was 12 maravedis per day, a pood of wheat cost 43.4 maravedis). The support of representatives of the bourgeoisie and influential churchmen predetermined the success of Columbus' efforts.
The composition and purpose of the first expedition of Columbus
Pinson, Martin Alonso 1441 - 1493
Spanish navigator in the West Indies. Captain of the Pinta and member of the first expedition of Columbus. Brother of Francisco Martin Pinzon and Vicente Yanes Pinzon, uncle of Arias Martin Pinzon.
Columbus was given two ships. The crew was recruited from the inhabitants of Palos and a number of other port cities. Columbus equipped a third ship - Martin Pinson and his brothers helped him raise funds. The flotilla team consisted of 90 people. Columbus raised the admiral's flag on the Santa Maria, the largest ship in the flotilla, which he, perhaps not quite deservedly, described as "a bad ship, unsuitable for discoveries." Senior Pinson was appointed captain of the Pinta - Martin Alonso; the captain of the smallest ship "Ninya" ("Baby") - the younger Pinzon - Vicente Yanes. There are no documents on the size of these ships, and the opinions of historians differ greatly: the tonnage of the Santa Maria is determined by S. E. Morison at 100 tons, Pints - about 60 tons, Nigni - about 50 tons.
Pinson, Vicente Yanes 1460 - 1524
Spanish navigator in the West Indies, South America and Central America. Captain of the Niña, younger brother of Martin Alonso Pinzon and member of the first expedition of Columbus.
There is an extensive literature about the purpose of the first expedition of Columbus. Among historians, a group of "anti-Colombian" skeptics denies that Columbus set himself the goal of reaching Asia in 1492: the two main documents emanating from the "Catholic kings" and agreed with Columbus - the treaty and the "title certificate" - do not mention neither Asia nor any part of it. There are no place names at all. And the purpose of the expedition is formulated in deliberately vague terms, which is quite understandable - in these documents it was impossible to mention the "Indies": papal awards confirmed in 1479 by Castile, the discovery of new lands south of the Canary Islands and "up to the Indians ” was provided by Portugal. Therefore, Columbus, beyond the Canary Islands, headed directly west from about. Hierro, not south. However, the mention of the mainland could only refer to Asia: according to ancient and medieval ideas, there could not be another continent in the northern hemisphere west of Europe, across the ocean. In addition, the treaty gives a list of goods that the kings and Columbus himself hoped to find across the ocean: "Pearls or precious stones, gold or silver, spices ...". All these goods were attributed by the medieval geographical tradition to the "Indies".
It is unlikely that the main task was the discovery of the legendary islands. The island of Brazil was then associated with a valuable Brazilian tree, and nothing is said about it in the documents; O. Antilia - with the legend of the "Seven Cities", founded by the bishops who fled there. If Antilia existed, then it was ruled by Christian sovereigns; the kings could not legally grant anyone the right to "purchase" Antilia for Castile and secure "forever" control of it to the heirs of Columbus. According to Catholic tradition, such awards could only apply to non-Christian countries.
There is also no doubt that the composition of the crew of the flotilla was selected only for the purpose of establishing trade relations with a non-Christian (possibly Muslim) country, and not for the conquest of a large country; however, the possibility of "acquiring" individual islands was not ruled out. Obviously, the flotilla was not intended for large-scale conquest operations - weak weapons, a small crew, and the absence of professional military personnel. The expedition did not aim to promote the "holy" faith, despite the later assertions of Columbus. On the contrary, there was not a single priest or monk on board, but there was a baptized Jew - a translator who knew a little Arabic, that is, the cult language of Muslims, which is not needed on the islands of Brasil, Antilia, etc., but he could useful in the "Indies", which traded with Muslim countries. The king and queen sought to establish trade relations with the "Indies" - this was precisely the main goal of the first expedition. When Columbus, returning to Spain, reported that he had discovered “India” in the west and brought Indians (indios) from there, he believed that he had been where he was sent and where he wanted to go, did what he promised. So thought the initiators and participants of the first expedition. This explains the immediate organization of another, this time a large expedition. There were almost no skeptics in Spain then: they appeared later.
Crossing the Atlantic Ocean and the discovery of the Bahamas
On August 3, 1492, Columbus took the ships out of the harbor of Palos. Off the Canary Islands, it was discovered that the Pinta was leaking. Due to its repair, only in September 1492 did the flotilla move away from about. Homers. The first three days were almost completely calm. Then a fair wind drew the ships to the west, and so quickly that the sailors soon lost sight of Fr. Hierro. Columbus understood that the anxiety of sailors would grow as they moved away from their homeland, and decided to show in the ship's log and announce to the crew the underestimated data on the distances traveled, but enter the correct ones in his diary. ( Its original has been lost. The so-called "Diary of the First Voyage" of Columbus is a paraphrase compiled by Bartolome Las Casas. According to S. Morison, "false" data on the distance traveled turned out to be more accurate than "true ones"). Already on September 10, the diary noted that 60 leagues (about 360 km) were covered per day, and 48 were calculated, "so as not to inspire fear in people." ( The quotations here and below are from The Travels of Christopher Columbus). Further pages of the diary are full of similar entries. On September 16, "many tufts of green grass began to be noticed, and, as could be judged by its appearance, this grass had only recently been torn off the ground." However, the flotilla moved west for three weeks through this strange expanse of water, where sometimes there was "so much grass that it seemed that the whole sea was teeming with it." The lot was thrown several times, but it did not reach the bottom. In the early days, the ships, carried along by fair winds, easily glided among the algae, but then, in calm, they hardly moved forward. This is how the Sargasso Sea was discovered.
The Santa Maria, the Pinta and the Nina leave the harbor of Palos. Gordon Miller
On October 10, 1492, after a month's voyage, an attempted mutiny arose on the ship. Only thanks to the indomitable will of Columbus, the voyage continued. Paolo Novaresio, The Explorers, White Star, Italy, 2002
At the beginning of October, sailors and officers insisted more and more insistently on changing course: before that, Columbus had steadily rushed straight to the west. Finally, on October 7, he gave way, probably fearing a mutiny, and turned west-southwest. Three more days passed, and "people could no longer endure complaining about the long voyage." The admiral reassured the sailors a little, convincing them that they were close to the goal, and reminded them how far they were from their homeland. He persuaded some and promised rewards to others. On October 11, everything indicated the proximity of the earth. A strong excitement seized the sailors. At 2:00 a.m. October 12, 1492 Rodrigo Triana, sailor "Pints", saw the land in the distance. In the morning the land opened up: “This island is very large and very flat, and there are many green trees and water, and in the middle there is a very large lake. There are no mountains." The first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in the subtropical zone from Homera to this island lasted 33 days. The boats were lowered from the ships. Columbus, with both Pinsons, a notary and a royal comptroller, landed on the shore - now as admiral and viceroy - hoisted the Castilian banner there, formally took possession of the island and drew up a notarial deed about this.
