Who was Columbus by profession. Christopher Columbus - biography of the great navigator, the discovery of America: The Great Delusion
On August 3, 1492, the first expedition of the navigator Christopher Columbus began, discovering new lands for Europeans.
Born in Genoa, Columbus became a sailor at an early age, sailing mediterranean sea on merchant ships. Then he settled in Portugal. Under the Portuguese flag, he sailed north to England and Ireland, sailed along the west coast of Africa to the Portuguese trading post of São Jorge da Mina (modern Ghana). He was engaged in trade, mapping and self-education. During this period, Columbus had the idea to reach India by a westerly route across the Atlantic Ocean.
At that time, many Western European countries were looking for sea routes to the countries of South and East Asia, which were then united under the common name "India". From these countries, pepper, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, expensive silk fabrics came to Europe. Merchants from Europe could not penetrate the countries of Asia by land, as the Turkish conquests cut off traditional merchant ties with the East through the Mediterranean. They were forced to purchase Asian goods from Arab merchants. Therefore, the Europeans were interested in finding a sea route to Asia, which would allow them to acquire Asian goods without intermediaries. In the 1480s, the Portuguese tried to go around Africa in order to penetrate Indian Ocean to India.
Columbus also suggested that Asia can be reached by moving west through Atlantic Ocean. His theory was based on the ancient doctrine of the sphericity of the Earth and the incorrect calculations of scientists of the 15th century, who considered the globe to be much smaller in size, and also underestimated the real length of the Atlantic Ocean from west to east.
Between 1483 and 1484, Columbus tried to interest the Portuguese king João II with his plan for an expedition to Asia by a western route. The monarch handed over his project for examination to the scientists of the "Mathematical Junta" (Lisbon Academy of Astronomy and Mathematics). Columbus's calculations were deemed "fantastic" by experts, and Columbus was turned down by the king.
Having received no support, in 1485 Columbus went to Spain. There, in early 1486, he was introduced to the royal court and received an audience with the king and queen of Spain, Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile. The royal couple became interested in the project of a western route to Asia. A special commission was created to consider it, which issued an unfavorable conclusion in the summer of 1487, but the Spanish monarchs postponed the decision to organize an expedition until the end of the war they waged with the Emirate of Granada (the last Muslim state on the Iberian Peninsula).
In the autumn of 1488, Columbus visited Portugal, where he re-proposed his project to Juan II, but was again refused and returned to Spain.
In 1489, he tried unsuccessfully to interest the regent of France, Anne de Baeuze, and two Spanish dukes with the idea of sailing west.
In January 1492, unable to withstand a long siege by the Spanish troops, Granada fell. After lengthy negotiations, the Spanish monarchs, overriding the objections of their advisers, agreed to subsidize Columbus's expedition.
On April 17, 1492, the royal couple concluded an agreement ("surrender") with him in Santa Fe, granting him the title of nobleman, the titles of Admiral of the Sea-Ocean, Viceroy and Governor-General of all the islands and continents that he opens. The rank of admiral gave Columbus the right to decide in disputes arising in matters of trade, the position of viceroy made him the personal representative of the monarch, and the position of governor general provided the highest civil and military authority. Columbus was given the right to receive a tenth of everything found in the new lands and an eighth of the profits from trading in foreign goods.
The Spanish crown undertook to finance most of the expenses of the expedition. Part of the funds for it was given to the navigator by Italian merchants and financiers.
He called the island San Salvador (St. Savior), and its inhabitants - Indians, believing that he was off the coast of India.
However, the discussion about the first landing site of Columbus is still ongoing. For a long time (1940-1982), Watling Island was considered San Salvador. In 1986, the American geographer George Judge 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. Having learned from the natives about the existence of a rich island in the south, the ships left the Bahamas on October 24 and sailed further to the southwest. On October 28, Columbus landed on the northeast coast of Cuba, which he named "Juana". After that, the Spaniards, inspired by the stories of the natives, spent a month looking for the golden island of Baneque (modern Great Inagua).
