Christopher Columbus

“My desire was not to pass any island without taking possession, so that, one having been taken, the same may be said of all” – Christopher Columbus.

Don Cristobal Colon, otherwise known to us by

the name Christopher Columbus was a pivotal historical figure and one whose

legacy continues to be a matter of contention and debate over 500 years after

his death. Born sometime in the year 1451, Christopher Columbus’s early life is

largely unknown although some historians agree that he was most likely born in

the Republic of Genoa in what is modern-day Italy.

However, despite his fairly obscure origins,

it is known that from a young age he travelled widely, as far as the British Isles,

and according to some reports even as far north as Iceland. During this period,

he also travelled as far south as Africa to what is now Ghana.

As far as is known, Christopher Columbus had

no formal education and appears to have been largely self-taught.  Despite this, the fields of history,

geography, and astronomy would feature heavily in his future career as an

explorer and navigator.

Since the Portuguese had gained a tight hold

on the spice trade route to the East Indies via Africa, Columbus began to

develop a plan to reach the East Indies by travelling west instead of East. Columbus,

just like everyone else at the time, had no idea that there was any land in

between and simply believed that an open ocean voyage travelling west would

allow Spain to bypass their trade rival, Portugal.

After many years of lobbying, Queen Isabella

and King Ferdinand of Spain finally agreed to put money down and support a

small exploratory voyage by Columbus.

Christopher Columbus departed Spain in August

1492 with three ships, the Santa Maria, the Santa Clara (nicknamed the Nina)

and the Pinta (this ship’s nickname is all that is known, with its full name

being lost to history) and made landfall in the New World on 12 October, a date

now referred to as Columbus Day.

Although the exact location reached on that

date is unknown, it was likely somewhere in the Bahamas.

Columbus was by no means the first to discover

the American continent, as many indigenous natives had been living there for

millennia, nor was he even the first European as research has shown that the

Vikings most likely found their way into Greenland and Canada.  

However, Christopher Columbus can be credited

with bringing the first detailed reports back to a receptive Europe and the

promise of new lands for exploitation, colonization, farming, and of course,

the acquisition of resources. A mere 3 months voyage by sail made for a very

alluring prospect.

Columbus helped establish a colony in what is

now Haiti, and this was the first time Europeans had made any attempt at a

settlement so far West since the Vikings had attempted colonization almost 500

years earlier.

Columbus made three additional voyages in

1493, explored part of the coast of South America in 1498, and the coast of

Central America in 1502. It is not known though to what extent Columbus was

aware that this landmass was an entirely new continent rather than being a part

of Asia. A good piece of evidence that Columbus thought he was in Asia was the

fact that he named the indigenous people Indians due to the mistaken belief

that they were a people of Southeast Asia.

Despite these dubious navigation issues and

assumptions,