Christopher Columbus Research Paper

Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa, Italy in 1451 as the son of a merchant, most likely into a Christian household. As a teenager, he worked on a merchant ship and gained experience in trading voyages in the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas. He continued similar jobs at sea until his first voyage into the Atlantic Ocean in 1470, when the French attacked his ship along the Portuguese Coast. Despite his sunken ship, Columbus floated to Lisbon, where he married Felipa Perestrello and had a son. At this time, he also began studies in mathematics, astronomy, and navigation, thus inspiring him to begin formulating his world changing plan. After the death of his wife, he moved to Spain, remarried and had another son. Meanwhile, he

When Granada was finally taken control of, Isabella and Ferdinand began to take notice of Columbus’ proposition. They realized that the outcome would be very beneficial to their kingdom, and it would not cost much money for them to fund the expedition (“Queen Isabella’s Influence in the New World”). They had also recently discovered some islands to the west, so they thought there could be more. They concluded that funding Columbus was worth the effort (In Depth Info).

In 1492, Christopher Columbus started his voyage seeking a new trade route to the East Indies, and he would soon commit of the largest failures in American history. Consequently, Columbus’s failure has credited him as one of the most successful explorers in history. Without realizing, Columbus had discovered a new country which was later named the New World. Christopher Columbus was chosen to seek out for a new trade routes by the Spanish monarchy, despite him being Italian. It seems unreasonable that the Spanish monarchy would not have chosen one of their own trusted explorers to go on this voyage rather than someone not from their country. Even still, Columbus managed to convince Spain to fund his voyage. The Spanish monarchy was encouraged to support Christopher Columbus instead of Spanish explorers because of religious, financial, and reputation reasons.

One would think the famed 1492 voyage by the Italian sailor known as Christopher Columbus Italy logically funded the voyage, right? Well, actually that is not the case! Columbus managed to convince Spanish monarchs Ferdinand V and Isabella I to fund his voyage to find a new trade route to India. Christopher Columbus, known as Cristobal Colon in Spanish, actually didn’t go to the Spaniards first; he actually went to officials in Portugal, France and England, but he they turned him away due to disputes about the size of the earth. In 1491, he convinced the Spanish monarchy to fund his voyage. The Spaniards provided him with two small ships called caravels and one larger type of ship called a carrack. They were fifteen to thirty meters long. On August 3rd, Columbus set voyage with the three ships: the Nina (originally named la Santa Clara), the Pinta (called la Pintada by the sailors), and the Santa Maria (actually named la Santa Gallega or Maria Galante). He arrived on Hispaniola on October 12. But why would a foreign country be interested in funding a foreign explorer? There were several reasons why King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella supported the voyage of Columbus. Those reasons were the monarch’s wish to become a world power, their want to trade with Asia, and lastly, to spread their religion. There were various other reasons, but these were the main three.

Christopher Columbus was an Italian who worked on behalf of, King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I. The Spanish monarchs’ ultimate goals were to find a trade routine to India, Asia and to spread the Catholic religion to others. They financed Columbus with the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria to find a western route to India. Thinking that it was India, Columbus found land. In his journal, Columbus described his first account of the natives as “they were very friendly to us, and perceived that they could be much more easily converted to our holy faith by gentle means than by force” (“Fordham University”). Also, he plans for them to be great servants so they “may learn our language” (“Fordham University”). He says

The main idea behind the voyage was to find a faster route to the Indies, as well as introduce Christianity and The King and Queen to the new world along with its inhabitants. As said by Columbus “Your Highnesses, as Catholic Christians, and princes who love and promote the holy Christian faith, and are enemies of the doctrine of Mahomet, and of all idolatry and heresy, determined to send me, Christopher Columbus, to the above-mentioned countries of India, to see the said princes, people, and territories, and to learn their disposition and the proper method of converting them to our holy faith; and furthermore directed that I should not proceed by land to the East, as is customary, but by a Westerly route, in which direction we have hitherto no certain evidence that any one has gone.” Like said, it shows that Columbus wished to find a faster route, so Spain could easily be able to obtained traded goods which would produce more profit for the country of Spain. This kind of shows that Spain needed to find this route due

King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella gave funds to the Italian explorer and navigator, Christopher Columbus, to discover a new route to Asia. By finding a new route to Asia, Spain would have the advantage in trading with them by having access to a shorter and safer trade route instead of having to go around the African continent. Why did King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella hire Columbus instead of a Spanish Explorer? The deal between Spain and Columbus was that any minerals and resources found would go to Spain and Columbus would become Governor of any place he landed at. In this way, there are many advantages and disadvantages of working relationships between foreign parties.

