Rohn lawrence biography of christopher columbus

Despite his intention to find a shorter route to Asia, Columbus never realized the magnitude of his discovery. His expeditions opened the gateway for European colonization of the Americas, leading to significant cultural exchanges. However, they also initiated a legacy of exploitation and devastation for native populations, as introduced European diseases and aggressive colonization efforts decimated indigenous societies.

Columbus' complicated legacy continues to spark debate and reflection in contemporary society. He was the son of Dominico Colombo and Susanna Fontanarossa, growing up in a household with four siblings: three brothers and a sister. His curiosity about the sea and navigation developed during his teenage years, prompting him to work on various trading voyages across the Mediterranean and Aegean seas.

This early exposure to maritime life would ultimately shape his future pursuits as an explorer. As Columbus matured, he sought to expand his knowledge by studying sailing and mapmaking. In his early twenties, he relocated to Lisbon, Portugal, where he honed his navigational skills and learned about the latest advancements in cartography and navigation from other experienced sailors.

This period was crucial for Columbus, as he became acquainted with the different theories regarding the globe's dimensions and various routes to Asia. By immersing himself in this vibrant maritime culture, Columbus laid the groundwork for his ambitious plans to find a westward route to the East Indies, setting the stage for his historic voyages in later years.

Christopher Columbus began his maritime career as a teenager, participating in several trading voyages across the Mediterranean and Aegean seas. In his twenties, he settled in Lisbon, where he married Filipa Perestrelo and fathered a son, Diego. During this time, Columbus developed his expertise in sailing and navigation, gaining valuable experience that would later inform his transatlantic expeditions.

His adventurous spirit led him to attempt a daring voyage across the Atlantic, motivated by his desire to find a westward route to Asia, which he believed would provide quicker access to the lucrative spice markets of the East. Columbus's quest for a new maritime route faced significant challenges; his first major Atlantic expedition in was nearly fatal when his ship was attacked by French privateers.

After convincing King Ferdinand that one more voyage would bring the abundant riches promised, Columbus went on his fourth and final voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in This time he traveled along the eastern coast of Central America in an unsuccessful search for a route to the Indian Ocean. A storm wrecked one of his ships, stranding the captain and his sailors on the island of Cuba.

On February 29,a lunar eclipse alarmed the natives enough to re-establish trade with the Spaniards. A rescue party finally arrived, sent by the royal governor of Hispaniola in July, and Columbus and his men were taken back to Spain in November In the two remaining years of his life, Columbus struggled to recover his reputation. Although he did regain some of his riches in Mayhis titles were never returned.

Columbus probably died of severe arthritis following an infection on May 20,in Valladolid, Spain. At the time of his death, he still believed he had discovered a shorter route to Asia. There are questions about the location of his burial site. In MayColumbus made headlines as news broke that a team of archaeologists might have found the Santa Maria off the north coast of Haiti.

After a thorough investigation by the U. Columbus has been credited for opening up the Americas to European colonization—as well as blamed for the destruction of the native peoples of the islands he explored. Ultimately, he failed to find that what he set out for: a new route to Asia and the riches it promised. The horse from Europe allowed Native American tribes in the Great Plains of North America to shift from a nomadic to a hunting lifestyle.

Wheat from the Old World fast became a main food source for people in the Americas. Coffee from Africa and sugar cane from Asia became major cash crops for Latin American countries. And foods from the Americas, such as potatoes, tomatoes and corn, became staples for Europeans and helped increase their populations. The Columbian Exchange also brought new diseases to both hemispheres, though the effects were greatest in the Americas.

Smallpox from the Old World killed millions, decimating the Native American populations to mere fractions of their original numbers. This more than any other factor allowed for European domination of the Americas. The overwhelming benefits of the Columbian Exchange went to the Europeans initially and eventually to the rest of the world. The Americas were forever altered, and the once vibrant cultures of the Indigenous civilizations were changed and lost, denying the world any complete understanding of their existence.

