A Comprehensive Analysis of Christopher Columbus

By: William Cheung

Background Information s  Christopher  Columbus  was  born  on  

October  31,  1451,  in  Genoa,  Italy,  to  a  family  of  weavers  and  merchants.  At  a  early  age,  Columbus  often  participated  in  small  trading  voyages  along  the  Mediterranean  and  Aegean  Seas.    

s  Later  on  his  life,  Columbus  moved  to  Portugal.  While  living  in  Lisbon,  Portugal,  he  met  and  married  Felipa  Perestrello,  whom  he  had  one  son,  Diego  with.  Felipa  passed  away  shortly  after  having  their  child,  prompting  him  to  move  to  Spain.  Columbus  initially  asked  the  Portuguese  government  to  fund  his  expedition,  but  they  declined.  However  he  did  make  one  unsuccessful  trading  voyage  out  into  the  Atlantic  in  1476.  His  fleet  was  attacked  and  burned,  forcing  him  to  swim  back  to  Portuguese  shores.  

A  painting  of  a  younger  Columbus  He  wrote  in  his  retired  life  about  

making  his  first  sea  voyage  at  the  age  of  10.

The Voyage that Altered History s  Unsuccessful  in  Portugal,  Christopher  Columbus  decided  to  relocate  to  

Spain.  He  was  Initially  rejected  by  the  Spanish  monarchy,  but  later  gained  permission  in  January  of  1492.  King  Ferdinand  and  Queen  Isabella  promised  to  finance  the  expedition  and  he  set  sail,  on  August  of  the  same  year.    

s  After  36  Days  of  sailing,  he  landed  on  the  Bahamas  Islands,  claiming  them  for  Spain.  His  fleet  was  met  by  very  friendly  natives,  who  he  describes  in  his  passages  as  inferior  to  the  Europeans.  The  natives  begin  exchanging,  cotton,  glass  beads,  parrots,  and  spears  with  Columbus.  However,  what  intrigued  him  the  most  was  the  gold  jewelry  that  adorned  the  natives.  The  small-­‐scale  trade  that  took  place  during  this  voyage  would  eventually  turn  into  a  global  phenomenon.  Columbus  continued  his  journey  by  visiting  the  islands  of  Cuba  and  Hispaniola  (Haiti  and  the  Dominican  Republic.  During  his  journey  between  the  different  islands,  the  Santa  Maria  ran  up  a  reef,  thus  leaving  it  ruined.  The  islanders  helped  him  salvage  what  was  left  of  the  ship  and  use  the  timber  to  build  the  small  Spanish  settlement  Villa  de  la  Navidad  (Christmas  Town)  Thirty-­‐nine  of  his  men  remained  behind  and  were  left  to  live  in  the  settlement.  Christopher  Columbus  returned  in  early  1493  with  the  Pinta  and  Nina,  convinced  that  he  had  discovered  another  route  to  Asia.  

s   Excerpt  from  his  letter  to  the  Spanish  Monarchy  s  …Even  should  these  people  change  their  intentions  towards  us  and  

become  hostile,  they  do  not  know  what  arms  are,  but,  as  I  have  said,  go  naked,  and  are  the  most,  timid  in  the  world  country,  and  this  island  has  no  danger  for  them,  if  only  they  knew  how  o  conduct  themselves…  

Columbus  was  never  successful  in  finding  large  deposits  of  gold,  something  he  knew  would  

make  Spain  and  himself  wealthy.

Santa  Maria,  Nina,  and  Pinta  Christopher  Columbus's  fleet

The Voyage that Altered History Excerpt  from  Christopher  Columbus’s  Journal    

Saturday,  13  October.  

