Columbus's first expedition passed through which ocean. The first colonial conquests and the emergence of colonial cities

One day, Christopher Columbus uttered the sacramental phrase: “It’s a small world,” which, in fact, became the leitmotif of his entire life. In just over 50 years of his life, this greatest navigator managed to make as many discoveries and bring untold riches for all of Europe, which would have been impossible to do in just a few centuries. The navigator did everything he could and begged the Catholic kings to achieve his main life goal - to make an expedition to the shores of the New World. In total, Columbus managed to make four voyages to the shores of America during his life.

Columbus made his first sea voyage in 1492-1493. Thus, three ships called “Santa Maria”, “Nina” and “Pinta”, with a total crew of 90 people, set sail in 1492, on August 3, from the port of Palos. The route was laid out as follows: after the Canary Islands, the expedition went west across the Atlantic Ocean, as a result of which the Sargasso Sea was discovered, and then landed on one of the islands belonging to the Bahamas archipelago. Columbus christened it San Salvador, and this happened on October 12, 1492, which is considered the official date of the discovery of America. What is noteworthy is that for a long time there was an opinion that San Salvador is the current Watling. However, in 1986, the geographer J. Judge, an American, made a computer model of the expedition, which showed that Columbus was the first to see the island of Samana, located 120 km southeast of the Watling Island.

From October 14 to October 24 of the same year, Columbus explored other Bahamian islands, but from October 28 to December 5, he discovered the territories of the northeast of the Cuban coast. December 6 was marked by the landing on the island of Haiti, after which the expedition proceeded along the northern coast. However, on the night of December 24-25, the Santa Maria vessel collided with a reef, but the flagship’s crew managed to escape, and the expedition was forced to turn to the shores of Spain.

On March 15, 1493, the Niña, whose crew was led by Columbus, and the Pinta return to Castile. The navigator brings with him trophies, including the natives, whom the Europeans called Indians, gold, unfamiliar vegetation, vegetables and fruits, and the plumage of some birds. Remarkably, Columbus was the first to use Indian hammocks instead of sailor berths. The first expedition caused such a powerful resonance that the so-called “Papal Meridian” was laid, which determined in which direction Spain would discover new lands, and in which direction Portugal would.

The second expedition took longer than the first - from September 25, 1493 to June 11, 1496, and it started from Cadiz. This time the flotilla included 17 ships, and their crew, according to various sources, numbered from 1.5 to 2.5 thousand people, which included colonists who decided to try their luck on open lands. In addition to the people themselves, the ships were loaded with livestock, seeds and seedlings, tools - everything that was necessary to create a public settlement. During this expedition, the colonists conquered Hispaniola and founded the city of Santo Domingo. The journey was marked by the discovery of the Virgin and Lesser Antilles Islands, Puerto Rico and Jamaica, in addition, the expedition continued to explore Cuba. What is noteworthy is that Columbus continued to be confident that he was exploring western India, but not the territories of the new continent.

The third expedition started on May 30, 1498. This time it consisted of 6 ships with 300 crew members. It was marked by the discovery of the island of Trinidad, the exploration of the Orinoco Delta and several other lands. On August 20, 1499, Christopher Columbus returned to Hispaniola, where things were going from bad to worse. What is noteworthy is that in 1498, real India was discovered by Vasco de Gama, from where he returned with irrefutable evidence - spices, and Columbus was declared a deceiver. So, in 1499, Columbus was deprived of his monopoly right to discover new territories, he himself was arrested and taken to Castile. He was saved from imprisonment only by the patronage of large financiers who had influence on the royal couple.

Columbus's fourth and final voyage

The last expedition was undertaken on May 9, 1502. This time the traveler was exploring the mainland of Central America, namely: Honduras, Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua. By the way, this expedition was marked by the first acquaintance with the Mayan tribe. The purpose of this voyage was to search for the South Sea, that is, the Pacific Ocean, but the attempts were unsuccessful, and Columbus had to return to Castile in October 1504.

