Surely every schoolchild can easily answer the question of what Christopher Columbus discovered. Well, of course, America! However, let's think about whether this knowledge is not too scanty, because most of us have no idea where this famous discoverer came from, what his life path was like and in what era he lived.

This article is aimed at telling in detail about the discoveries of Christopher Columbus. In addition, the reader will have a unique opportunity to get acquainted with interesting data and the chronology of events that took place several centuries ago.

What did the great navigator discover?

Christopher Columbus, a traveler now known to the entire planet, was originally an ordinary Spanish navigator who worked both on the ship and in the port and, in fact, was practically no different from the same always busy hard workers.

It was later, in 1492, that he would become a celebrity - the man who discovered America, the first European to cross the Atlantic Ocean, and visit the Caribbean Sea.

By the way, not everyone knows that it was Christopher Columbus who laid the foundation for a detailed study of not only America itself, but also almost all nearby archipelagos.

Although here I would like to make an amendment. The Spanish navigator was far from the only traveler who set off to conquer unknown worlds. In fact, inquisitive Icelandic Vikings already visited America back in the Middle Ages. But at that time, this information was not so widely disseminated, so the whole world believes that it was the expedition of Christopher Columbus that was able to popularize information about American lands and mark the beginning of European colonization of the entire continent.

The story of Christopher Columbus. Secrets and mysteries of his biography

This man was and remains one of the most mysterious historical figures on the planet. Unfortunately, not many facts have been preserved telling about his origin and occupation before the first expedition. In those days, Christopher Columbus, let us briefly note, was practically a nobody, that is, he did not differ significantly from the ordinary average sailor, and therefore it is practically impossible to single him out from the crowd.

By the way, this is precisely why, lost in conjecture and trying to surprise the readership, historians have written hundreds of books about him. Almost all such manuscripts are filled with assumptions and unverified statements. But in fact, not even the original ship's log of Columbus's first expedition has survived.

It is believed that Christopher Columbus was born in 1451 (according to another, unverified version - in 1446), between August 25 and October 31, in the Italian city of Genoa.

Today, a number of Spanish and Italian cities attribute to themselves the honor of being called the small homeland of the discoverer. As for his social status, it is only known that Columbus’s family was not of noble origin at all; none of his ancestors were navigators.

Modern researchers believe that Columbus the Elder earned his living by hard work and was either a weaver or a wool carder. Although there is also a version that the navigator’s father served as the senior guard of the city gates.

Of course, the journey of Christopher Columbus did not begin immediately. Probably from early childhood the boy began to earn extra money, helping his elders support their family. Perhaps he was a cabin boy on ships and that’s why he loved the sea so much. Unfortunately, there are no more detailed records about how this man spent his childhood and youth. famous person, not preserved.

Regarding education, there is a version that H. Columbus studied at the University of Pavia, but there is no documentary evidence of this fact. Therefore, it is quite possible that he was educated at home. Be that as it may, this man had excellent knowledge in the field of navigation, which includes far from superficial knowledge of mathematics, geometry, cosmography and geography.

It is also known that as an adult, Christopher Columbus worked as a cartographer, and then went to work in a local printing house. He spoke not only his native Portuguese, but also Italian and Spanish. A good command of Latin helped him in deciphering maps and chronicles. There is evidence that the navigator knew how to write a little in Hebrew.

It is also known that Columbus was a prominent man, whom ladies constantly looked at. Thus, while serving in Portugal in some Genoese trading house, the future discoverer of America met his future wife, Dona Felipe Moniz de Palestrello. They married in 1478. Soon the couple had a son, Diego. His wife’s family was also not rich, but it was his wife’s noble origins that allowed Christopher to establish contacts and useful connections in the circles of the nobility of Portugal

As for the nationality of the traveler, there are even more mysteries. Some researchers argue that Columbus was of Jewish origin, but there are also versions of Spanish, German and Portuguese roots.

Christopher's official religion was Catholic. Why can you say this? The fact is that, according to the rules of that era, otherwise he simply would not have been allowed into Spain. Although, it is quite possible that he hid his true religion.

Apparently, many mysteries of the navigator’s biography will remain unsolved for all of us.

Pre-Columbian America or what the discoverer saw when he arrived on the mainland

America, until the moment of its discovery, was a land where certain groups of people lived, who for centuries remained in a kind of natural isolation. All of them, by the will of fate, found themselves cut off from the rest of the planet. However, despite all this, they were able to create a high culture, demonstrating unlimited capabilities and skill.

The uniqueness of these civilizations lies in the fact that they are considered natural-ecological in nature, and not man-made, like ours. The local aborigines, the Indians, did not seek to transform the environment; on the contrary, their settlements fit into nature as harmoniously as possible.

Experts say that all civilizations that arose in North Africa, Asia, and Europe developed approximately the same way. In pre-Columbian America, this development took a different path, therefore, for example, the contrast between the population of the city and the village was minimal. The cities of the ancient Indians also contained extensive agricultural land. The only significant difference between the city and the village was the area occupied.

At the same time, the civilization of pre-Columbian America did not make much progress on what Europe and Asia were able to achieve. For example, the Indians were not very keen to improve metal processing technologies. If in the Old World bronze was considered the main metal and new lands were conquered for its sake, then in pre-Columbian America this material was used exclusively as decoration.

But the civilizations of the New World are interesting for their unique structures, sculptures and paintings, which were characterized by a completely different style.

The beginning of the way

In 1485, after the categorical refusal of the King of Portugal to invest in a project to find the shortest sea route to India, Columbus moved to Castile for permanent residence. There, with the help of Andalusian merchants and bankers, he was still able to organize a government naval expedition.

The first time Christopher Columbus's ship set off on a year-long voyage was in 1492. 90 people took part in the expedition.

By the way, contrary to a fairly common misconception, there were three ships, and they were called “Santa Maria”, “Pinta” and “Nina”.

The expedition left Palos at the very beginning of the hot August of 1492. From Canary Islands the flotilla headed west, where it crossed without any problems Atlantic Ocean.

Along the way, the navigator's team discovered the Sargasso Sea and successfully reached the Bahamas archipelago, where they landed on land on October 12, 1492. Since then, this very date has become the official day of the discovery of America.

In 1986, a geographer from the United States, J. Judge, carefully processed all the available materials about this expedition on a computer and came to the conclusion that the first land that Christopher saw was Fr. Samana. From about October 14, for ten days, the expedition approached several more Bahamian islands, and by December 5, it discovered part of the coast of Cuba. On December 6, the team reached about. Haiti.

Then the ships moved along the northern coast, and then the luck changed for the pioneers. On the night of December 25, the Santa Maria suddenly landed on a reef. True, this time the crew was lucky - all the sailors survived.

Columbus's second voyage

The second expedition took place in 1493-1496, it was led by Columbus in the official position of viceroy of the lands he discovered.

It is worth noting that the team has increased significantly - the expedition already consisted of 17 ships. According to various sources, 1.5-2.5 thousand people took part in the expedition.

At the beginning of November 1493, the islands of Dominica, Guadeloupe and twenty Lesser Antilles were discovered, and on November 19 - about. Puerto Rico. In March 1494, Columbus, in search of gold, decided to make a military campaign on the island. Haiti, then opened Fr. Huventud and Fr. Jamaica.

For 40 days, the famous navigator carefully examined the south of Haiti, but in the spring of 1496 he nevertheless sailed home, completing his second voyage on June 11 in Castile.

By the way, it was then that H. Columbus notified the public about the opening of a new route to Asia.

Third expedition

The third trip took place in 1498-1500 and was not as numerous as the previous one. Only 6 ships took part in it, and the navigator himself led three of them across the Atlantic.

On July 31, in the first year of the trip, Fr. Trinidad, the ships entered the Gulf of Paria, as a result the peninsula of the same name was discovered. So it was opened South America.

Having entered the Caribbean Sea, Columbus landed in Haiti on August 31. Already in 1499, Christopher Columbus's monopoly on new lands was abolished; the royal couple sent their representative F. Bobadilla to the destination, who in 1500 arrested Columbus and his brothers following a denunciation.

The navigator, shackled, was sent to Castile, where local financiers persuaded the royal family to release him.