On November 21, the captain of the Pinta, Martin Pinson, took his ship away, deciding to search for this island on his own. Having lost hope of finding Baneque, Columbus turned east with the two remaining ships and on December 5 reached the northwestern tip of the island of Bohio (modern Haiti), which he named Hispaniola ("Spanish"). Moving along the northern coast of Hispaniola, on December 25 the expedition approached the Holy Cape (modern Cap Haitien), where the Santa Maria ran aground and sank, but the crew escaped. With the help of local residents, guns, supplies and valuable cargo were removed from the ship. A fort was built from the wreckage of the ship - the first European settlement in America, named on the occasion of the Christmas holiday "Navidad" ("Christmas City").
The loss of the ship forced Columbus to leave part of the team (39 people) in the founded settlement and set off on the Nina on the way back. For the first time in the history of navigation, on his orders, Indian hammocks were adapted for sailor bunks. To prove that he had reached a part of the world previously unknown to Europeans, Columbus took with him seven captive inhabitants of the islands, outlandish bird feathers and the fruits of plants unseen in Europe. Having visited open islands, the Spaniards first saw corn, tobacco, potatoes.
On January 4, 1493, Columbus put to sea on the Nina and sailed east along the northern coast of Hispaniola. Two days later he met "Pint". On January 16, both ships headed northeast, taking advantage of the favorable current - the Gulf Stream. On February 12, a storm arose, and on the night of February 14, the ships lost sight of each other. At dawn on February 15, the sailors saw the land, and Columbus determined that he was off the Azores. February 18 "Nina" managed to land on the coast of one of the islands - Santa Maria.
February 24 "Nina" left the Azores. Two days later, she again fell into a storm, which washed her on the coast of Portugal on March 4. March 9 "Nina" anchored in the port of Lisbon. The crew needed a break, and the ship needed repairs. King Juan II gave Columbus an audience at which the navigator informed him of the discovery of a western route to India. March 13 "Nina" was able to sail for Spain. March 15, 1493, on the 225th day of sailing, the ship returned to the Spanish port of Palos. On the same day, "Pinta" also came there.
King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castile gave Columbus a solemn reception and, in addition to the previously promised privileges, gave him permission for a new expedition.
During the first journey, Columbus discovered America, which he took for East Asia and called the West Indies. Europeans first set foot on the islands of the Caribbean - Juan (Cuba) and Hispaniola (Haiti). As a result of the expedition, the width of the Atlantic Ocean became reliably known, the Sargasso Sea was discovered, the flow of ocean water from west to east was established, and for the first time an incomprehensible behavior of the magnetic needle of the compass was noted. 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.
In 1493-1504, Columbus made three more voyages across the Atlantic Ocean, as a result of which he discovered part of the Small Antilles, the coast of South and Central America. The navigator died in 1506, being fully convinced that the lands he had discovered were part of the Asian mainland, and not a new continent.
The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources
autumn 1451, the island of Corsica, the Republic of Genoa (according to one version) - May 20, 1506, Valladolid, Spain
Christopher Columbus - Spanish navigator and discoverer of new lands. He is best known for his discovery of America (1492).
Columbus the first of certain famous travelers crossed the Atlantic Ocean in the subtropical and tropical zone of the northern hemisphere and was the first European to walk in the Caribbean. He marked the beginning of the discovery of the mainland South America and isthmuses of Central America. He discovered all the Greater Antilles - the central part of the Bahamas, the Lesser Antilles (from Dominica to the Virgin Islands inclusive), as well as a number of small islands in the Caribbean and the island of Trinidad off the coast of South America.
Since Europeans represented by the Icelandic Vikings (Leif Eriksson and others) visited North America as early as the 11th century, Columbus, strictly speaking, cannot be called the discoverer of America. However, since the expeditions of Columbus were essential to the subsequent colonization of the Americas, this terminology is widely used.
Italian by birth. Born in Genoa between August 25 and October 31, 1451 in the family of woolen weaver Domenico Colombo.
In 1470 he began to actively participate in commercial transactions (until 1473 under the leadership of his father). In 1474–1479 he made several voyages as part of the trading expeditions of the Genoese company Centurione Negro: he visited the island of Chios, England, Ireland, the islands of Porto Santo and Madeira. In 1476 he settled in Portugal. In 1482-1484 he visited the Azores and the Guinean coast (fort Sao Jorge da Mina).