On the island, the Spaniards saw naked people. And Columbus describes the first meeting with the Arawaks, a people completely exterminated by the colonialists after 20-30 years: “They swam across to the boats where we were, and brought us parrots, and cotton yarn in skeins, and darts, and many other things, and exchanged all this... But it seemed to me that these people are poor... They all wear what their mother gave birth to. And all the people I saw were still young ... and they were built ... well, and their bodies and faces are very beautiful, and their hair is coarse, just like horses, and short ... (and their skin is such colors, like the inhabitants of the Canary Islands, who are neither black nor white...). Some of them paint the face, while others paint the whole body, and there are those in which only the eyes and nose are painted. They do not carry and do not know [iron] weapons: when I showed them swords, they grabbed the blades and unknowingly cut off their fingers. They don't have any iron.
On the island of Columbus, they gave "dry leaves, which were especially prized by the inhabitants": the first indication of tobacco. The Indians called their island Guanahani, the admiral gave it a Christian name - San Salvador ("Holy Savior"), which was assigned to one of the Bahamas, lying at 24 ° N. sh. and 74 ° 30 "W, - now Watling Island. Columbus drew attention to pieces of gold in the noses of some islanders. The gold allegedly came from somewhere in the south. gold where it is born". The Spaniards on boats explored the western and northern coasts of Guanahani Island for two days and discovered several villages. Other islands were visible in the distance, and Columbus was convinced that he had discovered the archipelago. Residents visited ships on canoes-one-trees of various sizes, lifting from one to 40-45 people. ( "They advanced in boats with the help of an oar that looked like a shovel ... and went at great speed"). To find a way to the southern lands, where "gold is born", Columbus ordered to capture six Indians. Using their instructions, he gradually moved south.
Columbus named the islands southwest of Guanahani Santa Maria de Concepción (Frames) and Fernandina (Long Island). The local Indians seemed to him "more domestic, courteous and reasonable" than the inhabitants of Guanahani. “I have even seen them wear clothes woven from cotton yarn, like a raincoat, and they love to dress up.” Sailors who visited the houses of the islanders saw hanging wicker beds tied to poles. “The bed and mats on which the Indians sleep are like nets and are woven from cotton yarn” (hammocks). But the Spaniards did not find any signs of gold deposits on the island. For two weeks the flotilla moved among the Bahamas. Columbus saw many plants with strange flowers and fruits, but none of them were familiar to him. In an entry dated October 15-16, he enthusiastically describes the nature of the archipelago. The last of the Bahamas, where the Spaniards landed on October 20, was named Isabella (Crooked Island).
First voyage of Christopher Columbus
Discovery of the northern coasts of Cuba and Haiti and return to Spain
From the Indians, the sailors heard about the southern island of Cuba, which, according to them, is very large and carries on a lot of trade.
On October 28, Columbus "entered the mouth ... of a very beautiful river" (Bariey Bay in northeastern Cuba, 76 ° W). From the gestures of the inhabitants, Columbus realized that this land could not be circumnavigated by ship even in 20 days. Then he decided that he was on one of the peninsulas of East Asia.
But there were no rich cities, no kings, no gold, no spices. The next day, the Spaniards advanced 60 km to the northwest along the coast of Cuba, waiting for a meeting with Chinese junks. But no one, even the admiral himself, imagined that the path to China was extremely long - more than 15 thousand km in a straight line. Occasionally, small villages came across on the coast. The admiral sent two people, ordering to find the king and establish relations with him. One of the messengers spoke Arabic, but in this country no one understood “even” Arabic. Having retired a little from the sea, the Spaniards found villages surrounded by cultivated fields with large, accommodating hundreds of people, houses built of branches and reeds. Only one plant turned out to be familiar to Europeans - cotton. There were bales of cotton in the houses; women wove coarse fabrics from it or twisted nets from yarn. Men and women who met the newcomers "walked with firebrands in their hands and with grass used for smoking." So the Europeans first saw how they smoke tobacco, and unfamiliar cultivated plants turned out to be maize (corn), potatoes and tobacco.
The ships again needed repairs, further sailing to the west seemed aimless: Columbus thought that he had reached the poorest part of China, but the richest Japan should have been to the east, and he turned back. The Spaniards anchored in Gibara Bay, adjacent to Bariey, where they stayed for 12 days. During the stay, the admiral learned about Fr. Babek, where people "gather gold right along the coast," and on November 13 moved east in search. On November 20, Pinta disappeared, Columbus, suspecting treason, assumed that Martin Pinson wanted to personally discover this island for himself. For another two weeks, the remaining two ships sailed east and reached the eastern tip of Cuba (Cape Mansi). ( Columbus called this cape Alpha and Omega, which means, according to commentators, the beginning of Asia, if you go from the east, and the end of Asia, if you go from the west). On December 5, after some hesitation, the admiral moved to the south-southeast, crossed the Windward Strait and on December 6 approached the land, about which he had already collected information from the Cubans, as a rich big Fr. Bohio. It was. Haiti; Columbus named it Hispaniola :( "Hispaniola" literally means "Spanish", but the meaning is more correct to translate "Spanish Island") there along the coast "stretch the most beautiful ... valleys, very similar to the lands of Castile, but in many ways superior to them." Moving along the northern coast of Haiti, he discovered about. Tortuga ("Turtle"). Among the inhabitants of Hispaniola, sailors saw thin gold plates and small ingots. Among them, the “gold rush” intensified: “... the Indians were so simple-hearted, and the Spaniards were so greedy and insatiable, that they were not satisfied when the Indians for ... a piece of glass, a shard of a broken cup or other worthless things gave them everything that only they desired. But even without giving anything, the Spaniards strove to take ... everything ”(entry in the diary of December 22).
On December 25, due to the negligence of the sailor on duty, the Santa Maria landed on the reefs. With the help of the Indians, they managed to remove valuable cargo, guns and supplies from the ship. On the small Nina, the entire crew could not accommodate, and Columbus decided to leave some of the people on the island - the first attempt by Europeans to settle in Central America. 39 Spaniards voluntarily remained in Hispaniola: life there seemed free to them, and they hoped to find a lot of gold. Columbus ordered a fort called Navidad (Christmas) to be built from the wreckage of the ship, armed with cannons from the Santa Maria and supplied with supplies for a year.
On January 4, 1493, the admiral went to sea and two days later met the Pinto off the northern coast of Hispaniola. Martin Pinson assured that he "left the flotilla against his will." Columbus pretended to believe that "it was not the time to punish the guilty." Both ships were leaking, everyone was eager to return to their homeland as soon as possible, and on January 16, Nina and Pinta went out into the open ocean. The first four weeks of the voyage went well, but on February 12 a storm arose, and on the night of February 14, the Nina lost sight of the Pinta. As the sun rose, the wind increased and the sea became even more formidable. No one thought that it would be possible to avoid inevitable death. At dawn on February 15, when the wind died down a little, the sailors saw the land, and Columbus correctly identified that he was near the Azores. Three days later, the Nina managed to approach one of the islands - Santa Maria.