Fourth voyage to American shores

What continued to worry such a restless man as Columbus? Christopher, for whom America was already almost a passed stage, wanted to find new way from there to South Asia. The traveler believed that such a route existed, for he observed it off the coast of Fr. Cuba was a strong current that flowed west across the Caribbean Sea. As a result, he was able to convince the king to give permission for new expedition.

Columbus went on his fourth trip with his brother Bartolomeo and his 13-year-old son Hernando. He was lucky enough to discover the mainland south of the island. Cuba is the coast of Central America. And Columbus was the first to inform Spain about the Indian peoples inhabiting the coast of the South Sea.

But, unfortunately, he never found the strait into the South Sea. I had to return home with practically nothing.

Unclear facts, the study of which continues

The distance from Palos to the Canaries is 1600 km, the ships participating in Columbus's expedition covered this distance in 6 days, i.e. they covered 250-270 km per day. The route to the Canary Islands was well known and did not present any difficulties. But it was precisely in this area that on August 6 (possibly 7) a strange breakdown occurred on the Pinta ship. According to some information, the steering wheel broke, according to others, there was a leak. This circumstance aroused suspicion, because then the Pinta crossed the Atlantic twice. Before that, she quite successfully covered about 13 thousand km, experienced terrible storms and arrived in Palos without damage. Therefore, there is a version that the accident was staged by the crew’s employees at the request of the ship’s co-owner K. Quintero. Perhaps the sailors received part of their salary and spent it. They saw no more sense in risking their lives, and the owner himself had also already received a lot of money for renting the Pinta. So it was logical to fake a breakdown and stay safe in the Canary Islands. It seems that the captain of the Pinta, Martin Pinson, finally saw through the conspirators and stopped them.

Already on Columbus's second trip, the intended colonists set sail with him; livestock, equipment, seeds, etc. were loaded onto the ships. The colonists founded their city somewhere in the vicinity of the modern city of Santo Domingo. The same expedition discovered Fr. Lesser Antilles, Virginia, Puerto Rico, Jamaica. But until the last, Christopher Columbus remained of the opinion that he had discovered western India, and not a new land.

Interesting data from the life of the discoverer

Of course, there is a lot of unique and very informative information. But in this article we would like to give examples of the most interesting facts.

• When Christopher lived in Seville, he was friends with the brilliant Amerigo Vespucci.
• King John II at first refused to allow Columbus to organize an expedition, but then sent his sailors to sail along the route proposed by Christopher. True, due to a strong storm, the Portuguese had to return home with nothing.
• After Columbus was shackled on his third expedition, he decided to keep the chains as a talisman for the rest of his life.
• By order of Christopher Columbus, for the first time in the history of navigation, Indian hammocks were used as sailor berths.
• It was Columbus who suggested that the Spanish king should populate new lands with criminals to save money.

Historical significance of the expeditions

Everything that Christopher Columbus discovered was appreciated only half a century later. Why so late? The thing is that only after this period, entire galleons filled with gold and silver began to be delivered to the Old World from colonized Mexico and Peru.

The Spanish royal treasury spent only 10 kg of gold on preparing the expedition, and in three hundred years Spain managed to export precious metals from America, the value of which was at least 3 million kg of pure gold.

Alas, stray gold did not benefit Spain; it did not stimulate the development of industry or the economy. And as a result, the country still fell hopelessly behind many European countries.

Today, not only numerous ships and vessels, cities, rivers and mountains are named in honor of Christopher Columbus, but also, for example, the monetary unit of El Salvador, the state of Colombia, located in South America, as well as a famous state in the USA.

In October 1492, Christopher Columbus discovered America. With this, he wrote his name in history once and for all. However, few people know, but his adventures did not end there. Many have forgotten that Columbus crossed the Atlantic more than once, risking his life, reputation and well-being. And his last journey is a bold step into the unknown - beyond geographical maps. If this journey had been made by another navigator who did not participate in the discovery of America, he would have become famous. It was a story of struggle with the elements, the natives and one's own team. The amazing navigation was completely forgotten. Few people know how sad the fate of the man who discovered the New World is. But it's time to find out the truth about the forgotten last voyage of Christopher Columbus.

8 years after the first expedition to the New World, Columbus was imprisoned in his own colony. The cruel manner of management turned his former comrades against him and caused the condemnation of his patrons - the king and queen of Spain. But he still dreamed of following the setting sun and finding a new path to the riches of China. He was ready to do anything for this journey. To get permission for the 4th expedition, he had to find compelling arguments; they expected to hear from him something like: “I’m not going to just go to the New World, I’m planning to go around Earth and find a way to Asia, I want to get to India and return with unprecedented riches, I want to convert infidels to Christianity in order to intrigue monarchs in a way that even a trip to the moon could not.” And he was given one last chance.

the first voyage of the great navigator

Eight years earlier, before the first voyage, everything was different. While Columbus's ships had not yet crossed the Atlantic, the uncharted sea expanses were simply called the sea-ocean. It was obvious that this was a journey into the unknown. No one had swam so far to the west before and the team members were afraid, they were afraid of falling from the edge of the earth, because they did not know that it was shaped like a ball. They were frightened by the prospect of not finding their way home. Overcoming fear was the most difficult test. It was not certain whether the ship had enough provisions and water to make the entire journey and return. However, a valuable prize was at stake - access to the treasures and riches of Asia, pearls, gold and spices from China, India and Japan. For Europe at that time these were the most coveted and almost inaccessible resources. Possession of them promised a comfortable life. For a long time, a European could approach these riches only by land, through the countries of the Middle East - Persia and Afghanistan. This is a long and dangerous journey. It was necessary to find a simpler way. Portuguese explorers laid out a route bypassing the African continent, but Columbus proposed, as it seemed to him, the fastest and easiest way - to sail west across the sea-ocean, all the way to China.

Columbus's most ingenious assumption was that China could be reached by sea, moving from Europe to the west. This so-called Asian project was that there was a cheaper and easier way across the ocean from Europe to China, and to find it you had to sail from Spain to the West.

However, Columbus had nothing to prove that this path was possible. The entire space between Europe and Asia was occupied by the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Only a few scattered islands were noted in them. North and South America did not yet exist, as it were. Columbus had this idea of ​​the world when he was preparing the expedition. He had a good store of knowledge, as for a European, and then it was still impossible to assume that there were two more continents between Europe and Asia.

Columbus assumed that the distance between Spain and Japan was from 3 to 5,000 miles, but the real figure was 20,000 miles. He was mistaken several times and was very far from the truth. Columbus's enterprise required huge financial investments; the race for Asian riches by sea was comparable in cost to the space program, and all European countries participated in it. Christopher Columbus chose the perfect moment to ask for support from the crown - Spain had just won the war. For more than 700 years, the Spaniards tried to expel the Moors from their territory. In January 1492 last stronghold Moors in Spain - the island of Granada became Christian. Only after this did the opportunity finally open up for Columbus to complete his journey. The timing could not have been better - Spain was in desperate need of new sources of income. The treasury was empty, and the navigator's enterprise promised incalculable riches of the East - it was considered at that time the source of all wealth. For this purpose, ships were equipped there.

On the first trip great navigator went on three ships. The flagship was the caravel "Santa Maria" - a slow merchant ship. But Columbus’s favorite ship was the new caravel “Nina” - a ship from the era of geographical discoveries. They were perfect for adventurous sailors. Small - 20 meters long and 6 meters wide, with a displacement of 100 tons, light, maneuverable and at the same time quite durable - ideal ships for crossing the Atlantic. The shallow draft allowed for a depth of 2 meters, which was of great importance in unfamiliar terrain. But the main thing is that the caravels were very fast. From Columbus's records we know that caravels could travel 100-120 miles a day, and sometimes 160 miles. For that time, this is a very impressive speed. By the standards of the 15th century, they simply flew across the ocean. But Columbus's goal was so far away that even such means did not make it easily accessible.