In general, the importance of Columbus’s expeditions cannot be overestimated, but his contemporaries treated them very negligently, realizing their value only half a century after his death, when the ships began to bring huge amounts of gold and silver from Peru and Mexico. For reference, when recalculated, the royal treasury spent only 10 kg of gold on equipment for the first voyage, but it received many times more - 3 million kilograms of the treasured yellow metal.

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 there was a large landmass to the west. 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 East Asia by the Western route and explained 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

The small port city of Palos had recently incurred the wrath of the government, and for this reason it was obliged to maintain two ships for a year for public service. 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, a beautiful island that resembled 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, the pink flamingos standing along the banks of the rivers; each new land seems to Columbus even more beautiful than the one described before it; 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 It takes ten days to sail to the mainland, 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 a short story about his voyage and the lands he found, rolled up the parchment, covered it with a wax coating 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 1000 ducats reward, and threw him into the 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 of 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

Initially, the American continent was inhabited by tribes that arrived from Asia. However, in the 13-15th century, with the active development of culture and industry, civilized Europe set out to search for and develop new lands. What happened to America at the end of the 15th century?

Christopher Columbus is a famous Spanish navigator. It was his first expedition that marked the beginning of active travel to the “New World” and the development of this territory. The “New World” was then considered to be the lands that are now called South and North America.

In 1488, Portugal had a monopoly on the waters of the Atlantic coast of Africa. Spain was forced to find another sea route to trade with India and gain access to gold, silver and spices. This is what prompted the rulers of Spain to agree to Columbus's expedition.

Columbus is looking for a new route to India

Columbus made only four expeditions to the shores of the so-called “India”. However, by the fourth expedition he knew that he had not found India. So, let's go back to Columbus's first voyage.

Columbus's first voyage to America

The first expedition consisted of only three ships. Columbus had to get two ships himself. The first ship was given by his fellow navigator Pinson. He also lent Columbus money so that Christopher could equip a second ship. About a hundred crew members also went on the trip.

The voyage lasted from August 1492 to March 1493. In October, they sailed to a land that was mistakenly considered to be the surrounding islands of Asia, that is, it could be the western territories of China, India or Japan. In reality, it was the European discovery of the Bahamas, Haiti and Cuba. Here, on these islands, local residents presented Columbus with dry leaves, i.e. tobacco, as a gift. The locals also walked naked around the island and wore various gold jewelry. Columbus tried to find out from them where they got the gold and only after he took several natives prisoner did he find out the route where they got it. So Columbus attempted to find gold, but found only more and more new lands. He was happy that he had opened a new route to “Western India,” but there were no developed cities and untold riches there. When returning home, Christopher took with him local residents (whom he called Indians) as proof of success.

When did the colonization of America begin?

Soon after returning to Spain with gifts and "Indians", the Spaniards soon decide to send the sailor on his way again. Thus began Columbus's second expedition.

Columbus's second voyage

September 1493 - June 1496 The purpose of this journey was to organize new colonies, so the flotilla included as many as 17 ships. Among the sailors there were priests, nobles, officials and courtiers. They brought domestic animals, raw materials, and food with them. As a result of the expedition, Columbus paved a more convenient route to “Western India”, the island of Hispaniola (Haiti) was completely conquered, and the extermination of the local population began.

Columbus still believed that he was in Western India. On the second trip, they also discovered islands, including Jamaica and Puerto Rico. On Hispaniola, the Spaniards found gold deposits in the depths of the island and began mining it, with the help of enslaving the local residents. Worker uprisings arose, but unarmed local residents were doomed. They died as a result of the suppression of riots, diseases brought from Europe, and hunger. The rest of the local population was subject to tribute and enslaved.
The Spanish rulers were not satisfied with the income that the new lands brought, and therefore allowed everyone to move to the new lands, and broke the agreement with Columbus, that is, they deprived him of the right to rule the new lands. As a result, Columbus decides to travel to Spain, where he negotiates with the kings to return his privileges, and that prisoners will live in the new lands, who will work and develop the territories; moreover, Spain will be freed from undesirable elements of society.