On February 24, leaving the Azores, the Nina again fell into a storm, which drove the ship to the Portuguese coast near Lisbon. On March 15, 1493, the admiral brought the Niña to Palos, and on the same day the Pinta arrived there. Columbus brought to Spain the news of the lands he had discovered in the west, some gold, several islanders unseen in Europe, who were called Indians, strange plants, fruits and feathers of strange birds. In order to retain the monopoly of the discovery, he entered incorrect data into the ship's log on the way back. The first news of the great discovery, spread across Europe in dozens of translations, is a letter dictated by Columbus at the Azores to one of the people who financed the expedition, Luis Santangel or Gabriel Sanchez.
Swimming of Christopher Columbus
First division of the world
The news of the discovery of "Western India" by Columbus alarmed the Portuguese. In their opinion, the rights granted to Portugal by the popes (Nicholas V and Calixtus III) in 1452-1456 were violated, the rights recognized by Castile itself in 1479, confirmed by Pope Sixtus IV in 1481, to own lands discovered south and east of Cape Bojador, "down to the Indians". Now India seemed to elude them. The Castilian queen and the Portuguese king defended their rights to the lands across the ocean. Castile relied on the right of first discovery, Portugal on papal grants. Only the head of the Catholic Church could resolve the dispute peacefully. The pope at that time was Alexander VI Borgia. It is unlikely that the Portuguese considered this pope, a Spaniard by origin (Rodrigo Borja), an impartial judge. But they could not disregard his decision.
Columbus shows the captive Caribs and brought "gifts" to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. R. Balaka, 1874 National Historical Museum, Buenos-Ayres, Argentina
On May 3, 1493, the pope, by the bull Jnter cetera ("By the way"), made the first division of the world, giving Castile the rights to the lands that she discovered or will discover in the future - "lands lying opposite the western parts on the ocean" and not belonging to any or a Christian sovereign. In other words, Castile in the west received the same rights as Portugal had in the south and east. On May 4, 1493, in a new bull (second Jnter cetera), the pope tried to define more precisely the rights of Castile. He granted to the Castilian kings in perpetuity "all the islands and continents ... open and those that will be open to the west and south of the line drawn ... from the Arctic Pole ... to the Antarctic Pole ... [This] line should stand at a distance of 100 leagues to the west and south of any of the islands commonly called the Azores and Cape Verde. It is clear that the boundary established by the second bull cannot be drawn on the map. Even then it was firmly known that the Azores lie much to the west of the Cape Verde Islands. And the expression "south of the line drawn ... from ... the pole ... to the pole", that is, south of the meridian, is simply ridiculous. Nevertheless, the papal decision formed the basis of the Spanish-Portuguese negotiations that ended with the Treaty of Tordesillas of June 7, 1494. The Portuguese even then doubted that Columbus had reached Asia, and did not insist that the Spaniards completely abandon overseas voyages, but only sought to transfer the "papal meridian" further west. ( There were lone skeptics in Spain as well. The Italian humanist Pietro Martyre (Peter the Martyr), who lived in Barcelona in those years and was close to the royal court, carried on a large correspondence with his countrymen. In his letter dated November 1, 1493, there are the following phrases: “Someone Colon sailed to the western antipodes, to the Indian coast, as he himself believes. He discovered many islands; it is believed that it is precisely those ... about which cosmographers have expressed the opinion that they are located near India, beyond the Eastern Ocean. I cannot dispute this, although the size of the globe seems to lead to a different conclusion.")
After much debate, the Spaniards made a big concession: the line was drawn 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands. The contract does not specify from which island 370 leagues should be counted and in which leagues the calculation should be made; it can be assumed that we are talking about a marine league (about 6 km). In addition, for the cosmographers of that time, the conversion of 370 leagues into degrees of longitude was very difficult. However, the discrepancies for these reasons (up to 5.5 °) are insignificant compared with errors due to the inability to determine longitude at that time; even in the 16th century. because of this, there were errors of more than 45 °. According to many historians, Portugal and Castile set themselves a clear goal - to really divide the globe between them, despite the fact that in the papal bull of 1493 and in the treaty of 1494 only one, Atlantic, line of demarcation was indicated. But already in 1495, the opposite opinion was expressed, probably more in line with the true intentions of the parties: the line was established only so that the Castilian ships had the right to make discoveries in a westerly direction, and the Portuguese - in the east of the "papal meridian". In other words, the purpose of the demarcation was not to divide the globe, but only to indicate to the rival maritime powers different ways of discovering new lands.
(To be continued)
Once Christopher Columbus uttered a sacramental phrase: "The world is small", which became, in fact, the leitmotif of his whole life. In a little more than 50 years of his life, this greatest navigator managed to make as many discoveries and bring untold wealth to the whole of Europe, as it is impossible to do even in a few centuries. Whatever he did, and as soon as the navigator did not beg the Catholic kings, in order to achieve his main life goal - to make an expedition to the shores of the New World. In total, during his life, Columbus managed to make four voyages to the shores of America.
Columbus made his first sea voyage in 1492-1493. So, three ships under the names "Santa Maria", "Nina" and "Pinta", the total crew of which was 90 people, set sail in 1492, on August 3, from the port in Palos. The route was laid as follows: after the Canary Islands, the expedition went west across the Atlantic Ocean, as a result of which the Sargasso Sea was discovered, and then landed on one of the islands belonging to the Bahamas archipelago. Columbus christened it San Salvador, and it happened on October 12 in 1492, which is considered the official date of the discovery of America. Remarkably, for a long time there was an opinion that San Salvador is the current Watling. However, in 1986, the geographer J. Judge, an American, made a computer model of the expedition, which showed that Columbus was the first to see Samana Island, located at a distance of 120 km southeast of Watling Island.
From October 14 to October 24 of the same year, Columbus explored other Bahamas, but from October 28 to December 5, he discovered the territories of the northeast of the Cuban coast. December 6 was marked by a landing on the island of Haiti, after which the expedition proceeded along the northern coast. However, on the night of December 24-25, the Santa Maria collided with a reef, but the flagship crew managed to escape, and the expedition was forced to turn to the coast of Spain.
March 15, 1493 "Nina", the crew of which was led by Columbus, and "Pinta" return to Castile. The navigator brings with him trophies, among which are the natives, whom the Europeans called the Indians, gold, unfamiliar vegetation, vegetables and fruits, and the plumage of some birds. Remarkably, Columbus was the first to use Indian hammocks instead of sailor bunks. The first expedition caused such a powerful response that the so-called "papal meridian" was laid, which determined in which direction Spain would open new lands, and in which direction - Portugal.
