Nast thomas biography of christopher columbus
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Columbus's quest for a new maritime route faced significant challenges; his first major Atlantic expedition in 1476 was nearly fatal when his ship was attacked by French privateers. When he was still a teenager, he got a job on a merchant ship. Still, Columbus’s reputation has been rebuilt on the same grounds, and now many perceive him to be a darkly complex man who is full of flaws.
“Biography of Christopher Columbus”, Oxford, UK. biographyonline.net, 13th May. 2009.
Between 1492 and 1504, Columbus made four voyages to the Caribbean and South America, claiming various territories for Spain. Compounded by mismanagement, complaints from settlers led to his arrest and loss of authority, showcasing the difficulties of sustaining exploration efforts in the face of political and social obstacles.
He found the Hispaniola settlement destroyed and left his brothers Bartolomeo and Diego Columbus behind to rebuild, along with part of his ships’ crew and hundreds of enslaved indigenous people.
Then he headed west to continue his mostly fruitless search for gold and other goods. Conditions were so bad that Spanish authorities had to send a new governor to take over.
Meanwhile, the native Taino population, forced to search for gold and to work on plantations, was decimated (within 60 years after Columbus landed, only a few hundred of what may have been 250,000 Taino were left on their island).
In particular, he became fascinated with Biblical prophecies and wrote his own ‘Book of Prophecies’ (1505).
Columbus Search of Asia Filipa Perestrelo
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was a fantastic navigator and admiral who made the Atlantic Ocean accessible to the discovery, exploitation, and colonization of the Americas by the Europeans four times (between 1492–93, 1493–96, 1498–1500, and 1502–04).
He also became fluent in Latin, Portuguese and Spanish.
Christopher Columbus was a believer in the spherical nature of the world (some Christians still held the view that the world was flat). Ultimately, Columbus' legacy is a complex tapestry—a journey of exploration intertwined with the consequences of colonization and the suffering of Indigenous cultures.
Updated 22 January 2020.
Who was Christopher Columbus?
Who was Christopher Columbus? His curiosity about the sea and navigation developed during his teenage years, prompting him to work on various trading voyages across the Mediterranean and Aegean seas. He was also frustrated with his lack of public recognition and seeming demotion in the eyes of the Spanish monarchs.
Despite his initial acclaim, his governance of the settlements he established was marred by poor leadership and harsh treatment of Indigenous peoples, resulting in conflict and resistance. The Portuguese were the earliest participants in this “Age of Discovery,” also known as “Age of Exploration.”
Starting in about 1420, small Portuguese ships known as caravels zipped along the African coast, carrying spices, gold and other goods as well as enslaved people from Asia and Africa to Europe.
Did you know?
Christopher Columbus was not the first person to propose that a person could reach Asia by sailing west from Europe.
More troublingly, it also recorded his initial impressions of the local people and his argument for why they should be enslaved.
“They… brought us parrots and balls of cotton and spears and many other things, which they exchanged for the glass beads and hawks’ bells," he wrote. His expeditions marked the beginning of extensive transatlantic exchange, known as the Columbian Exchange.
The route was long and arduous, and encounters with hostile armies were difficult to avoid. He lived off his modest earnings as he fought to restore his reputation, ultimately dying in relative obscurity and not as a wealthy man despite his monumental impact on world history.