| Columbus,
Christopher (Italian Cristoforo Colombo, Spanish Cristóbal
Colón) (1451-1506), Italian-Spanish navigator who sailed west
across the Atlantic Ocean in search of a route to Asia but achieved fame
by making landfall, instead, in the Caribbean Sea. Columbus was born in
Genoa, Italy. His father was a weaver, and it is believed that Christopher
entered this trade as a young man. Information about the beginning of his
seafaring career is uncertain, but the independent city-state of Genoa
had a busy port, and he may have sailed as a commercial agent in his youth.
In the mid-1470s he made his first trading voyage to the island of Khíos
(or Chios), in the Aegean Sea. In 1476 he sailed with a convoy bound for
England. Legend has it that the fleet was attacked by pirates off the coast
of Portugal, where Columbus's ship was sunk, but he swam to shore and took
refuge in Lisbon. Settling there, where his brother Bartholomew Columbus
was working as a cartographer, he was married in 1479 to the daughter of
the governor of the island of Porto Santo. Diego Columbus, the only child
of this marriage, was born in 1480.
Based on information
acquired during his travels, and by reading and studying charts and maps,
Christopher concluded that the earth was 25 percent smaller than was previously
thought, and composed mostly of land. On the basis of these faulty beliefs,
he decided that Asia could be reached quickly by sailing west. In 1484
he submitted his theories to John II, king of Portugal, petitioning him
to finance a westward crossing of the Atlantic Ocean. His proposal was
rejected by a royal maritime commission because of his miscalculations
and because Portuguese ships were already rounding Africa.
Soon after, Columbus
moved to Spain, where his plans won the support of several influential
persons, and he secured an introduction, in 1486, to Isabella I, queen
of Castile. About this time, Columbus, then a widower, met Beatriz Enriquez,
who became his mistress and the mother of his second son, Ferdinand Columbus.
In Spain, as in Portugal, a royal commission rejected his plan. Columbus
continued to seek support, however, and in April 1492 his persistence was
rewarded: Ferdinand V, king of Castile, and Queen Isabella agreed to sponsor
the expedition. The signed contract stipulated that Columbus was to become
viceroy of all territories he located; other rewards included a hereditary
peerage and one-tenth of all precious metals found within his jurisdiction.
First Voyage
The modest expedition
consisted of the Santa María, a decked ship about 30 m (about
100 ft) long under his command, and the Pinta and the Niña,
two small caravels, each about 15 m (about 50 ft) long, which were commanded
by Martín Alonzo Pinzón and his brother Vicente Yáñez
Pinzón. The fleet sailed from Palos, Spain, on August 3, 1492, carrying
perhaps 90 men. Three days out, the mast of the
Pinta was damaged, forcing a brief stop at the Canary Islands. On
September 6 the three vessels again weighed anchor and sailed due west.
Columbus maintained this course until October 7, when, at the suggestion
of Martín Pinzón, it was altered to southwest. Meanwhile,
the experienced crews grumbled about their foreign commander's failure
to find his way, until signs appeared that they were approaching landfall.
Before dawn on
October 12 land was sighted, and early in the morning the expedition landed
on Guanahaní, an island in the Bahamas. Before an audience of uncomprehending
natives, Columbus claimed that, by right of conquest, their island now
belonged to Spain and renamed it San Salvador (“Holy Savior”). Additional
landings made during the next few weeks included the islands of Cuba, which
Columbus named Juana, in honor of a Spanish princess, and Española,
later corrupted to Hispaniola (now the Dominican Republic and Haiti), all
believed by Columbus to be in Asian waters.
In December,
the Santa María was wrecked off the coast of Española.
La Navidad, a makeshift fort, was built of materials salvaged from the
vessel, and garrisoned with fewer than 40 men. The Niña,
with Columbus in command, and the Pinta began the homeward voyage
in January 1493. After storms drove the ships first to the Azores and then
to Lisbon, Columbus arrived at Palos, Spain, in March. He was enthusiastically
received by the Spanish monarchs, who confirmed the honors guaranteed by
his contract. Additional honors followed, including a noble title.
Second Voyage
Columbus
planned immediately for a second expedition, with 17 vessels and about
1500 men, which left Spain in September 1493. Landings were made on the
islands of Dominica, Guadeloupe, and Antigua. His stop at Puerto Rico is
the closest he came to setting foot on land that would later form part
of the United States, the main foundation for the claim that Columbus “discovered
America.”