Before this, the duration of the voyage did not exceed 10 days. He increased this figure several times, which indicates his courage and obsession with the idea. However, the team did not share this enthusiasm. By October 2, Columbus's flotilla was 5,000 miles from Spain. The further they sailed from home, the more the excitement intensified, and the complaints became more frequent. Stories about monsters living in the depths of the ocean were popular among sailors. Sailors allegedly saw a sea snake emerge from the water and kill several sailors. For more than 60 days, Columbus's crew endured hardships at sea. Spoiled food and the stench in the holds forced many sailors to sleep under open air. A mutiny was brewing on the ships. There is mention of this in the logbook. Eventually, a group of sailors put forward demands to turn the ships around and sail back to Spain. Everyone on the expedition knew that, according to Columbus's calculations, they should have already seen land on the horizon, and many already believed that his idea was wrong. However, the navigator managed to relieve the rebellious tension and convince the sailors to continue the journey for three more days. And then the first encouraging sign appeared - vegetation in the water. The lookout confirmed: “Earth!” But it turned out to be just a low cloud. Only on the third day, Friday, October 11, 1492, Columbus saw land. The next day he went ashore.

At dawn he armed himself and swam to the shore. Flags bearing the symbols of the Spanish monarchs proclaimed the New World a European colony. Columbus believed that he was in Asia and gave the islands the name East Indies. In fact, he descended onto the lands of a new continent - America. The island was given the name San Salvador, in the name of the Lord and Savior. For many people, the discovery of the New World ends the story of Columbus. But he will cross the Atlantic three more times. Ahead of him lay war, shipwreck, rebellion, poverty, and the culmination would be his last, forgotten voyage.

Columbus's first voyage went down in history and changed the world map forever. But fame alone was not enough for him. He also wanted to get riches. This was his goal now. He followed the Caribbean coast in search of places where he could find treasure or establish a colony. One island looked promising. In honor of Spain, he named it Hispaniola. Today it is home to Haiti and Dominican Republic. It seemed like paradise to Columbus. He hoped that after the discovery of the island, the whole world would recognize him as an explorer, and the resources of the island would help him get rich. But the paradise he described would give him short-term glory and turn into disaster.

In 1492, the island seemed like the New World to Columbus, but it was inhabited. About 100 thousand people already lived on it. The inhabitants called themselves "tainu". Columbus believed that he was in the East Indies and called them Indians. The Taino people, who believed that gods came from the sea, mistook Christopher Columbus for a deity. They did not even think that these gods would use both the people and the wealth of the island for their own selfish purposes.

Columbus, meanwhile, was not wasting any time. Soon he found in the villages what he was looking for - gold - a source of wealth for himself and the Spanish monarchs. Leaving 39 sailors on Hispaniola, he returned to Spain as a conquering hero.

second voyage of the great navigator

For Columbus, the discovery of America was just the beginning. He knew that he needed to repeat the voyage to the islands he discovered as soon as possible in order to truly get rich. It took him six months to assemble a flotilla of 17 ships for his second voyage to the New World. But this was no longer a journey of discoverers, but a raid of colonialists. This time the expedition was much larger. Among its members were ordinary settlers, royal officials and adventurers eager to get rich. The second voyage across the Atlantic was easy and quick, since the route lay further south. After 24 days, the expedition arrived in the Caribbean and headed towards Hispaniola. By nightfall they anchored off the coast, expecting to see their compatriots. But they were met only by night and silence. The next day, Columbus went ashore to find the abandoned fort completely destroyed and 39 sailors killed. It turned out that settling on Hispaniola was much more difficult than crossing the Atlantic Ocean. It was necessary to find a new place to build a settlement that could provide for itself and protect itself.

The flotilla went 100 kilometers south, where Columbus founded La Isabella. Today it is a ghost town. All that remains of a large settlement of 200 houses are the foundations of a warehouse and a church. The largest house was intended for Columbus, as manager. La Isabella was doomed from the very beginning and became a trap. There was no source of fresh water and no protection from the elements. Situated on the northern coast of the island, the city experienced the full power Caribbean Sea. The city was surrounded by swamps, which became a source of disease, the most dangerous being malaria. Columbus went deep into the island. He reached the Sibau Valley, rich in gold. But I didn’t like the stranger’s decision to go far from the sea local residents, who realized that the Spaniards settled for a long time. And they are not gods, but mortals, blinded by greed. They began to resist the Tain. In response, Columbus used brutal measures and forced submission. In Sibau he built new town as a sign of victory over them. Concepción de La Vega would later become the richest gold mine in the Caribbean.

The city of La Vega illustrated the success of Spanish colonization. The Spaniards subjugated the natives and forced them to work mining gold, which they spent on their needs. This city quickly acquired European features. Representatives of the nobility settled here and, driven by a thirst for profit, crossed the Atlantic with Columbus. The Indians were content with tiny gold nuggets found at river mouths, but the Spaniards were interested in all the gold on the island: nuggets, ore, and even gold dust. They pulled out all the supplies. The Taina washed up gold nuggets, brought them to the Spaniards, who melted them into ingots and left them in the fortress until they were sent by ship to Spain.

In 1496, Columbus, confident in the strength of his city, returned from his second voyage as an admiral of the sea-ocean and a rich man. But at that moment the fate of his beloved Hispaniola changed dramatically.

the third voyage of the great navigator

Two years later, Columbus returned to the New World on his third voyage across the Atlantic. This time he sailed with the goal of expanding and developing new colonies. He sailed to Venezuela and became the first European to see South America. After this he headed north. In August 1498, Columbus returned to Hispaniola and founded a new capital, calling it Santo Domingo. Now he became the ruler of an entire island in the heart of a nascent empire in the Caribbean. However, the conqueror of the seas on land did not show himself to be a good leader. Here his sailing skills were of no use. He had to learn to lead people, but Columbus's methods were cruel. Any Indian or Spaniard who disagreed faced severe punishment. For example, Columbus ordered people's ears or noses to be cut off for theft. Vasa d'Armos became a place of public punishment in Santa Domingo. But all this turned people against Columbus and became the reason for his overthrow. No one was going to put up with such treatment. The colonists rebelled and founded their own village in the mountains. Complaints about Columbus and his methods of government reached the monarch and were taken into account. The alarmed rulers sent a special agent to draw up a report on what was happening on Hispaniola, the conclusion of which was: “Columbus is guilty.” The man who discovered the New World was arrested in his own colony and taken to Spain with the mark of a criminal. But still, Columbus was underestimated, and he will be able to prove himself once again in the forgotten fourth voyage - the most difficult of all.

fourth voyage of the great navigator

10 years after the discovery of America, Christopher Columbus again set out to conquer the Atlantic. But the fourth journey was the most dangerous and controversial of all. Despite his failure in the colonies of the New World and his return in chains, trial for cruelty, the king and queen of Spain forgave him and agreed to allocate funds for a new expedition. But this enterprise was unimaginably dangerous. Columbus received bad ships, an unprepared crew, and obviously no one counted on his success. However, the team knew that Christopher, the most experienced explorer of the Atlantic, was now poor and without reputation. And now he has the last chance to save his name from shame.

Interestingly, the monarchs did not fulfill the original condition with Columbus. He had to fight, develop new territories and receive a large reward for his labors. But everything changed, the royal couple gave the right to manage the wealth to other researchers.

Columbus's notes are constantly filled with regrets about lost opportunities. Columbus sets off on his fourth voyage with his illegitimate son, 13-year-old Fernando, a page of the Spanish court. He dreamed of being a sailor like his father. Christopher did not give up hope of finding the cherished route to Asia and getting rich. But he is already 51 years old, an old man by the standards of his age, and suffers from attacks of gout and arthritis. And this became his last journey. The bold plans sounded crazy, as if he had decided to circumnavigate the globe. He wrote in his letter that God had given him the keys to unlock the secrets of the Atlantic. In addition, Columbus managed to attract several important members to his expedition - Diego Mendez became the official chronicler of the campaign, but the fourth voyage promised unimaginable dangers. Columbus's brother, Bartolomeo, followed him. He was a cartographer and trained in Portugal at the Navigation Center. But his reputation also suffered in Hispaniola, and he was accused of cruelty.

Columbus could not choose the captains; they were appointed as his financial backers. Again, on his voyage, Christopher relied on the caravel. This time he had four ships, each with a crew of 30 people. The holds were filled with supplies, spare sails and weapons. There were already cannons on deck for defense and attack. In the aft part is the wheelhouse, and below is the quarterdeck, where the command was located. The characteristic stern of the caravel is curved at the waterline. This is the only way to resist ocean waves. A fully loaded ship could weigh about 100 tons. The navigator took advantage of the latest achievements of shipping science: new triangular oblique sails were installed on the ship, allowing him to sail at an angle to the wind.

