Christopher columbus history of the discovery of america. Who discovered America and when? Treaty of Columbus with Queen Isabella

The project of the western sea route from Europe to India was developed by Christopher Columbus in the 1480s.

The Europeans were interested in finding a sea route to Asia, since at the end of the 15th century they still could not penetrate the Asian countries by land - it was blocked by the Ottoman Empire. Merchants from Europe had to buy spices, silk and other oriental goods from Arab merchants. In the 1480s, the Portuguese tried to go around Africa to get across the Indian Ocean to India. Columbus also suggested that Asia can be reached by moving west.

His theory was based on the ancient doctrine of the sphericity of the Earth and the incorrect calculations of scientists of the 15th century.

The monarch created a council of scientists that considered and rejected Columbus' proposal.

Having received no support, in 1485 Columbus went to Spain. There, in early 1486, he was introduced to the royal court and received an audience with the king and queen of Spain, Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile.

The royal couple became interested in the project of a western route to Asia. To consider it, a special commission was created, which in the summer of 1487 issued an unfavorable conclusion. The Spanish monarchs postponed the decision to organize an expedition until the end of the war with the Emirate of Granada (the last Muslim state on the Iberian Peninsula).

In 1492, after a long siege, Granada fell, and the southern territories of the Iberian Peninsula were annexed to the Spanish kingdom.

After lengthy negotiations, the Spanish monarchs agreed to subsidize Columbus's expedition.

On April 17, 1492, the royal couple entered into an agreement (“capitulation”) with Columbus in Santa Fe, granting him the title of noble, the titles of Admiral of the Sea-Ocean, Viceroy and Governor-General of all the islands and continents that he opens. The position of admiral gave Columbus the right to decide in disputes arising in matters of trade, the position of viceroy made him the personal representative of the monarch, and the position of governor general provided the highest civil and military authority. Columbus was given the right to receive a tenth of everything found in the new lands and an eighth of the profits from trading in foreign goods.

On August 9, she approached the Canary Islands. After repairing the Pinta, which had leaked, on the island of Homer, on September 6, 1492, ships headed west and began crossing the Atlantic Ocean.

On September 16, 1492, bunches of green algae began to appear on the way of the expedition, which became more and more. The ships sailed through this unusual body of water for three weeks. This is how the Sargasso Sea was discovered.

On October 12, 1492, land was discovered from the Pinta. The Spaniards reached the islands of the Bahamas - the first land they encountered in the Western Hemisphere. This day is considered the official date of the discovery of America.

On October 13, 1492, Columbus landed, hoisted the banner of Castile on it and, having drawn up a notarial deed, formally took possession of the island. The island was named San Salvador. It was inhabited by the Arawaks, a people who were completely destroyed in 20-30 years. The natives gave Columbus "dry leaves" (tobacco).

On October 14-24, 1492, Columbus approached several more Bahamas. Europeans first saw hammocks in the houses of local residents.

Having learned from the natives about the existence of a rich island in the south, Columbus left the Bahamas on October 24 and sailed further southwest. On October 28, the flotilla approached the shores of Cuba, named by Columbus Juana. Communicating with local residents, Columbus decided that he was on one of the peninsulas of East Asia. The Spaniards did not find any gold, spices, or large cities. Columbus, believing he had reached the poorest part of China, decided to turn east, where he believed richer Japan lay. The expedition moved east on November 13, 1492.

On November 21, 1492, the captain of the "Pinta" Pinson took his ship away, deciding to search for the rich islands on his own. The two remaining ships continued east until they reached Cape Maisi on the eastern tip of Cuba.

On December 6, 1492, Columbus discovered the island of Haiti, named Hispaniola because of the similarity of its valleys to the lands of Castile. Further, moving along the northern coast, the Spaniards discovered the island of Tortuga.

Moving along the northern coast of Hispaniola, on December 25, 1492, the expedition approached the Holy Cape (now Cap Haitien), where the Santa Maria landed on reefs. With the help of local residents, guns, supplies and valuable cargo were removed from the ship. From the wreckage of the ship, a fort was built, named Navidad ("Christmas"). Columbus left 39 sailors as the personnel of the fort, and on January 4, 1493 he went to sea on the Nina.

On January 16, 1493, both ships headed northeast, using a fair current - the Gulf Stream.

On February 12, 1493, a storm arose, and on the night of February 14, the ships lost sight of each other.

February 15, 1493 "Nina" reached the ground. But only on February 18 she managed to land on the shore. It was decided to name the discovered island in honor of the lost ship of the Santa Maria expedition (the island of the Azores archipelago).

