The Voyage of Christopher Columbus

Columbus started out on his first voyage in the middle of 1492. It turned out to be a great success and he won Spain many places in South America. The king, queen, and the people of Spain were pleased with Columbus. Isabella immediately ordered him to sail again. On this second voyage, he formed the first European settlement in the Americas. Colonists that accompanied him began to criticize Columbus and his adventures. However, Isabella continued to support him.

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 arrival of Columbus in 1492 has been viewed with mixed feelings with others believing the day should be viewed as an occasion for mourning. Some activists advocate for the day to be replaced with a day for ethnic diversity. The belief that he discovered America is not to say that he was the first to set his eyes on America, it meant that he opened up America to new opportunities. This was by bringing America to the attention of the New World by bringing the civilization of Western Europe to its residents. It was the discoveries of Columbus that led to an interaction of ideas and people and different cultures that made America what it is today.

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.

King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella saw something in Columbus that others didn’t see in funding his voyage. Columbus was born close to the seaport so his thrive of sailing came strong. Columbus started sailing at the age of fourteen. Columbus numerous trips before his first big voyage help him by giving him skills to prepare for his voyage. Columbus desire to find new undiscovered land emerged greatly as Columbus mastered his navigation skills. In Lisbon Columbus studied mathematics,astronomy,cartography and navigation. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella saw a sailor that was thought young and that was well educated about the sea with a thrive for helping out in the sea.

Christopher Columbus was an Italian-born man that managed to win the favor and funding of the Spanish monarchy. With this funding, Columbus led the most well-known voyage in human history: the voyage to the New World in 1492. This voyage laid the foundation for future colonies and, eventually, many nations in the world. However, this voyage would not have gone past conceptualization if Columbus had not been supported by the Spanish monarchy. While a variety of factors affected the monarchy’s decision, the primary factors were Columbus’ experience in navigation, assistance Columbus received from Jewish supporters, and the capitulations laid out by Columbus himself.

In this report Christopher Columbus writes a letter to the King and Queen of Spain. The journey

Columbus’ vision to reach Asia by sailing west was rejected a number of times by the King of Portugal, James II – and at first was equally rejected by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain. These rejections were decisions derived from recommendations made by royal “scientific” committees. Each of these committees deemed that Columbus had grossly underestimated the distance and time in voyaging west to reach the Asian continent. It was Ferdinand who recalled Columbus to the royal court of Spain, and upon “political” reconsideration with his wife Queen Isabella – the Royals eventually agreed to finance the exploration dream of Christopher Columbus (Kreis).

Columbus decided that he should start converting Indians to Christianity on his third voyage. He also had his authority of governing taken away by the crown. So when he went to the colony the new governor arrest him and sent him back to Spain. Columbus had a fourth voyage. He was assigned the task of finding a sea route to Asia. He believed that with his new knowledge of the Indies, he could find the Asian continent. Columbus failed once again. All of Columbus’ documents show us that he failed at his tasks but brought Europeans to the Americas.

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.

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.

Hence, The Spanish explorations were most notably able to occur due to the King and Queen’s efforts to unify the Spanish nation and the growing competition between the unified Spain and its neighboring country, Portugal (Nardo, 1947). The King and Queen did many other things to improve and fund exploration in Spain, and perhaps the most significant thing they did was sponsor Christopher Columbus after he proposed an exploration to India, guaranteeing that he could discover and establish valuable trade routes from India to Eastern Asia (Nardo, 1947). The King and Queen agreed to sponsor him because Spain often sought out trade opportunities and wanted to find gold and valuable spices from Asia, specifically from India, and this exploration almost guaranteed all of that (Nardo, 1947). Therefore, the reasons for Spanish exploration include the desire to establish trade routes between India and Eastern Asia, to find valuable resources, the empire’s competition with Portugal, and the King and Queen’s unification of their kingdoms and sponsorship of Christopher

Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer that made voyages for the King and Queen of Spain. He was looking for a new route to India but instead found the Americas. Born in 1451, in Genoa, Italy,Columbus started his navigational training. Columbus was a very good navigator and captain, and he even published a book titled “The Book of Prophecies”. Said to be a Christian, Columbus based his travels on information from the Bible. The goal of his voyages was to find a shorter trade route to India. He instead found the Americas. Funded by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, his voyages lasted from 1492-1504. The Portuguese rejected his proposed voyages because ,they were looking for someone to sail eastward, and to Africa. Columbus was an Italian explorer but funded by Spain. This is a working relationship between foreign parties. There are many advantages and disadvantages to a working relationship between foreign parties, as well as many reasons Spain chose to fund an Italian explorer, but the main advantages are that countries could have opportunities to use the best resources, be open to people with more expertise, and given new ideas. The main disadvantages, are that it is hard to keep things equal between both parties as far as gains of money, recognition and resources. The main reasons Spain funded Christopher Columbus was a passionate Christian, he was a talented explorer, and it would give them the advantage of finding land, trade routes, and resources before any other countries.

Columbus wanted fame and fortune. Rejected by the Portuguese king for a three ships voyage of discovery. He ask Ferdinand and Isabella and they wanted the same. On August 3, 1492, Columbus assumed,