Christopher Columbus

In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue. So goes the old school mnemonic rhyme so I thought to look up the old fella and see just what he actually achieved.

Born in 1451 Columbus was a Genoese navigator whose explorations across the Atlantic ocean, sponsored and funded by Queen Isabella of Spain, led to the knowledge of another hitherto unknown land mass. In fact, of course it was not the great American continent we know today but one of the Caribbean islands. Columbus did not land on any part of the mainland of the Americas until his third voyage in 1498 when he landed on the shores of Venezuela.

The late 15th Century was a critical time with growing national imperialism and economic competition, with developing nations seeking more and more ways to open up new markets and trade routes around the globe. Columbus reckoned that the shortest way to the emerging far east markets was to take the westward route as opposed to the customary easterly overland trans Arabian route, to allow Spain a speedier access to the lucrative spice trade dominated at that time by the Arabs and Italians.

Surprisingly his first voyage in the Santa Maria, accompanied by the Nina and the Pinta only took some 5 weeks after he had stopped to restock in the Canary islands. Land was sighted on October 12th 1492. The land was what we now know as the Bahamas and Columbus named it San Salvador. His exact landfall is unknown and the fact that one of the Bahamas is currently named San Salvador is pure conjecture.

He found the natives very friendly and was soon able to communicate with them. They indicated that they were often subject to raids by other local islanders and that some had been taken as slaves by marauders. Columbus was kind to the natives and left a small garrison to protect them until his return.

Columbus went on to explore the north coast of Cuba and Hispaniola where he had to abandon his beloved Santa Maria as she ran aground and stuck fast. The native people allowed him to leave some of his crew behind where they founded a settlement we know today as Haiti.

Columbus returned to Spain after this his first voyage taking with him several natives to show off back in Spain. In fact some perished on the return trip but, after a forced stopover for bad weather in Lisbon, he eventually reached Spain where news of the new lands rapidly spread throughout Europe.

It is said that this trip brought syphilis to Europe as many of his crew joined the army of King Charles VIII in his invasion of Italy in 1495 resulting in the spread of the disease across Europe with as many as 5 million deaths.

In 1493 Columbus sailed on his second trip from Cadiz to find new territories, this time with 17 ships carrying supplies and about 1,200 men to colonise the region. This time he followed a more southerly course.

And more of that voyage in the next issue…..

Tony Rice-Oxley