Childhood

Christopher Columbus was born in 1451 in Genoa, Italy. He was the eldest of five children in the family. When he was a child, he helped his father as a weaver, and he always liked the sea. He had little education, but he knew much about the seas, but he did teach himself to read Latin, and to write Castilian.

Highlights of Columbus between 1476 and 1492:

1476- Swims ashore from a shipwreck, a result of a battle off the shore of Portugal. Joins his brother, Bartholomew, who was a cartographer, in Lisbon.

1477-1482 He made merchant voyages as far as Iceland and Guinea.

1484- Columbus conceives of “The Enterprise of the Indies.” Fails to convince King John of Portugal of Spain to back the plan.

1485- Columbus moves to Spain. Ferdinand and Isabela capture Granada, the last Moorish city in Spain.

First Voyage

Christopher Columbus took the large Santa Maria on his expedition, and the two smaller ships, the Nina and the Pinta. On August 3rd, 1492, the fleet took off from Palos de la Frontera, Spain. The crew consisted of about ninety men. The Pinta was damaged three days from Spain, so they stopped at the Canary Islands for repair. They took off once more on September 6th.

On October 12th, they landed on one of the islands of the Bahamas in the early morning. He claimed it for Spain and named it San Salvador, meaning “Holy Spirit”. He claimed other places as well, and he believed he was in Asian waters the entire time.

In December, the Santa Maria was wrecked off the coast of Hispaniola. Columbus then took control of the Nina and sailed back to Spain by March of the next year.

Second Voyage

Columbus quickly planned another expedition, this time with seventeen vessels and 1500 men. He left Spain in September of 1493 and landed on many islands. On November 27th, Columbus establish a colony, Isabella, after the wreckage of the fort, La Navidad. He continued his voyage in 1494, landing in Cuba, and believing it was part of the Asian mainland.

When Columbus returned to the colony on September 28th, there was a dissension, and many colonists returned to Spain. A major problem was a hostility of the islanders, and he defeated them in March of 1495. He then sent many of them to Spain to be sold as slaves, but had to return because of Queen Isabella’s objection.

Highlights of the Third and Fourth Voyages

May 30, 1498- Columbus set sail on third voyage

May, 1499- Columbus replaced by Fransisco de Bobadilla for governor.

August 13, 1500- Bobadilla arrived and arrested Columbus and his brother, Bartholemew. Monarchs of Spain pardoned Columbus and his brother, and Bobadilla was replaced by Nicolas de Ovando.

May, 1502- Set out for fourth voyage.

January, 1503- Landed in Panama, and established a settlement, but soon led to abandonment because of mutiny in the crew. The expedition was reduced to two caravels, and they tried to return to Espanola.

June 23, 1503- Rotten ships foundered in Jamaica. Columbus set out for help, and did not come until a year later.

June 18, 1504- Sailed for Santo Domingo, and eventually Spain.

November 7- Arrived back at Spain

Death

Columbus died on May 20, 1506 in Valladolid. His remains were moved to many places, but finally settled in Seville, but some believe they were not his.