The expedition left Europe and went to the Atlantic. Columbus made a stop in the Canary Islands to replenish supplies. From now on the cards Mediterranean Sea and Africa are useless. But during his transatlantic travels, Columbus studied well the directions of the winds blowing in those places. He found out that westerly winds in northern latitudes, and easterly winds in southern latitudes, blow with constant force all year round. Thus, to travel it is necessary to describe a circle around the Atlantic. Relying on his knowledge of the prevailing winds, Columbus re-equipped his ships in the Canaries. He installed ordinary rectangular sails on them, which would catch the wind blowing at the back of travelers all the way to the New World. As a result, Columbus's fourth voyage became the fastest. Using the power of the trade winds, he and his fleet crossed the Atlantic in 21 days.
However, after an easy journey across the Atlantic, there was a feeling of impending disaster. Columbus, with his characteristic powers of observation, noticed the changes weather conditions, calm, abnormal currents and unusual clouds are signs of mortal danger. They predicted one simple threat - a hurricane. During his second voyage, Columbus had already been caught in a hurricane and remembered the destructive power it had. The name of the hurricane was given by the Taino Indians, who suffered from it every year. Huraka - which meant god of the winds. Typically, hurricanes with a speed of 180 km/h rage in the Caribbean Sea twice a year, no more often. A wind of 120 km/h can destroy a wall, a wind of 160 km/h can destroy a house, and if its gusts reach 240 km/h, it sweeps away everything in its path. The energy of one hurricane would be enough to meet the energy needs of the entire world for a year.

In 1500, Columbus was one of the few Europeans to survive a hurricane. They are especially dangerous on the open sea, because they cross the ocean without encountering obstacles. Columbus understood that his flotilla could not withstand the storm. Therefore, he sent a messenger to the governor of Avando with a request to land on Hispaniola in view of the impending disaster. In doing so, Columbus violated the orders of the Spanish monarchs, who agreed to support his fourth expedition, but forbade him to ever set foot on the soil of Hispaniola. But Columbus had no choice; he desperately needed a harbor to save his ships. Governor Avando prohibited landing on Hispaniola. No one on land believed that a storm was coming. Columbus was furious. Now the fate of the expedition depended on his skills as a navigator.
Finding that the hurricane would pass north of Hispaniola, he took his ships south and anchored in a sheltered bay, hoping that it would provide some protection from the storm. As night fell, the hurricane hit the bay. The raging ocean raised sailing ships, tore them from their anchors and carried them into the open sea. Eventually, the terrible storm subsided. Columbus and his ships escaped. His brilliant navigator skills allowed him to save and re-equip ships. The damage turned out to be repairable. But not everyone was lucky. The capital of Hispaniola, Santa Domingo, was completely destroyed. The sea took 29 of the new ruler's 30 ships, along with 500 settlers. But Columbus still did not have permission to land on the island. The exhausted crew could only set course for the open sea. The terrible storm was behind us, but now Columbus and his crew were on the path to the unknown. Thus began the story of Columbus's forgotten expedition.

Christopher Columbus had the unshakable belief that it was possible to sail to East Asia and India by heading west from Europe. It was based not on dark, semi-fabulous news about the discovery of Vinland by the Normans, but on considerations of the brilliant mind of Columbus. A warm sea current from the Gulf of Mexico to the western coast of Europe provided evidence that in the west there is big land. The Portuguese helmsman (skipper) Vincente caught in the sea at the height of the Azores a block of wood on which figures were carved. The carving was skillful, but it was clear that it was made not with an iron cutter, but with some other tool. Christopher Columbus saw the same piece of carved wood from Pedro Carrei, his relative by wife, who was the ruler of the island of Porto Santo. King John II of Portugal showed Columbus pieces of reed brought by the western sea current so thick and tall that the sections from one node to another contained three azumbras (more than half a bucket) of water. They reminded Columbus of the words of Ptolemy about the enormous size of Indian plants. The inhabitants of the islands of Faial and Graciosa told Columbus that the sea brings to them from the west pine trees of a species that is not found in Europe or on their islands. There were several cases where the westerly current brought boats with dead people of a race to the shores of the Azores, which was not found either in Europe or in Africa.

Portrait of Christopher Columbus. Artist S. del Piombo, 1519

Treaty of Columbus with Queen Isabella

After living for some time in Portugal, Columbus left it to propose a plan to sail to India by the western route. Castilian government. The Andalusian nobleman Luis de la Cerda, Duke of Medina Seli, became interested in Columbus's project, which promised enormous benefits to the state, and recommended it Queen Isabella. She accepted Christopher Columbus into her service, assigned him a salary and submitted his project to the University of Salamanca for consideration. The commission to which the queen entrusted the final decision of the matter consisted almost exclusively of clergy; The most influential person in it was Isabella's confessor, Fernando Talavera. After much deliberation, she came to the conclusion that the foundations of the project about sailing to the west were weak and that it was unlikely to be implemented. But not everyone was of this opinion. Cardinal Mendoza, a very intelligent man, and the Dominican Diego Desa, who was later the Archbishop of Seville and the Grand Inquisitor, became the patrons of Christopher Columbus; at their request, Isabella retained him in her service.

In 1487, Columbus lived in Cordoba. It seems that he settled in this city precisely because Dona Beatriz Enriquez Avana lived there, with whom he had a relationship. She had a son, Fernando, with him. The war with the Muslims of Granada absorbed all of Isabella's attention. Columbus lost hope of receiving funds from the queen to sail to the west and decided to go to France to propose his project to the French government. He and his son Diego came to Palos to sail from there to France and stopped at the Franciscan monastery of Ravid. The monk Juan Perez Marchena, Isabella’s confessor, who lived there at the time, got into conversation with the visitor. Columbus began to tell him his project; he invited the doctor Garcia Hernandez, who knew astronomy and geography, to his conversation with Columbus. The confidence with which Columbus spoke made a strong impression on Marchena and Hernandez. Marchena persuaded Columbus to postpone his departure and immediately went to Santa Fe (to the camp near Granada) to talk with Isabella about Christopher Columbus's project. Some courtiers supported Marchena.

Isabella sent Columbus money and invited him to come to Santa Fe. He arrived shortly before the capture of Granada. Isabella listened attentively to Columbus, who eloquently outlined to her his plan to sail to eastern Asia Western way and explaining what glory she would gain by conquering rich pagan lands and spreading Christianity in them. Isabella promised to equip a squadron for Columbus's voyage, and said that if there was no money for this in the treasury, depleted by military expenses, then she would pawn her diamonds. But when it came to determining the terms of the contract, difficulties presented themselves. Columbus demanded that he be given the nobility, the rank of admiral, the rank of viceroy of all lands and islands that he would discover on his voyage, a tenth of the income that the government would receive from them, so that he would have the right to appoint to some positions there and were certain trading privileges were granted, so that the power granted to him would remain hereditary in his posterity. The Castilian dignitaries who negotiated with Christopher Columbus considered these demands too great and urged him to reduce them; but he remained adamant. The negotiations were interrupted, and he again got ready to go to France. The State Treasurer of Castile, Luis de San Angel, ardently urged the queen to agree to Columbus's demands; some other courtiers told her in the same spirit, and she agreed. On April 17, 1492, an agreement was concluded in Santa Fe by the Castilian government with Christopher Columbus on the terms that he demanded. The treasury was depleted by the war. San Angel said that he would give his money to equip three ships, and Columbus went to the Andalusian coast to prepare for his first voyage to America.

The beginning of Columbus's first voyage

Small seaport Palos had recently incurred the wrath of the government, and for this reason he was obliged to maintain two ships for the public service for a year. Isabella ordered Palos to place these ships at the disposal of Christopher Columbus; He equipped the third ship himself with money given to him by his friends. In Palos, the Pinson family, engaged in maritime trade, enjoyed great influence. With the assistance of the Pinsons, Columbus dispelled the sailors' fear of setting off on a long voyage to the west and recruited about a hundred good sailors. Three months later, the squadron's equipment was completed, and on August 3, 1492, two caravels, the Pinta and the Niña, captained by Alonso Pinzón and his brother Vincente Yañez, and a third slightly larger ship, the Santa Maria, sailed from Palos harbor. ", the captain of which was Christopher Columbus himself.