Third trip

Columbus set out on the third expedition with six ships, 600 people also included prisoners from Spanish prisons. Columbus this time decided to pave the way closer to the equator in order to find new lands rich in gold, since the current colonies provided modest incomes, which did not suit the Spanish kings. But due to illness, Columbus was forced to go to Hispaniola (Haiti). There, a rebellion awaited him again. To suppress the rebellion, Columbus had to allocate land to the local residents and give slaves to help each rebel.

Then, unexpectedly, news came - the famous navigator Vasco da Gama discovered the real route to India. He arrived from there with treats, spices, and declared Columbus a deceiver. As a result, the Spanish kings ordered the arrest of the deceiver and returned him to Spain. But soon, the charges against him are dropped and he is sent on the last expedition.

Fourth expedition

Columbus believed that there was a path from new lands to a source of spices. And he wanted to find him. As a result of the last expedition, he discovered islands off South America, Costa Rica and others, but never reached the Pacific Ocean, as he learned from local residents that Europeans were already here. Columbus returned to Spain.

Since Columbus no longer had a monopoly on the discovery of new lands, other Spanish travelers set out to explore and colonize new territories. An era began when impoverished Spanish or Portuguese knights (conquistadors) traveled away from their native lands in search of adventure and wealth.

Who was the first to colonize America?

The Spanish conquistadors initially tried to develop new lands in North Africa, but the local population showed strong resistance, so the discovery of the New World came in handy. It was thanks to the discovery of new colonies in North and South America that Spain was considered the main superpower of Europe and the mistress of the seas.

In history and literature, the period of the conquest of American lands is perceived differently. On the one hand, the Spaniards are viewed as educators who brought culture, religion, and art with them. On the other hand, it was brutal enslavement and destruction of the local population. In fact, it was both. Modern countries have different assessments of the contribution of the Spaniards to the history of their country. For example, in Venezuela in 2004, a monument to Columbus was demolished because he was considered the founder of the extermination of the local indigenous population.

Christopher Columbus (autumn 1451, Republic of Genoa - May 20, 1506, Valladolid, Spain) - Spanish navigator of Italian origin, who in 1492 discovered America for Europeans.
Columbus was the first reliably known traveler to cross the Atlantic Ocean in the subtropical and tropical zones of the northern hemisphere and the first European to sail in the Caribbean Sea. He laid the foundation for the exploration of South and Central America. He discovered all of the Greater Antilles - the central part of the Bahamas archipelago, the Lesser Antilles, as well as a number of small islands in the Caribbean Sea and the island of Trinidad off the coast of South America. Columbus can be called the discoverer of America with reservations, because even in the Middle Ages, Europeans in the person of the Icelandic Vikings visited North America. Since there was no information about these campaigns outside Scandinavia, it was Columbus’s expeditions that first made information about the lands in the west public and marked the beginning of the colonization of America by Europeans.
Columbus made 4 voyages to America:
First voyage (August 2, 1492 - March 15, 1493).
Second voyage (September 25, 1493 - June 11, 1496).
Third voyage (May 30, 1498 - November 25, 1500).
Fourth voyage (May 9, 1502 - November 1504).
Biography
Christopher Columbus- navigator, Viceroy of the Indies (1492), discoverer of the Sargasso Sea and the Caribbean Sea, the Bahamas and Antilles, part of the northern coast of South America and the Caribbean coastline of Central America.
In 1492-1493, Columbus led a Spanish expedition to find the shortest sea route to India; on 3 caravels (“Santa Maria”, “Pinta” and “Nina”) crossed the Atlantic Ocean, discovered the Sargasso Sea and reached the island of Samana on October 12, 1492, and later the ancient Bahamas, Cuba, and Haiti. In subsequent expeditions (1493-1496, 1498-1500, 1502-1504) he discovered the Greater Antilles, part of the Lesser Antilles and the coasts of South and Central America and the Caribbean Sea.
Christopher Columbus born in the fall of 1451 in Genoa, Genoese by origin. He was above average height, strong and well-built. His reddish hair in his youth turned gray early, making him look older than his years. Vibrant blue eyes and an aquiline nose stood out on his long, wrinkled, weather-beaten face with a beard. He was distinguished by faith in divine providence and omens, and at the same time, rare practicality, painful pride and suspicion, and a passion for gold. He had a sharp mind, the gift of persuasion and versatile knowledge. Christopher Columbus was married twice and had two sons from these marriages.

