More Information on Columbus

Christopher Columbus sailed from Palos, Spain on August 3, 1492 reaching Watling Island, in the Bahamas on October 12, Cuba on October 18 and Santo Domingo/Haiti on December 6. There are many myths about Columbus:

Myth #1: Columbus set out to prove the earth was round. Reality: Actually, by the end of the 1400s, most people in Europe knew that the earth was not flat. What was in question was the size of the earth - its circumference. Even Columbus underestimated the size of the earth by one-fourth.

Myth #2: Queen Isabella sold the crown jewels to pay for Columbus' voyage. Reality: The queen may have considered this, but her advisors told her that the best way to get money was to make the city of Palos pay back a debt to the crown by providing two of the ships. The Italians were also coerced into providing financial backing.

Myth #3: The crews of Columbus' three ships were made up of criminals and n'er do wells. Reality: Actually, Columbus' crews were composed of seasoned sailors from the towns of Palos and Moguer, Spain. In case Columbus had trouble putting together a crew, the crown offered amnesty to criminals. But only four criminals were on board; one a convicted murderer (he killed a man in a quarrel); the other three were accused of freeing him from prison.

Myth #4: The first voyage from Spain to the New World was perilous. There was bad weather and a lack of food. Several sailors died on the way. Reality: In fact, no one died on the maiden voyage. There was enough food aboard for one year. The weather was almost ideal, and no storms were encountered. However, on the return voyage, a major hurricane almost destroyed the two remaining ships.

Myth #5: Columbus died a pauper, in chains, in a Spanish prison. Reality: Despite the fact that the Spanish crown retracted some of the privileges promised to Columbus, he was a relatively rich man at the time of his death. Although he returned to Spain in chains in 1500 after his third voyage, the King and Queen apologized for the misunderstanding and had them removed. Columbus died quietly at the age of 55 in Vallodolid, Spain, on May 20, 1506, in an apartment, attended by family and friends. There is a controversy over his burial place. The best evidence indicates that he is buried in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic. The cathedral in Seville, Spain claims to house his grave, but probably holds the remains of his son, Diego.

It is a myth to say that Columbus is a man about whom little is known. In fact, we know more about Columbus' early years than we do about those of George Washington. Columbus was born between August 25 and October 31, 1451 in Genoa, Italy. His father was a member of the wool guild (lana), involved in the business of buying raw wool, having it manufactured into cloth, and then marketing it throughout the European commercial world. Other than farming, more people made their living in the wool trade in 15th century Europe than any other business. (Construction was a distant third). The lana was the most powerful industrial group in any Italian city-state, and controlled the political offices and the commercial life of the city. The members of the lana were not weavers, but rather commercial entrepreneurs. As Columbus came of age, he, too, entered this business, traveling to the Atlantic ports of Portugal, England, the Madeira Islands, and northern Spain. By 1476, he had been at sea for most of his young life, and had acquired enough status and resources to be eligible for a good marriage. In 1485, he made such a marriage in Portugal, with dona Felipa Monis de Perestrello, daughter of the captain of an island in the Madeiras. Through this marriage Columbus acquired some of the rights of Portuguese citizenship, including the right to engage in Portugals' new trade in merchandise and slaves with trading posts in Africa. Columbus' years of experience in the wool trade and in the Portuguese trade with Africa shaped his ambitions.

There were many reasons why Columbus' voyages, which encountered the Americas, were inevitable. These reasons are only now being fully understood. Europe, just emerging from the Dark Ages into the Renaissance, had to do something revolutionary, or regress. Opportunities in Spain were few; and the economy was dying. After the discovery of the New World, the natural resources of the Western Hemisphere revived the economy of Europe, as well as creating a class consciousness. They also started a new mentality of aggressive capitalism and trade. During the 1400s, the population was on the rise in Europe for the first time since the days of Ancient Rome. Disease, especially the Black Plague, and poor nutrition had kept the population constant (at roughly 10 million) in Europe for nearly 1,000 years.

By 1492 it was known that spices, textiles, manufactured goods, inventions could be found in the East. The Arabic countries and China were far in advance of Europe technologically in the 1400s. The "silicon valleys" and "information superhighways," the labor-saving devices and weapons of destruction were better known in the East than in the West. Science was much further advanced in the East. At one time, an adventurous man named Marco Polo set out for the East by an overland route. But by 1492 a new search for a route to the East was in progress, due to the fact that weather patterns were changing drastically in the 1400s. The weather grew colder, causing glaciers and the polar ice caps to advance. This closed off the old northern sea route known by the Scandinavians, and isolated their colonies in Greenland and Vineland (Nova Scotia), which were soon abandoned. Grapes used to be grown and pressed into wine in England, but as the colder 1400s came on, the grape arbors no longer thrived in the new climate and beer became the drink of choice. In the Middle East, weather changes dried up the deserts, and places which had been watering holes during the time of Marco Polo were no longer usable. The overland route to Asia was closed, and a new one had to be found. And so Portuguese navigators were cautiously feeling their way south around the coast of Africa, headed for India and China.