Replica of Columbus's ship "Santa Maria"

Sailing from Palos, Columbus constantly headed west under the latitude of the Canary Islands. The route along these degrees was longer than through latitudes more northern or more southern, but it had the advantage that the wind was always favorable. The squadron stopped at one of the Azores islands to repair the damaged Pinta; it took a month. Then Columbus's first voyage continued further west. In order not to arouse anxiety among the sailors, Columbus hid from them the true extent of the distance traveled. In the tables that he showed to his companions, he put numbers less than the actual ones, and noted the real numbers only in his journal, which he did not show to anyone. The weather was good, the wind was fair; the air temperature was reminiscent of the fresh and warm morning hours of April days in Andalusia. The squadron sailed for 34 days, seeing nothing but sea and sky. The sailors began to worry. The magnetic needle changed its direction and began to deviate from the pole further to the west than in the parts of the sea not far from Europe and Africa. This increased the fear of the sailors; it seemed that the voyage was leading them to places where influences unknown to them dominated. Columbus tried to calm them down, explaining that the change in the direction of the magnetic needle is created by a change in the position of the ships relative to the polar star.

A fair east wind carried the ships in the second half of September along a calm sea, in some places covered with green sea plants. The constancy in the direction of the wind increased the anxiety of the sailors: they began to think that in those places there was never any other wind, and that they would not be able to sail in the opposite direction, but these fears also disappeared when strong sea currents from the southwest became noticeable: they given the opportunity to return to Europe. Christopher Columbus's squadron sailed through that part of the ocean that later became known as the Sea of ​​Grass; this continuous vegetative shell of water seemed to be a sign of the proximity of earth. A flock of birds circling over the ships increased the hope that land was close. Seeing a cloud on the edge of the horizon in the northwest direction at sunset on September 25, the participants in Columbus’s first voyage mistook it for an island; but the next morning it turned out that they were mistaken. Previous historians have stories that the sailors plotted to force Columbus to return, that they even threatened his life, that they made him promise to turn back if land did not appear in the next three days. But now it has been proven that these stories are fictions that arose several decades after the time of Christopher Columbus. The fears of the sailors, very natural, were transformed by the imagination of the next generation into mutiny. Columbus reassured his sailors with promises, threats, reminders of the power given to him by the queen, and behaved firmly and calmly; this was enough for the sailors not to disobey him. He promised a lifelong pension of 30 gold coins to the first person to see the land. Therefore, the sailors who were on the mars several times gave signals that the earth was visible, and when it turned out that the signals were erroneous, the crews of the ships were overcome by despondency. To stop these disappointments, Columbus said that whoever gives an erroneous signal about land on the horizon loses the right to receive a pension, even after actually seeing the first land.

Discovery of America by Columbus

At the beginning of October, signs of the proximity of land intensified. Flocks of small colorful birds circled over the ships and flew to the southwest; plants floated on the water, clearly not sea, but terrestrial, but still retaining freshness, showing that they had recently been washed away from the earth by the waves; a tablet and a carved stick were caught. The sailors took a direction somewhat south; the air was fragrant, like spring in Andalusia. On a clear night on October 11, Columbus noticed a moving light in the distance, so he ordered the sailors to look carefully and promised, in addition to the previous reward, a silk camisole to the one who would be the first to see the land. At 2 o'clock in the morning on October 12, Pinta sailor Juan Rodriguez Vermejo, a native of the town of Molinos, neighboring Seville, saw the outline of the cape in the moonlight and with a joyful cry: “Earth! Earth!" rushed to the cannon to fire a signal shot. But then the award for the discovery was awarded to Columbus himself, who had previously seen the light. At dawn, the ships sailed to the shore, and Christopher Columbus, in the scarlet garb of an admiral, with the Castilian banner in his hand, entered the land he had discovered. It was an island that the natives called Guanagani, and Columbus named it San Salvador in honor of the Savior (later it was called Watling). The island was covered with beautiful meadows and forests, and its inhabitants were naked and dark copper in color; their hair was straight, not curly; their body was painted in bright colors. They greeted the foreigners timidly, respectfully, imagining that they were children of the sun who had descended from the sky, and, not understanding anything, they watched and listened to the ceremony by which Columbus took their island into possession of the Castilian crown. They gave away expensive things for beads, bells, and foil. Thus began the discovery of America.

In the next days of his voyage, Christopher Columbus discovered several more small islands belonging to the Bahamas archipelago. He named one of them the Island of the Immaculate Conception (Santa Maria de la Concepcion), another Fernandina (this is the current island of Echuma), the third Isabella; gave others new names of this kind. He believed that the archipelago he discovered on this first voyage lies in front of the eastern coast of Asia, and that from there it is not far to Jipangu (Japan) and Cathay (China), described Marco Polo and drawn on the map by Paolo Toscanelli. He took several natives onto his ships so that they could learn Spanish and serve as translators. Traveling further to the southwest, Columbus discovered the large island of Cuba on October 26, and on December 6 - beautiful island, reminiscent of Andalusia with its forests, mountains and fertile plains. Because of this resemblance, Columbus named it Hispaniola (or, in the Latin form of the word, Hispaniola). The natives called it Haiti. The luxurious vegetation of Cuba and Haiti confirmed the Spaniards' belief that this is an archipelago neighboring India. No one then suspected the existence of the great continent of America. Participants in the first voyage of Christopher Columbus admired the beauty of the meadows and forests on these islands, their excellent climate, the bright feathers and sonorous singing of birds in the forests, the aroma of herbs and flowers, which was so strong that it was felt far from the shore; admired the brightness of the stars in the tropical sky.

The vegetation of the islands was then, after the autumn rains, in the full freshness of its splendor. Columbus, gifted with a keen love of nature, describes the beauty of the islands and the sky above them with graceful simplicity in the ship's log of his first voyage. Humboldt says: “On his voyage along the coast of Cuba between the small islands of the Bahamas archipelago and the Hardinel group, Christopher Columbus admired the density of the forests, in which the branches of the trees were intertwined so that it was difficult to distinguish which flowers belonged to which tree. He admired the luxurious meadows of the wet coast, pink flamingos standing along the banks of rivers; each new land seems to Columbus even more beautiful than the one described before her; he complains that he does not have enough words to convey the pleasure he experiences.” - Peschel says: “Enchanted by his success, Columbus imagines that mastic trees grow in these forests, that the sea abounds in pearl shells, that there is a lot of gold in the sand of the rivers; he sees the fulfillment of all the stories about rich India.”

But the Spaniards did not find as much gold, expensive stones and pearls as they wanted on the islands they discovered. The natives wore small jewelry made of gold and willingly exchanged them for beads and other trinkets. But this gold did not satisfy the greed of the Spaniards, but only kindled their hope of the proximity of lands in which there was a lot of gold; they questioned the natives who came to their ships in shuttles. Columbus treated these savages kindly; They stopped being afraid of foreigners and when asked about gold they answered that further south there was a land in which there was a lot of it. But on his first voyage, Christopher Columbus did not reach the American mainland; he did not sail further than Hispaniola, whose inhabitants accepted the Spaniards trustingly. The most important of their princes, the cacique Guacanagari, showed Columbus sincere friendship and filial piety. Columbus considered it necessary to stop sailing and return from the shores of Cuba to Europe, because Alonso Pinzon, the head of one of the caravels, secretly sailed away from the admiral's ship. He was a proud and hot-tempered man, he was burdened by his subordination to Christopher Columbus, he wanted to gain the merit of discovering a land rich in gold, and to take advantage of its treasures alone. His caravel sailed away from Columbus's ship on November 20 and never returned. Columbus assumed that he sailed to Spain to take credit for the discovery.