Christopher Columbus spent three quarters of his life sailing. Among the great figures of world civilization, few can compare with Columbus in the number of publications devoted to his life, and at the same time in the abundance of “blank spots” in his biography. It can be more or less confidently stated that he was Genoese by origin and around 1465 he joined the Genoese fleet, and after some time was seriously wounded. Until 1485, Christopher sailed on Portuguese ships, lived in Lisbon and on the islands of Madeira and Porto Santo, engaged in trade, mapping and self-education. It is not clear when and where he drafted the western, in his opinion, the shortest sea route from Europe to India; the project was based on the ancient doctrine of the sphericity of the Earth and on the incorrect calculations of scientists of the 15th century. In 1485, after the Portuguese king refused to support this project, Columbus moved to Castile, where, with the help of Andalusian merchants and bankers, he organized a government naval expedition under his command.
Christopher Columbus's first expedition of 1492-1493 consisting of 90 people on three ships - "Santa Maria", "Pinta" and "Nina" - left Palos on August 3, 1492, turned west from the Canary Islands, crossed the Atlantic Ocean, opening the Sargasso Sea, and reached an island in the Bahamas archipelago, named by the traveler San Salvador, where Columbus landed on October 12, 1492. For a long time, Watling Island was considered San Salvador. However, our contemporary American geographer J. Judge in 1986 processed all the collected materials on a computer and came to the conclusion: the first American land Columbus saw was the island of Samana. On October 14–24, Columbus approached several more Bahamian islands, and on October 28–December 5 he discovered part of the northeastern coast of Cuba. On December 6 he reached the island of Haiti and moved along the northern coast. On the night of December 25, the flagship Santa Maria landed on a reef, but the crew escaped. For the first time in the history of navigation, by order of Columbus, Indian hammocks were adapted for sailor berths. Columbus returned to Castile on the Niña on March 15, 1499. The political resonance of the voyage of H. Columbus was the “papal meridian”: the head of the Catholic Church established a demarcation line in the Atlantic, which showed rival Spain and Portugal different directions for the discovery of new lands.
Second expedition (1493-96), which was headed by Admiral Columbus, as viceroy of the newly discovered lands, consisted of 17 ships with a crew of 1.5-2.5 thousand people. On November 3-15, 1493, Columbus discovered the islands of Dominica, Guadeloupe and about 20 Lesser Antilles, and on November 19, the island of Puerto Rico. In March 1494, in search of gold, he made a military campaign deep into the island of Haiti, and in the summer he discovered the southeastern and southern coasts of Cuba, the islands of Juventud and Jamaica.
For 40 days, Columbus explored the southern coast of Haiti, which he continued to conquer in 1495. But in the spring of 1496 he sailed home, completing his second voyage on June 11 in Castile. Columbus announced the opening of a new route to Asia. The colonization of new lands by free settlers that soon began was very costly for the Spanish crown, and Columbus proposed populating the islands with criminals, cutting their sentences in half. With fire and sword, plundering and destroying the country of ancient culture, the military detachments of Cortez passed through the land of the Aztecs - Mexico, and the troops of Pizarro - through the land of the Incas - Peru.
