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Christopher Columbus Research Paper

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In an expedition to find a western ocean route to the great cities of Asia , explorer Christopher Columbus stumbled upon ‘The New World’ originally mistaking it for Mainland China. The misconception that the earth was flat was still a popular theory in this era of time, in fact many explorers and pioneers initially underestimated the worlds size, calculating that East Asia must lie approximately where North America is geographically located.

Christopher Columbus met with King John Paul II of Portugal on several occasions in an attempt to persuade him back to his “Enterprise of the Indies” but was unsuccessful with his attempts. Despite this, Columbus, determined with his plans, moved on to Spain where he tried to convince King Ferdinand …show more content…

However, due to the successful Spanish conquest of the Moorish Kingdom of Granada in January 1492 , Spanish monarchs reeling with victorious spirits decided to support the Italian Columbus on his endeavors. On August 3rd 1492 Columbus set sail from Palos, Spain with 3 ships the ‘Santa Maria’, ‘Pinta’ and ‘Nina’ . On October 12th 1493 Columbus had reached land and claimed it for Spain naming it ‘San Salvador’ or ‘Holy Saviour’ . Although it is hypothesized that the land Columbus had just claimed was modern day Bahamas, Columbus was adamant that he found the East Indies and named the natives accordingly, as ‘Indians’ . Christopher Columbus then ventured on to Cuba (which he mistook for China) and Haiti (which he mistook for Japan). Columbus, thinking that he had emulated Marco Polo’s expedition took what gold and natural resources his crew could muster and set sail back to Spain . It is believed that King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain were quite impressed with Columbus’ findings that they issued more excursions to ‘The New …show more content…

Cortés was merely a child when Christopher Columbus first embarked on the unlikely expedition in which he found ‘The New World’. Hernán Cortés was born around 1485 in Medellin, Spain to a lesser noble family . At 14 years of age Cortés was sent to study law and to a lesser extent Latin. It is believed Cortés returned home 2 years later as a restless and mischievous 16-year-old boy. Cortés was frustrated with life in the small provincial town of his upbringing and had his eyes set on ‘The New World’. Cortés at the ripe age of 18 in 1503 left Spain to seek fortune in ‘The New World’ . He travelled to the island of Saint Domingo where upon arrival he was registered as a citizen, which entitled him to land . The governor of Saint Domingo gave Cortés a ‘repartimiento’ or a colony of American-Indian slaves, he also appointed Cortés as notary of the town Azuza . It is widely believed that Cortés contracted syphilis from the Native American-Indian women , most likely from slaves he owned. Cortés held the occupation of notary for several years until in 1506 he took part in the conquest of Hispaniola and

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