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Columbus's early life is obscure, but scholars believe he was born in the Republic of Genoa between 25 August and 31 October His mother was Susanna Fontanarossa. His native language is presumed to have been a Genoese dialect Ligurian as his first language, though Columbus probably never wrote in it. In one of his writings, Columbus says he went to sea at Some modern authors have argued that he was not from Genoa, but from the Aragon region of Spain [ 21 ] or from Portugal.

Rohn lawrence biography of christopher columbus: Lord Byron and his Works

InColumbus began his apprenticeship as business agent for the wealthy SpinolaCenturione, and Di Negro families of Genoa. He probably visited BristolEngland, [ 27 ] and GalwayIreland, [ 28 ] where he may have visited St. Nicholas' Collegiate Church. Columbus based himself in Lisbon from to Inthe Centuriones sent Columbus on a sugar-buying trip to Madeira.

In orColumbus's son Diego was born. Between andColumbus traded along the coasts of West Africareaching the Portuguese trading post of Elmina at the Guinea coast in present-day Ghana. Beatriz, unmarried at the time, gave birth to Columbus's second son, Fernando Columbusin Julynamed for the monarch of Aragon. Columbus recognized the boy as his offspring.

Rohn lawrence biography of christopher columbus: Christopher Columbus: Lost Havens in the

Columbus entrusted his older, legitimate son Diego to take care of Beatriz and pay the pension set aside for her following his death, but Diego was negligent in his duties. Columbus learned Latin, Portuguese, and Castilian. According to historian Edmund Morgan. Columbus was not a scholarly man. Yet he studied these books, made hundreds of marginal notations in them and came out with ideas about the world that were characteristically simple and strong and sometimes wrong Inthe Florentine astronomer Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli suggested to King Afonso V of Portugal that sailing west across the Atlantic would be a quicker way to reach Asia than the route around Africa, but Afonso rejected his proposal.

Columbus supposedly wrote to Toscanelli in and received encouragement, along with a copy of a map the astronomer had sent Afonso implying that a westward route to Asia was possible. Columbus had to wait until for King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain to support his voyage across the Atlantic to find gold, spices, a safer route to the East, and converts to Christianity.

Carol Delaney and other commentators have argued that Columbus was a Christian millennialist and apocalypticist and that these beliefs motivated his quest for Asia in a variety of ways. Columbus often wrote about seeking gold in the log books of his voyages and writes about acquiring it "in such quantity that the sovereigns Despite a popular misconception to the contrary, nearly all educated Westerners of Columbus's time knew that the Earth is sphericala concept that had been understood since antiquity.

However Columbus made several errors in calculating the size of the Earth, the distance the continent extended to the east, and therefore the distance to the west to reach his goal. First, as far back as the 3rd century BC, Eratosthenes had correctly computed the circumference of the Earth by using simple geometry and studying the shadows cast by objects at two remote locations.

These measurements were widely known among scholars, but Ptolemy's use of the smaller, old-fashioned units of distance led Columbus to underestimate the size of the Earth by about a third. Second, three cosmographical parameters determined the bounds of Columbus's enterprise: the distance across the ocean between Europe and Asia, which depended on the extent of the oikumenei.

From Pierre d'Ailly 's Imago MundiColumbus learned of Alfraganus 's estimate that a degree of latitude equal to approximately a degree of longitude along the equator spanned Columbus believed an even higher estimate, leaving a smaller percentage for water. Based on his sources, Columbus estimated a distance of 2, nmi 4, km; 2, mi from the Canary Islands west to Japan; the actual distance is 10, nmi 19, km; 12, mi.

Most European navigators reasonably concluded that a westward voyage from Europe to Asia was unfeasible. The Catholic Monarchs, however, having completed the Reconquistaan expensive war against the Moors in the Iberian Peninsulawere eager to obtain a competitive edge over other European countries in the quest for trade with the Indies.

Columbus's project, though far-fetched, held the promise of such an advantage. Though Columbus was wrong about the number of degrees of longitude that separated Europe from the Far East and about the distance that each degree represented, he did take advantage of the trade windswhich would prove to be the key to his successful navigation of the Atlantic Ocean.

