Columbus decided to return to Spain for supplies, leaving his brother Bartholomew in charge of Hispaniola. The new settlers he brought quickly grew discouraged by the exaggerated claims of gold on the island. Upon his return to Hispaniola, the settlement he founded on his first landing, Columbus discovered it decimated by disease and war with the natives. The Spanish crown ordered Columbus to Christianize all the natives he encountered. Also on the expedition were settlers encouraged by promises of large quantities of gold in the islands. Impressed by the gold, spices, and human captives Columbus brought back from his first expedition, the Spanish crown authorized a quick turnaround for his next voyage with a significantly larger fleet of seventeen ships and 1200 men. He also did not know that the Western Hemisphere blocked his path. He assumed the globe was smaller than it is, so his estimate of how long the trip would take was unrealistic.
If a sea route could be discovered, it promised to make trade with Asian nations more profitable and gain access to goods not found or produced in Europe.Ĭolumbus’s insight was to reach the East by sailing west. Traveling overland was long, arduous, and dangerous. The challenge had engaged European thinkers since the days of early Rome. “They would make fine servants… With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.” Though he was denied permission to enslave natives on at least one occasion, Columbus and his men ignored the restriction, enslaving hundreds throughout his career.Ĭolumbus was not the first to seek a sea route from Europe to Asia. “They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance …,” he recorded in his diary. His experiences may have contributed to his assessment of the people he encountered in the New World as people to exploit for his purposes. These facts paint a picture of a driven, ambitious man determined to make his mark in a violent and dangerous world. It also surprised me that before Columbus secured financial support for his first expedition from Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castille, he embarked on a comprehensive self-study of mathematics, astronomy, navigation, and cartography, subjects he needed to master to implement his plan. Nor did I know that when he was 25, by clinging to his ship’s debris and floating to shore in Portugal, he survived a pirate attack that destroyed and sank his vessel. For example, I did not know that 11-year-old Christopher Columbus’s first sailing experience was on a merchant ship. Columbus’s voyages, especially trips two, three, and four, are no exception. I always learn things I either did not know or had forgotten. One benefit of contributing to our We the Teachers blog is the opportunity to research various topics in American history. Given the variety of viewpoints about Columbus, it is no wonder some try to simplify his story.
“After five centuries, Columbus remains a mysterious and controversial figure who has been variously described as one of the greatest mariners in history, a visionary genius, a mystic, a national hero, a failed administrator, a naïve entrepreneur, and a ruthless and greedy imperialist.”
Though he failed to achieve his goal, his voyages launched a new age of European exploration, colonization, and a nightmare for the indigenous Caribbean people. Columbus’s last voyage left Europe on May 11, 1502, and continued his quest for a sea route to China, this time by exploring the coastal areas west of the Caribbean islands. This simple lesson ignores the broader story of Christopher Columbus’s four voyages to the New World and the impact those explorations had on Europe and the Americas. It’s a simple rhyme, taught to thousands of young children when most history instruction focused on names and dates. “In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.”
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