How Christopher Columbus Found the New World | Discovery of America
Summary
TLDRThe video script narrates the life and voyages of Christopher Columbus, a young Genoese weaver's son who became a renowned mariner. It details his early years at sea, his move to Lisbon, and his studies in navigation and cartography. Columbus sought to find a new route to the East Indies, which led to his historic 1492 expedition, funded by the Spanish monarchy. Despite his underestimation of the Earth's size, Columbus embarked on a journey that would change the course of history, mistakenly believing he had reached the Indies when he actually landed in the Bahamas. His voyages had profound and lasting effects on the world, with Columbus remaining a controversial figure due to the impact of his explorations on indigenous populations. The video also promotes a book on Columbus and offers a free e-book on mythology.
Takeaways
- 🌊 The port city of Genoa was a significant marine republic in the 14th century, with ships sailing throughout the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.
- 🚢 Christopher Columbus, originally a wool weaver's son, first went to sea at the age of ten and became a ship's Captain by twenty.
- 📚 In Lisbon, Columbus studied sea charts, geometry, and cartography, and he and his brother Bartholomew became skilled at drawing sea maps.
- 🔍 The closure of the Silk Road by the Ottoman Turks led Europeans to seek alternative routes to the East, sparking the Age of Exploration.
- 🌐 Despite knowing the Earth was round since the 3rd century BCE, Columbus underestimated the size of the Earth, leading to his belief in a shorter route to the Indies.
- 👑 Columbus petitioned the king and queen of Portugal and later Queen Isabella of Spain to finance his voyage, promising a new trade route to the Indies and China.
- 💼 Columbus's proposal was initially deemed infeasible, but after the Portuguese attempt to reach India, Spain became interested in an alternative sea route to the Indies.
- 🚢 In 1492, Columbus set sail with three ships, the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria, marking the beginning of a journey that would change the world.
- 🌟 Columbus used the North Star, the astrolabe, and ancient scholars' estimations to navigate, but he was mistaken about the distance to the Indies.
- 🗺 Columbus's logs, kept in two versions, were manipulated to underestimate the distance traveled to prevent sailor mutiny.
- 🌿 Upon reaching land on October 11, 1492, Columbus claimed the land for Spain, mistakenly believing he had reached the Indies.
- 🔥 Columbus's legacy is controversial due to the far-reaching and often devastating effects his voyages had on the indigenous populations of the Americas.
Q & A
What was the significance of the port city of Genoa during the 14th century?
-Genoa was a powerful marine republic in the 14th century, with its ships sailing throughout the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, playing a significant role in trade and exploration.
Who was Cristoforo Columbo, and how did he start his maritime career?
-Cristoforo Columbo, better known as Christopher Columbus, was the son of a wool weaver who first went to sea at the age of ten in 1461. By twenty, he was employed as a ship's captain.
What major shift in trade routes led Europeans to seek an alternative to the Silk Road?
-The closure of the Silk Road by the Ottoman Turks, who boycotted trade with China and closed many routes, led Europeans to desperately seek an alternative way to reach the East.
Why did Columbus initially approach the king and queen of Portugal for financing his voyage?
-Columbus approached the Portuguese monarchy to finance his voyage to discover a new trade route to the Indies and China, as he saw it as a way to achieve notoriety and riches.
What was the significance of Bartholomew Dias's journey in 1488?
-Bartholomew Dias's journey to India around Africa and into the Indian Ocean was significant because it proved an alternative sea route to the East, although it was later deemed impractical.
Why did Columbus decide to take his proposal to Spain after being rejected by Portugal?
-Columbus took his proposal to Spain because he was undeterred by the rejection and saw an opportunity after hearing that Spain was worried about Portugal being the first to reach the Indies by sea.
What were Columbus's demands before embarking on his voyage?
-Columbus demanded one-tenth of the profits from any discoveries he made, as well as the titles of 'Admiral of the Ocean Sea' and 'High Admiral of Castile.'
What were some of the challenges Columbus faced during his first voyage?
-Challenges included the lack of physical points of reference for position or traveling speed, the need to use an hourglass to mark time, and managing the crew's fear and morale during the long journey.
How did Columbus and his crew misinterpret the land they first encountered?
-Columbus and his crew initially mistook the native inhabitants of the island they first landed on as Indians, not realizing they had landed on an island in the Bahamas, not the East Indies.
What was Columbus's approach to dealing with the indigenous people he encountered?
-Columbus's approach was to subjugate and enslave the indigenous people, viewing them as potential servants and using force to control them.
How did Columbus's legacy become controversial, and what were the far-reaching effects of his travels?