A month later (December 24), the ship Santa Maria, through the negligence of a young helmsman, landed on a sandbank and was broken by the waves. Columbus had only one caravel left; he saw himself in a hurry to return to Spain. The cacique and all the inhabitants of Hispaniola showed the most friendly disposition towards the Spaniards and tried to do everything they could for them. But Columbus was afraid that his only ship might crash on unfamiliar shores, and did not dare to continue his discoveries. He decided to leave some of his companions on Hispaniola so that they would continue to acquire gold from the natives for trinkets that the savages liked. With the help of the natives, the participants in Columbus's first voyage built a fortification from the wreckage of the crashed ship, surrounded it with a ditch, transferred part of the food supplies into it, and placed several cannons there; The sailors vying with one another volunteered to stay in this fortification. Columbus selected 40 of them, among whom were several carpenters and other craftsmen, and left them in Hispaniola under the command of Diego Arana, Pedro Gutierrez and Rodrigo Escovedo. The fortification was named after the Christmas holiday La Navidad.

Before Christopher Columbus sailed to Europe, Alonso Pinzon returned to him. Sailing away from Columbus, he headed further along the coast of Hispaniola, came to land, received from the natives in exchange for trinkets several pieces of gold two fingers thick, walked inland, heard about the island of Jamaica (Jamaica), on which there is a lot of gold and from which ten days you can swim to big land, where people who wear clothes live. Pinzon had strong kinship and powerful friends in Spain, so Columbus hid his displeasure with him and pretended to believe the fabrications with which he explained his action. Together they sailed along the coast of Hispaniola and in the Gulf of Samana they found the warlike Siguayo tribe, which entered into battle with them. This was the first hostile encounter between the Spaniards and the natives. From the shores of Hispaniola, Columbus and Pinson sailed to Europe on January 16, 1493.

Return of Columbus from his first voyage

On the way back from the first voyage, happiness was less favorable to Christopher Columbus and his companions than on the way to America. In mid-February they were subjected to a strong storm, which their ships, already quite badly damaged, could hardly withstand. The Pint was blown north by the storm. Columbus and other travelers sailing on the Niña lost sight of her. Columbus felt great anxiety at the thought that the Pinta had sunk; his ship could also easily have perished, and in that case, information about his discoveries would not have reached Europe. He made a promise to God that if his ship survived, pilgrimage trips would be made to three of Spain's most famous holy places. He and his companions cast lots to see which of them would go to these holy places. Of the three trips, two fell to the lot of Christopher Columbus himself; he assumed the costs of the third. The storm still continued, and Columbus came up with a means for information about his discovery to reach Europe in the event of the loss of the Niña. He wrote on parchment short story about his voyage and the lands he found, rolled up the parchment, covered it with a wax shell to protect it from water, put the package in a barrel, made an inscription on the barrel that whoever finds it and delivers it to the Queen of Castile will receive a reward of 1000 ducats, and threw it into sea.

A few days later, when the storm stopped and the sea calmed, the sailor saw land from the top of the mainmast; the joy of Columbus and his companions was as great as when they discovered the first island in the west during their voyage. But no one except Columbus could figure out which shore was in front of them. Only he conducted observations and calculations correctly; all the others were confused in them, partly because he deliberately led them into mistakes, wanting alone to have the information necessary for the second voyage to America. He realized that the land in front of the ship was one of the Azores. But the waves were still so great and the wind so strong that Christopher Columbus's caravel cruised for three days in sight of land before it could land at Santa Maria (the southernmost island of the Azores archipelago).

The Spaniards came ashore on February 17, 1493. The Portuguese, who owned the Azores Islands, met them unfriendly. Castangeda, the ruler of the island, a treacherous man, wanted to capture Columbus and his ship out of fear that these Spaniards were rivals of the Portuguese in trade with Guinea, or out of desire to find out about the discoveries they made during the voyage, Columbus sent half of his sailors to the chapel to thank God for their salvation from the storm. The Portuguese arrested them; They then wanted to take possession of the ship, but this failed because Columbus was careful. Having failed, the Portuguese ruler of the island released those arrested, excusing his hostile actions by saying that he did not know whether Columbus’s ship was really in the service of the Queen of Castilia. Columbus sailed to Spain; but off the Portuguese coast it was subjected to a new storm; she was very dangerous. Columbus and his companions promised a fourth pilgrimage; by lot it fell to Columbus himself. The residents of Cascaes, who saw from the shore the danger the ship was in, went to church to pray for its salvation. Finally, on March 4, 1493, Christopher Columbus's ship reached Cape Sintra and entered the mouth of the Tagus River. The sailors of the Belem harbor, where Columbus landed, said that his salvation was a miracle, that in the memory of people there had never been such a strong storm that it sank 25 large merchant ships sailing from Flanders.

Happiness favored Christopher Columbus on his first voyage and saved him from danger. They threatened him in Portugal. Its king, John II, was jealous of the amazing discovery, which eclipsed all the discoveries of the Portuguese and, as it seemed then, took away from them the benefits of trade with India, which they wanted to achieve thanks to the discovery Vasco da Gama ways to get there around Africa. The king received Columbus in his western palace of Valparaiso and listened to his story about his discoveries. Some nobles wanted to irritate Columbus, provoke him to some insolence and, taking advantage of it, kill him. But John II rejected this shameful thought, and Columbus remained alive. John showed him respect and took care to ensure his safety on the way back. On March 15, Christopher Columbus sailed to Palos; the residents of the city greeted him with delight. His first voyage lasted seven and a half months.

In the evening of the same day, Alonso Pinzon sailed to Palos. He went ashore in Galicia, sent a notice of his discoveries to Isabella and Ferdinand, who were then in Barcelona, ​​and asked for an audience with them. They replied that he should come to them in Columbus's retinue. This disfavor of the queen and king saddened him; he was also saddened by the coldness with which he was received in his hometown Palos. He grieved so much that he died a few weeks later. With his treachery towards Columbus, he brought upon himself contempt, so that his contemporaries did not want to appreciate the services he rendered to the discovery of the New World. Only descendants did justice to his courageous participation in the first voyage of Christopher Columbus.

Reception of Columbus in Spain

In Seville, Columbus received an invitation from the queen and king of Spain to come to them in Barcelona; he went, taking with him several savages brought from the islands discovered during the voyage, and the products found there. People gathered in huge crowds to see him enter Barcelona. Queen Isabella and the King Ferdinand They received him with such honors as were given only to the most noble people. The king met Columbus in the square, sat him down next to him, and then rode alongside him on horseback several times around the city. The most distinguished Spanish nobles gave feasts in honor of Columbus and, as they say, at the feast given in his honor by Cardinal Mendoza, the famous joke about the “Columbus egg” occurred.

Columbus in front of Kings Ferdinand and Isabella. Painting by E. Leutze, 1843

Columbus remained firmly convinced that the islands he discovered during his voyage lie off the eastern coast of Asia, not far from the rich lands of Jipangu and Cathay; almost everyone shared his opinion; only a few doubted its validity.

To be continued - see the article

Where Christopher Columbus sailed and why, you will learn from this article.

The purpose of the voyage of Christopher Columbus

The navigator is the most mysterious person of the era of Great Geographical Discoveries and travels. His life is full of mysteries, dark spots, inexplicable coincidences and actions. And all because humanity became interested in the navigator 150 years after his death - important documents had already been lost, and Columbus’s life remained shrouded in speculation and gossip. Plus, Columbus himself hid his origin (for unknown reasons), the motives of his actions and thoughts. The only thing that is known is the year 1451 - the year of his birth and the place of birth - the Genoese Republic.

He made 4 expeditions, which were supplied by the Spanish king:

The first expedition - 1492-1493.

Second expedition - 1493-1496.

Third expedition - 1498 - 1500.

The fourth expedition - 1502 - 1504.

During four expeditions, the navigator discovered many new territories and two seas - Sargasso and Caribbean.

Having married the daughter of a noble sailor from Italy in 1482, he and his wife went to the island of Porto Santo, to the estate of his father-in-law. Columbus found a lot in his house nautical charts and received the first information about the lands and islands that lie on the western side of Europe. Walking along the shore of the island, he noticed that the water was coming to the shore, trunks of unknown wood and corpses of a then unfamiliar human race. Then he had no idea about the existence of a continent that Europeans did not yet know about. Later, from the treatises of Pliny, Seneca and Aristotle, I learned about India, a new land. And the navigator caught fire with a new idea and goal - Christopher Columbus was looking for a way to India without going around Africa.