On February 24, 1493, the Nina left the Azores. On February 26, she again fell into a storm, which washed her on the coast of Portugal on March 4. March 9, 1493 "Nina" anchored in the port of Lisbon. Juan II gave Columbus an audience at which the navigator informed the king about the discovery of a western route to India.

March 13 "Nina" was able to sail for Spain. On March 15, on the 225th day of sailing, she returned to the port of Palos. On the same day, "Pinta" also came there. Columbus brought with him the natives (who were called Indians in Europe), some gold, as well as plants (corn, potatoes, tobacco) and bird feathers that had never been seen before in Europe.

Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile gave Columbus a solemn reception and gave permission for a new expedition.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources

On August 3, 1492, the first expedition of the navigator Christopher Columbus began, discovering new lands for Europeans.

Born in Genoa, Columbus became a sailor at an early age, sailing the Mediterranean in merchant ships. Then he settled in Portugal. Under the Portuguese flag, he sailed north to England and Ireland, sailed along the west coast of Africa to the Portuguese trading post of São Jorge da Mina (modern Ghana). He was engaged in trade, mapping and self-education. During this period, Columbus had the idea to get to India by the western route across the Atlantic Ocean.

At that time, many Western European countries were looking for sea routes to the countries of South and East Asia, which were then united under the common name "India". From these countries, pepper, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, expensive silk fabrics came to Europe. Merchants from Europe could not penetrate the countries of Asia by land, as the Turkish conquests cut off traditional merchant ties with the East through the Mediterranean. They were forced to purchase Asian goods from Arab merchants. Therefore, the Europeans were interested in finding a sea route to Asia, which would allow them to acquire Asian goods without intermediaries. In the 1480s, the Portuguese tried to sail around Africa to penetrate the Indian Ocean into India.

Columbus also suggested that Asia can be reached by moving west across the Atlantic Ocean. His theory was based on the ancient theory of the sphericity of the Earth and the incorrect calculations of scientists of the 15th century, who considered the globe to be much smaller in size, and also underestimated the real length of the Atlantic Ocean from west to east.

Between 1483 and 1484, Columbus tried to interest the Portuguese king João II with his plan for an expedition to Asia by a western route. The monarch handed over his project for examination to the scientists of the "Mathematical Junta" (Lisbon Academy of Astronomy and Mathematics). Experts recognized Columbus's calculations as "fantastic", and the king refused Columbus.

Having received no support, in 1485 Columbus went to Spain. There, at the beginning of 1486, he was introduced to the royal court and received an audience with the king and queen of Spain - Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile. The royal couple became interested in the project of a western route to Asia. A special commission was created to consider it, which issued an unfavorable conclusion in the summer of 1487, but the Spanish monarchs postponed the decision to organize an expedition until the end of the war they waged with the Emirate of Granada (the last Muslim state on the Iberian Peninsula).

In the autumn of 1488, Columbus visited Portugal, where he re-proposed his project to Juan II, but was again refused and returned to Spain.

In 1489, he tried unsuccessfully to interest the regent of France, Anne de Baeuze, and two Spanish dukes with the idea of ​​sailing west.

In January 1492, unable to withstand a long siege by the Spanish troops, Granada fell. After lengthy negotiations, the Spanish monarchs, overriding the objections of their advisers, agreed to subsidize Columbus's expedition.

On April 17, 1492, the royal couple concluded an agreement ("surrender") with him in Santa Fe, granting him the title of nobleman, the titles of Admiral of the Sea-Ocean, Viceroy and Governor-General of all the islands and continents that he opens. The rank of admiral gave Columbus the right to decide in disputes arising in matters of trade, the position of viceroy made him the personal representative of the monarch, and the position of governor general provided the highest civil and military authority. Columbus was given the right to receive a tenth of everything found in the new lands and an eighth of the profits from trading in foreign goods.

The Spanish crown undertook to finance most of the expenses of the expedition. Part of the funds for it was given to the navigator by Italian merchants and financiers.

On the first expedition, Columbus equipped three ships: the four-masted sailing ship Santa Maria (as the flagship) and two caravels - the Santa Clara (better known as the Nina by the name of its owner) and the Pinta, with a total crew of 90 people. All three ships were small and were typical merchant ships of that era.

The Columbus fleet left the Spanish port of Palos on August 3, 1492. On August 9, she approached the Canary Islands. After repairs on the island of Homer "Pinta", which gave a leak, on September 6, heading west, the ships began crossing the Atlantic Ocean. The journey was uneventful with fair winds.