-Columbus's legacy is controversial due to the devastating impact of his travels on indigenous populations, including enslavement, disease, and the disruption of their societies, which had long-lasting effects on the Americas.
Outlines
🚢 The Rise of Genoa and Columbus's Early Life
This paragraph introduces the maritime republic of Genoa in the 14th century, highlighting its powerful position with ships navigating the Mediterranean and Black Sea. It tells the story of Christopher Columbus, originally a wool weaver's son, who was drawn to the sea from a young age. By the age of ten, Columbus had already gone to sea, and by twenty, he was a ship's captain. The paragraph also discusses the closure of the Silk Road by the Ottoman Turks, which led to a desperate European search for new trade routes to the East. Columbus, inspired by Marco Polo and skilled in navigation, sought royal backing for a westward voyage to find a new route to the Indies and China, which was initially denied by Portugal but later considered by Spain.
🌟 Columbus's First Voyage and the Discovery of the New World
The second paragraph details Columbus's first voyage after securing support from Queen Isabella of Spain. With three ships—the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria—and a diverse crew, Columbus embarked on a journey into the unknown on August 3, 1492. The narrative describes the navigational challenges Columbus faced at sea, his reliance on ancient scholars' estimates of the Earth's size, and the critical mistake in calculating the distance to the Indies. It also recounts the crew's morale management, the false sighting of land, and the eventual sighting of land on October 12, 1492. Columbus claimed the land for Spain and interacted with the native Taino, Lucayan, and Arawak tribes, mistakenly believing he had reached the East Indies. The paragraph ends with Columbus's return to Spain with spices, gold, and natives.
⚓️ Columbus's Subsequent Voyages and Legacy
The final paragraph discusses the aftermath of Columbus's first voyage, including his fall from favor due to not bringing sufficient riches or a new route to India. It outlines subsequent expeditions, including one in 1498 where Columbus reached the South American mainland. Despite never realizing the full extent of the Americas, Columbus is credited with bringing the continent to the attention of the Western world. The paragraph touches on the explorer's controversial legacy and the significant, long-term effects of his travels. It concludes with a promotion of a book about Columbus's life and voyages, and an invitation for viewers to like and subscribe for more content.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Genoa
💡Silk Road
💡Bartholomew Dias
💡Age of Exploration
💡Christopher Columbus
💡Queen Isabella
💡Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria
💡Indies
💡Taino, Lucayan, and Arawak tribes
💡Hispaniola
💡Controversial Legacy
Highlights
Genoa was a powerful marine republic in the 14th century with ships sailing throughout the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.
Christopher Columbus first went to sea in 1461 at the age of ten and became a ship's Captain by twenty.
Columbus moved to Lisbon in 1477, married, and began studying sea charts, geometry, and cartography.
The Silk Road was closed off by the Ottoman Turks, prompting Europeans to seek alternative trade routes to the East.
Bartholomew Dias sailed to India around Africa in 1488, but the journey was impractical, leading to discussions of a westward journey.
People knew the Earth was round since the 3rd century BCE, and the Age of Exploration was underway.
Columbus petitioned the king and queen of Portugal to finance a voyage to discover a new trade route to the Indies and China.
Columbus was known for an extraordinary expedition to Iceland, known then as Thule.
King John II of Portugal showed interest in Columbus's proposal but did not find it feasible.
Queen Isabella of Spain became interested in Columbus's intended quest after hearing of Bartholomew Dias's attempt.
Columbus demanded one-tenth of the profits from any discoveries, as well as the titles of 'Admiral of the Ocean Sea' and 'High Admiral of Castile'.
Columbus set sail with three ships - the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria - on August 3, 1492.
Columbus underestimated the distance traveled to his crew to dispel fear, reporting only two and a half leagues when they had sailed forty-eight.
Columbus and his crew first sighted land on October 12, 1492, mistaking it for an island in the Bahamas.
Columbus claimed the land for Spain and encountered the Taino, Lucayan, and Arawak tribes.
Columbus conducted a fruitless search for riches and left behind a makeshift colony on Hispaniola.
Columbus's first voyage brought back spices, gold, and natives, but he fell out of favor for not finding enough riches or a new route to India.
In 1498, Columbus reached the South American mainland, still believing he would find passage to India.
Columbus realized he had discovered a new continent after exploring the Orinoco River.
Columbus's legacy is controversial, with his travels having far-reaching and unexpected effects on the world.
Transcripts
This video is brought to you by Captivating History.
During the 14th century, the port city of Genoa was a powerful marine republic, with ships sailing
throughout the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. It is easy to imagine the intrigue of the boats and
their crews, speaking foreign tongues and telling tales of far-off lands. Many boys, lured by the
call of the sea, sought employment as cabin boys, perhaps in a determined effort to see the world
beyond that of their parents. One such boy was a young wool weavers son called Cristoforo Columbo,
who we would come to know as Christopher Columbus. According to his own writings, Columbus first went
to sea in 1461 at the age of ten. By the time he was twenty, he was employed as a ship's Captain.
