The Exploration of Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa, Italy in 1451. He was the oldest of five children and the son of Domenico Colombo, a wool-comber and Susanna Fontanarossa. Columbus enjoyed the sea and spent much of his time as a child riding ships. Although he had little schooling he was a genius when it came to the sea. He later became a master navigator and admiral whose four transatlantic voyages opened the way for European exploration, exploitation, and colonization of the Americas. Columbus had a plan to prove the world was round and that there was a quick route to India. His goal was to find a route to the islands by sailing east in hopes of establishing a city for trade, seaports, and much more. Christopher Columbus departed on his first voyage on August 3, 1492. He departed from the port of Palos in southern Spain in command of three ships: the Nina, Pinta, and the Santa Maria. His crew was a group of men who he recruited from surrounding the towns of Lepe and Moguer. His flagship the Santa Maria had fifty-two men aboard while his other two ships held a maximum crew of eighteen men. Columbus reached the Bahamas on October 12 and proceeded toward Cuba on October 28. He continued eastward on the Santa Maria and Nina, arriving at Hispaniola on December 5. The flagship Santa Maria grounded on a reef Christmas Eve and sank the next day however Columbus used the remains of the ship to build a fort on shore which he named La Navidad (meaning Christmas). Columbus then gathered his men and prepared the Nina for sail, but the tiny Nina could not hold all of the remaining crew so Columbus was forced to leave behind 40 men at La Navidad to await his return from Spain. He departed La Navidad on January 2, 1493 continuing eastward along the coast of Hispaniola. He was surprised when he came upon the Pinta four days later but was eased at having another ship for his return to Spain. “The success of his first voyage led Columbus to little trouble at convincing the Spanish Sovereigns Ferdinand and Isabela to follow up immediately with a second voyage. Unlike the first exploratory voyage, the second voyage was a massive colonization effort, comprised of seventeen ships and over a thousand men.” This second voyage brought European livestock to America for the first time.[1] Columbus’ fleet left the Canary Islands on October 13, 1493 in hopes of making a landfall at Hispaniola. The fleet kept a constant course of west-southwest from Hierro and sighted Dominica in the West Indies on November 3. Shortly after sighting Dominica, he and his men sighted another island and during the next two weeks the fleet moved north from Dominica discovering the Leeward Islands, Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico before finally arriving at Hispaniola on November 22. They continued to sail eastward along the coast of Hispaniola looking for a place to organize a new colony. On December 8, he anchored on a spot which he later named La Isabela named after the Spanish queen. The next several months were spent establishing the colony and exploring the interior of Hispaniola. Columbus continued his voyage visiting five islands in the Bahamas before reaching Cuba. He founded and named the islands San Salvador, Santa Maria de la Concepcion, Fernandina, Isabela and Las Islas de Arena. Columbus set sail on from Isabela on April 24, 1494 with three ships in an effort to find the mainland of China, which he was convinced, was nearby. Reaching Cuba on April 30 he cruised along its southern coast but soon learned of an island to the south that was rumored to be rich with gold. Columbus left Cuba on May 3 anchoring at Jamaica two days later. He received a hostile reception from the Indians and felt unwelcome so he decided to leave returning to Cuba the next day. Once again Columbus set sail from Isabela on March 10, 1496, this time with two ships and bound home for Spain. They completed the second voyage when they sighted the coast of Portugal on June 8. On his third voyage, Columbus left the port of Sanlucar in southern Spain on May 30, 1498 with ships bound for the New World. On June 19, Columbus and his fleet arrived at the Canary Islands after stopping at the island of Porto Santo and Madeira. From here Columbus split the fleet into two. Three ships sailed directly for Hispaniola with supplies for the colonists, while the other three ships, commanded by Columbus himself, went on a mission of exploration attempting to find any land south of the known islands in the Indies. Columbus, along with six ships, departed from Sanlucar on May 30, 1498. Columbus and his fleet discovered the island of Trinidad on July 3. The island was named after the Holy Trinity. The fleet sighted the coast of South America from the south coast of Trinidad. Columbus explored the Gulf of Paria, between South America and Trinidad, to the coast of Venezuela from August 4th to August 12th. On August 13th, Columbus’ fleet sailed out of the Gulf of Paria and coasted west along the mainland and reached the island of Margarita. At this point, Columbus’ health was very poor, but was determined to continue his journey and ordered his fleet to sail northwest towards Hispaniola. The determined Columbus arrived off southern Hispaniola on August 19, 1498. Columbus found the colony of Hispaniola enraged with discontent. Columbus continued to bargain with the settlers, but failed. Columbus’ four ship fleet set out to sea from the port of Cadiz on May 11, 1502. At the age of fifty-one, Columbus was old and sick, but the admiral felt he still had one more voyage left in him. He went out seeking a strait connecting the Indies with the Indian Ocean, which was known to exist. “In effect, Columbus was looking for the Strait of Malacca, located in Central America.”