He planned to first sail to the Canary Islands before continuing west with the northeast trade wind. The navigational technique for travel in the Atlantic appears to have been exploited first by the Portuguese, who referred to it as the volta do mar 'turn of the sea'. Through his marriage to his first wife, Felipa Perestrello, Columbus had access to the nautical charts and logs that had belonged to her deceased father, Bartolomeu Perestrellowho had served as a captain in the Portuguese navy under Prince Henry the Navigator.

In the mapmaking shop where he worked with his brother Bartholomew, Columbus also had ample opportunity to hear the stories of old seamen about their voyages to the western seas, [ 77 ] but his knowledge of the Atlantic wind patterns was still imperfect at the time of his first voyage. By sailing due west from the Canary Islands during hurricane seasonskirting the so-called horse latitudes of the mid-Atlantic, he risked being becalmed and running into a tropical cycloneboth of which he avoided by chance.

That meeting also proved unsuccessful, in part because not long afterwards Bartolomeu Dias returned to Portugal with news of his successful rounding of the southern tip of Africa near the Cape of Good Hope. Columbus sought an audience with the monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castilewho had united several kingdoms in the Iberian Peninsula by marrying and now ruled together.

On 1 Maypermission having been granted, Columbus presented his plans to Queen Isabella, who in turn referred it to a committee. The learned men of Spain, like their counterparts in Portugal, replied that Columbus had grossly underestimated the distance to Asia. They pronounced the idea impractical and advised the Catholic Monarchs to pass on the proposed venture.

To keep Columbus from taking his ideas elsewhere, and perhaps to keep their options open, the sovereigns gave him an allowance, totaling about 14, maravedis for the year, or about the annual salary of a sailor. Columbus also dispatched his brother Bartholomew to the court of Henry VII of England to inquire whether the English crown might sponsor his expedition, but he was captured by pirates en route, and only arrived in early A council led by Isabella's confessor, Hernando de Talaverafound Columbus's proposal to reach the Indies implausible.

Columbus had left for France when Ferdinand intervened, [ e ] first sending Talavera and Bishop Diego Deza to appeal to the queen. He would be entitled to one-tenth diezmo of all the revenues from the new lands in perpetuity. He also would have the option of buying one-eighth interest in any commercial venture in the new lands, and receive one-eighth ochavo of the profits.

Induring his third voyage to the Americas, Columbus was arrested and dismissed from his posts. He and his sons, Diego and Fernando, then conducted a lengthy rohn lawrence biography of christopher columbus of court cases against the Castilian crown, known as the pleitos colombinosalleging that the Crown had illegally reneged on its contractual obligations to Columbus and his heirs.

Diego resumed litigation inwhich lasted untiland further disputes initiated by heirs continued until Between andColumbus completed four round-trip voyages between Spain and the Americaseach voyage being sponsored by the Crown of Castile. On his first voyage he reached the Americas, initiating the European exploration and colonization of the continentas well as the Columbian exchange.

His role in history is thus important to the Age of DiscoveryWestern historyand human history writ large.

Rohn lawrence biography of christopher columbus: Years. III. The New World: A

In Columbus's letter on the first voyagepublished following his first return to Spain, he claimed that he had reached Asia, [ 97 ] as previously described by Marco Polo and other Europeans. Over his subsequent voyages, Columbus refused to acknowledge that the lands he visited and claimed for Spain were not part of Asia, in the face of mounting evidence to the contrary.

On the evening of 3 AugustColumbus departed from Palos de la Frontera with three ships. On 7 October, the crew spotted "[i]mmense flocks of birds". At around the following morning, a lookout on the PintaRodrigo de Trianaspotted land. I saw some who had marks of wounds on their bodies and I made signs to them asking what they were; and they showed me how people from other islands nearby came there and tried to take them, and how they defended themselves; and I believed and believe that they come here from tierra firme to take them captive.

They should be good and intelligent servants, for I see that they say very quickly everything that is said to them; and I believe they would become Christians very easily, for it seemed to me that they had no religion. Our Lord pleasing, at the time of my departure I will take six of them from here to Your Highnesses in order that they may learn to speak.