The second expedition took longer than the first - from September 25, 1493 to June 11, 1496, and it started from Cadiz. This time, 17 ships entered the flotilla, and their crew, according to various sources, numbered from 1.5 to 2.5 thousand people, including colonists who decided to try their luck on open lands. In addition to, in fact, people, the ships were loaded with livestock, seeds and seedlings, tools - everything that was necessary to create a public settlement. During this expedition, the colonists conquered Hispaniola, laid the city of Santo Domingo. The journey was marked by the discovery of the Virgin and Lesser Antilles, Puerto Rico and Jamaica, in addition, the expedition continued to explore Cuba. Remarkably, Columbus continued to be sure that he was exploring western India, but not the territories of the new continent.
The third expedition started on May 30, 1498. This time it consisted of 6 ships with 300 crew members. It was marked by the discovery of the island of Trinidad, the exploration of the Orinoco Delta and several other lands. On August 20, 1499, Christopher Columbus returned to Hispaniola, where things were going badly. Remarkably, in 1498, Vasco de Gama discovered the real India, from where he returned with irrefutable evidence - spices, and Columbus was declared a deceiver. So, in 1499, Columbus was deprived of the monopoly right to discover new territories, he himself was arrested and taken to Castile. He was saved from imprisonment only by the patronage of major financiers who had influence on the royal couple.
The fourth and last voyage of Columbus
The last expedition was undertaken on May 9, 1502. This time the traveler was exploring the mainland of Central America, namely: Honduras, Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua. By the way, this expedition was marked by the first acquaintance with the Mayan tribe. The purpose of this voyage was to search for the South Sea, that is, the Pacific Ocean, but the attempts were unsuccessful, and Columbus had to return to Castile in October 1504.
In general, the importance of Columbus' expeditions cannot be overestimated, but his contemporaries treated them very negligently, realizing their value only after half a century after the death of navigators, when ships began to bring huge amounts of gold and silver from Peru and Mexico. For reference, the royal treasury, when recalculated, spent only 10 kg of gold on the equipment of the first voyage, but she received many times more - 3 million kilograms of the treasured yellow metal.
Causes of Spain's overseas expansion
Vabout the second half of the fifteenth century. feudalism in Western Europe was in the process of decomposition, large cities grew up, trade developed. Money became the universal medium of exchange, the need for which increased sharply. Therefore, in Europe, the demand for gold has greatly increased, which increased the desire for the "Indies" - the birthplace of spices, For the significance of spices to medieval cities, see: Arab Trade Routes. where there is a lot of gold. But at the same time, as a result of the Turkish conquests, it became more and more difficult for Western Europeans to use the old, eastern combined land and sea routes to the "Indies". At that time, only Portugal was engaged in the search for southern sea routes. For other Atlantic countries by the end of the XV century. only the path to the west, across the unknown ocean, remained open. The idea of such a path appeared in Renaissance Europe in connection with the spread among a relatively wide range of interested people of the ancient doctrine of the sphericity of the Earth, and long-distance voyages became possible thanks to the achievements made in the second half of the 15th century. progress in shipbuilding and navigation.
These were the general prerequisites for the overseas expansion of Western European countries. The fact that it was Spain that was the first to send the small flotilla of Christopher Columbus to the west in 1492 is explained by the conditions that prevailed in this country towards the end of the 15th century. One of them was the strengthening of the Spanish royal power, previously limited. The turning point was outlined in 1469, when Queen Isabella of Castile married the heir to the throne of Aragon, Ferdinand. After 10 years, he became the king of Aragon. Thus, in 1479, the largest Pyrenean states united and a united Spain arose. Skillful politics strengthened royal power. With the help of the urban bourgeoisie, the crowned couple curbed the recalcitrant nobility and large feudal lords. Having created in 1480-1485. Inquisition, the kings turned the church into the most terrible weapon of absolutism. The last Muslim Pyrenean state - the Emirate of Granada - could not resist their onslaught for long. At the beginning of 1492, Granada fell. The eight-century process of the Reconquista ended, and the "United Spain" entered the world stage.
Bartolome de Las Casas
"India Archives", Seville, SpainOverseas expansion was in the interests of both the royal power itself and its allies - the urban bourgeoisie and the church. The bourgeoisie sought to expand the sources of primitive accumulation; church - to extend its influence to pagan countries. The military force for the conquest of the "pagan Indies" could be given by the Spanish nobility. It was in his interests, and in the interests of the absolutist royal power and the urban bourgeoisie. The conquest of Granada put an end to the almost continuous war with the Moors in Spain itself, a war that had been a trade for many thousands of hidalgos. Now they sat idle and became even more dangerous for the monarchy and cities than in the last years of the Reconquista, when the kings, in alliance with the townspeople, had to wage a stubborn struggle against the robber noble gangs. It was necessary to find a way out for the accumulated energy of the hidalgo. The way out, beneficial for the crown and cities, for the clergy and nobility, was overseas expansion.
The royal treasury, especially the Castilian one, was constantly empty, and overseas expeditions to Asia promised fabulous incomes. The Hidalgos dreamed of land holdings across the ocean, but even more - of the gold and jewels of "China" and "India", since most of the nobles were in debt, as if in silk, from usurers. The desire for profit was combined with religious fanaticism - a consequence of the centuries-old struggle of Christians against Muslims. One should not, however, exaggerate its importance in the Spanish (as well as Portuguese) colonial expansion. For the initiators and organizers of overseas expansion, for the leaders of the Conquest, religious zeal was a familiar and convenient mask, under which the desire for power and personal gain was hidden. A contemporary of Columbus, the author of The Shortest Report on the Devastation of India and the multi-volume History of India, Bishop Bartolome Las Casas, characterized the conquistadors with amazing force with his catchphrase: “They walked with a cross in their hand and with an insatiable thirst for gold in their hearts.” "Catholic kings" zealously defended the interests of the church only when they coincided with their personal interests. That Columbus in this case did not differ from the kings, is clearly seen from those documents that were personally written or dictated by him.
Christopher Columbus and his project
WITHporn almost all the facts from the life of Columbus, Columbus is a Latinized form of the Italian surname Colombo. In Spain, his name was Cristoval Colon. relating to his youth and long sojourn in Portugal. It can be considered established, although with some doubt, that he was born in the autumn of 1451 in Genoa into a very poor Catholic family. At least until 1472, he lived in Genoa itself or (since 1472) in Savona and, like his father, was in the woolen workshop. It is not known whether Columbus studied at any school, but it is proved that he read in four languages - Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Latin, read a lot and, moreover, very carefully. Probably, the first long voyage of Columbus dates back to the 70s: the documents indicate his participation in the Genoese trading expeditions that visited in 1474 and 1475. O. Chios in the Aegean.
