Explorer Description: Christopher Columbus - Essay Example

His eldest son and the heir was Diego Columbus (1480-1526) and his second son was Ferdinand (1488-1539). Christopher Columbus worked with his father in his business until his teen years. At the age of 14 Columbus took to the sea. He sailed throughout the Mediterranean. In 1476 the French pirates attacked the ship he was on and he was lucky enough to swim to the shore. He then travelled to Lisbon, Portugal where his brother Bartholomew owned a books and a map store and over there Columbus learned how to read maps and about navigation and map making.

Christopher Columbus was very fascinated with Marco Polo's journey to Asia in 1271. So therefore in 1484, Columbus tried to convince the King of Portugal to pay for his voyage, ship and crew. So that he could make way to Marco Polo's amazing gold mines i.e. Asia. But the King refused and he believed that Columbus would fail. Columbus then tried to convince the King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, it took him a couple of times but he convinced them eventually. And the King and Queen of Spain gave him 3 ships; the Santa Maria, the Pinta and the Nina.

In 1492, Columbus departed from Palos de la Frotera, Spain with the three ships. Him being in command of the Santa Maria, Columbus first sailed to the Canary Islands where he restocked his supplies. And then he started out what was to be a five-week journey across the ocean, after days of being at the sea land was sighted in October in 1492. The island, which was sighted, was called San Salvador (now called The Bahamas). The people he found there were very friendly and peaceful. Columbus on the first voyage also explored the northeast coast of Cuba and also the northern coast of Hispaniola, where the Santa Maria ran aground and had to be abandoned.

When returning to Spain Columbus left 39 men of his crew behind so that they could learn their language and build a small colony and he also kidnapped 10-25 natives to take to Spain out of which only 7-10 survived. As Columbus headed for Spain a storm forced him into Lisbon, Portugal, he was there for a week and then he again set sail for Spain. Upon reaching Spain news spread through out the whole Europe that he had found new lands. Columbus left Cadiz, Spain in 1494 on his second voyage with 17 ships and 1500 colonists and the aim of this journey was to establish colonies for Spain and to find gold and silver.

In November 1493, Columbus returned to Hispaniola (where he had left behind some of his crew members), he found the colony in ruins and his crew dead. Columbus moved a little eastwards to start a new colony, which was a not a good idea and the colony was short-lived. He left Hispaniola in April and travelled to Cuba. He explored Cuba, which he believed was a peninsula and not an island and he believed it to be a part of China. He travelled to Jamaica and from there he retraced his route back to Hispaniola and from there he travelled back to Spain in 1496.

In his second voyage one of his crewmember reported a rape of an indigenous woman. In May 1498, Columbus left Sanlucar, Spain for his third voyage to the New World, with 6 ships. The ships were divided into 2 groups, 3 of them were to go to Hispaniola and the other 3 were to remain with Columbus for his search for China. Columbus reached Trinidad in July. He explored the mainland of South America and the Orinoco River and also the Gulf