Columbus's third expedition (1498-1500) consisted of six ships, three of which he himself led across the Atlantic. On July 31, 1498, the island of Trinidad was discovered, entered the Gulf of Paria, discovered the mouth of the western branch of the Orinoco Delta and the Paria Peninsula, marking the beginning of the discovery of South America. Having entered the Caribbean Sea, he approached the Araya Peninsula, discovered Margarita Island on August 15, and arrived in Haiti on August 31. In 1500, following a denunciation, Christopher Columbus was arrested and shackled (which he then kept for the rest of his life) and was sent to Castile, where his release awaited him. Having obtained permission to continue the search for the western route to India, Columbus on four ships (the fourth expedition, 1502-1504) reached the island of Martinique on June 15, 1502, and the Gulf of Honduras on July 30, where he first met representatives of the ancient Mayan civilization, but did not attach any importance to this. From August 1, 1502 to May 1, 1503, he opened 2,000 km of the Caribbean coast of Central America (to the Gulf of Uraba). Not finding a passage to the west, he turned north and on June 25, 1503, was wrecked off the coast of Jamaica. Help from Santo Domingo came only a year later. Columbus returned to Castile on November 7, 1504, already seriously ill.
last years of life
Illness, fruitless and painful negotiations with the king on the restoration of rights, and lack of money undermined Columbus's last strength, and on May 20, 1506 he died in Valladolid. His discoveries were accompanied by the colonization of lands, the founding of Spanish settlements, brutal enslavement and mass extermination of the indigenous population, called “Indians,” by troops of conquistadors. Christopher Columbus was not the discoverer of America: the islands and coasts of North America were visited by Normans hundreds of years before him. However, only Columbus's discoveries had world-historical significance. The fact that he found a new part of the world was finally proven by Magellan's voyage. The name Colubma is borne by: a state in South America, a province of Canada, a Federal District and a river in the USA, the capital of Sri Lanka, as well as many rivers, mountains, lakes, waterfalls, capes, cities, parks, squares, streets and bridges in different countries.
Truth and fiction in the biography of Christopher Columbus
Columbus was born into a poor family. Indeed, his family was not rich, but this did not prevent Columbus from receiving a good education - according to some sources, he graduated from the University of Pavia. Her marriage to Dona Felipe Moniz de Palestrello most likely played a significant role, since her father was a famous navigator during the time of Prince Enrique.
The traveler who gave the world the New World died without knowing that he had found the wrong continent that he was looking for. In those days, there was an assumption that in order to get to India, China or Japan, one had to cross the Atlantic Ocean. The entire expedition of Columbus was organized precisely to open a new direct route to the Far East. Geographer Paolo Toscanelli calculated that it was necessary to sail 5,600 km to reach the shore, which coincided with Columbus's calculations. As a result, having discovered the New World during his first voyage, Columbus believed until the last that he landed on the border with China.