Columbus called the inhabitants of the lands that he visited Los Indios 'Indians'. I could conquer the whole of them with fifty men, and govern them as I pleased. Columbus also explored the northeast coast of Cuba, where he landed on 28 October. The wreck was used as a target for cannon fire to impress the native peoples. Columbus left 39 men, including the interpreter Luis de Torres[ ] [ i ] and founded the settlement of La Navidadin present-day Haiti.

Half of his crew went ashore to say prayers of thanksgiving in a chapel for having survived the storm. But while praying, they were imprisoned by the governor of the island, ostensibly on suspicion of being pirates. After a two-day stand-off, the prisoners were released, and Columbus again set sail for Spain. Another storm forced Columbus into the port at Lisbon.

After spending more than a week in Portugal, Columbus set sail for Spain. Returning to Palos on 15 Marchhe was given a hero's welcome and soon afterward received by Isabella and Ferdinand in Barcelona. Initially, Diego had been recognized for his intelligence and rapid acquisition of Spanish customs, and would serve as a guide and interpreter on each of Columbus's subsequent voyages.

By the second voyage's departure later inDiego was the only Native out of the ten taken to Europe who had not died or become seriously ill as the result of disease; while on this voyage, he played a vital role in the discovery of La Navidad. He subsequently married and had a son, also named Diego, who died of illness in Following Columbus's death, Diego spent the rest of his life confined to Santo Domingoand does not reappear in the historical record following a smallpox epidemic that swept Hispaniola in Columbus's letter on the first voyageprobably dispatched to the Spanish court upon arrival in Lisbon, was instrumental in spreading the news throughout Europe about his voyage.

Almost immediately after his arrival in Spain, printed versions began to appear, and word of his voyage spread rapidly. They were replaced by the Treaty of Tordesillas of He sailed with nearly 1, men, including sailors, soldiers, priests, carpenters, stonemasons, metalworkers, and farmers. On 3 November, they arrived in the Windward Islands ; the first island they encountered was named Dominica by Columbus, but not finding a good harbor there, they anchored off a nearby smaller island, which he named Mariagalantenow a part of Guadeloupe and called Marie-Galante.

Upon landing, Columbus christened the island San Juan Bautista after John the Baptistand remained anchored there for two days from 20 to 21 November, filling the water casks of the ships in his fleet. On 22 November, Columbus returned to Hispaniola to visit La Navidad in modern-day Haitiwhere 39 Spaniards had been left during the first voyage.

Columbus found the fort in ruins. Columbus then established a poorly located and short-lived settlement to the east, La Isabela[ ] in the present-day Dominican Republic. A number of Spanish were killed in retaliation. By the time Columbus returned from exploring Cuba, the four primary leaders of the Arawak people in Hispaniola were gathering for war to try to drive the Spanish from the Island.

Columbus assembled a large number of troops, and joined with his one native ally, chief [Guacanagarix], met for battle. Columbus implemented encomienda[ ] [ ] a Spanish labor system that rewarded conquerors with the labor of conquered non-Christian people. It is also recorded that punishments to both Spaniards and natives included whippings and mutilation cutting noses and ears.

Columbus and the colonists enslaved many of the indigenous people, [ ] including children. In FebruaryColumbus rounded up about 1, Arawaks, some of whom had rebelled, in a great slave raid. About of the strongest were shipped to Spain as slaves, [ ] with about two hundred of those dying en route. In Junethe Spanish crown sent ships and supplies to Hispaniola.

He renewed his effort to get supplies to Columbus, and was working to organize a fleet when he suddenly died in December. On 8 June the crew sighted land somewhere between Lisbon and Cape St. The fleet called at Madeira and the Canary Islands, where it divided in two, with three ships heading for Hispaniola and the other three vessels, commanded by Columbus, sailing south to the Cape Verde Islands and then westward across the Atlantic.

