Christopher Columbus :: Christopher Columbus Essays

Christopher capital of Ohio, born in 1451, was the oldest son of Do menico Colombo. A controversial figure blamed for the eradication of the natives in the island he detect, Columbus nonetheless should be credited with opening Europes eyes and ears to the Caribbean. Through step to the fore his lifetime Columbus made 4 pilgrimages to the bleak World.On the first trip on Aug. 3, 1492, Columbus sailed from Palos, Spain, with three littler ships, the Santa debaucha, commanded by Columbus himself, the Pinta under Martn Pinzn, and the Nia under Vicente Yez Pinzn. After halting at the tennis shoe Islands, he sailed due west from Sept. 6 until Oct. 7, when he changed his course to the southwest. On Oct. 10 a small mutiny was quelled, and on Oct. 12 he landed on a small island (Watling Island or San Salvadort) in the Bahamas group. He took possession for Spain and, with impressed natives aboard, discovered other islands in the neighborhood. On Oct. 27 he sighted Cuba and on Dec. 5 reac hed Hispaniola. On Christmas Eve the Santa Mara was wrecked on the north coast of Hispaniola, and Columbus, leaving men there to found a colony, hurried back to Spain on the Nia. His reception was all he could wish according to his contract with the Spanish sovereigns he was made admiral of the ocean sea and governor-general of all in the buff lands he had discovered or should discover.On the second trip fitted out with a large fleet of 17 ships, with 1,500 colonists aboard, Columbus sailed from Cdiz in Oct., 1493. His landfall this time was made in the Lesser Antilles, and his new discoveries included the upwind Islands and Puerto Rico. The admiral arrived at Hispaniola to find the first colony destroyed by Native Americans. He founded a new colony nearby, and then sailed glowering in the summer of 1494 to explore the southern coast of Cuba. After discovering Jamaica he run offed to Hispaniola and found the colonists, interested only in finding gold, completely topsy-turvy his attempts to enforce strict discipline led some to seize vessels and return to Spain to complain of his administration. Leaving his brother Bartholomew in charge at Hispaniola, Columbus also returned to Spain in 1496.On his third expedition, in 1498, Columbus was forced to transport convicts as colonists, because of the bad reports on conditions in Hispaniola and because the novelty of the spic-and-span World was wearing off.