Columbus was born into a poor Genoese family: father - Domenico Colombo, mother - Susanna Fontanarossa. In addition to Christopher, there were other children in the family: Giovanni (died in childhood, in 1484), Bartolomeo, Giacomo, Bianchella (married Giacomo Bavarello). Studied at the University of Pavia. Around 1470 he marries Doña Felipe Monis de Palestrello. Her father was a famous navigator from the time of Prince Enrique. Until 1472, Columbus lived in Genoa, and from 1472 - in Savona. In the 1470s, he participated in sea trading expeditions. It is believed that as early as 1474, the astronomer and geographer Paolo Toscanelli told him in a letter that, in his opinion, India can be reached by a much shorter sea route if you sail west. Apparently, already then Columbus was thinking about his project of a sea voyage to India. Having made his own calculations based on the advice of Toscanelli, he decided that it was most convenient to sail through Canary Islands, from which to Japan, in his opinion, there were about five thousand kilometers.
Christopher Columbus
From 1476, Columbus moved to Portugal, where he lived for nine years. It is known that in 1477 Columbus visited England, Ireland and Iceland, where he could get acquainted with the data of the Icelanders about the lands in the west. During this time, he also manages to visit Guinea as part of the expedition of Diogo de Azambuja, who went there in 1481 to build the fortress of Elmina (Sao Jorge da Mina)
The first appeal of Columbus with a proposal to sail to India to the west was in 1475-1480. He addressed it to the government and merchants of his native Genoa. There was no response.
1480s - During this period, the Portuguese were preoccupied with finding a sea route to Asia. Interest in this part of the world is explained quite simply: at that time, Asian spices alone often replaced money, but there were also incense, silk, carpets, luxury items ... There was no land route to Asia then - it was blocked by a powerful Ottoman Empire. I had to buy spices, silk and other exotic oriental goods from Arab merchants, losing big profits. The Portuguese saw only one route: rounding Africa, climbing into the Indian Ocean, and at the beginning of the decade, the king of Portugal, João II, equipped and sent an appropriate expedition. Columbus offered an alternative: reach Asia by moving west. Columbus's theory was based on the navigator's own calculations. But in fairness, it must be said that Columbus was not an innovator - the idea of a western route to India was put forward in the ancient world by Aristotle and Protagoras.
Cristobal Colon
Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio .: This Portrait was made by the Florentine painter Ridolfo Ghirlandaio (1483-1561). This illustration may be considered to be in the public domain. This portrait was executed in the first half of the sixteenth century, after the death of Columbus. It is displayed in a showcase of the Museum of the sea and navigation of Genoa, "It Padiglione del Mare e della Navigazione."
In 1483, he proposes his project to the Portuguese king João II, but after a long study, the project is rejected.
In 1485, Columbus moved to Spain with his son Diego (apparently, he was fleeing persecution. In the winter of 1485-1486, he found shelter in the monastery of Santa Maria da Rabida in the status of a beggar. Abbot Juan Perez de Marchena accepted him and actually saved from starvation. He also organized the first letter to Fernando de Talavera, his friend - the queen's confessor, with a summary of the ideas of Columbus. The King of Spain was at that time in the city of Cordoba, where preparations were made for the war with Granada with the personal participation of sovereigns. During Columbus establishes links with royal financial advisers, merchants and bankers in 1486. It was not until the winter of 1486 that Columbus was introduced to Pedro González de Mendoza, Archbishop of Toledo and Grand Cardinal of Spain, who in turn facilitated an audience with the King of Spain. theologians, cosmographers, jurists, monks, courtiers reject him, considering his demands excessive.
Christopher Columbus, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing slightly right.
On April 20, 1488, Columbus unexpectedly received a letter from the Portuguese king with an offer to return to Portugal. The most interesting here were the following words of Their Majesty:
“And if you fear Our justice for some of your obligations, then know that neither after your arrival, nor during your stay in Portugal, nor after your departure, you will be arrested, detained, charged, convicted, or persecuted. for any reason arising from civil, criminal or any other law. »
Columbus sends his proposals to other addresses: from King Henry VII of England in February 1488, he received a favorable answer, but without any specific proposals.
Columbus and the Indian Maiden
1488 - a certain Beatriz Henriquez de Arana gives birth to Columbus's son Fernando. Columbus not only recognized the child, but also did not forget him later, after thirteen years he took him on one of his expeditions. It was Fernando who would later write a biography of his father, which would become the main source of information about the great navigator.