…They  came  loaded  with  balls  of  cotton,  parrots,  javelins,  and  other  things  too  numerous  to  mention;  these  they  exchanged  for  whatever  we  chose  to  give  them.  I  was  very  attentive  to  them,  and  strove  to  learn  if  they  had  any  gold.  Seeing  some  of  them  with  little  bits  of  this  metal  hanging  at  their  noses,  I  gathered  from  them  by  signs  that  by  going  southward  or  steering  round  the  island  in  that  direction,  there  would  be  found  a  king  who  possessed  large  vessels  of  gold,  and  in  great  quantities.  I  endeavored  to  procure  them  to  lead  the  way  thither,  but  found  they  were  unacquainted  with  the  route.  I  determined  to  stay  here  till  the  evening  of  the  next  day,  and  then  sail  for  the  southwest;  for  according  to  what  I  could  learn  from  them,  there  was  land  at  the  south  as  well  as  at  the  southwest  and  northwest  and  those  from  the  northwest  came  many  times  and  fought  with  them  and  proceeded  on  to  the  southwest  in  search  of  gold  and  precious  stones.  This  is  a  large  and  level  island,  with  trees  extremely  flourishing,  and  streams  of  water;  there  is  a  large  lake  in  the  middle  of  the  island,  but  no  mountains:  the  whole  is  completely  covered  with  verdure  and  delightful  to  behold.  The  natives  are  an  inoffensive  people,  and  so  desirous  to  possess  any  thing  they  saw  with  us,  that  they  kept  swimming  off  to  the  ships  with  whatever  they  could  find,  and  readily  bartered  for  any  article  we  saw  fit  to  give  them  in  return,  even  such  as  broken  platters  and  fragments  of  glass.  I  saw  in  this  manner  sixteen  balls  of  cotton  thread  which  weighed  above  twenty-­‐five  pounds,  given  for  three  Portuguese  ceutis.  This  traffic  I  forbade,  and  suffered  no  one  to  take  their  cotton  from  them,  unless  I  should  order  it  to  be  procured  for  your  Highnesses,  if  proper  quantities  could  be  met  with.  It  grows  in  this  island,  but  from  my  short  stay  here  I  could  not  satisfy  myself  fully  concerning  it;  the  gold,  also,  which  they  wear  in  their  noses,  is  found  here,  but  not  to  lose  time,  I  am  determined  to  proceed  onward  and  ascertain  whether  I  can  reach  Cipango.  At  night  they  all  went  on  shore  with  their  canoes.  ..  

Christopher  Columbus  meeting  the  natives  and  exchanging  products.

Subsequent Voyages s  Columbus  was  welcomed  by  the  royal  court  

when  he  arrived  with  exaggerated  tales  of  his  discoveries.  Kind  Ferdinand  and  Queen  Isabella  decided  to  finance  another  expedition  and  Columbus  set  sail  later  in  the  year.  This  time  his  fleet  consisted  of  seventeen  ships  and  1000  men.  Upon  returning  to  Villa  de  la  Navidad,  he  found  the  settlement  decimated  and  the  settlers  massacred.    Greatly  angered,  he  enslaved  part  of  the  native  population,  forcing  them  to  rebuild  the  settlements  and  to  search  for  gold.  Columbus’s  as  well  as  the  Spanish  ethnocentric  view  of  the  Taino  (natives)  would  lead  to  the  creating  of  the  Spanish  Ecomienda  System.  The  world  would  later  see  the  significant  rise  of  slave  labor.  Unfortunately,  little  gold  was  found  and  the  tension  between  the  natives  and  explores  increased.  As  he  continued  to  visit  the  other  islands  he  laid  claim  on  them  for  Spain  and  began  naming  after  Christian  patrons  and  saints.    

A  depiction  of  enslaved  Taino  Natives

Subsequent Voyages s  After  returning  to  Spain  from  his  second  

voyage,  he  became  very  popular  for  claiming  new  land  for  the  monarchy.  Following  the  agreement  made  towards  the  onset  of  his  exploration,  Spain  named  him  as  the  governor  of  Hispaniola.  Columbus  was  then  granted  permission  and  finances  to  embark  on  the  third  voyage.  For  this  voyage  he  decided  to  take  a  more  southern  route.  After  reaching  the  Orinoco  river,  he  went  onto  South  American  mainland  onto  areas  he  named  Tobago  and  Grenada.  This  marked  the  second  European  explorer  to  ever  step  foot  on  the  mainland  of  the  Americas.  Christopher  Columbus  made  his  final  voyage  in  May  of  1502.  He  continued  claiming  more  land  for  Spain,  but  was  unsuccessful  in  finding  large  amounts  of  gold.    

