Biography of Christopher Columbus
At that time Colombus was fascinated by the idea that it was possible to sail west from Europe to reach Asia. The Trade of spices and silk with India and China was very profitable at that time so he thought that if he could sail directly from Europe to Asia by going west, he could make a lot of money. But many people thought that the distance to India was very long and Columbus would run out of food supplies just halfway so his idea was rejected by Portugal, Genoa, and Venice Then he went to Spain in 1486 to persuade King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to finance his expedition but at that time they were at war and did not have time or money for exploration after six years in 1492, the war ended and the king and queen agreed to give him the money he needed for his expedition.
On August 3,1492 Christopher Columbus sailed west from Spain with three ships. two months later, on October 12, they reached the Bahamas, landing on an island. Colombus was convinced that he had reached the Indies, a series of islands in southeast Asia. He didn't find very much gold in the Bahamas and so he sailed around exploring other islands. On Christmas the largest ship of Colombus fleet, the Santa Maria, ran aground and had to be abandoned, so he left 39 crewmen on the island, now called Haiti to start a settlement and hopefully find more gold Colombus took some of the native people with him and returned to Spain in March of 1493. Besides the people and little gold, Columbus brought back things like pineapples, turkeys, parrots, and tobacco to prove that there were riches to be found across the ocean. He was rewarded by being named admiral of the ocean sea and was appointed Viceroy and Governor of the new lands.
Word of his discovery spread quickly through Europe, and before the year was over, Columbus set sail leading a second and a much larger expedition with 17 ships and more than 1,000 men, they were ready to begin colonizing the islands Columbus had found. When they arrived, they found that the original settlement had been destroyed and everyone left behind had been killed by the native people.
They established a new settlement and began to search for gold but when little was found Columbus enslaved the native people and forced them to help search for more riches. Oh his third voyage, Columbus finally reached the continental mainland when he landed in modern-day - Venezuela. Unfortunately, conditions at the settlement were very bad and the settlers blamed Columbus.
In 1500 he was arrested and forced to return to Spain. He was eventually freed but lost his titles and much of his money. In 1502 he made a fourth and fourth voyage to the new world, still searching for a passage to India or China. He returned to Spain in 1504, and on May 20th, 1506, at the age of 54, Christopher Columbus died, probably still believing that he had successfully sailed to Asia. So that concludes my short speech on Christopher's Columbus life.
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