In May 1476, Columbus went by sea to Portugal as a clerk of a Genoese trading house and lived there for nine years - in Lisbon, Madeira and Porto Santo. According to him, he visited both England and Guinea, in particular, the Gold Coast. However, we do not know in whose capacity he sailed - a sailor or a clerk in a trading house. But already during his first expedition, Columbus, despite the mistakes and failures inevitable with the novelty of the enterprise, showed himself to be a very experienced sailor, who combined the qualities of a captain, astronomer and navigator. He not only fully mastered the art of navigation, but also raised it to a higher level. According to the traditional version, back in 1474 Columbus asked for advice on the shortest sea route in "India" to Paolo Toscanelli, astronomer and geographer. The Florentine responded by sending a copy of his letter to the Portuguese scholar-monk who had previously contacted him on behalf of the king. Afonso V. In this letter, Toscanelli pointed out that there was a shorter route across the ocean to the countries of spices than the one that the Portuguese were looking for, sailing along the western coast of Africa. “I know that the existence of such a path can be proved on the basis that the Earth is a sphere. Nevertheless, in order to facilitate the undertaking, I am sending ... a map made by me ... It shows your coasts and islands, from where you must sail continuously to the west; and the places where you will arrive; and how far you must keep from the pole or from the equator; and how far you must go to reach the countries where there are most different spices and precious stones. Don't be surprised that I call the western countries where the spices grow, when they are usually called the east, because people who sail steadily west will reach the eastern countries across the ocean in the other hemisphere. But if you go overland - through our hemisphere, then the countries of spices will be in the east ... "
Obviously, Columbus then informed Toscanelli about his project, since he wrote to the Genoese in the second letter: “I consider your project of sailing from east to west ... noble and great. I am pleased to see that I was well understood.” In the XV century. no one yet knew how land and ocean are distributed on Earth. Toscanelli almost doubled the length of the Asian continent from west to east and, accordingly, underestimated the width of the ocean separating Southern Europe from China in the west, defining it as a third of the circumference of the Earth, i.e., according to his calculation, less than 12 thousand km Japan (Cipangu) lay, according to Toscanelli, about 2,000 km east of China, and, consequently, less than 10,000 km must be traveled from Lisbon to Japan; the Azores or Canary Islands and the mythical Antilia could serve as stages on this transition. Columbus made his own corrections to this calculation, relying on some astronomical and geographical books: it is most convenient to sail to East Asia through the Canary Islands, from where you need to go 4.5-5.0 thousand km to the west to reach Japan. According to the French geographer of the XVIII century. Jean Anville, it was "the greatest mistake that led to the greatest discovery." Neither originals nor copies of Toscanelli's map have come down to us, but it has been reconstructed more than once on the basis of his letters.
Columbus proposed his project João II. After long delays, in 1484 the Portuguese king handed over his project to the scientific council, which had just been organized to compile navigational manuals. The council rejected Columbus' evidence. A certain role in the refusal of the king was also played by the excessive rights and advantages that Columbus reprimanded himself if the enterprise was successful. The Genoese left Portugal with a young son Diego. According to the traditional version, in 1485 Columbus arrived in the city of Palos near the Gulf of Cadiz and found shelter near Palos, in the monastery of Rabida. The abbot became interested in the project and sent Columbus to influential monks, who recommended him to Castilian grandees, including the Duke Medinaceli. These recommendations only hurt the case: Isabel she was suspicious of an enterprise that, with luck, would enrich her political opponents - large feudal lords - and would contribute to the growth of their influence. The duke asked Isabella to allow the organization of the expedition at her own expense. The Queen ordered that the project be submitted to a special commission for consideration.
The commission, which consisted of monks and courtiers, gave a negative opinion four years later. It has not reached us. According to the biographers of Columbus of the 16th century, the commission cited various ridiculous motives, but did not deny the sphericity of the Earth: at the end of the 15th century. a clergyman who claims to be a scholar would hardly have dared to challenge this truth. On the contrary, Christian writers at that time tried to reconcile the data confirming the spherical shape of the Earth with biblical concepts, for the direct denial of the truth, which had become generally known, could damage the already shaken authority of the church. Let us note by the way: the version of the ceremonial meeting of the council of the University of Salaman, at which the Columbus project was allegedly rejected on the grounds that pundits were outraged by his considerations about the sphericity of the Earth, is fictional from beginning to end. However, the kings have not yet given their final judgment. In 1487–1488 Columbus received an allowance from the treasury, but his business did not move while the kings were busy with the war. But he found the most reliable point of support: with the help of the monks, he became close to the Spanish financiers. It was the right path that led him to victory. In 1491, Columbus again appears in the Rabida monastery and, through the abbot, gets acquainted with Martin Alonso Ponson, an experienced sailor and an influential Palos shipbuilder. At the same time, Columbus's ties with royal financial advisers, with Seville merchants and bankers are being strengthened.
At the end of 1491, the Columbus project was again considered by the commission, and prominent lawyers took part in it along with theologians and cosmographers. And this time the project was rejected: the demands of Columbus were considered excessive. The king and queen joined in the decision, and Columbus headed to France. At that moment, Isabella appeared Luis Santangel, the head of the largest trading house, the closest financial adviser to the kings, and persuaded her to accept the project, promising a loan to equip the expedition. A policeman was sent for Columbus, who caught up with him near Granada and escorted him to the court. On April 17, 1492, the kings expressed their written consent to the draft treaty with Columbus. The most important article of this document read: “Their Highnesses, as the lords of the seas-oceans, grant Don Cristobal Colon to their admirals of all the islands and continents, which he personally ... will open or acquire in these seas and oceans, and after his death [please] his heirs and descendants forever this title with all the privileges and prerogatives attached to it ... Their Highnesses appoint Columbus as their viceroy and chief ruler in ... the islands and continents that he ... discovers or acquires, and for the management each of them will have to choose the one who is most suitable for this service ... ”(from the candidates put forward by Columbus).
On April 30, the king and queen officially confirmed the granting of the title “don” to Columbus and his heirs (this meant that he was elevated to the dignity of nobility) and. in case of luck, the titles of admiral, viceroy and governor, as well as the right to receive salaries for these positions, a tenth of the net income from new lands and the right to deal with criminal and civil cases. The overseas expedition was regarded by the crown primarily as a risky trade enterprise. The Queen agreed, seeing that the project was supported by major financiers. Luis Santangel, with a representative of the Seville merchant class, loaned 1,400,000 maravedis to the Castilian crown. This is equivalent to almost 9.7 thousand gold dollars in 1934 prices. At the end of the 15th century. A sailor's salary was 12 maravedis per day, and a pood of wheat cost 43.4 maravedis. The support of representatives of the bourgeoisie and influential churchmen predetermined the success of Columbus' efforts.
The composition and purpose of the first expedition of Columbus
TOOlumbus was given two ships. The crew was recruited from the inhabitants of Palos and a number of other port cities. Columbus equipped a third ship - Martin Pinson and his brothers helped him raise funds. The flotilla team consisted of 90 people. Columbus raised the admiral's flag on the Santa Maria, the largest ship in the flotilla, which he, perhaps not quite deservedly, described as "a bad ship, unsuitable for discoveries." Senior Pinson was appointed captain of the Pinta - Martin Alonso; captain of the smallest ship "Ninya" ("Baby") - junior Pinzon - Vicente Yanes. There are no documents on the size of these ships, and the opinions of historians differ greatly: the tonnage of the Santa Maria is determined by S. E. Morison at 100 tons, Pints - about 60 tons, Nigni - about 50 tons.