In 1477, he moved to Lisbon, married, and began studying sea charts, geometry, and cartography.
Both himself and one of his brothers – Bartholomew – became skilled at drawing maps of the sea.
Columbus continued to Captain many ships and piloted a fleet of ten ships to Guinea in 1481.
Trade was booming during the 14th century. But the Silk Road – in operation for over 1,500
years – had been closed off by the Ottoman Turks. The Silk Road was a network of paths
that interconnected many different civilizations in the East and West. It had flourished during
the reign of the Mongols, as – despite their fearsome reputation – they built their economy
on trade. But, when the Byzantine Empire fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, travel along the Silk
Road became much more treacherous. Commerce became much more difficult as the Ottoman
Turks boycotted trade with China and closed many routes. It was for these reasons that
Europeans were desperate to find an alternative way to reach the east. In 1488, Bartholomew Dias
sailed to India around Africa and into the Indian Ocean. However, this journey proved impractical,
and discussions within the maritime community soon turned to talk of a journey west.
Contrary to popular myth, people had known the Earth was round since the 3rd century BCE
when Hellenistic astronomers in modern-day Greece calculated the Earth's circumference.
The Age of Exploration was well underway, and Europeans had already started claiming land
previously undiscovered by the west. Columbus saw a way of achieving notoriety and riches
beyond his station when he petitioned the king and queen of Portugal to finance a voyage
designed to discover a new trade route to the Indies and China.
Columbus had already achieved infamy with his tales of his navigational expertise and
seafaring experiences. He was known for an extraordinary expedition to Iceland,
known then as Thule, but many historians now think this claim was more clever marketing than fact.
Columbus had been inspired by tales of the famous explorer Marco Polo and dreamt of exploring the
unknown. In 1484, Columbus was granted an audience with King John II of Portugal. Despite interest
from the king, the king's advisors assessed that the trip Columbus proposed would not be feasible.
Undeterred, Columbus decided to take his proposal to Spain. King Ferdinand was away defending
southern Spain from Muslim invaders, but Queen Isabella heard of Columbus's intended quest and
became interested. After hearing of Bartholomew Dias's attempt to reach India around the Cape
of Good Hope, Spain was worried that Portugal would be the first to get to the Indies by sea.
However, both the queen's confessor and the king were against financing Columbus's voyage.
Columbus decided to continue to France looking for financial backing, but on the way, his story
caught the attention of a Prior called Juan Perez. Perez was entranced by Columbus's ideas
and saw it as a loss for Spain should they go to France. Both Perez and an expert in cosmography
and astronomy – Doctor Garcia Hernandez – petitioned the queen on Columbus's behalf,
and in 1492 Queen Isabella sent word that Columbus should return to the Spanish court.
Fresh from a successful military campaign, the king and queen accepted Columbus's proposal,
despite his outrageous demands. Columbus wanted this voyage to be his making and insisted on
one-tenth of the profits from any discoveries he made, as well as the titles of "Admiral of the
Ocean Sea" and "High Admiral of Castile." Columbus was supplied with money, three
ships - the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria – and began to employ a crew. As well as seamen,
Columbus recruited two barbers, a physician, a secretary, a silversmith, an assayer, and an
interpreter. With his crew assembled and ships in good shape, the small fleet set sail into the
unknown on August 3, 1492. Little did they know, they were about to change the shape of the world
and that the repercussions of this voyage would echo throughout history in the centuries to come.
Once at sea, there were no physical points of reference for position or traveling speed.
Knowing the ocean's vastness and using only an hourglass to mark the time,
Columbus had a monumental task ahead of him. At night, he could use the North Star and the
Greek invention of the astrolabe to roughly measure the distance they had traveled.
Historians do not know if Columbus referred to any maps or projections during his voyage,
but he was versed in many ancient astronomer's speculations about the size of the Earth,
in particular the Greeks, the Romans, and the Arabs. Columbus had used these famous scholars'
estimates to argue that the journey to the Indies across the Atlantic was perfectly feasible.
However, he had not considered that the Arab miles were longer than Roman miles and wrongfully
assumed that the Arab estimations agreed with the smaller of the Greek and Roman estimations.