1492 - Spain is liberated from the Moors, and King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella finally make a final decision about funding the search for a western route to Asia. In case of failure, they lost only the funds invested in the enterprise. In case of success, dizzying prospects opened up before Spain. Columbus was promised: a noble rank, the titles of admiral, viceroy and governor-general of all the islands and continents discovered on the expedition.
Christopher Columbus kneeling in front of Queen Isabella I.
On April 30, 1492, the royal couple grants Columbus and his heirs the title of “don” (that is, they make him a nobleman) and confirms that, if the overseas project is successful, he will be Admiral of the Sea-Ocean and Viceroy of all the lands that he discovers or will acquire, and be able to pass on these titles by inheritance. True, Columbus had to look for money to equip the expedition on his own due to the lost state tax payments of Her Majesty the Queen of Castile. In addition, according to the agreement, Columbus himself, who did not have a penny, had to bear an eighth of the costs.
Christopher Columbus being greeted by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella on his return to Spain.
However, Columbus was helped by Martin Alonso Pinson. One of the ships - "Pinta" - was his own, and he equipped it at his own expense; he gave money for the second ship to Christopher, so that Columbus could make his formal contribution under the agreement. The money for the third ship, under his own guarantee, was given out by local Marranos (baptized Jews) as an offset of their payments to the budget. Among them was the rabbi and royal treasurer, the Castilian tutor Abraham Senior (Coronel) and his son-in-law Mayer Melomedes.
Between 1492 and 1504, Christopher Columbus undertook four exploratory expeditions at the behest of the Spanish king. He described the events of these expeditions in his logbook. Unfortunately, the original journal has not been preserved, but Bartolome de Las Casas made a partial copy of this journal, which has survived to this day, thanks to which many details of the expeditions described have become known.
Map of the four expeditions of Columbus
First journey (August 3, 1492 - March 15, 1493).
Second journey (September 25, 1493 - June 11, 1496).
Third voyage (May 30, 1498 - November 25, 1500).
Fourth journey (May 9, 1502 - November 1504).
Dagli Orti "PINTA", "NINA" AND "SANTA MARIA" - the ships on which Christopher Columbus made his first voyage to the shores of America
First journey (1492–1493).
Early in the morning of August 3, 1492, the Columbus flotilla of three ships (the caravels Pinta and Nina and the four-masted sailing ship (nao) Santa Maria) with a crew of 90 people. left the port of Palos de la Frontera (near the confluence of the Rio Tinto in the Gulf of Cadiz).
On August 9, she approached the Canary Islands. After the repair of the "Pint" on the island of Homer, on September 6, 1492, heading west, the ships began crossing the Atlantic Ocean. Having passed the Sargasso Sea, Columbus turned to the southwest on October 7. On October 12, the Spaniards reached the island of Guanahani (modern Watling) in the Bahamas, the first land they encountered in the Western Hemisphere. Columbus Island called San Salvador (St. Savior), and its inhabitants - Indians, believing that he was off the coast of India. This day is considered the official date of the discovery of America.
Columbus declares open land the property of the Spanish king
Having learned from the natives about the existence of a rich island in the south, Columbus left the Bahamas on October 24 and sailed further to the southwest. On October 28, the flotilla approached the shores of Cuba, named by Columbus "Juan". Then the Spaniards, inspired by the stories of local Indians, spent a month looking for the golden island of Baneke (modern Great Inagua).
The Landing of Columbus. Christopher Columbus and others showing objects to Native American men and women on shore.
On November 21, the captain of the Pinta M.A. Pinson took his ship away, deciding to search for this island on his own. Having lost hope of finding Baneke, Columbus turned east with the two remaining ships and on December 5 reached the northwestern tip of the island of Bohio (modern Haiti), which he named Hispaniola ("Spanish"). Moving along the northern coast of Hispaniola, on December 25, the expedition approached the Holy Cape (modern Cap Haitien), where the Santa Maria crashed and sank. This forced Columbus to leave part of the team (39 people) in the fort Navidad (“Christmas”) he founded and set off on the Nina on the way back (January 2, 1493). On January 6, he met "Pint".
On January 16, both ships headed northeast, using a favorable current - the Gulf Stream. On February 11-14, they got into a severe storm, during which the Pint was lost.