He drew up a project for finding a new, direct route to the country of spices and in 1483 he addressed it to the King of Portugal, John. Having not received the desired result, Columbus left for Spain, where 7 years later he signed an agreement with the crown to prepare the expedition. This happened on April 17, 1492.

The Lord has made me a messenger of the new heavens and the new earth,
created by him, the very ones that St. wrote about in the Apocalypse.
John... and the Lord showed me the way there.

Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus (born approximately August 26 and October 31, 1451, died May 20, 1506) - Italian navigator who discovered America in 1492.

Columbus is an eternal figure. Even schoolchildren nowadays, who find it difficult to answer who Stalin is and why Lenin lies on Red Square, can connect such concepts as Columbus and America. And some may be able to tell sad story his life - the life of a discoverer without discoveries, great, fearless, deluded... For, as Jules Verne argued, if Columbus had not had these three qualities, he might not have risked overcoming the endless surface of the sea and going in search of lands previously mentioned only in myths and sagas.

The story of Columbus is an ongoing story of mystery. Absolutely everything is in doubt - the date of his birth, his origin and the city where he was born. 7 Greek cities argued for the right to consider themselves the birthplace of Homer. Columbus was luckier. At various times and in various places, 26 claimants (14 Italian cities and 12 nations) made such claims, entering into litigation with Genoa.

More than 40 years ago, Genoa seemed to finally win this centuries-old process. But to this day, the voices of lawyers for false versions about the homeland and nationality of Columbus do not cease. Until 1571, no one doubted the origins of Columbus. He himself more than once called himself a Genoese. Ferdinando Colon was the first to question the Genoese origin of Columbus. He was guided by “noble” intentions to introduce noble ancestors into the genealogy of the great navigator. Genoa was not suitable for such experiments: this surname was not included in the lists of even plebeian families. That's why the author took Columbus's grandfathers to Italian city Piacenza, where noble people from the local Columbus family lived in the 14th and 15th centuries. The example of Ferdinand Colon inspired historians of subsequent centuries to undertake similar searches.

Childhood. Adolescence. Youth

Christopher Columbus was born into the family of a weaver who also sold cheese and wine. The embarrassment that occurred at the wedding of Cristoforo’s sister Bianchinetta speaks about the financial situation of the family and the not entirely honest father of the navigator Domenico Colombo. The son-in-law, a cheese merchant, accused Domenico of not paying the dowry promised for his daughter. Notarial acts of those times confirm that the family's situation was actually depressing. In particular, major disagreements with creditors arose over the house where they settled 4 years after the birth of Cristoforo.

Although Cristoforo spent his childhood at his father's loom, the boy's interests were directed in a different direction. The greatest impression on the child was made by the harbor, where people with different skin colors, in burnouses, caftans, and European dress, crowded and called to each other. Cristoforo did not remain an outside observer for long. Already at the age of 14 he sailed as a cabin boy to Portofino, and later to Corsica. In those days, on the Ligurian coast, the most common form of trade was barter in kind. Domenico Colombo also took part in it, and his son helped: he accompanied a small ship with lateen rigging, loaded with fabrics, to nearby shopping centers, and from there he delivered cheese and wine.

In Lisbon, he met the girl Felipa Moniz da Perestrello and soon married her. For Christopher Columbus, this marriage was a happy lot. He entered a noble Portuguese house and became related to people who took a direct part in the overseas campaigns organized by Prince Henry the Navigator and his successors.

Felipa's father in his youth was included in the retinue of Henry the Navigator. Columbus gained access to various documents that recorded the history of Portuguese voyages in the Atlantic. In the winter of 1476–1477, Columbus left his wife and went to England and Ireland; in 1478 he ended up in Madeira. Columbus completed his elementary school of practical navigation in Porto Santo and Madeira, traveling to the Azores, and then completed a course in marine science on Guinean expeditions. In his leisure hours, he studied geography, mathematics, and Latin, but only to the extent that it was necessary for his purely practical purposes. And more than once Columbus admitted that he was not very sophisticated in science.

But what especially struck the imagination of the young sailor was Marco Polo’s book, which spoke about the gold-roofed palaces of Sipangu (Japan), the pomp and splendor of the Great Khan’s court, and the homeland of spices - India. Columbus had no doubt that the Earth was spherical, but it seemed to him that this ball was much smaller than in reality. This is why he believed that Japan was relatively close to the Azores.

Stay in Portugal

Columbus's landing in America

Columbus decided to get to India by the western route and in 1484 outlined his plan to the king of Portugal. Columbus's idea was simple. It was based on two premises: one completely true and one false. The first (true) one is that the Earth is a ball; and the second (false) - that most of the earth's surface is occupied by land - a single massif of three continents, Asia, Europe and Africa; the smaller one is by sea, because of this the distance between the western shores of Europe and the eastern tip of Asia is small, and in a short period of time it is possible, following the western route, to reach India, Japan and China - this corresponded to the geographical ideas of the era of Columbus.

The idea of ​​the possibility of such a voyage was expressed by Aristotle and Seneca, Pliny the Elder, Strabo and Plutarch, and in the Middle Ages the theory of the One Ocean was consecrated by the church. It was recognized by the Arab world and its great geographers: Masudi, al-Biruni, Idrisi.

While living in Portugal, Columbus proposed his project to King João II. This happened at the end of 1483 or at the beginning of 1484. The timing for presenting the project was not chosen very well. In 1483–1484, John II thought least of all about long-distance expeditions. The king extinguished the rebellions of the Portuguese magnates and dealt with the conspirators. He attached greater importance to further discoveries in Africa, but was much less interested in Atlantic voyages in a western direction.

The history of the negotiations between Columbus and King John II is not entirely clear. It is known that Columbus asked for a lot in recompense for his services. It's obscenely much. As much as no mortal had ever asked from the crowned kings before. He demanded the title of Chief Admiral of the Ocean and a noble rank, the position of viceroy of the newly discovered lands, a tenth of the income from these territories, an eighth of the profits from future trade with new countries and golden spurs.

He subsequently included all these conditions, except for the golden spurs, in his agreement. King Juan never made rash decisions. He conveyed Columbus's proposal to the "Mathematical Junta" - a small Lisbon academy in which outstanding scientists and mathematicians sat. It is not known exactly what decision the council made. At least it was unfavorable - it happened in 1485. That same year, Columbus's wife died, and his financial situation sharply worsened.

Stay in Spain

1485, summer - he decided to leave Portugal for Castile. Columbus took his seven-year-old son Diego with him and sent his brother Bartolomeo to England in the hope that he would be interested in the project of the western route of Henry VII. From Lisbon, Christopher Columbus headed to Paloia to join Diego's wife's relatives in the neighboring city of Huelva. Exhausted by long wanderings, with a small child in his arms, Columbus decided to seek refuge in a monastery, near which his strength finally abandoned him.

So Columbus ended up in the Rabidou monastery and, in a fit of revelation, poured out his soul to the abbot Antonio de Marchena, a powerful man at the Spanish court. Columbus's project delighted Antonio. He gave Columbus letters of recommendation to those close to the royal family - he had connections at court.

Inspired by the warm reception at the monastery, Columbus went to Cordoba. There temporarily resided the court of their Highnesses (the Castilian and Aragonese kings bore the title of Highnesses until 1519) - Queen Isabella of Castile and King Ferdinand of Aragon.

However, in Spain, Cristobal Colon (as Columbus was called in Spain) faced many years of need, humiliation and disappointment. Royal advisers believed that Columbus's project was impossible.

In addition, all the forces and attention of the Spanish rulers were absorbed in the fight against the remnant of Moorish rule in Spain - the small Moorish state in Grenada. Columbus was refused. Then he proposed his plan to England, and then again to Portugal, but nowhere was it taken seriously.

Only after the Spaniards took Grenada, Columba, after much trouble, was able to obtain three small ships for your trip.

First expedition (1492 - 1493)

With incredible difficulty, he managed to assemble a team, and, in the end, on August 3, 1492, a small squadron left the Spanish port of Paloe and went west to look for India.