On September 16, the ships entered the Sargasso Sea, which Columbus described in his notebook as a jar of algae. Through this unusual body of water, he sailed most of his way to the Bahamas.

Having passed the Sargasso Sea, Columbus changed course on October 7, and the ships turned to the southwest. On October 12, 1492, land was discovered from the Pinta. The Spaniards reached the islands of the Bahamas - the first land they encountered in the Western Hemisphere. This day is considered the official date of the discovery of America.

Columbus landed on the shore, hoisted the banner of Castile on it and, having drawn up a notarial deed, formally took possession of the island.

He called the island San Salvador (St. Savior), and its inhabitants - Indians, believing that he was off the coast of India.

However, the discussion about the first landing site of Columbus is still ongoing. For a long time (1940-1982), Watling Island was considered San Salvador. In 1986, the American geographer George Judge processed all the collected materials on a computer and came to the conclusion that the first American land seen by Columbus was Samana Island (120 km southeast of Watling).

On October 14-24, Columbus approached several more Bahamas. Having learned from the natives about the existence of a rich island in the south, the ships left the Bahamas on October 24 and sailed further to the southwest. On October 28, Columbus landed on the northeast coast of Cuba, which he named "Juana". After that, the Spaniards, inspired by the stories of the natives, spent a month looking for the golden island of Baneque (modern Great Inagua).

On November 21, the captain of the Pinta, Martin Pinzon, took his ship away, deciding to search for this island on his own. Having lost hope of finding Baneke, Columbus turned east with the two remaining ships and on December 5 reached the northwestern tip of the island of Bohio (modern Haiti), which he named Hispaniola ("Spanish"). Moving along the northern coast of Hispaniola, on December 25 the expedition approached the Holy Cape (modern Cap Haitien), where the Santa Maria ran aground and sank, but the crew escaped. With the help of local residents, guns, supplies and valuable cargo were removed from the ship. A fort was built from the wreckage of the ship - the first European settlement in America, named on the occasion of the Christmas holiday "Navidad" ("Christmas City").

The loss of the ship forced Columbus to leave part of the team (39 people) in the founded settlement and set off on the Nina on the way back. For the first time in the history of navigation, on his orders, Indian hammocks were adapted for sailor bunks. To prove that he reached a part of the world previously unknown to Europeans, Columbus took with him seven captive inhabitants of the islands, outlandish bird feathers and the fruits of plants unseen in Europe. Having visited the open islands, the Spaniards first saw corn, tobacco, potatoes.

On January 4, 1493, Columbus put to sea on the Nina and sailed east along the northern coast of Hispaniola. Two days later he met "Pint". On January 16, both ships headed northeast, using a favorable current - the Gulf Stream. On February 12, a storm arose, and on the night of February 14, the ships lost sight of each other. At dawn on February 15, the sailors saw the land, and Columbus determined that he was off the Azores. On February 18, the Nina managed to land on the shore of one of the islands - Santa Maria.

On February 24, Nina left the Azores. Two days later, she again fell into a storm, which washed her on the coast of Portugal on March 4. March 9 "Nina" anchored in the port of Lisbon. The crew needed a break, and the ship needed repairs. King Juan II gave Columbus an audience at which the navigator informed him of the discovery of a western route to India. March 13 "Nina" was able to sail for Spain. March 15, 1493, on the 225th day of sailing, the ship returned to the Spanish port of Palos. On the same day, "Pinta" also came there.

King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castile gave Columbus a solemn reception and, in addition to the previously promised privileges, gave him permission for a new expedition.

During the first journey, Columbus discovered America, which he took for East Asia and called the West Indies. Europeans first set foot on the islands of the Caribbean - Juan (Cuba) and Hispaniola (Haiti). As a result of the expedition, the width of the Atlantic Ocean became reliably known, the Sargasso Sea was discovered, the flow of ocean water from west to east was established, and for the first time an incomprehensible behavior of the magnetic needle of the compass was noted. The political resonance of Columbus's voyage was the "papal meridian": the head of the Catholic Church established a demarcation line in the Atlantic, indicating different directions for the discovery of new lands to rival Spain and Portugal.

In 1493-1504, Columbus made three more voyages across the Atlantic Ocean, as a result of which he discovered part of the Lesser Antilles, the coast of South and Central America. The navigator died in 1506, being fully convinced that the lands he had discovered were part of the Asian mainland, and not a new continent.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources

To the question "What did Christopher Columbus discover?" the answer for many is obvious - America. In fact, this is not the only discovery of the famous traveler. Thanks to him, in the XIV century, Spain became one of the richest and most prosperous European countries.