There is an extensive literature about the purpose of the first expedition of Columbus. Among historians, a group of skeptics, "Antn-Colombians" denies that Columbus set himself the goal of reaching Asia in 1492: two main documents emanating from the "Catholic kings" and agreed with Columbus - the contract and the "title certificate" - are not mentioned neither Asia nor any part of it. There are no place names at all. And the purpose of the expedition is formulated in deliberately vague terms, which is quite understandable - in these documents it was impossible to mention the "Indies": papal awards confirmed in 1479 by Castile, the discovery of new lands south of the Canary Islands and "up to the Indians ” was provided by Portugal. Therefore, Columbus, beyond the Canary Islands, headed directly west from about. Hierro, not south. However, the mention of the mainland could only refer to Asia: according to ancient and medieval ideas, there could not be another continent in the northern hemisphere west of Europe, across the ocean. In addition, the treaty gives a list of goods that the kings and Columbus himself hoped to find across the ocean: "Pearls or precious stones, gold or silver, spices ..." All these goods were attributed to the "Indies" by medieval geographical tradition.
It is unlikely that the main task was the discovery of the legendary islands. The island of Brazil was then associated with a valuable Brazilian tree, and nothing is said about it in the documents; O. Antilia - with the legend of the "Seven Cities" founded by the bishops who fled there. If Antilia existed, then it was ruled by Christian sovereigns; the kings could not legally grant anyone the right to "purchase" Antilia for Castile and secure "forever" control of it to the heirs of Columbus. According to Catholic tradition, such awards could only apply to non-Christian countries.
There is also no doubt that the composition of the crew of the flotilla was selected only for the purpose of establishing trade relations with a non-Christian (possibly Muslim) country, and not for the conquest of a large country; however, the possibility of "acquiring" individual islands was not ruled out. Obviously, the flotilla was not intended for large-scale conquest operations - weak weapons, a small crew, and the absence of professional military personnel. The expedition did not aim to promote the "holy" faith, despite the later assertions of Columbus. On the contrary, there was not a single priest or monk on board, but there was a baptized Jew - a translator who knew a little Arabic, that is, the cult language of Muslims, which is not needed on the islands of Brazil, Antilia, etc., but he could useful in the "Indies", which traded with Muslim countries. The king and queen sought to establish trade relations with the "Indies" - this was precisely the main goal of the first expedition. When Columbus, returning to Spain, reported that he had discovered “India” in the west and brought Indians (indios) from there, he believed that he had been where he was sent and where he wanted to go, did what he promised. So thought the initiators and participants of the first expedition. This explains the immediate organization of another, this time a large expedition. There were almost no skeptics in Spain then: they appeared later.
On August 3, 1492, Columbus took the ships out of the harbor of Palos. Off the Canary Islands, it was discovered that the Pinta was leaking. Due to its repair, only in September 1492 did the flotilla move away from about. Homers. The first three days were almost completely calm. Then a fair wind drew the ships to the west, and so quickly that the sailors soon lost sight of Fr. Hierro. Columbus understood that the anxiety of sailors would grow as they moved away from their homeland, and decided to show in the ship's log and announce to the crew the underestimated data on the distances traveled, but enter the correct ones in his diary. Its original has been lost. The so-called "Diary of the First Voyage" of Columbus is a paraphrase compiled by Bartolome Las Casas. According to S. Morison, the "fake" data on the distance traveled turned out to be more accurate than the "true" ones. Already on September 10, the diary noted that 60 leagues (about 360 km) were covered per day, and 48 were calculated, "so as not to inspire fear in people." The quotations here and below are from The Travels of Christopher Columbus. Further pages of the diary are full of similar entries. On September 16, "many tufts of green grass began to be noticed, and, as could be judged by its appearance, this grass had only recently been torn off the ground." However, the flotilla moved west for three weeks through this strange expanse of water, where sometimes there was "so much grass that it seemed that the whole sea was teeming with it." The lot was thrown several times, but it did not reach the bottom. In the early days, the ships, carried along by fair winds, easily glided among the algae, but then, in calm, they hardly moved forward. This is how the Sargasso Sea was discovered.
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At the beginning of October, sailors and officers insisted more and more insistently on changing course: before that, Columbus had steadily rushed straight to the west. Finally, on October 7, he gave way, probably fearing a mutiny, and turned west-southwest. Three more days passed, and "people could no longer endure complaining about the long voyage." The admiral reassured the sailors a little, convincing them that they were close to the goal, and reminded them how far they were from their homeland. He persuaded some and promised rewards to others. On October 11, everything indicated the proximity of the earth. A strong excitement seized the sailors. At 2:00 a.m. on October 12, 1492 Rodrigo Triana, sailor "Pints", saw the land in the distance. In the morning the land opened up: “This island is very large and very flat, and there are many green trees and water, and in the middle there is a very large lake. There are no mountains." The first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in the subtropical zone from Homera to this island lasted 33 days. The boats were lowered from the ships. Columbus, with both Pinsons, a notary and a royal controller, landed on the shore - now as an admiral and viceroy - hoisted the Castilian banner there, formally took possession of the island and drew up a notarial deed about this.
On the island, the Spaniards saw naked people. And Columbus describes the first meeting with the Arawaks, a people who after 20-30 years were completely exterminated by the colonialists: “They swam across to the boats where we were, and brought us parrots, and cotton yarn in skeins, and darts, and many other things, and exchanged all this... But it seemed to me that these people are poor... They all wear what their mother gave birth to. And all the people I saw were still young ... and they were built ... well, and their bodies and faces are very beautiful, and their hair is coarse, just like horses, and short ... (and their skin is such colors, like the inhabitants of the Canary Islands, who are neither black nor white...). Some of them paint the face, while others paint the whole body, and there are those in which only the eyes and nose are painted. They do not carry and do not know [iron] weapons: when I showed them swords, they grabbed the blades and unknowingly cut off their fingers. They don't have any iron.
On the island of Columbus, they gave "dry leaves, which were especially prized by the inhabitants": the first indication of tobacco. The Indians called their island Guanahani, the admiral gave it a Christian name - San Salvador ("Holy Savior"), which was assigned to one of the Bahamas, lying at 24 ° N. sh. and 74 ° 30 "W, - now Watling Island. Columbus drew attention to pieces of gold in the noses of some islanders. The gold allegedly came from somewhere in the south. gold where it is born". The Spaniards on boats explored the western and northern coasts of Guanahani Island for two days and discovered several villages. Other islands were visible in the distance, and Columbus was convinced that he had discovered the archipelago. Residents visited ships on canoes-one-trees of various sizes, lifting from one to 40-45 people. "They advanced in boats with the help of an oar that looked like a shovel ... and went at great speed." To find a way to the southern lands, where "gold is born", Columbus ordered to capture six Indians. Using their instructions, he gradually moved south.