This  map  shows  the  different  routes  taken.  Christopher  

Columbus  never  reached  the  mainland  until  his  third  voyage.  This  would  mark  a  new  era  of  

exploration  and  colonization  for  the  Americas  and  Europe.    

Impact and After Effects s  Christopher  Columbus  is  credited  with  opening  up  the  Americas  to  

European  colonization,  but  he  actually  died  never  knowing  that  he  had  discovered  another  continent.  His  impact  can  be  seen  in  both  a  negative  and  positive  way.  With  his  discovery  of  the  new  world,  Europeans  were  able  to  gain  further  insight  allowing  them  to  eventually  modernize  the  “New”  World.  Additionally,  the  small-­‐scale  trade  with  the  native  Bahamians  evolved  into  a  worldwide  exchange  of  products,  people  (including  slaves),  and  even  diseases.  The  widespread  change  would  lead  to  some  adverse  profound  effects,  altering  the  Americas,  Africa,  and  Europe.  The  initial  benefits  and  economic  gain  went  to  the  Europeans  before  spreading  out  to  other  regions.  New  diseases  were  distributed  to  Europe  and  the  Americas,  but  the  Native  American  population  was  hit  the  hardest.  

A  Map  of  the  many  different  products  and  diseases  exchanged  between  the  Americas,  Europe,  and  Africa.

Columbus’s Legacy s  Christopher  Columbus's  multiple  voyages  to  the  “new”  world  

would  leave  history  forever  changed  and  initiate  the  dawn  of  a  new  modern  era.  Although,  he  is  acclaimed  for  exposing  the  Americas  to  Europe  and  the  modern  society,  he  is  criticized  for  leading  to  the  devastation  of  the  traditional  Native  Americans.  Similar  to  the  Silk  Route,  the  Columbian  Exchange  would  evolve  into  a  trans-­‐continental  exchange  of  people,  plants,  animals,  diseases,  and  cultures.  The  native  Americans  were  left  altered  and  many  aspect  of  the  traditional  way  of  life  of  natives  were  lost.    

Tomb  of  Christopher  Columbus  located  in  

Seville

Picture Collage

Works Cited s  Primary  Source  Document  Resources  

s  Letter  Excerpt    

Stearns,  Peter  N.,  comp.  World  Civilizations:  The  Global  Experience  "AP  Edition".  5th.  New  York:  Pearson  Education,  Inc.,  2007.  Print.  

s  Journal  Excerpt  

Halsall,  Paul,  comp.  Medieval  Sourcebook:  Christopher  Columbus:  Extracts  From  Journal.  New  York  :  Fordham  University,  1996.  Web.  9  Dec.  2011.  <http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/columbus1.asp>.    

s  Information  Sources  

s  "Christopher  Columbus  biography."  bio.  True  Story.  A&E  Television  Networks,  LLC.,  2011.  Web.  9  Dec  2011.  http://www.biography.com/people/christopher-­‐columbus-­‐9254209.  

s  Tirado,  Dr.  Thomas  C.  "Christopher  Columbus  and  his  Legacy."  BBC-­‐History.  N.p.,  2011.  Web.  10  Dec  2011.  <http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/tudors/columbus_legacy_01.shtml>.  

s  Robinson,  Sue.  "Christopher  Columbus:  A  Globally  Transforming  Figure."  The  Jepson  Blog.  N.p.,  2010.  Web.  10  Dec  2011.  <http://blog.richmond.edu/jepson/2010/10/12/christ>.  

s  "Christopher  Columbus."  Totally  History.  N.p.,  2011.  Web.  10  Dec  2011.  <http://totallyhistory.com/christopher-­‐columbus/>.