On February 15, Nina reached the island of Santa Maria in the Azores, but only on February 18 did she manage to land on the shore. The Portuguese governor of the island tried to detain the ship by force, but ran into the determined resistance of Columbus and let the travelers go.
On February 24, Nina left the Azores. On February 26, she again fell into a storm, which washed her on the coast of Portugal on March 4 near the mouth of the Tagus (Tajo). Juan II gave an audience to Columbus, at which he informed the king about the discovery of a western route to India and reproached him for refusing to support his project in 1484. Despite the advice of the courtiers to kill the admiral, Juan II did not dare to go into conflict with Spain, and on March 13, the Nina was able to sail home. March 15, on the 225th day of the voyage, she returned to Palos. Later, "Pinta" also came there. Isabella and Ferdinand gave Columbus a solemn reception and gave permission for a new expedition.
First Voyage, Departure for the New World, August 3, 1492
Second voyage (1493–1496).
On September 25, 1493, the Columbus flotilla of 17 caravels (except for ship crews, there were soldiers, officials, monks and colonists on board) left Cadiz and on October 2 reached Canary Islands ov.
On October 11, Columbus began crossing the Atlantic, heading more southerly than on his first voyage, as he planned to reach Hispaniola from the southeast. On November 3, the ships approached one of the Lesser Antilles, to which Columbus gave the name Dominica (it was Sunday - “the day of the Lord”); Aboriginal people who practiced ritual cannibalism, he called "cannibals." Then sailors discovered a number of other islands in the northern part of the Lesser Antilles archipelago - Montserrat, Antigua, Nevis, San Cristobal (modern St. Christopher), San Eustasio (modern Sint Eustatius), Santa Cruz and the "Islands of Eleven Thousand Virgins » (Virgin), and large island Boriken, renamed San Juan Batista (modern Puerto Rico) by the admiral.
Approaching the eastern tip of Hispaniola, the flotilla moved along its northern coast and on November 27 reached Fort Navidad, which was ruined; not a single colonist survived. To the east of the fort (in a very unfortunate location), Columbus founded a new settlement, naming it La Isabela in honor of the Queen of Spain. In January 1494, he sent an expedition inland under the command of A. de Ojeda, who obtained a huge amount of gold objects from the Indians. On February 2, the admiral sent twelve ships with booty home. In the spring of 1494, the Spaniards switched to a policy of systematic robbery and extermination of the local population.
Cristobal Colon apaciguando una rebelion a bordo.
Cristoforo Colombo in mezzo agli indigen
Leaving his brother Diego to manage Hispaniola, Columbus sailed west on April 24, 1494 with three ships, continuing to search for a route to Asia (China). April 29, he approached the eastern tip of Cuba. Moving along her south coast, the flotilla reached Guantanamo Bay, and then turned south and anchored off the northern coast of Jamaica on May 5. Faced with the open hostility of the natives, Columbus returned to the Cuban coast, headed west and reached Cortez Bay near the western tip of the island. Deciding that the Malacca Peninsula was in front of him, he turned back (June 13). Bypassing Jamaica from the south, the flotilla returned to La Isabela on September 29.
Christopher Columbus and his crew leaving the port of Palos, Spain, for the New World; crowd of well wishers looks on.
Throughout 1495, Columbus suppressed the uprising of the Indians that broke out in Hispaniola. In the same year, under the influence of complaints about the admiral from the colonists who fled to Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella deprived him of his monopoly on discovering overseas lands and sent their plenipotentiary J. Aguado to the island. After a conflict with J. Aguado, Columbus left Hispaniola on March 10, 1496, transferring power to his brother Bartolome. On June 11 he arrived in Cadiz.
Columbus and son at the convention of La Rábída, approaching prior Juan Pérez, who is surrounded by poor people.
The First Sight of the New World
Third voyage (1498–1500).
Although Ferdinand and Isabella had serious doubts about the profitability of the discoveries of Columbus, the preparation by the Portuguese of a flotilla under the command of Vasco da Gama for a decisive throw into the Indian Ocean around the Cape of Good Hope forced them to agree to organize a third expedition to the west.
The Landing of Columbus at San Salvador, October 12, 1492.
The Landing of Columbus, 1492.
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