The islands southwest of Guanahani were named by Columbus Santa Maria de Concepción (Frames) and Fernandina (Long Island). The local Indians seemed to him "more domestic, courteous and reasonable" than the inhabitants of Guanahani. “I have even seen them wear clothes woven from cotton yarn, like a raincoat, and they love to dress up.” Sailors who visited the houses of the islanders saw hanging wicker beds tied to poles. “The bed and mats on which the Indians sleep are like nets and are woven from cotton yarn” (hammocks). But the Spaniards did not find any signs of gold deposits on the island. For two weeks the flotilla moved among the Bahamas. Columbus saw many plants with strange flowers and fruits, but none of them were familiar to him. In an entry dated October 15-16, he enthusiastically describes the nature of the archipelago. The last of the Bahamas, where the Spaniards landed on October 20, was named Isabella (Crooked Island).
From the Indians, the sailors heard about the southern island of Cuba, which, according to them, is very large and carries on a lot of trade.
On October 28, Columbus "entered the mouth ... of a very beautiful river" (Bariey Bay in northeastern Cuba, 76 ° W). From the gestures of the inhabitants, Columbus realized that this land could not be circumnavigated by ship even in 20 days. Then he decided that he was on one of the peninsulas of East Asia.
But there were no rich cities, no kings, no gold, no spices. The next day, the Spaniards advanced 60 km to the northwest along the coast of Cuba, waiting for a meeting with Chinese junks. But no one, even the admiral himself, imagined that the path to China was extremely long - more than 15 thousand km in a straight line. Occasionally, small villages came across on the coast. The admiral sent two people, ordering to find the king and establish relations with him. One of the messengers spoke Arabic, but in this country no one understood “even” Arabic. Having retired a little from the sea, the Spaniards found villages surrounded by cultivated fields with large, accommodating hundreds of people, houses built of branches and reeds. Only one plant turned out to be familiar to Europeans - cotton. There were bales of cotton in the houses; women wove coarse fabrics from it or twisted nets from yarn. Men and women who met the newcomers "walked with firebrands in their hands and with grass used for smoking." So the Europeans first saw how they smoke tobacco, and unfamiliar cultivated plants turned out to be maize (corn), potatoes and tobacco.
The ships again needed repairs, further sailing to the west seemed aimless: Columbus thought that he had reached the poorest part of China, but the richest Japan should have been to the east, and he turned back. The Spaniards anchored in Gibara Bay, adjacent to Bariey, where they stayed for 12 days. During the stay, the admiral learned about Fr. Babek, where people "gather gold right along the coast," and on November 13 moved east in search. On November 20, Pinta disappeared, Columbus, suspecting treason, assumed that Martin Pinson wanted to personally discover this island for himself. For another two weeks, the remaining two ships sailed east and reached the eastern tip of Cuba (Cape Mansi). Columbus called this cape Alpha and Omega, which means, according to commentators, the beginning of Asia, if you go from the east, and the end of Asia, if you go from the west. On December 5, after some hesitation, the admiral moved to the south-southeast, crossed the Windward Strait and on December 6 approached the land, about which he had already collected information from the Cubans, as a rich big Fr. Bohio. It was. Haiti; Columbus named it Hispaniola: "Hispaniola" literally means "Spanish", but the meaning is more correct to translate "Spanish Island". there along the coast "stretch the most beautiful ... valleys, very similar to the lands of Castile, but in many ways superior to them." Moving along the northern coast of Haiti, he discovered about. Tortuga ("Turtle"). Among the inhabitants of Hispaniola, sailors saw thin gold plates and small ingots. Among them, the “gold rush” intensified: “... the Indians were so simple-minded, and the Spaniards were so greedy and insatiable, that they were not satisfied when the Indians for ... a piece of glass, a shard of a broken cup or other useless things gave them everything that only they desired. But even without giving anything, the Spaniards strove to take ... everything ”(entry in the diary of December 22).
On December 25, due to the negligence of the sailor on duty, the Santa Maria landed on the reefs. With the help of the Indians, they managed to remove valuable cargo, guns and supplies from the ship. On the small Nina, the entire crew could not accommodate, and Columbus decided to leave some of the people on the island - the first attempt by Europeans to settle in Central America. 39 Spaniards voluntarily remained in Hispaniola: life there seemed free to them, and they hoped to find a lot of gold. Columbus ordered a fort called Navidad (Christmas) to be built from the wreckage of the ship, armed with cannons from the Santa Maria and supplied with supplies for a year.
On January 4, 1493, the admiral went to sea and two days later met the Pinto off the northern coast of Hispaniola. Martin Pinson assured that he "left the flotilla against his will." Columbus pretended to believe that "it was not the time to punish the guilty." Both ships were leaking, everyone was eager to return to their homeland as soon as possible, and on January 16, Nina and Pinta went out into the open ocean. The first four weeks of the voyage went well, but on February 12 a storm arose, and on the night of February 14, the Nina lost sight of the Pinta. As the sun rose, the wind increased and the sea became even more formidable. No one thought that it would be possible to avoid inevitable death. At dawn on February 15, when the wind died down a little, the sailors saw the land, and Columbus correctly identified that he was near the Azores. Three days later, the Nina managed to approach one of the islands - Santa Maria.
On February 24, leaving the Azores, the Nina again fell into a storm, which drove the ship to the Portuguese coast near Lisbon. On March 15, 1493, the admiral brought the Niña to Palos, and on the same day the Pinta arrived there. Columbus brought to Spain the news of the lands he had discovered in the west, some gold, several islanders unseen in Europe, who were called Indians, strange plants, fruits and feathers of strange birds. In order to retain the monopoly of the discovery, he entered incorrect data into the ship's log on the way back. The first news of the great discovery, spread across Europe in dozens of translations, is a letter dictated by Columbus at the Azores to one of the people who financed the expedition, Luis Santangel or Gabriel Sanchez.
there is about the discovery of "Western India" by Columbus alarmed the Portuguese. In their opinion, the rights granted to Portugal by the popes were violated ( Nicholas V and Calixtus III) in 1452 - 1456, rights recognized by Castile itself in 1479, confirmed by the pope Sixtus IV in 1481 - to own the lands open to the south and east of Cape Bojador, "up to the Indians." Now India seemed to elude them. The Castilian queen and the Portuguese king defended their rights to the lands across the ocean. Castile relied on the right of the first discovery, Portugal - on papal grants. Only the head of the Catholic Church could resolve the dispute peacefully. Dad was then Alexander VI Borgia. It is unlikely that the Portuguese considered this pope, a Spaniard by origin (Rodrigo Borja), an impartial judge. But they could not disregard his decision.