Discovery of America by Columbus

A native of Spain with Italian roots, Christopher Columbus assembled his first expedition in August 1492. It consisted of three ships: the flagship "Santa Maria" and the caravels "Pinta" and "Nina". The voyage lasted a little over two months. Since the navigator expected to get to India, he called the inhabitants of one of the Bahamas, to the shores of which the flotilla moored, the Indians.

Following the island of San Salvador, Columbus discovered the northeast coast of Cuba and the island of Haiti. Thus, one of the most significant historical discoveries was made - the discovery of America. Despite the fact that even in the Middle Ages the territory of North America was visited by the Icelandic Vikings, it is Columbus who is considered the one. Since he was the first to publish information about new lands, which marked the beginning of the colonization of America.

What did Christopher Columbus discover besides America

Columbus was the first to cross the Atlantic Ocean. During the second expedition, the navigator discovered a new route to Asia, and on the third he laid the foundation for the discovery South America.

From his first expedition, Columbus brought new varieties of plants to Europe: potatoes, corn, smoking tobacco. Therefore, it is Columbus that Europeans owe to the spread of addiction.

Columbus was the first in the history of navigation to think of adapting Indian hammocks for sailor bunks.

Christopher Columbus - a medieval navigator who discovered the Sargasso and Caribbean Seas, the Antilles, Bahamas and the American continent for Europeans, the first of famous travelers who crossed the Atlantic Ocean.

According to various sources, Christopher Columbus was born in 1451 in Genoa, in what is now Corsica. Six Italian and Spanish cities claim the right to be called his homeland. Almost nothing is reliably known about the childhood and youth of the navigator, and the origin of the Columbus family is just as vague.

Some researchers call Columbus an Italian, others believe that his parents were baptized Jews, Marranos. This assumption explains the incredible level of education at that time that Christopher, who came from a family of an ordinary weaver and a housewife, received.

According to some historians and biographers, Columbus studied at home until the age of 14, while he had brilliant knowledge in mathematics, knew several languages, including Latin. The boy had three younger brothers and a sister, all of whom were taught by visiting teachers. One of the brothers, Giovanni, died in childhood, sister Bianchella grew up and married, and Bartolomeo and Giacomo accompanied Columbus on his wanderings.

Most likely, Columbus was given all possible assistance by fellow believers, rich Genoese financiers from the Marranos. With their help, a young man from a poor family got into the University of Padua.

Being an educated person, Columbus was familiar with the teachings of ancient Greek philosophers and thinkers who depicted the Earth as a ball, and not a flat pancake, as was believed in the Middle Ages. However, such thoughts, like the Jewish origin during the Inquisition, which raged in Europe, had to be carefully hidden.

At the university, Columbus became friends with students and teachers. One of his close friends was the astronomer Toscanelli. According to his calculations, it turned out that to the cherished India, full of untold riches, it was much closer to sail in a westerly direction, and not in an eastern one, skirting Africa. Later, Christopher made his own calculations, which, being incorrect, confirmed Toscanelli's hypothesis. Thus was born the dream of a western journey, and Columbus devoted his whole life to it.

Even before entering the university, at the age of fourteen, Christopher Columbus experienced the hardships of sea travel. The father arranged for his son to work on one of the trading schooners to learn the art of navigation, trade skills, and from that moment the biography of Columbus the navigator started.

Columbus made his first voyages as a cabin boy in the Mediterranean Sea, where trade and economic routes between Europe and Asia intersected. At the same time, European merchants knew about the riches and gold placers of Asia and India from the words of the Arabs, who resold them wonderful silks and spices from these countries.

The young man listened to extraordinary stories from the mouths of eastern merchants and was inflamed with a dream to reach the shores of India in order to find her treasures and get rich.

Expeditions

In the 70s of the 15th century, Columbus married Felipe Moniz from a wealthy Italo-Portuguese family. The father-in-law of Christopher, who settled in Lisbon and sailed under the Portuguese flag, was also a navigator. After his death, he left sea charts, diaries and other documents that were inherited by Columbus. According to them, the traveler continued to study geography, at the same time studying the works of Piccolomini, Pierre de Ailly,.

Christopher Columbus took part in the so-called northern expedition, in which his path passed through the British Isles and Iceland. Presumably, there the navigator heard the Scandinavian sagas and stories about the Vikings, Erik the Red and Leyve Eriksson, who reached the coast of the "Great Land" by crossing the Atlantic Ocean.