Columbus did not equip his first expedition for long. This is wrong. Quite a lot of time passed from the moment he conceived the expedition until it was equipped. Until 1485, Columbus served on Genoese and Portuguese ships, visited Ireland, England, and Madeira. At this time, in addition to trading, he was intensively engaged in self-education. He conducted extensive correspondence with famous scientists and cartographers of the time, compiled maps, and studied shipping routes. Most likely, it was in those years that he came up with the idea of ​​​​reaching India by the Western route. Presumably in the period from 1475-1480. (there are no exact data) he sent the first proposal to the merchants and government of Genoa. He had to write many more such letters; for about 10 years he received only refusals. Moreover, having been shipwrecked off the coast of Portugal, he tried for a long time to persuade the Portuguese king and only after several wasted years headed to Spain. As a result, he was able to go on his first expedition only in 1492, thanks to the support of the Spanish Queen Isabella.

Columbus's return from his first expedition aggravated the political situation. When Columbus returned in 1493, having discovered new lands, this message excited minds and aggravated the situation between Spain and Portugal. Until this time, the main discoverer of all new routes to Africa was Portugal. She was given all the lands south of the Canary Islands. But the Spanish King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella were not going to give up Spain's rights to the newly discovered lands, and therefore turned to Pope Alexander VI. The Pope decided that 600 km west of the Azores a vertical line should be drawn on the map (the so-called papal meridian), to the east of which all lands would belong to Portugal, and to the west to Spain. However, the Portuguese king did not agree with this decision, since in this case Portuguese ships could not sail to the south and east without entering Spanish territory. As a result, the Spaniards made concessions and moved the vertical line 1600 km to the west. Spain could not even imagine how fatal this decision would be. Literally 7 years later, in 1500, the Portuguese navigator Pedro Cabral, sailing to India, came across land that was not marked on the map. As it turned out, the line drawn on the map cut off this piece in favor of Portugal, which immediately laid claim to its rights. As a result, even before America was recognized as a new continent, the future Brazil began to belong to Portugal.
Thanks to Columbus, the local residents began to be called Indians. Columbus was looking for India and when he reached the Bahamas, he was completely sure that he had found it. Therefore, he began to call the local residents Indians. This name has stuck with the indigenous people to this day.
Columbus was able to equip the second expedition thanks to boasting. No one can confirm this for certain. But it is known that upon his return to Barcelona, ​​Columbus actually boasted of his achievements. Moreover, he repeatedly demonstrated gold jewelry obtained from local tribes, while speaking about the riches of the Indian land. His vanity sometimes lifted him so high that he began to talk about future negotiations with the Great Khan. Therefore, it is not at all surprising that the king and queen of Spain could succumb to the speeches of Columbus. In any case, they very quickly, with the support of the Pope, organized a second expedition (from 1493 to 1496).
Columbus was a pirate. This is a controversial proposition. However, there are some facts that do not characterize his best features. In his reports from the second expedition, he asks to send ships with livestock, supplies, and tools from Spain. He further writes: “Payment... can be made by slaves from among the cannibals, cruel people... well-built and very intelligent.” This means that he caught local residents as slaves for Spain. In fact, all of his activities in the new lands boiled down to robbery and robbery, which is typical of pirates, although it cannot be denied that this may be a consequence of the upbringing of the era. Of course, you can blame Columbus for all the further troubles of the American continent, but this is unlikely to be fair. No one is obliged to answer for the sins of others.

Columbus had a monopoly on all discovered lands. Indeed, upon arrival from the first expedition, Columbus (Don Cristoval Colon) was given the title of admiral of the sea, viceroy and governor of the islands discovered in India. His monopoly was unquestioned until after the second expedition it became clear that the new territories were too vast and one person was not able to rule them. In 1499, the kings abolished Columbus's monopoly on the discovery of new lands. This was primarily due to the fact that in 1498 the Portuguese Vasco da Gama sailed by sea to real India and began trade relations with it. Against the backdrop of his achievements, Columbus, with his complicated situation, small profits for the treasury and conflicts in new territories, seemed like a liar. In an instant, he lost all the privileges he had won.
Christopher Columbus gloriously completed all three of his expeditions. The first expedition brought glory to Columbus. The second, for which 17 ships were allocated, brought doubts about the riches of the open lands. The third expedition became fatal for Columbus. During it, he lost all rights to the lands. Francisco Bobadilla, sent to Hispaniola with unlimited powers, arrested the admiral and his brothers Bartalomeo and Diego. They were shackled. Columbus was put in shackles by his own cook. They were imprisoned in the Sandoming Fortress. Columbus was accused of "cruelty and inability to govern the country." Two months later they were sent in chains to Spain. Only two years later the kings dropped the charges against Columbus. He was awarded 2,000 gold pieces, but the promise to return his property and money was not fulfilled.
Christopher Columbus was buried with honors. Columbus returned from the fourth expedition seriously ill. He still hoped to defend his rights, but with the death of his patron, Queen Isabella, this hope faded. At the end of his life he needed money. In 1505, an order was given for the sale of all movable and immovable property of Columbus in Hispaniola to pay off creditors. On May 20, 1506, the great navigator passed away. No one noticed his death. His discoveries were almost forgotten amid the conquests of the Portuguese. His death was recorded only 27 years later. At the end of his life, all his dreams of wealth, mined gold and honors suffered complete collapse...