[2] Christopher Columbus arrived at Santo Domingo on June 29, 1502. With a developing storm in sight Columbus sought to seek shelter. Having been denied shelter from the storm at Santo Domingo his fleet was caught in the storm, but his crew and all four of his ships survived and only sustained moderate damage. “Columbus arrived at the coast of Honduras at the end of July, and spent the next two months working down the coast, beset by more storms and headwinds.” Once they arrived at present-day Panama Columbus learned of another ocean to south. This convinced Columbus that the strait he went out to seek was proven to exist. Columbus tried to return to Veragua after coasting east along Panama, but was once again beset by storms and contrary winds. He had finally returned to the mouth of the Rio Belen (Western Panama) on January 9, 1503. Columbus built a garrison fort on Rio Belen and made it his exploration headquarters. On April 6, Columbus and his men were attacked by a large force of Indians. With the help of the Spanish, they managed to hold off the attack, but lost a number of men. Columbus abandoned the ship in the river and rescued the remaining members of the garrison. Columbus’ crew and his three ships that were badly leaking from shipworm sailed for home to Hispaniola on April 16. One of the remaining ships which was no longer sea worthy was abandoned and the remaining two ships slowly sailed upwind in a game effort to make it to Hispaniola. Off the coast of Cuba Columbus’s fleet was hit by yet another bad storm. Unable to keep the badly damaged ships afloat, Columbus beached the sinking ships in St. Anne’s Bay, Jamaica on June 25, 1503. They were isolated due to the fact that there were no Spanish colonies on Jamaica. Columbus completed his fourth and final voyage when he returned home to Spain on November 7, 1504. Christopher Columbus died in Valladolid, Spain on May 20, 1506 at the age of 54 crippled by gout and arthritis. Columbus had suffered through a long terminal illness that first showed symptoms on his third voyage eight years before. Upon his death, Columbus was initially buried in a small cemetery in Valladolid. His body was moved to Seville shortly thereafter. Christopher Columbus was buried next to his eldest son and predecessor Diego, who died in 1526. Christopher Columbus had three ships, the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria. “The flagship Santa Maria was nicknamed La Gallega. It was a noa, which simply means “ship” in Old Spanish. Today we might call such a ship a carrack. The Santa Maria was fat and slow and designed for handling cargo, not for exploration. The Santa Maria was said to weigh 100 tons which meant it could carry 100 large casks of wine. It measured 18 meters, keel length at 12 meters, beam 6 meters and a depth of 3 meters from keel to deck.” The Santa Maria had three masts, the fore, main and mizzen, each of which carried one large sail. The foresail and mainsail were square. The sail on the mizzen, or rear mast was a triangular sail known as a lateen. In addition, the ship carried a small square sail on the bowsprit, and small topsail on the mainmast above the mainsail. Columbus’ second ship was the Pinta. The Pinta was a caravel. This ship was smaller, lighter and a faster ship than the tubby Santa Maria. The Pinta weighed 70 tons, measured 17 meters, keel length 13 meters, beam five meters, and depth two meters. The Pinta had three masts and carried sails like those of the Santa Maria, except for the topsail and the spritsail. The Nina was the smallest of the three ships. The Nina was also a caravel which weighed between fifty to sixty tons. The Nina started from Spain with lateen sails on the masts, but was refitted in the Canary Islands with square sails on the fore and the main masts. Unlike most ships of the period, the Nina carried four masts including a small counter-mizzen at the stern with another lateen sail. This made the Nina the best of the three ships at sailing upwind. The Nina measured 15 meters, keel length 12 meters, beam five meters and depth two meters.

Bibliography

1. Christopher Columbus; His gastronomic persona - http://www.castellobanfi.com/features/story_3.html

2. Christopher Columbus; 1451-1506 - http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1033.html

3. The Christopher Columbus Navigation Homepage - http://www1.minn.net/~keithp/index.htm

4. Christopher Columbus; Background to the Age of Discovery -http://muweb.millersville.edu/~columbus/columbus.html

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[1] The success of his first voyage led Columbus to little trouble at convincing the Spanish Sovereigns Ferdinand and Isabela to follow up immediately with a second voyage. Unlike the first exploratory voyage, the second voyage was a massive colonization effort, comprised of seventeen ships and over a thousand men. The Columbus Navigation Homepage; The Second Voyage of Columbus, http://www1.minn.net/~keithp
[2] Columbus arrived at the coast of Honduras at the end of July, and spent the next two months working down the coast, beset by more storms and headwinds.” The Columbus Navigation Homepage; The fourth voyage, http://www1.minn.net/~keithp