The route that made it possible to get to India by the western route was compiled by Columbus in 1475. He presented an ambitious plan to conquer the new land to the court of the Genoese merchants, but did not meet with support.

A few years later, in 1483, Christopher made a similar proposal to the Portuguese king João II. The king assembled a scientific council, which reviewed the Genoese project and found his calculations incorrect. Frustrated, but resilient, Columbus left Portugal and moved to Castile.

In 1485, the navigator requested an audience with the Spanish monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella of Castile. The couple received him favorably, listened to Columbus, who tempted them with the treasures of India, and, just like the Portuguese ruler, convened scientists for advice. The commission did not support the navigator, since the possibility of a western path implied the sphericity of the Earth, which was contrary to the teachings of the church. Columbus was almost declared a heretic, but the king and queen had mercy and decided to postpone the final decision until the end of the war with the Moors.

Columbus, who was driven not so much by a thirst for discovery as by a desire to get rich, carefully hiding the details of the planned trip, sent messages to the English and French monarchs. Charles and Henry did not answer the letters, being too busy with domestic politics, but the Portuguese king sent an invitation to the navigator to continue discussing the expedition.

When Christopher announced this in Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella agreed to equip a squadron of ships to search for a western route to India, although the impoverished Spanish treasury had no funds for this enterprise. The monarchs promised Columbus a title of nobility, the title of admiral and viceroy of all the lands that he had to discover, and he had to borrow money from Andalusian bankers and merchants.

Four Expeditions of Columbus

1. The first expedition of Christopher Columbus took place in 1492-1493. On three ships, the Pinta caravels (the property of Martin Alonso Pinson) and Nina and the four-masted sailing ship Santa Maria, the navigator passed through the Canary Islands, crossed the Atlantic Ocean, opening the Sargasso Sea along the way, and reached the Bahamas. On October 12, 1492, Columbus set foot on the island of Saman, which he named San Salvador. This date is considered the day of the discovery of America.
2. The second expedition of Columbus took place in 1493-1496. In this campaign, the Lesser Antilles, Dominica, Haiti, Cuba, Jamaica were discovered.
3. The third expedition refers to the period from 1498 to 1500. A flotilla of six ships reached the islands of Trinidad and Margarita, marking the beginning of the discovery of South America, and ended in Haiti.
4. During the fourth expedition, Christopher Columbus sailed to Martinique, visited the Gulf of Honduras and explored the coast of Central America along the Caribbean Sea.

Discovery of America

The process of discovering the New World dragged on for many years. The most amazing thing is that Columbus, being a convinced discoverer and an experienced navigator, believed until the end of his days that he had opened the way to Asia. He considered the Bahamas, discovered in the first expedition, to be part of Japan, after which wonderful China was to open, and after it, the cherished India.

What did Columbus discover and why did the new continent get the name of another traveler? The list of discoveries made by the great traveler and navigator includes San Salvador, Cuba and Haiti, belonging to the Bahamas, the Sargasso Sea.

Seventeen ships, led by the flagship Maria Galante, went on the second expedition. This type of ship with a displacement of two hundred tons and other ships carried not only sailors, but also colonialists, livestock, and supplies. All this time, Columbus was convinced that he had discovered the Western Indies. At the same time, the Antilles, Dominica and Guadeloupe were discovered.

The third expedition brought the ships of Columbus to the continent, but the navigator was disappointed: he never found India with its gold placers. From this journey, Columbus returned in shackles, accused of a false denunciation. Before entering the port, the fetters were removed from him, but the navigator lost the promised titles and titles.

The last journey of Christopher Columbus ended with a crash off the coast of Jamaica and a serious illness of the leader of the campaign. He returned home sick, unhappy and broken by failures. Amerigo Vespucci was a close associate and follower of Columbus, who undertook four voyages in New World. A whole continent is named after him, and one country in South America is named after Columbus, who never reached India.

Personal life

According to the biographers of Christopher Columbus, the first of whom was his own son, the navigator was married twice. The first marriage with Felipe Moniz was legal. The wife gave birth to a son, Diego. In 1488 Columbus had a second son, Fernando, from a relationship with a woman named Beatriz Henriques de Arana.

The navigator equally took care of both sons, and even took the youngest with him on an expedition when the boy was thirteen years old. Fernando was the first to write a biography of the famous traveler.

Subsequently, both sons of Columbus became influential people and took high positions. Diego was the fourth Viceroy of New Spain and Admiral of the Indies, and his descendants were titled Marquesses of Jamaica and Dukes of Veragua.