But Columbus had a bolder plan. Since the world was round, why not sail west to end up in the East? It would mean sailing for long distances by dead reckoning, without the comfort of a coastline and with no familiar landmarks to guide them. It was an enormous gamble, but if it worked, it would bring untold riches to Spain, and thus to Columbus. He first peddled this plan to the Portuguese, who weren't interested. It is thought that Columbus first sailed for Portugal, traveling to the Canary Islands and down the coast of Africa. After eight years of trying to sell his plan, Columbus switched loyalties to the banner of Spain.

Christopher Columbus sailed from Palos, Spain, a half-hour before sunrise on August 3, 1492. His three ships, the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria, carried 90 men. There were no priests along on the first voyage. The ships were tiny by modern standards; no larger than a tennis court, and less than 30 feet wide. The Santa Maria carried 40 men, the Pinta 26, the Nina 24. Only the Nina and Pinta returned to Spain. The crew was composed primarily of sailors from the Spanish port of Palos, recruited by the influential Pinzon brothers. Martin Alonzo Pinzon served as captain of the Pinta, with his brother Francisco as the ship's master. Another brother, Vincente, was captain of the Nina. Four brothers from the Nino family also signed on for the voyage. Juan Nino was the owner and master of the Nina. Four of the crewmen were not Spanish; one was Venetian, another Genoese, one was Portuguese and another Calabrian. Also aboard was Luis de Torres, a converted Jew who spoke Hebrew and Arabic. It was expected that he could interpret talks with the Great Khan of China. Rodrigo de Escobedo was secretary of the fleet and expected to correspond with royalty they met. Rodrigo Sanchez de Segovia was aboard to watch expenditures and make sure the crown got its share of gold and jewels. Each ship had a surgeon. The year's worth of food included biscuits, beans, peas, dried fish, salt pork, live pigs, hens, almonds, figs and cheese.

As the ships left Palos on their shakedown cruise, they headed for the Canary Islands, 600 miles away. They took on provisions in the Canaries, and fixed the rudder on the Pinta. Then on September 6, 1492, they sailed into the unknown, but, they felt certain, toward China and Japan. The long sea watch began. Time was measured by the swing of the sun as it arced overhead, by the stars at night, and by the turn of the hourglass each half hour by the deck boy. Eight turns of the glass made up a "watch" for a sailor. The pious Columbus prayed using a book of hours in his cabin on the Santa Maria. On deck, the crew faithfully shared the ancient prayers: tierce at mid-morning, vespers in the afternoon, the singing of "Salve Regina" at sunset, and the compline at the close of the day.

At sunset on September 25, an excited sailor shouted "Land!" Others in the rigging said that they saw it, too. The crews sang the "Gloria" in thanksgiving, and kept nervous watch all night. The next morning they concluded that they had been wrong. The winds started to fade, and some of the crew started to become anxious. It was a long time since they had seen land, in terms of seamanship in the 15th century.

On October 1, the wind picked up, and the flotilla began to move smartly, making 142 nautical miles a day for five days. By October 10, there was still no sight of land, just a vast ocean. The captains of the individual vessels gathered on the Santa Maria to ask Columbus to turn back. Columbus compromised with the officers; they would sail on for three more days, and if no land was sighted, they would reverse course and return to Spain. At 2 a.m. on October 12, 1492, the lookout on the Pinta sighted land, "a white sand cliff gleaming in the moonlight on the western horizon." When daylight came, they edged closer to the island. Small boats were lowered from the three caravels, as natives gathered on the beach, naked and shy. Columbus and his officers came ashore, planting the royal flag of Ferdinand and Isabella, and gave thanks to God. They were on the island of Guanahani, but beginning a practice which would last for 500 years, they promptly ignored the name the islanders called their home and named the island San Salvador, then knelt in prayers of thanks to a God the islanders knew nothing about. Columbus believed that he had landed on an island off the coast of China, and called the people "Indios", or Indians. It is generally believed by scholars that Columbus landed on San Salvador (now called Watling Island), in what are now the Bahamas on October 12, although even this is disputed; the first landing may have been at Samana Cay, 65 miles south, or at one of nine other sites. Columbus traveled to Cuba on October 18; and on to Santo Domingo/Haiti by December 6. He never saw the mainland of North America.

On December 24, Christmas Eve, the sleepy helmsman gave the tiller of the flagship, the Santa Maria, to the ship's boy. The crew was exhausted after two nights of entertaining and trading with the local Taino and Arawak Indians. The boy accidentally ran the ship aground on a coral reef off the north coast of Haiti. Attempts to free the Santa Maria failed, the planking opened, and the Admiral abandoned her for the Nina. Local Indians helped Columbus unload supplies, dismantle the ship's timbers and boards, and carry them to the Indian village, where the chief gave Columbus two of his biggest and best houses. The tiny settlement was named La Navidad on December 26, 1492. Thirty nine crewmen were left to maintain this, the first Spanish settlement in the New World.