Christopher Columbus Advantages

Isabella and Ferdinand agreed to sponsor an expedition overseas. “Ferdinand and Isabella quickly agreed to sponsor an expedition across the Atlantic Ocean to be led by a sea captain named Christopher Columbus” (When). This was an exploration of the New World (Dictionary.com). Ferdinand and Isabella were quick to sponsor this expedition to strengthen Spain’s commercial prospects overseas (When). This brought not only the New World to Spain but also wealth. When Native Americans were brought back as slaves Isabella had them returned and freed (Queen). Isabella also challenged Portugal’s dominance at

They funded and encouraged his journey because they all wanted something out of it. The Pope just wanted to to spread his religion and Catholicism. The King and Queen, however wanted land, slaves, more money and possessions. Columbus could not say no. Whatever the King and Queen said was the law and could not be refused or he would have been executed. The Pope would have done the same thing. Like everyone else during that time he wanted to take an adventure, see new things, and discover more land so he set sail with his crew.

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).

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.

The King and Queen both had the ambition to spread the word of Christ and to discover new lands and benefit their mother country Spain. Columbus possessed the same ambitions as the King and Queen but, was wanting to gain fame and riches from the voyage. Columbus being a devout Catholic, also wanted to discover new lands and new trading routes so the word of Christ their Lord would spread in the hopes of salvation. If new lands were

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

After many centuries, a lot of controversy still surrounds Christopher Columbus. He remains to be a strange figure in history regarded as a famous explorer and a great mariner who made many discoveries in his days. Other people still regard him as a visionary and a national hero while others chose to remember him as a brutal and greedy person who used the rest of the humanity for his own selfish gains. Despite the fact that there have been protests in his being honored through a holiday referred to as the Columbus Day, he still deserves recognition and acknowledgement as a historical figure performed a great role in the making of the modern world.

On May in 1486 almost a year after Columbus had enter Spain, he was finally allowed to meet with the queen who is said to be known for her great judgment in choosing the right man for the right job. The queen turned down Christopher’s proposals several times before giving it any true thought. The queen sent out her confessor to examine the great project to see if it was feasible. For the next six months Columbus lived the worst days of his life. Christopher was subjected to continuous prejudice even though he knew his great project would open new pathways to maritime achievement and opportunity, but still the public viewed his revolutionary planes as a crackpot idea. Very few of the queen’s staff were in favor of the great quest except for one, Diego de Deza who granted Columbus 12,000 maravedis a year, which was about $83 in gold. It was enough to support a man like Columbus. Columbus had simple tastes.

The advantage of working with foreign parties from Spain’s point of view is that Columbus was willing to go on the trip, and there was not a Spanish Explorer that would make the trip. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella believed that they could benefit from Columbus’ journey west. Queen Isabella wanted land and riches and by sending Columbus west she might be able to gain land and riches from Asia through trade and conquering. Spain was mainly a Catholic nation. They had a strong interest in spreading their religion to any land that they controlled. Any new land that Columbus found and claimed would be claimed for Spain. The advantage for Columbus was that he got paid to go on the journey. He was paid less than a Spanish explorer would have been, so King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella hired Columbus instead

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’

- Spain (Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand) actually assisted Columbus in his attempts, in order to accumulate goods that were valuable during time such as gold. Furthermore, it also tried to help the Catholic church financially.

Christopher Columbus is known for being an explorer and is said to have made one of the most important voyages in world history without even wanting to. Something else that is also believed is that he “opened up” the Americas to European nations, which changed the course of American history. Before he went on his voyage though, he was in need of resources. So he asked Portugal, France, Italy among many other countries but they all denied Columbus and thought his statement was incorrect. Columbus’ statement was that he had found a faster way to get to Asia than the Portuguese had, which was going around the continent of Africa. Columbus lived a majority of his life in Spain, so when it came to setting sail for the west, Spain was one of the first nations he asked for funding. Though it took Columbus a little more than a few years to convince a nation to fund his voyage, Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand from Spain subsequently granted to endow him in 1492. He would then leave for “Asia” on August 3, 1492. There are many unanswered questions and thoughts on why Spain decided to finally fund Columbus’ voyage, especially since he was an explorer that was born in Italy.

For one thing, he was not a spaniard but promised to go in Spain’s name. This is important because before Columbus, Spain had not sent out explorers(other wise known as Conquistadors) to other areas. So if something were to go wrong, say if he was abducted by the Asians and held for ransom, the Spanish would not have as much of a problem with leaving him there. since King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella had no prior knowledge of what the voyage would entail, they decided that it would be their safest bet to send Columbus ahead, because he was an Italian, and had no business there in the first place. Now, I should clarify that they did send Martin Alonzo Pinzan and his brother Vicente Pinzan, as captains (they were both Spanish) of the other two ships: The Nina and The Pinta.

Most people would agree that Christopher Columbus was a courageous man. He sailed across unknown seas on four different occasions, used extraordinary navigational skills, and opened up the western hemisphere to exploration that created what is known today as the modern world. He was considered the greatest navigator of his time and he trained other navy captains who sailed for Spain. He had a firm belief in god and with that belief enjoyed the beauty of the coastlines that he explored. Many people praised Columbus because he “carried Christian civilization across the ocean.” There was ample evidence to show Columbus’s heroic exploits. However, historians have a more complete story to tell about Christopher Columbus. His explorations caused millions of deaths, destroyed countless cultures, added to the spread of slavery and treated the subjects he conquered with violence and cruelty. As a result the negative outweighs the positive. Columbus was not a hero. He was a villain.

Queen Isabella of Castile sponsored Christopher Columbus’s voyage to the west Indies; exiled or forced conversion on all of their Muslim Jewish subjects, and made Spain a world trading power while being along side her husband King Ferdinand. Queen Isabella's life before she married King Ferdinand Queen Isabella paid for Christopher Columbus to go to the West Indies. The crown agreed to pay a sum of the money as a concession from monarch to subject. Before Columbus went to Queen Isabella, he first asked for money to go to the West Indies from the rulers of the cities of Genoa and Venice, Italy. He then asked the king of Portugal, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella; the Kingdom of Castile turned him down a couple times.