On August 3, 1492, the first expedition of the Spanish navigator, a native of Genoa, Christopher Columbus began on three ships - the Santa Maria, Pinta and Niña, which he sailed from the harbor of the Spanish city of Palos de la Frontera.

Based on the ancient doctrine of the sphericity of the Earth and the incorrect calculations of scientists of the 15th century, Christopher Columbus hoped to open the shortest sea route from Europe to India. Between 1492 and 1504, the traveler undertook four exploratory expeditions at the behest of the Spanish Catholic kings. He described the events of these expeditions in his logbook. Unfortunately, the original journal has not survived, but the Dominican monk Bartolome de Las Casas made a partial copy of this journal, which has survived to this day, thanks to which many details of the described campaigns have become known.

Columbus equipped three ships on his first expedition. The flagship of this squadron was the carrack "Santa Maria" (captain Juan de la Cosa), the second ship was the "Pinta" (captain Martin Alonso Pinzon) and the third was the ship called "Nina" (captain Vicente Yañez Pinzon, navigator Sancho Ruiz da Gama ). The total crew size of all vessels was 100 people. On August 3, 1492, this flotilla left the Castilian harbor of Palos de la Frontera and headed for the Canary Islands.

Having reached the Canaries, the expedition turned west, crossed the Atlantic Ocean in the subtropical zone and reached the island of San Salvador in the Bahamas, where it landed on October 12, 1492. This day became the official date of the discovery of America.

However, Columbus himself considered these new lands to be East Asia - the environs of China, Japan or India. Subsequently, for quite a long time, these newly discovered territories were called by Europeans the West Indies, literally “Western Indies.” The name was born from the fact that to this “India” it was necessary to sail to the west, as opposed to India and Indonesia proper, which in Europe for a long time were called the East Indies or, literally, “East India”.

It is known that earlier in his appeal to the Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella about the organization of the expedition, Columbus wrote that he intended to sail “to Chipanga, from there to Cathay, and from there to both Indias.” In medieval cartography, “Both Indias” meant modern India and Ethiopia, “Cataem” meant China, and “Chipanga” meant Japan, about which Marco Polo told tales that “the roofs of the houses were covered with pure gold.” Thus, Columbus considered Japan to be his initial goal, and not India at all, as is often stated.

Columbus visited a number of other Bahamian islands, and in December he discovered and explored a section of the northeastern coast of Cuba. December 6, 1492 - the island of Haiti was discovered, which Columbus named Hispaniola because its valleys seemed to him similar to the lands of Castile. Moving along the northern coast, the Spaniards discovered the island of Tortuga.

On the night of December 25, the ship "Santa Maria" sat on a reef, but the people managed to escape. In January 1493, Columbus completed his survey of the northern coast of Haiti and set off on his way back. In February, his two remaining ships were caught in a fierce three-day storm and lost each other. Fortunately, both ships survived and returned to Castile on the same day - March 15.

Columbus led his second expedition of 1493-1496 with the rank of admiral and as viceroy of the newly discovered lands. It consisted of 17 ships with a crew of over one and a half thousand people. In November 1493, Columbus discovered the islands of Dominica and Guadeloupe, turning to the North-West - about 20 more Lesser Antilles, including Antigua and the Virgin Islands. In subsequent expeditions, Columbus discovered the Greater Antilles, the coasts of South and Central America and the Caribbean Sea.

Columbus's discoveries were of world-historical significance, since only after his voyages did American lands appear on the geographical maps of Europe. They also contributed to the revision of the medieval worldview and the emergence of colonial empires.