It is probable that this expedition was intended at least partly to confirm rumors of a large continent south of the Caribbean Sea, that is, South America. On 31 July they sighted Trinidad[ ] the most southerly of the Caribbean islands. On 5 August, Columbus sent several small boats ashore on the southern side of the Paria Peninsula in what is now Venezuela, [ ] [ ] near the mouth of the Orinoco river.

On 19 August, Columbus returned to Hispaniola. There he found settlers in rebellion against his rule, and his unfulfilled promises of riches. Columbus had some of the Europeans tried for their disobedience; at least one rebel leader was hanged. In OctoberColumbus sent two ships to Spain, asking the Court of Spain to appoint a royal commissioner to help him govern.

The sovereigns sent Francisco de Bobadillaa relative of Marquesa Beatriz de Bobadillaa patron of Columbus and a close friend of Queen Isabella, [ ] [ ] to investigate the accusations of brutality made against the Admiral. Arriving in Santo Domingo while Columbus was away, Bobadilla was immediately met with complaints about all three Columbus brothers.

Bobadilla reported to Spain that Columbus once punished a man found guilty of stealing corn by having his ears and nose cut off and then selling him into slavery. He claimed that Columbus regularly used torture and mutilation to govern Hispaniola. In early OctoberColumbus and Diego presented themselves to Bobadilla, and were put in chains aboard La Gordathe caravel on which Bobadilla had arrived at Santo Domingo.

Not long after, the king and queen summoned the Columbus brothers to the Alhambra palace in Granada. The sovereigns expressed indignation at the actions of Bobadilla, who was then recalled and ordered to make restitutions of the property he had confiscated from Columbus. New light was shed on the seizure of Columbus and his brother Bartholomew, the Adelantadowith the discovery by archivist Isabel Aguirre of an incomplete copy of the testimonies against them gathered by Francisco de Bobadilla at Santo Domingo in The ships were crewed by men, including his brother Bartholomew as second in command and his son Fernando.

The siege had been lifted by the time they arrived, so the Spaniards stayed only a day and continued on to the Canary Islands. On 15 June, the fleet arrived at Martiniquewhere it lingered for several days. A hurricane was forming, so Columbus continued westward, [ ] hoping to find shelter on Hispaniola. He arrived at Santo Domingo on 29 June, but was denied port, and the new governor Francisco de Bobadilla refused to listen to his warning that a hurricane was approaching.

Instead, while Columbus's ships sheltered at the mouth of the Rio Jaina, the first Spanish treasure fleet sailed into the hurricane. Columbus's ships survived with only minor damage, while 20 of the 30 ships in the governor's fleet were lost along with lives including that of Francisco de Bobadilla. Although a few surviving ships managed to straggle back to Santo Domingo, Agujathe fragile rohn lawrence biography of christopher columbus carrying Columbus's personal belongings and his 4, pesos in gold was the sole vessel to reach Spain.

Here Bartholomew found native merchants and a large canoe. Sailing south along the Nicaraguan coast, he found a channel that led into Almirante Bay in Panama on 5 October. Columbus left for Hispaniola on 16 April. On 10 May he sighted the Cayman Islandsnaming them Las Tortugas after the numerous sea turtles there. For six months Columbus and of his men remained stranded on Jamaica.

Columbus had always claimed that the conversion of non-believers was one reason for his explorations, and he grew increasingly religious in his later years. In his later years, Columbus demanded that the Crown of Castile give him his tenth of all the riches and trade goods yielded by the new lands, as stipulated in the Capitulations of Santa Fe.

After his death, his heirs sued the Crown for a part of the profits from trade with America, as well as other rewards. This led to a protracted series of legal disputes known as the pleitos colombinos 'Columbian lawsuits'. During a violent storm on his first return voyage, Columbus, then 41, had suffered an attack of what was believed at the time to be gout.

In subsequent years, he was plagued with what was thought to be influenza and other fevers, bleeding from the eyes, temporary blindness and prolonged attacks of gout. The attacks increased in duration and severity, sometimes leaving Columbus bedridden for months at a time, and culminated in his death 14 years later. Based on Columbus's lifestyle and the described symptoms, some modern commentators suspect that he suffered from reactive arthritisrather than gout.