The sea was calm and deserted, the wind was blowing fair. The ships sailed like this for more than a month. On September 15, Columbus and his companions saw a green stripe in the distance. However, their joy soon gave way to grief. This was not the long-awaited land, this is how the Sargasso Sea began - a giant accumulation of algae. On September 18–20, the sailors saw flocks of birds flying to the west. “Finally,” the sailors thought, “the land is close!” But this time, too, the travelers were disappointed. The crew began to worry. In order not to frighten people with the distance traveled, Columbus began to downplay the distance traveled in the ship's log.

On October 11, at 10 o'clock in the evening, Columbus, eagerly peering into the darkness of the night, saw a light flickering in the distance, and on the morning of October 12, 1492, sailor Rodrigo de Triana shouted: “Earth!” The sails on the ships were removed.

In front of the travelers was a small island overgrown with palm trees. Naked people were running along the sand along the shore. Columbus put on a scarlet dress over his armor and, with the royal flag in his hands, went ashore to the New World. It was Watling Island from the group Bahamas. The natives called it Guanagani, and Columbus called it San Salvador. This is how America was discovered.

Expedition routes of Christopher Columbus

True, Columbus was sure until the end of his days that he had not discovered any “New World”, but had only found a way to India. And with his light hand, the natives of the New World began to be called Indians. The natives of the newly discovered island were tall, handsome people. They did not wear clothes, their bodies were colorfully painted. Some of the natives had shiny sticks stuck through their noses, which delighted Columbus: it was gold! This means that not far away was the country of golden palaces - Sipangu.

In search of the golden Sipangu, Columbus left Guanagani and went further, discovering island after island. Everywhere the Spaniards were amazed by the lush tropical vegetation, the beauty of the islands scattered in the blue ocean, the friendliness and meekness of the natives, who in exchange for trinkets, molasses and beautiful rags gave the Spaniards gold, colorful birds and hammocks never seen before by the Spaniards. On October 20, Columbus reached Cuba.

The Cuban population was more cultured than the inhabitants of the Bahamas. In Cuba, Columbus found statues, large buildings, bales of cotton, and for the first time saw cultivated plants - tobacco and potatoes, products of the New World, which later conquered the whole world. All this further strengthened Columbus's confidence that Sipangu and India were somewhere nearby.

1492, December 4 - Columbus discovered the island of Haiti (the Spaniards then called it Hispaniola). On this island, Columbus built the fort of La Navidad (“Christmas”), left a 40-man garrison there, and on January 16, 1493, headed for Europe on two ships: his largest ship, the Santa Maria, was wrecked on December 24.

On the way back, a terrible storm broke out, and the ships lost sight of each other. Only on February 18, 1493 did the exhausted sailors see the Azores, and on February 25 they reached Lisbon. On March 15, Columbus returned to the port of Paloe after an 8-month absence. Thus ended the first expedition of Christopher Columbus.

The traveler was received with delight in Spain. He was granted a coat of arms with the image of a map again open islands and with the motto:
"For Castile and Leon New world Colon discovered.

Second expedition (1493 - 1496)

A new expedition was quickly organized, and already on September 25, 1493, Christopher Columbus set off on a second expedition. This time he led 17 ships. 1,500 people went with him, lured by stories of easy money in the newly discovered lands.

On the morning of November 2, after a rather tiring voyage, the sailors saw in the distance high mountain. This was the island of Dominica. It was covered with forest, the wind brought spicy aromas from the shore. The next day, another mountainous island, Guadeloupe, was discovered. There, the Spaniards, instead of the peaceful and gentle inhabitants of the Bahamas, met warlike and cruel cannibals, Indians from the Carib tribe. A battle took place between the Spaniards and the Caribs.

Having discovered the island of Puerto Rico, Columbus sailed to Hispaniola on November 22, 1493. At night, the ships approached the place where the fort they founded on their first voyage stood.

Everything was quiet. There was not a single light on the shore. The arrivals fired a volley from bombards, but only the echo rolled in the distance. In the morning, Columbus learned that the Spaniards, with their cruelty and greed, had so antagonized the Indians that one night they suddenly attacked the fortress and burned it, killing the rapists. This is how America met Columbus on his second voyage!

Columbus's second expedition was unsuccessful: the discoveries were insignificant; despite a thorough search, little gold was found; Diseases were rampant in the newly built colony of Isabella.

When Columbus set out in search of new lands (during this voyage he discovered the island of Jamaica), the Indians on Hispaniola, outraged by the oppression of the Spaniards, rebelled again. The Spaniards were able to suppress the uprising and brutally dealt with the rebels. Hundreds of them were enslaved, sent to Spain, or forced to do backbreaking work on plantations and mines.

1496, March 10 - Columbus set off on his return journey, and on June 11, 1496, his ships entered the harbor of Cadiz.

American writer Washington Irving spoke about Columbus's return from the second expedition:

“These unfortunates crawled out, exhausted by illness in the colony and the severe hardships of the journey. Their yellow faces, in the expression of one ancient writer, were a parody of the gold that was the object of their aspirations, and all their stories about the New World were reduced to complaints of illness, poverty and disappointment.

Third expedition (1498 - 1500)

Return of Christopher Columbus from his voyage

In Spain, Columbus was not only received very coldly, but also deprived of many privileges. Only after lengthy and humiliating efforts was he able to equip ships for the third expedition in the summer of 1498.

This time, Columbus and his crew had to endure prolonged calm and terrible heat. On July 31, the ships approached big island Trinidad, and soon a grassy bank appeared in front of Columbus.

Christopher Columbus mistook it for an island, but in reality it was the mainland of South America. Even when Columbus arrived at the mouth of the Orinoco, he did not understand that there was a huge continent in front of him.

At that time, the situation in Hispaniola was tense: the colonists quarreled among themselves; relations with the natives were damaged; The Indians responded to the oppression with uprisings, and the Spaniards sent one punitive expedition after another to them.

The intrigues that had long been waged against Columbus at the Spanish court finally had their effect: in August 1500, a new government commissioner, Babadilla, arrived on the island of Hispaniola. He demoted Columbus and, shackling him and his brother Bartolomeo, sent him to Spain.

Appearance famous traveler in chains caused such indignation among the Spaniards that the government was forced to immediately release him. The shackles were removed, but the mortally insulted admiral did not part with them until the end of his days and ordered them to be placed in his coffin.

Almost all privileges were taken away from Columbus, and expeditions began to be equipped to America without his participation.

Fourth Expedition (1502 - 1504)

Only in 1502 was Columbus able to set off on four ships on his fourth and final expedition. This time he passed along the coast of Central America, from Honduras to Panama. This was his most unsuccessful journey. The travelers endured all sorts of hardships, and in 1504 the admiral returned to Spain on one ship.

The end of Columbus's life was spent in struggle. The admiral began to dream about the liberation of Jerusalem and Mount Zion. At the end of November 1504, he sent a lengthy letter to the royal couple, in which he outlined his “crusader” creed.

Death of Columbus and posthumous voyage

Columbus was often sick.

“Exhausted by gout, grieving over the death of his property, tormented by other sorrows, he gave his soul with the king for the rights and privileges promised to him. Before his death, he still considered himself the king of India and advised the king on how best to rule overseas lands. He gave his soul to God on the day of the Ascension, May 20, 1506 in Valladolid, accepting the holy gifts with great humility.”

The admiral was buried in the church of the Valladolid Franciscan monastery. And in 1507 or 1509, the admiral set off on his longest journey. It lasted 390 years. Initially, his ashes were transported to Seville. In the middle of the 16th century, his remains were brought from Seville to Santo Domingo (Haiti). Columbus's brother Bartolomeo, his son Diego and grandson Luis were also buried there.

1792 - Spain ceded the eastern half of the island of Hispaniola to France. The commander of the Spanish flotilla ordered the admiral's ashes to be delivered to Havana. The fourth funeral took place there. 1898 - Spain lost Cuba. The Spanish government decided to transfer the admiral's ashes to Seville again. Now he rests in the Seville Cathedral.

What was Christopher Columbus looking for? What hopes drew him to the West? The treaty concluded by Columbus with Ferdinand and Isabella does not make this clear.

“Since you, Christopher Columbus, are setting out at our command on our ships and with our subjects to discover and conquer certain islands and a continent in the ocean... it is fair and reasonable... that you should be rewarded for this.”

What islands? What continent? Columbus took his secret with him to the grave.