On November 27
the vessels anchored off La Navidad, where the fort had been destroyed
and its men killed. Columbus abandoned the ruins, and near what is now
Cape Isabella, Dominican Republic, he established the colony of Isabella,
which became the first settlement of Europeans in the New World. Leaving
the colony on an exploratory voyage in the spring of 1494, he surveyed
the coast of Cuba, which he insisted was not an island but part of the
Asian mainland, and looked over the island of Jamaica.
When Columbus
returned to Isabella on September 29, he found that serious dissension
had developed among the colonists, a number of whom were already en route
to Spain to press their grievances. One of the major problems confronting
Columbus was the hostility of the natives, whose initial friendliness had
been alienated by the brutality of the Europeans. Columbus defeated the
natives in battle in March 1495 and shipped a large number of them to Spain
to sell as slaves. Queen Isabella objected, however, and the survivors
were returned. A royal investigating commission arrived at Isabella in
October 1495. Because this group was consistently critical of his policies,
Columbus established a new capital named Santo Domingo, and sailed for
Spain leaving Bartholomew in command. He reported directly to Ferdinand
and Isabella, who dismissed the critical charges. The sovereigns promised
to subsidize a new fleet, but since enthusiasm for the unproductive enterprise
had waned, nearly two years elapsed before eight vessels were sent out.
Third and
Fourth Voyages
Columbus set
sail on his third voyage on May 30, 1498. His first landing, made on July
31, was the three-peaked island of Trinidad, named in honor of the Holy
Trinity. He then sighted what is now Venezuela. After cruising along the
coast he sailed into the Gulf of Paria. At the mouth of the Orinoco River
he led a party ashore. In his logbook he wrote that he had found a “New
World,” unknown as yet to Europeans. Columbus set sail again, encountering
several additional islands, including Margarita, and then laid a course
for Española.
Arriving at Santo
Domingo on August 31, Columbus found part of the colony in revolt against
his brother. He placated the rebels and intensified efforts—fruitless,
as it turned out—to convert the Native Americans to Christianity. He also
expanded the colony's gold-panning operations. Meanwhile, his enemies in
Spain had convinced the monarchs that Española should have a new
governor. In May 1499, the crown removed Columbus and appointed Francisco
de Bobadilla, who arrived on August 23, 1500, and promptly had Columbus
and Bartholomew arrested, shackled in irons, and returned to Spain. Columbus
insisted on wearing his chains until the queen removed them. The monarchs
pardoned the brothers and rewarded them, but refused to restore Columbus
to his post. Bobadilla, however, was replaced as governor by Nicolás
de Ovando.
Although Columbus
obtained royal support for a fourth voyage to continue his search for a
westward passage to Asia, only four worm-eaten caravels were put at his
disposal and he was forbidden to stop at Española. The expedition
sailed from Cádiz in May 1502. The ships were in desperate need
of repair by the end of the speedy 21-day crossing. Columbus anchored off
Santo Domingo, but he was denied permission to enter the harbor despite
an approaching hurricane. The storm annihilated a homeward-bound fleet
carrying his enemies, including Bobadilla. Only the ship with Columbus's
gold on board arrived safely.
After completing
makeshift repairs on his vessels, Columbus sailed the waters off Honduras,
and then cruised south along the coast of Central America for nearly six
months in search of the elusive westward passage. In January 1503 he landed
in Panama and established a settlement there, but mutiny in the crew and
trouble with the natives led to its abandonment. The expedition, reduced
to two caravels, sailed for Española, but the rotten ships foundered
near Jamaica on June 23, 1503. Columbus sent to Española for help,
meanwhile forcing the natives to provide food for his men. Relief arrived
after a lapse of nearly a year—a deliberate delay by Ovando. The stranded
party embarked on June 28, 1504, for Santo Domingo, and then sailed for
Spain, reaching Sanlúcar de Barrameda on November 7. Columbus would
never sail again.
The final months
of his life were marked by illness and vain attempts to secure restitution
from King Ferdinand of all his privileges, even though by then Columbus
was quite wealthy. He died on May 20, 1506, at Valladolid. His remains
were later interred in Seville, then transferred to Santo Domingo, moved
to Havana, Cuba, and finally returned to Seville in 1899. (Some historians
think the bones removed from Santo Domingo were not his, so his remains
may still be there.) Wherever Columbus rests, modern research has considerably
diminished the heroic reputation he had gained by the 19th century, although
his maritime skills continue to be celebrated.
Contributed by:
Marvin Lunenfeld
Source: Microsoft
Encarta 1997
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