Christopher Columbus and His Enterprise of the Indies
by Christopher Columbus is possibly the best known explorer of the middle ages. Born in Genoa, Italy in 1451, not much is know of his early life but as a young man he worked as a sailor and then became a sea fairing entrepreneur.
His obsession was to find a western sea route to the rich trading routs of China, India and the fabled gold and Spice Islands of Asia. The only known passage to Southern Asia at the time was via Egypt and the Red Sea, but like many land routes they were closed to Europeans by the Ottoman Empire.
Christopher Columbus. Source
Although most people today are under the impression that medieval sailors thought the world was flat, this is a myth and Columbus and his contemporaries, and many that came before him, knew the world was round, as documented by St Isidore as far back as the seventh century.
However they were not aware of the existence of the Pacific Ocean, causing them to underestimate the size of the planet, which led Columbus to believe the location of East Asia was situated in what is in fact North America.
At first, Columbus had trouble finding backers to fund what he called his, ‘Enterprise of the Indies’. He was rejected by the Portuguese king John II and twice by King Ferdinand and his queen, Isabella of Spain, before they finally agreed to back his expedition in 1492.
On August 3 that year, he set sail with three small ships, the Santa Maria, the Pinta and the Nina. Two months later, they sighted land, most likely Watling Island in the Bahamas and claimed the territory for Spain. Soon after, they sighted Cuba, believing it to be China and by December, they found Hispaniola, believing they had found Japan.
Columbus discovering the New World. Source
This was not the first time that the New World had been discovered as was formally believed by historians but it was the first time since the tenth century, when the Vikings established colonies in Greenland and Newfoundland.
Columbus established a small colony in Hispaniola with thirty-nine men while he and the rest of his crew returned to Spain. They took with them gifts of gold, spices and what he believed to be Indian captives for his patrons. They arrived in March 1493 and he received the honour of being made an ‘admiral of the sea’ and securing a second expedition.
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Post Commentpapaleng
On May 22, 2009 at 9:26 am
a well-written article. Thanks for the history lesson.
Ashish
On June 16, 2009 at 6:51 am
Auron your knowledge of history is superb. I can see lots of your articles are simply superb with helpful insight in the past. Cheers mate and keep up the good work. One day you can write historical encyclopedia.
DA Cournean
On June 16, 2009 at 7:22 am
Great article!
Juancav
On June 16, 2009 at 10:39 am
Note what he did Christopher Columbus, as they continued to conquer territory.Great article.
John McDonnell
On June 16, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Thank you for a much more balanced article.
Mystical Whitewolf
On June 16, 2009 at 4:49 pm
Great article. Well wriiten.
Joe Dorish
On June 17, 2009 at 8:45 am
Good balanced article.
MMV Abad
On June 17, 2009 at 9:32 am
Great interesting facts.
awesley
On June 17, 2009 at 11:14 pm
I enjoyed the article. My only concern was the phrasing “…conducted what some believe to be a campaign of genocide.”
Why the ‘what some some believe’? It should have been stated as strongly as the following sentence, which says “He enslaved many and slaughtered many more.”
Auron Renius
On June 18, 2009 at 3:26 am
Thanks for all the comments guys.
Awesley, there is still some historical debate over the question of Columbus and genocide, despite the overwhelming evidence, some don’t want to let go of the idea of him as a national hero. However, even his apologists cannot deny he took slaves and was responsible for mass murder.
I discuss his part in the genocide of the native people of the New World further in my article ‘Christopher Columbus and the Genocide of the Taino Nation’.
http://www.socyberty.com/History/Christopher-Columbus-and-the-Genocide-of-the-Taino-Nation.789147
Ryan
On November 23, 2009 at 6:45 pm
What historical evidence? I don’t consider myself a Columbus apologist by any stretch. Nor do I subscribe to the apple pie myths about Columbus and the flat earth nonsense, but to me the charges of genocide also seem like an equal if not more prolific stretch.
Every article I read about Columbus being this baby killing Hitler character from the 15th century are big on claims and flimsy on hard evidence. This article even is even off base. I’ve read anywhere from 1000-1500 colonists accompanied Columbus on the second voyage in 17 ships. How can this be when the ships of Columbus’s era where so small? The largest crew estimates I can find are about 40 per ship on the second voyage. Simple math puts this at 680 colonists, and that’s on the high side especially considering the ships also needed to carry supplies, weapons, fresh water, food, etc. Okay so let’s settle on a 1000 men just to liberally round the number up. How could 1000 Spaniards equipped with limited armor and swords and little knowledge of the area cause the extinction of nearly the entire Tiano people as many now claim which was estimated in the millions? Adolf Hitler need a massive modern army, a rail system, a police force, and camps with lethal cunning means (i.e. gas chambers) to carry out genocide on the level that people are accusing Columbus of.
I’m not saying Columbus was a great man, even a good man. He was probably an oppertunist, a capitalist, a man of his times, but not a deliberate blood lusting murderer. Hero or Hitler? The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle.
The Last Ogre
On December 21, 2009 at 10:55 am
Good opinion Ryan. But you are talking to the greatest historian with the most reliable sources.
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