Fernando Columbus, who became a writer and scientist, enjoyed the favor of the Spanish emperor, lived in marble palace and had an annual income of up to 200,000 francs. These titles and wealth went to the descendants of Columbus in recognition of his services to the crown by the Spanish monarchs.

Death

After the discovery of America from the last expedition, Columbus returned to Spain a terminally ill, aged man. In 1506, the discoverer of the New World died in poverty in a small house in Valladolid. Columbus used his savings to pay the debts of the members of the last expedition.

Soon after the death of Christopher Columbus, the first ships began to arrive from America, loaded with gold, which the navigator so dreamed of. Many historians agree that Columbus knew that he had discovered not Asia or India, but a new, unexplored continent, but did not want to share glory and treasures with anyone, to which there was one step left.

The appearance of the enterprising discoverer of America is known from photos in history books. Several films have been made about Columbus, the last film being co-produced by France, England, Spain and the USA “1492: The Conquest of Paradise”. Monuments to this great man were erected in Barcelona and Granada, and his ashes were transported from Seville to Haiti.

Biography

Youth of Christopher Columbus

It is believed that Columbus was born into a poor Genoese family: father - Domenico Colombo (ital. Domenico Colombo), mother - Susanna Fontanarossa (ital. Susanna Fontanarossa). The exact transliteration of his name from Spanish is Cristobal Colon , however, he became world famous as Christopher Columbus ( Christopher- Latin transliteration of the Greek name). In addition to Christopher, there were other children in the family: Giovanni (died in childhood, in 1484), Bartolomeo, Giacomo, Bianchella (married Giacomo Bavarello). Traditionally, six cities in Italy and Spain dispute the honor of being the small homeland of Columbus.

The appearance of Columbus is known from portraits that were painted after his death. Bartolome de Las Casas, who saw Columbus in 1493, describes him thus:

He was tall, above average, his face was long and commanding respect, his nose was aquiline, his eyes were bluish-gray, his skin was white, with redness, his beard and mustache were reddish in his youth, but turned gray in his works.

Studied at the University of Pavia. Around 1470, he marries Doña Felipe Moniz de Palestrello, daughter of a navigator from the time of Prince Enrique. Until 1472 Columbus lived in Genoa, and from 1472 in Savona. In the 1470s, he participated in sea trading expeditions. It is believed that as early as 1474, the astronomer and geographer Paolo Toscanelli told him in a letter that, in his opinion, India can be reached by a much shorter sea route if you sail west. Apparently, already then Columbus was thinking about his project of a sea voyage to India. Having made his own calculations based on the advice of Toscanelli, he decided that it was most convenient to sail through the Canary Islands, from which, in his opinion, Japan was about five thousand kilometers away.

Here, Queen Isabella took a step forward. The idea of ​​the coming liberation of the Holy Sepulcher captured her heart so much that she decided not to give this chance to either Portugal or France. Although the Kingdom of Spain was formed as a result of the dynastic marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, their monarchies retained, however, separate independent administrations, cortes and finances. "I'll pawn my jewels," she said.

Second expedition

Second expedition

The second flotilla of Columbus already consisted of 17 ships. Flagship - "Maria Galante" (displacement of two hundred tons). According to various sources, the expedition consisted of 1500-2500 people. There were already not only sailors, but also monks, priests, officials, service nobles, courtiers. They brought horses and donkeys, cattle and pigs, vines, seeds of agricultural crops with them to organize a permanent colony.

During the expedition, the complete conquest of Hispaniola was carried out, and the mass extermination of the local population began. City of Santo Domingo laid down. The most convenient sea route to the West Indies was laid. The Lesser Antilles, the Virgin Islands, the islands of Puerto Rico, Jamaica have been discovered, the southern coast of Cuba has been almost completely explored. At the same time, Columbus continues to claim that he is in Western India.