First and foremost, Columbus’ experience was of high value to the Spanish monarchy. Despite initially following in the footsteps of his father as a member of the wool weaving industry, Columbus was quick to pick up mapmaking and sailing as studies (Mariners Museum). Columbus was on the sea even as a teen, joining expeditions through the Aegean and Mediterranean seas (Don Quijote). It was difficult to find such an experienced and educated seaman in contemporary Spain. Many of the future influential conquistadors had yet to be born; the oldest was Francisco Pizarro, and even he was only sixteen years of age when Columbus set sail in 1492. With experience being such a valuable commodity, it was difficult for the Spanish monarchy to justify allowing Columbus to simply offer his skills to another country. Columbus’

Christopher Columbus was sponsored by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel of Spain in 1492 to find an alternate trade route to Asia. The Reconquista was just wrapping up in Spain, and in hopes to continue the movement, the King and Queen encouraged Columbus to spread Christianity once he made landfall. Their goals for his voyage were similar to many at the time: find riches, spread faith, and claim any unconquered lands. Columbus was successful in all three, however, there is much controversy in the measures Columbus took to do so. Although Christopher Columbus caused the death of many indigenous people and ecological succession, his ultimate goal was to carry out the requests of the Spanish government, therefore he should not be found guilty because

A believed reason on why Queen Isabella and Ferdinand once and for all decided to fund Columbus’ voyage would be because the Spanish rulers wanted the virtue of fame and money. According to History.com,, “During the 15th and 16th centuries, leaders of several European nations sponsored expeditions abroad

“...I promise, that with a little assistance afforded me by our most invincible sovereigns, I will procure them as much gold as they need, as great a quantity of spices, of cotton,...and as many men for the service of the navy as their Majesties may require." This very quote embodies the mission that Christopher Columbus set out to achieve. The overall mission was to procure a vast amount of goods and gold for the Spanish monarchy. Now that one knows the target, one might wonder about how the expedition even crossed their minds. There are a multitude of reasons that might have affected the choice selection of Columbus, but the primary reasons were that he had for the most part a common background with the two, a very persuasive tongue, and an undying perseverance.

Columbus first met with the King of Portugal, King John II, to present his idea to go west across the Atlantic Ocean reach Asia. King John II rejected the idea. Columbus from there met with the Spanish Queen and King, King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I. They originally rejected the idea, but after Columbus met with them again they agreed to fund his voyage to the west. Ferdinand and Isabella provided Columbus with three ships, the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria.

Columbus had struck a deal with the Spanish King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. His contract named Columbus the Admiral, Viceroy, and Governor of any land he

Christopher Columbus, a Genoese explorer, believed that he could make a faster trip to Asia if he sailed across the Atlantic from the West rather than following what the Portuguese were attempting to do at the time by trying to go around Africa and through the Indian Ocean. Columbus would need a sponsor in order to be able to explore and see if this new route would actually work. Columbus went to several monarchs in search of someone who would be willing to finance this voyage, but since his claims were so great, he was rejected many times. Finally, Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain signed the Capitulations, a contract between them and Columbus to sponsor his voyage in April of 1492. In this agreement, it states that if Columbus discovers any new land, he would get the title of Admiral and he could become the governor of any lands that he did discover. He would also have the privilege to ten percent of any goods in the land discovered, without the cost of tax added; This also applies to his line of family. For his part of the deal, Columbus said that he would spread Christianity to the people of Asia and bring gold, silver, and spices back to Spain. Since Columbus is not of Spanish heritage, it leads people to wonder why rulers of one country would be interested in employing a person of another country to complete a mission as significant as this.

The fifteenth century was tough for the country of Spain. Towards the end of the century Spain was embroiled in a battle with the last group of Muslims to reside in Spain at Granada. For five years an explorer by the name of Christopher Columbus tried to persuade King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain to finance his trip across the Atlantic in hopes of finding a better trade route to the Indies. In 1492 when Columbus was about to give up hope of ever having them finance the trip they called for him and agreed to the voyage . The King and Queen seeing the end of the battle with the Muslims looked to Columbus as someone who if he were successful would be able to supply them with gold