Christopher Columbus ( Italian explorer, colonizer, and navigator.)

Biography:

Christopher Columbus (1451–1506) was an        Italian               explorer,                  colonizer,    and navigator.     He   is      remembered    as             the principal              European          discoverer  of  the Americas      and  he            helped           bring          the Americas   to  the forefront of the western consciousness.    His                 discoveries      and travels  laid the      framework   for   the    later European colonisation of Latin and North America.

“You can      never     cross the  ocean  unless you  have the courage to lose sight  of the shore.”

Christopher Columbus (1451–1506)

christopher                                    columbusChristopher Columbus     was   born in  the      Republic    of Genoa,     in   what is       today     Northwestern Italy. His   father was a  middle-class wool merchant.   Columbus  learnt   to  sail  from an           early     age            and later worked      as    a business  agent, travelling around Europe to   England,     Ireland  and     later     along the West   coast            of         Africa.    He was     not    a scholar,                 but     was            an             enthusiastic self-educated man,  who read extensively on   astronomy,   science     and     navigation. He    also            became    fluent                               in    Latin, Portuguese and Spanish.

Christopher Columbus was  a   believer    in the spherical   nature     of the world  (some Christians  still  held     the           view       that   the world      was   flat).  An                      ambitious  man, Christopher        Columbus    hoped    to  find a Western trade route to the lucrative spice markets in Asia. Rather than sailing East, he hoped that   sailing  west would lead to countries like Japan and China.

To     gain          the necessary         funding            and support  for his  journeys,   he  approached the Catholic Monarchs   of Spain.  As  part of   his   offer, he    said  that he  hoped  to be able    to        spread Christianity     to  ‘heathen lands’ in the east. The Spanish monarchs agreed     to    fund  Columbus,   partly on the missionary    efforts,  but           also hoping    to gain  an upper hand  in the  lucrative  trade markets.

Voyages to the Americas

Columbus’ first voyage was completed in 1492.   He  had  intended to sail    to   Japan, but ended up in   the     Bahamas, which   he named San Salvador.

Columbus made  a  total  of four journeys, where      he  sailed   extensively  around   the Caribbean islands of Cuba, Jamaica,   the Bahamas  and     also to   the       mainland,   to places such as Panama.

Columbus was  not      the    first       person     to reach        America.           Previous        successful voyages  included   a Norse expedition led by Leif Ericson. However, Columbus   was the           first            to              travel   to     America     and establish     permanent                                settlements. Columbus’ voyages and reports, over the next   400  years encouraged all the  major European powers  to            seek   to       colonise parts of America.

As                 part    of         the           deal,   the          Spanish monarchy     appointed   Columbus  Viceroy and Governor    of   the  Indies    in the island of           Hispaniola.       He   also    delegated   the governorship to his brothers. However, in 1500,      on     the       orders               of    the  Spanish monarchy, Columbus  was    arrested     and placed in chains.    There were allegations of      incompetence,     misrule   and barbaric practices in  the governorship of  the   new colonies.      After    several      weeks        in        jail, Columbus  and      his           brothers                          were released,  but Columbus was  not allowed to be governor of Hispaniola anymore.

Towards   the  end  of    his  life,         Columbus became                   increasingly           religious.             In particular,  he   became            fascinated   with Biblical    prophecies   and        wrote    his own ‘Book of Prophecies’ (1505).

Columbus  died   in   1506, aged 54 from    a heart attack   related  to   reactive arthritis. Undoubtedly,        the         rigours   of      travelling across          the                seas                    weighed         upon Columbus’ health. Towards the end of his life, he  was   frequently  in   pain   from       his journeys.

Columbus        is        venerated                   by              many European      Americans     as    the     man who helped      put      America                        on        the      map. Columbus Day is observed on 12 October in      Spain                and             across the  Americas. Others     take           a more     critical         view         of Columbus,     arguing     that    his “discovery” was not really a discovery if the land was already     populated and  that      through  his actions                        the                ensuing                  European colonisations led          to      the    mistreatment and         genocide   of   the      native     American people who already lived there.