Chronology

• September 25, 1493 - The expedition left Cadiz. On the canary islands they took sugar cane and dogs accustomed to hunting. The course ran about 10° southerly than the first time. Later, all ships from Europe to the "Western Indies" began to use this route.
• With a good tailwind (in the equatorial region of the Atlantic Ocean the winds constantly blow to the west), the journey took only 20 days, and already on November 3, 1493 (on Sunday), an island from the Lesser Antilles ridge was discovered, called Dominica.
• November 4 - the expedition arrived at the largest of the local islands, called Guadeloupe. The open islands were inhabited by the Caribs, who raided the islands of peaceful Arawaks on large canoes. Their weapons were bows and arrows tipped with fragments of tortoiseshell or serrated fish bones.
• November 11 – Montserrat, Antigua, Nevis islands are opened.
• November 13 - the first armed clash with the Caribs took place off the island of Santa Cruz.
• November 15 - an archipelago was discovered north of Santa Cruz, which Columbus called the "Islands of Eleven Thousand Maidens" - now they are called the Virgin Islands. Having bypassed the archipelago on both sides, the ships of the flotilla united three days later at the western end of the ridge.
• November 19 - The Spaniards land on the west coast of a large island that Columbus named San Juan Bautista. It has been called Puerto Rico since the 16th century.
• November 27 - the flotilla approached the one built during the first expedition to about. Haiti fort La Navidad, but on the shore the Spaniards found only traces of a fire and corpses.
• January 1494 - A city was built to the east of the burned fort, La Isabella in honor of Queen Isabella. Many Spaniards were struck by the yellow fever epidemic. A detachment sent to reconnaissance inland found gold in the river sand in the mountainous region of the Cordillera Central.
• March 1494 - Columbus made a trip to the interior of the island. Meanwhile, in La Isabella, due to the heat, most of the food has deteriorated, and Columbus decided to leave only 5 ships and about 500 people on the island, and send the rest to Spain. With them, he conveyed to the king and queen that he had found rich deposits of gold, and asked to send cattle, food supplies and agricultural tools, offering to pay for them with slaves from among the local residents.
• April 24, 1494 - Leaving a garrison at La Isabella under the command of his younger brother Diego, Columbus led three small ships west along the southeast coast of Cuba.
• May 1 - a narrow and deep bay was discovered (the modern city of Guantanamo Bay with Guantanamo Bay). Further to the west are the Sierra Maestra mountains. From here, Columbus turned south.
• May 5 - Jamaica is discovered (Columbus named it Santiago).
• May 14 - Having passed along the northern coast of Jamaica and not finding gold, Columbus returned to Cuba. For the next 25 days, the ships moved through small islands along the southern coast of the island.
• June 12 - having traveled almost 1700 km along the southern coast of Cuba and not having reached only 100 km to the western tip of the island, Columbus decided to turn around, because the sea was very shallow, the sailors were dissatisfied, and provisions were running out. Before that, in order to protect himself from accusations of cowardice that could follow in Spain, he demanded that the entire team swear that Cuba is part of the continent, and therefore there is no point in sailing further. Turning back, the flotilla discovered the island of Evangelista (later named Pinos, and since 1979 - Juventud).
• June 25 - September 29 - on the way back they rounded Jamaica from the west and south, passed along the southern coast of Hispaniola and returned to La Isabella. By this time, Columbus was already quite seriously ill.
• In the past five months, Columbus's second brother, Bartolome, has brought three ships from Spain with troops and supplies. A group of Spaniards captured them and fled home. The rest scattered around the island, robbing and raping the natives. They resisted and killed part of the Spaniards. After returning, Christopher was ill for five months, and when he recovered, in March 1495 he organized the conquest of Hispaniola by a detachment of two hundred soldiers. The natives were almost unarmed, and Columbus used against them cavalry and specially trained dogs brought with him. After nine months of this persecution, the island was conquered. The Indians were taxed, enslaved in the gold mines and plantations. The Indians fled from the villages to the mountains, dying from unknown diseases brought by colonists from Europe. Meanwhile, the colonists moved to the southern coast of the island, where in 1496 Bartolome Columbus founded the city of Santo Domingo, the future center of Hispaniola, and later the capital of the Dominican Republic.
• Meanwhile, the Spanish royal couple, having discovered that the income from Hispaniola (some gold, copper, valuable wood and several hundred slaves sent to Spain by Columbus) was insignificant, allowed all Castilian subjects to move to new lands, paying off the treasury in gold.
• April 10, 1495 - The Spanish government broke off relations with Columbus, and Amerigo Vespucci obtained the right to supply India until May 1498. January 11, 1496 Vespucci receives 10,000 maravedis from the treasurer Pinelo to pay the sailors' wages. In fact, he contracted to supply in Andalusia one (if not two) expeditions in India, in particular the third expedition of Columbus. The success of the Columbus enterprise inspired Amerigo with the idea of ​​​​leaving the trading business in order to get acquainted with the newly discovered part of the world.
• On June 11, 1496, Christopher Columbus returned to Spain to defend the rights granted to him earlier. He provided a document according to which he actually reached the Asian mainland (see above, although in fact it was the island of Cuba), stated that in the center of Hispaniola he discovered the wonderful country of Ophir, where gold was once mined for the biblical King Solomon. In addition, Columbus proposed sending not free settlers, but criminals, to new lands, reducing their sentence by half. The last proposal could not fail to find a response from the ruling elite, since, on the one hand, it rid Spain of undesirable elements, reducing the cost of keeping them in prisons, and on the other hand, it ensured the development of newly discovered lands with rather desperate “human material”.