If he had realized his error, he might have known that the land he encountered
was actually a new continent, not the East Indies. Although Columbus's original logs have been lost,
copies were made, and records have survived, giving us detailed information about this infamous
voyage. A Dominican historian, called Bartolome de las Casas, wrote in 1530 that Columbus kept
two logs of distance. The one he shared with his crew underestimated the distance they had
traveled to dispel the sailor's fear once they had lost sight of land. Columbus reported that
many of the men were trepidatious of being so far into the ocean, especially once they could
only see water surrounding them. Just over a month into the voyage, Columbus informed his crew that
they had only traveled two and a half leagues when, in actuality, they had sailed forty-eight.
Towards the end of September, many men thought their journey was almost over.
After spotting several birds and tufts of grass, Columbus had to explain to the hopeful men
that these were signs they were near uncharted islands rather than the mainland.
After more than a month at sea, even Columbus started to feel concerned.
Only a slight wind was blowing, and huge waves made progress very slow. Luckily for Columbus,
the wind picked up as the crew was on the point of wishing to return to Spain.
When Columbus determined they were now 2,200 miles west of the Canary Islands,
he must have been both astonished and worried, as he had estimated that the entire journey would be
no more than 1,700 miles. Feeling they must be nearing the end of their voyage, everyone on
board the ships celebrated when the cry of "Land Ahoy!" rang out on September 25. Jubilation soon
turned to dismay when it was discovered they had been looking at a large cloudbank on the horizon.
By early October, tensions were rising. Many of the crew thought they had overshot Japan, probably
spurred on by the constant sightings of sandpipers that must have come from nearby islands.
Columbus followed his instincts and continued westward, unperturbed by the thought that they had
missed land. On October 7, the crew of the Pinta saw a large flock of birds flying west/southwest.
Knowing that Portuguese sailors often find land by following flocks of birds, Columbus
ordered the ships to change course and headed in the direction in which the birds were flying.
More birds were seen, and hopes were high that they had finally reached their goal.
Unfortunately, they were again met with nothing but sea. October 10 was tense,
with talk of mutiny and a retreat back to Spain, but things changed on the night of October 11.
A cane and an iron object were seen floating in the sea, along with a land plant and a small
board. As the sailors roused each other from their sleep, they saw a small light in the distance and
were convinced it was the flickering of a candle. At two in the morning, spurred on by the promise
of a silk doublet and an annual income to whomever first saw land, a sailor called Rodrigo de Triana
looked out into the night and shouted, "Land Ahoy!" For the first time in two months, the
adventurous were actually looking at solid land. Although the men were confident that they
had finally reached the Indies, they had instead landed on an island in the Bahamas.
As soon as they landed on the morning of October 11, Columbus claimed the land in the name of the
Spanish king and queen. The men immediately ran into the native inhabitants of the island,
who they mistook to be Indian, but were members of the Taino, Lucayan, and Arawak tribes.
Despite popular belief, Columbus did not set foot on American soil during this first voyage
and had not yet realized that he had failed to discover a new route to the East Indies.
He conducted a fruitless search for the riches he had promised to his benefactors,
and on his return to Spain, Columbus left behind a make-shift colony on an Island he
dubbed Hispaniola. Disturbingly, he recorded his impressions of the indigenous people as
"They would make fine servants...with fifty men we could subjugate them all..."
Returning from his first voyage, he brought spices, gold, and some natives back with him.
After six months, he was able to return to the Americas, finding his settlement destroyed. He
then enslaved hundreds of indigenous peoples and continued to search for gold and riches with
which to impress his patrons back in Spain. After returning from the Caribbean islands,
Columbus found himself out of favor in the Spanish courts. He had not supplied nearly enough riches,
neither had he found a new route to India. In 1498, the king and queen of Spain agreed
to fund another expedition across the Atlantic. On August 11, Columbus reached the South American
mainland, planting a flag on the shores of Venezuela and still believing he would be
able to find passage to India. It was only after exploring the Orinoco River that he
realized he had stumbled across a continent that was hitherto unknown to the rest of the world.
While Columbus is credited with bringing the Americas to the west's attention,
he never knew the full extent of the continent, only ever getting as far as South America.
The closest he got to achieving his original goal of finding passage to the east was four
years before his death, when he reached Panama, only to be forced to return to Spain empty-handed
due to losing two of his four ships to storms. Columbus was not the only western traveler
to accidentally arrive in America, but he is undoubtedly the most famous. His
journey west to reach the east is a captivating one, despite the long-lasting and devastating
repercussions of this trip. Columbus's legacy remains highly controversial,
and his travels to South America would have many far-reaching and unexpected effects on the world.
To learn more about Christopher Columbus, check out our book,
Christopher Columbus - A Captivating Guide to the Life of an Italian Explorer ad His
Voyages to the Americas. It's available as an e-book, paperback, and audiobook. Also,
grab your free mythology bundle e-book while it's still available. All links are in the description.
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