Chong Jia Deng
Biography Paper
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was born in 1451 in Genoa. He was the son of a wool merchant. Columbus have three brothers named Bartolome, Giovanni Pellegrino and Giacomo and a sister. Columbus grew up with many sailors and became a sailor who worked in a merchant ship: “At 14, Columbus began sailing on trading ships.” (Higgins,13) The love that Columbus have for the ocean have caused him to study the world’s geographic and navigation. Columbus learned from his studies that the world, mostly consists of land and water. As a young Italian explorer, Columbus was determined to find an easier path to Asia. Many merchants were also trying to find a better route to Asia because it was hard for them to bring back goods by taking the land route. Trading by land is very dangerous and time consuming, which causes many foods to rot.
Christopher Columbus’s plans to sail West from Europe to find Asia instead of going around Africa. Columbus has presented his plan to many royal courts of European countries (including France, England and Portugal). Unfortunately, Columbus fails to persuade them into supporting him economically for the voyage. King John II of Portugal was one of the many who rejected Columbus’s proposal. Many individuals also tried to persuade Columbus that his plan will take a much longer time to get to Asia and that his calculation was wrong. But, Columbus did not give up and insist that his calculation is accurate. During
Christopher Columbus theorized that the Earth was round, so he had planned to travel to the Indies by going westward. In 1476, pirates attacked his ship causing it to sink; forced to swim to the Portuguese shore,
The 15th century was a prosperous time for trade and travel for the whole world round, even if some believed the world was flat. Columbus came from this time period in which he was born in Italy to a poor family. Despite living in such an impoverished lifestyle, the young Columbus was flourished in rich learnings of the times and languages. From these beginnings he grew to be a mariner in his twenties. Columbus was in his thirties when he first began his trials to find an Atlantic path to Asia. His only predicament was that he needed a way to finance such a journey to Asia via the Atlantic ocean. Any merchant would be in awe of the idea of an easier path to Asia, but the most notable problem was, was it possible to find such a path within a range that a ship
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
It is thought by many that Christopher Columbus was a skilled sailor on a mission of greed. Many think that he in fact did it all for the money, honor and the status that comes with an explorer, but this is not the case entirely. Columbus was an adventurer and was enthused by the thrill of the quest of the unknown. “Columbus had a firm religious faith and a scientific curiosity, a zest for life, the felling for beauty and the striving for novelty that we associate with the advancement of learning”. He had heard of the legendary Atlantic voyages and sailors reports of land to the west of Madeira and the Azores. He believed that Japan was about 4,800 km to the west of Portugal. In 1484, Columbus wanted support for an exploratory
Some say that Columbus Day shouldn't be a holiday or that the name should be changed, I believe that we should get rid of the holiday. When you are little, you are taught Christopher Columbus discovered America and he's a good person; however, in reality, none of that is true. Columbus didn't discover America, he found some islands in the Caribbean like Haiti and Cuba. In addition, he treated the Natives there with harsh cruelties. Columbus also brought over diseases that lead to the death of many natives because they weren't exposed to measles, influenza, small pox. “Christopher Columbus introduced two phenomena that revolutionized race relations and
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
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.
On the second Monday in October, Christopher Columbus is celebrated for “discovering” the Americas. Since preschool and all through middle school, children are taught that he was a great Spanish explorer who sailed to the Americas on the Nina, Pinta, and the Santa Maria. Children are taught that he is a hero for the discovery, and that we ought to celebrate him. This becomes a local issue because many locals believe that Columbus should not be celebrated. They argue that through Christopher Columbus’s tyranny and greed, Native Americans were slaughtered, lost their homes, and the Trail of Tears took place.
At Christopher Columbus Middle School, the students who were moving on to Clifton High School were given a spectacular farewell bash in the form of a circus-themed dance.
The discovery of the Americas, has been thoroughly investigated, studied, and debated by historians ever since Christopher Columbus happened upon Cuba in 1492. Columbus has been described as a “resilient, courageous, and confident” explorer that discovered the New World of the Americas. Some historians question whether Columbus, and European conquistadors, like Cortes, conquered the new world ethically and if the destruction of indigenous races to further advance Spain’s territories and influence was morally just. Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States (2003), has a bias that North America was explored and invaded primarily to gain monetary riches. This aligns with his belief in a struggle of social classes. In this
Christopher Columbus was born in Italy in the 1400’s but sent by the Spanish to find a new path to the Indies, because in his time there
If someone were to ask you who founded America, who would be your answer? Although many accusations have been thrown around, such as Christopher Columbus, the Vikings, or even Native American civilizations, there is historical evidence to back particularly one of those explorers up. This argument vocalizes the inaccurate portrayal that was taught about Christopher Columbus being the first to discover the Americas when in fact the Vikings came across the Americas prior to Christopher Columbus.
Hooray or not? Not! Christopher Columbus day should not be celebrated! Who wants to celebrate an awful man who wasn’t even the first person to discover the U.S. He also killed thousands of people!
Christopher Columbus, born in 1451 in Genoa,Italy, believed that sailing to the west across the Atlantic Ocean was the shortest and fastest sea route to the continent of Asia. Columbus did not realize that the western hemisphere is between Europe and Asia. This led to Columbus making the assumption that the Earth was a third of its actual size. Like many others in this time period, Christopher Columbus was unbothered by the political allegiances. He was willing to sail for whatever country would sponsor his voyage. However, he could never find a patron due to his arrogance or ambition. On August 2,1492, Columbus sent 3 ships which were accompanied by crews of eighty-seven men. These men made landfall on October 12th,1492, on the island of San Salvador. He made another voyage and explored present day Puerto Rico and Jamaica. Columbus made two more voyages made between the years of 1498 and 1500 to the Caribbean and the northern coast of South America. Months after he explored present day Cuba and Hispaniola Christopher Columbus found significant amounts of gold. Many of Christopher Columbus’ successes created potential conflict between Spain and Portugal. There are many reasons why the Spanish Monarch hired Columbus to find another route to Asia, however the main reasons are to get the Queen and King more land, riches, and crops.
The most important motive for early European exploration across the Atlantic was the dream of enormous riches. Initially, explorers and merchants hoped to find a sea route across the Atlantic to the thriving markets of Asia. However, Columbus greatly miscalculated the circumference of the earth; thus resulting in the discovery of a completely new world to explore and exploit. Upon arriving in the Americas, the Spanish and Portuguese sought precious metals or land that could be worked for profit, usually by slave labor. For example, the Spanish experience in the Caribbean under the leadership of Columbus was characterized by a search for both natural and human resources, such as gold and slaves (Winn, 2/8). This conquistador mentality that