Third expedition

Third expedition

Little money was found for the third expedition, and only six small ships and about 300 crew members went with Columbus, and criminals from Spanish prisons were accepted into the crew.

A representative of the Florentine bankers who financed the enterprise, Amerigo Vespucci, also went on an expedition with Alonso Ojeda in 1499. Approaching the South American mainland at a latitude of approximately 5 ° N. sh., Ojeda headed northwest, passed 1200 km along the coast of Guiana and Venezuela to the Orinoco Delta, then through the straits to the Caribbean Sea and to the Pearl Coast.

Meanwhile, Amerigo Vespucci, moving southeast, opened the mouths of the Amazon and Para rivers. Having risen in boats 100 kilometers upstream, he was never able to land on the shore because of the dense forest. Movement further to the southeast was extremely hampered by a strong oncoming current. This is how the Guiana Current was discovered. In total, Vespucci discovered about 1200 kilometers of the northeast coast of South America. Returning back to the north and northwest, Vespucci landed on Trinidad, and later connected with the ships of Ojeda. Together they explored the coast to the west of the Pearl Coast, discovered the eastern part of the Caribbean Andes, participated in armed skirmishes with unfriendly Indians, discovered the islands of Curaçao and Aruba - the westernmost of the Lesser Antilles. The bay to the west was named Ojeda Venezuela ("little Venice"). Later, this name spread to the entire southern coast of the Caribbean Sea to the Orinoco Delta. In total, Ojeda explored more than 3,000 kilometers of the northern coast of unknown land and never found an end to it, which meant that such a land should be a mainland.

The fate of the remains

Tomb of Columbus in Seville

However, at the end of the 19th century, during the restoration of the Cathedral of Santo Domingo, the oldest in the New World, a box with bones was discovered, on which it was written that they belonged to Columbus. After that, a dispute arose between Seville and Santo Domingo for the right to be considered the place where the great navigator rests.

The statue of Columbus is 90 meters high, which is twice the height of the Statue of Liberty without a pedestal. The sculpture weighs 599 tons. The Baltimore Sun called an article about Tsereteli's Columbus "From Russia with "ugh"".

Subsequently, the achievements of the Columbus monument were used by the sculptor in 1997 during the erection in Moscow, by order of the Moscow government, on the spit of Balchug Island between the Moscow River and the Vodootvodny Canal of a huge statue of Peter the Great in medieval clothes of a Spanish grandee at the helm of a Russian sloop 98 meters high.

In July 2010, it became known that on the northern coast of Puerto Rico, near the city of Arecibo, a statue of Christopher Columbus by Zurab Tsereteli would be installed.

The statue, divided into 2750 parts, lay in warehouses for two years. According to the government of Puerto Rico, it takes $20 million to reassemble it. The statue, if erected, would be the tallest structure in US-controlled territories in the Caribbean.

Demolition of monuments to Columbus in Venezuela

named after Columbus

• asteroid (327) Columbia, discovered in 1892
• ISS module Columbus

• Main Opera House of Argentina Colon theater
• Columbus Theater in the book by Ilf and Petrov "12 chairs"

• Studio Columbia Pictures
• Monetary units of Costa Rica and El Salvador colon
• Argentine football club from Santa Fe Colon
• Columbus exchange- movement of plants, animals, microorganisms and people from the Old World to the New and vice versa

On the money

Columbus on columns

In honor of Christopher Columbus (in Spanish Cristobal Colon) was named the currency of El Salvador - Salvadoran colon. On all issued denominations of all years of issue and all denominations, without exception, a portrait of a young or elderly Columbus was placed on the reverse side.

Reverse : 1 column , and		5, and

10, and		10 and 2

25 and 50		100, and

Columbus in philately

Filmography

• "Christopher Columbus" / Christopher Columbus (Italy-France-USA, 1985). Mini-series (4 episodes). Directed by Alberto Lattuada and starring Gabriel Byrne.
• "1492: Conquest Of Paradise" / 1492: Conquest Of Paradise (USA-UK-France-Spain, 1992). Directed by Ridley Scott, starring Gerard Depardieu.
• "Christopher Columbus: The Discovery of America" ​​/ Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (USA-Spain, 1992). Directed by John Glen and starring Georges Corraface.