InFrank C. Arnett, a medical rohn lawrence biography of christopher columbus, and historian Charles Merrill, published their paper in The American Journal of the Medical Sciences proposing that Columbus had a form of reactive arthritis; Merrill made the case in that same paper that Columbus was the son of Catalans and his mother possibly a member of a prominent converso converted Jew family.

Some historians such as H. He stubbornly continued to make pleas to the Crown to defend his own personal privileges and his family's. Columbus's remains were first buried at the Chapel of Wonders at the Convent of St. Francis, Valladolid[ ] but were then moved to the monastery of La Cartuja in Seville southern Spain by the will of his son Diego.

In aboutthe remains of both Columbus and his son Diego were moved to a cathedral in Colonial Santo Domingoin the present-day Dominican Republic ; Columbus had requested to be buried on the island. These matched corresponding DNA from Columbus's brother, supporting that the two men had the same mother. Inscriptions found the next year read "Last of the remains of the first admiral, Sire Christopher Columbus, discoverer.

Assistant Secretary of State John Eugene Osbornewho suggested in that they travel through the Panama Canal as a part of its opening ceremony. The authorities in Santo Domingo have never allowed these remains to be DNA-tested, so it is unconfirmed whether they are from Columbus's body as well. The figure of Columbus was not ignored in the British colonies during the colonial era: Columbus became a unifying symbol early in the history of the colonies that became the United States when Puritan preachers began to use his life story as a model for a "developing American spirit".

The use of Columbus as a founding figure of New World nations spread rapidly after the American Revolution. This was out of a desire to develop a national history and founding myth with fewer ties to Britain. Columbus's name was given to the newly born Republic of Colombia in the early 19th century, inspired by the political rohn lawrence biography of christopher columbus of "Colombeia" developed by revolutionary Francisco de Mirandawhich was put at the service of the emancipation of continental Hispanic America.

To commemorate the th anniversary of the landing of Columbus, [ ] the World's Fair in Chicago was named the World's Columbian Exposition. Postal Service issued the first U. The policies related to the celebration of the Spanish colonial empire as the vehicle of a nationalist project undertaken in Spain during the Restoration in the late 19th century took form with the commemoration of the 4th centenary on 12 October in which the figure of Columbus was extolled by the Conservative governmenteventually becoming the very same national day.

For the Columbus Quincentenary ina second Columbian issue was released jointly with Italy, Portugal, and Spain. The Boal Mansion Museum, founded incontains a collection of materials concerning later descendants of Columbus and collateral branches of the family. The chapel interior was dismantled and moved from Spain in and re-erected on the Boal estate at BoalsburgPennsylvania.

Inside it are numerous religious paintings and other objects including a reliquary with fragments of wood supposedly from the True Cross. The museum also holds a collection of documents mostly relating to Columbus descendants of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. In many countries of the Americas, as well as Spain and Italy, Columbus Day celebrates the anniversary of Columbus's arrival in the Americas on 12 October The voyages of Columbus are considered a turning point in human history, [ ] marking the beginning of globalization and accompanying demographic, commercial, economic, social, and political changes.

His explorations resulted in permanent contact between the two hemispheres, and the term " pre-Columbian " is used to refer to the cultures of the Americas before the arrival of Columbus and his European successors. In the first century after his endeavors, Columbus's figure largely languished in the backwaters of history, and his reputation was beset by his failures as a colonial administrator.

His legacy was somewhat rescued from oblivion when he began to appear as a character in Italian and Spanish plays and poems from the late 16th century onward. Columbus was subsumed into the Western narrative of colonization and empire building, which invoked notions of translatio imperii and translatio studii to underline who was considered "civilized" and who was not.

The Americanization of the figure of Columbus began in the latter decades of the 18th century, after the revolutionary period of the United States, [ ] elevating the status of his reputation to a national myth, homo americanus. This representation of Columbus's triumph and the Native's recoil is a demonstration of supposed white superiority over savage, naive Natives.