On May 3, 1493, the pope, by the bull Jnter cetera (“By the way”), made the first division of the world, giving Castile the rights to the lands that she discovered or will discover in the future - “lands lying opposite the western parts on the ocean” and not belonging to any or a Christian sovereign. In other words, Castile in the west received the same rights as Portugal had in the south and east. On May 4, 1493, in a new bull (second Jnter cetera), the pope tried to define more precisely the rights of Castile. He granted to the Castilian kings in perpetuity "all the islands and continents ... open and those that will be open to the west and south of the line drawn ... from the Arctic Pole ... to the Antarctic Pole ... [This] line should stand at a distance of 100 leagues to the west and south of any of the islands commonly called the Azores and Cape Verde. It is clear that the boundary established by the second bull cannot be drawn on the map. Even then it was firmly known that the Azores lie much to the west of the Cape Verde Islands. And the expression "south of the line drawn ... from ... the pole ... to the pole", that is, south of the meridian, is simply ridiculous. Nevertheless, the papal decision formed the basis of the Spanish-Portuguese negotiations, which ended Treaty of Tordesillas dated June 7, 1494. The Portuguese already then doubted that Columbus had reached Asia, and did not insist that the Spaniards completely abandon overseas voyages, but only sought to transfer the "papal meridian" further to the west. There were lone skeptics in Spain as well. The Italian humanist Pietro Martyre (Peter the Martyr), who lived in Barcelona in those years and was close to the royal court, carried on a large correspondence with his countrymen. In his letter dated November 1, 1493, there are the following phrases: “Someone Colon sailed to the western antipodes, to the Indian coast, as he himself believes. He discovered many islands; it is believed that it is precisely those ... about which cosmographers have expressed the opinion that they are located near India, beyond the Eastern Ocean. I cannot dispute this, although it seems that the size of the globe leads to a different conclusion.
After much debate, the Spaniards made a big concession: the line was drawn 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands. The contract does not specify from which island 370 leagues should be counted and in which leagues the calculation should be made; it can be assumed that we are talking about a marine league (about 6 km). In addition, for the cosmographers of that time, the conversion of 370 leagues into degrees of longitude was very difficult. However, the discrepancies for these reasons (up to 5.5 °) are insignificant compared with errors due to the inability to determine longitude at that time; even in the 16th century. because of this, there were errors of more than 45 °. According to many historians, Portugal and Castile set themselves a clear goal - to really divide the globe between them, despite the fact that in the papal bull of 1493 and in the treaty of 1494 only one, Atlantic, demarcation line was indicated. But already in 1495, the opposite opinion was expressed, probably more in line with the true intentions of the parties: the line is established only so that the Castilian ships have the right to make discoveries in a westerly direction, and the Portuguese - in the east of the "papal meridian". In other words, the purpose of the demarcation was not to divide the globe, but only to indicate to the rival maritime powers different ways of discovering new lands.
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Christopher Columbus is the discoverer of South and Central America. Expeditions of Columbus.
Christopher Columbus biography
1 expedition. Discovery of America by Columbus in 1492
- The first expedition Christopher Columbus assembled from three ships - "Santa Maria" (three-masted flagship 25 m long, with a displacement of 120 tons, captain of the ship Columbus), caravels "Pinta" (captain - Martin Alonso Pinzon) and "Nina" (captain - Vicente Yagnez Pinson) with a displacement of 55 tons and 87 people of the expedition personnel.
The flotilla left Palos on August 3, 1492, turned west from the Canary Islands, crossed the Atlantic Ocean, opening the Sargasso Sea and reached an island in the Bahamas (the first to see American land was the sailor "Pinta" Rodrigo de Triana October 12, 1492). Columbus landed on the coast, which the locals call Guanahani, hoisted a banner on it, declared the open land the property of the Spanish king, and formally took possession of the island. The island was named San Salvador.
For a long time (1940-1982) Watling Island was considered San Salvador. However, our contemporary American geographer George Judge in 1986 processed all the collected materials on a computer and came to the conclusion that the first American land seen by Columbus was Samana Island (120 km southeast of Watling).
On October 14-24, Columbus approached several more Bahamas, and on October 28 - December 5, he discovered part of the northeast coast of Cuba. December 6 reached the island of Haiti and moved along the northern coast. On the night of December 25, the flagship Santa Maria landed on a reef, but the crew escaped. For the first time in the history of navigation, on the orders of Columbus, Indian hammocks were adapted for sailor bunks.
Columbus returned to Castile on the Nina on March 15, 1493. From America, Columbus brought seven captive American natives, who were called Indians in Europe, as well as some gold and plants and fruits hitherto unknown in the Old World, including an annual corn plant (in Haiti it is called maize), tomatoes, peppers, tobacco (“ dried leaves, which were especially prized by the locals"), pineapples, cocoa and potatoes (because of their beautiful pink and white flowers). The political resonance of Columbus's voyage was the "papal meridian": the head of the Catholic Church established a demarcation line in the Atlantic, indicating different directions for the discovery of new lands by competing Spain and Portugal.The first landing of Christopher Columbus on the shores of the New World: in San Salvador, Wisconsin, October 12, 1492.
Author of the painting: Spanish artist Tolin Puebla, Theophilus Dioscor Dioscoro Teofilo Puebla Tolin (1831-1901)
Publisher: American firm Currier and Ives (engravings, lithography, popular prints), publication 1892.
2 expedition of Christopher Columbus (1493 - 1496)
- The second expedition (1493-96), led by Admiral Columbus, in the position of Viceroy of the newly discovered lands, consisted of 17 ships with a crew of 1.5-2.5 thousand people. On November 3-15, 1493, Columbus discovered the islands of Dominica, Guadeloupe and about 20 Lesser Antilles, on November 19, the island of Puerto Rico. In March 1494, in search of gold, he made a military campaign deep into the island of Haiti, in the summer he discovered the southeastern and southern coasts of Cuba, the islands of Youth and Jamaica. For 40 days, Columbus explored the southern coast of Haiti, the conquest of which continued in 1495. But in the spring of 1496 he sailed home, completing his second voyage on June 11 in Castile. Columbus announced the discovery of a new route to Asia. The colonization of new lands by free settlers, which began soon, was very expensive for the Spanish crown, and Columbus proposed to populate the islands with criminals, halving their sentence. With fire and sword, plundering and destroying the country of ancient culture, Cortez's military detachments passed through the land of the Aztecs - Mexico, and Pizarro's detachments passed through the land of the Incas - Peru.
3 expedition of Christopher Columbus (1498 - 1499)
- The third expedition (1498-99) consisted of six ships, three of which Columbus himself led across the Atlantic. On July 31, 1498, he discovered the island of Trinidad, entered the Gulf of Paria, discovered the mouth of the western arm of the Orinoco Delta and the Paria Peninsula, marking the beginning of the discovery of South America. Having entered the Caribbean Sea, he approached the Araya Peninsula, discovered the island of Margarita on August 15 and arrived in Haiti on August 31. In 1500, upon a denunciation, Christopher Columbus was arrested and, shackled (which he then kept for the rest of his life), was sent to Castile, where he was expected to be released.
4 expedition of Christopher Columbus (1502 - 1504)
