The First Voyage of Columbus - Term Paper Example

of Learning: The First Voyage Of Columbus Christopher Columbus, a well known voyager, travelled tochina by sailing through the sea while at the same time doing some studies on the routings in Portugal. Columbus made his discoveries over a long period of years, and all through, he made a belief that china could be reached by the Europeans by sailing to the west. He confronted several leaders of several countries in Europe after several years of study support his findings financially. In the year 1492 in august, his plea to fund his voyage was accepted by the king and queen of Spain and this made Columbus sail off the port of Palos in Spain alongside 88men with three ships, namely the Pinta, the Nina, and the Santa Maria (Herring 81). Christopher Columbus officially started his first voyage on 3rd August, 1492 with his three ships. Alongside the journey Columbus faced many challenges including bad weather that caused lack of winds to help steer the ships and also lack of supplies to maintain the ship thus could not get on the island of canary. It was on the 8th of September, when Columbus noticed that the pointer on the compass was not pointing north, but rather half of it was pointing to the Northwest, and the variation was greater as they continued with the journey. Columbus did not mention that to his crew as he knew it could cause anxiety and yet they were not sure of their final destination. This kept on for some days, but was later discovered by his pilots something that caused mixed reactions of anxiety and panic. Most of the men in ship panicked to an extent of threatening to move back to Spain. Columbus had to reason faster as to why the pointer was not pointing at the north and explained to the crew not to worry as it was due to failure in weather conditions, and as he was a well known astronomer reduced the anxiety. It took him sometimes up to early mid September to make clear sight of the Hierro Island as the wind flow remained low. First landing It was on 12th of October, when Columbus saw his first land which was earlier sighted by a sailor on Pinta ship but, Columbus dismissed him that he was the first to see the land letting him retain the prize he had made a promise to give to whoever saw it first. The island was named San Salvador, by Columbus but presently referred to as Bahamas. In Bahamas, the residents were friendly, calm and kind. At the time the island was discovered, the local residents were: the Bahamas, Galibi who was on the windward parts of the island and the kalian on the leeward part of the island (Herring 121). Columbia also did a study on the cultural and social living standards of the residents on the island. The residents of Bahamas were mostly described by Columbia as, friendly, naive, harmless and willing to learn new ideas. At this point, Columbia had the urge of finding gold as he had discovered most of the residents wearing some of them in their noses and this made him extent his stay. Second landing After landing in Bahamas on12th of October, Columbus discovered five more islands there thereafter he left for Cuba on 28th of October. He made a landing at Bariay which was at the eastern part of the island. At this point, Columbia thought that he reached China and so he decided to send two of his two men to find out if it was true, and these were Luis de Torres and Rodrigo. The two men did not succeed in what they had been sent to but instead travelled to a small village called Taino, from which they acquired a habit of tobacco smoking as they had observed the people there doing so. The two men who were sent came back after four days. It was during this time that Columbia made a discovery of the existence tobacco plant and the wild growth of cotton everywhere. It was on the 21st of November that Pinta ship travelled to the east towards the inaqua and Turk island hence being apart from the other ships (Herring 91). Pinzon was the one sailing Pinta, and he made the decision to go separate as he had the idea that he would find better gold than Columbus. It was believed that gold could be found in Cuba, but Columbia did not find any even though he managed to find a silver ornament ring for the nose. Columbus also heard of the Caribs who were very hostile who resided on the Cuba Island. It was believed that there were one eyed men on the island and others were men eaters who had a dogs noses. Most people who had been discovered on this island were all threatened by this Caribs as they believed they ate the humans on the island reducing the population even though during his visit he did not encounter any of them (Boller 82). Third landing Columbia then left Cuba where he made a landing on Hispaniola Island on the 5th of December. The people who resided on the island referred to it as Haiti, and this made Columbia rename it to Espanola. The name was after sometimes changed by the Latin to Hispaniola after they made the discovery. On Hispaniola Island Columbia describes the natural surroundings to be covered mostly by rivers, grassland and fertile field suitable for crop production. Hispaniola is also composed of other precious metals which include gold and silver. Columbia discovered that Hispaniola was more mountainous than Cuba. There was also another discovery that Columbia made with the habitats on the island, they were friendly, primitive and naive as they moved around naked at all times with no weapons with them even when they have the resources to make them. Columbia considered the residents of Hispaniola as naive and kind as they would freely exchange the precious metals like gold to broken glass or things of less value (Hugh 89). More gold was found by Columbus on Tortuga, even though they were not in large amounts. Columbia decided to extend his stay at the northern part of Hispaniola conduct trade with the Indians until a disaster occurred on the eve of Christmas. The Santa Maria ship got damaged on the 25th of December(Hugh 49). Columbia became the captain of the Nina ship after the Santa Maria ship was damaged making it be left behind, whereas the Pinta ship was much far from the other two. Due to this situation, Columbia was forced to make some negotiations with the local authorities; thus he had to make a La Navidad settlement of which he was to leave 39 men from his team at the port. Columbus later left there on the 2nd of January the year 1493 promising to come back to salvage the rest of the men who were left behind. All through the journey, Columbus with his crew had few weapons. Just some few days before they started sailing back to Spain, they came across a group of people by which they thought were the Caribs. This raised a lot of nervousness among the crew on the ship as those that had been sent alongside the Indians were a bit injured. On the 6th of January, the ship that was separated from the rest, the Pinta arrived and the ships were together, and the journey to Spain was set on the 16th of January. Columbus left for Spain but was later stopped at Lisbon by another strong storm, thus was forced to stop his journey on the 4th of March at a harbor next to the king's ship which was on patrol. Columbia and the crew faced more problems on their way back than when they came in. On 12th of February,the crew hit heavy storms hence affecting the visual visibility of the pilot (Hugh 178). The storm was so strong that the pinta ship got split from the rest again. Columbus and his crew in Nina ship even thought that they were lost and would never get to their destination, but after sometime, everything calmed down. He was then informed that he had lost a number of the caravels in the storm. At the harbor, Columbus did not find the king, so he had to write him a letter and wait for the king to respond before proceeding. The letter was asking for permission to go and meet the majesty at Vale do Paradiso hence making him to land in Portugal. Columbus spent some weeks in Portugal before he started sailing to Spain. He arrived in Spain on the 15th of March after the news of him making discoveries of new lands had been widely spread all over Europe (Boller 122). As Columbia was struggling to arrive in Spain, Pinzon using the Pinta ship had made its entry in the northern part of Spain, Bayona, missing the Azores, after some delays during the repair of the ship, which later it managed to reach Palos some hours after Nina’s arrival. To Pinzon shock, Columbus had already been named a hero as to what he expected him to be proclaimed the hero. After some days, Pinzon sadly passed on (Hugh 47). In Spain, Columbia was received in a heroic manner. He presented some of the captives he had brought with him and the gold he discovered alongside other products he collected which included: tobacco leaves, pineapple, a turkey and the hammock. He did not bring along the indigenous species from the east which included black pepper and the ginger (Boller 72). He later headed to the courts where he presented distinct proof of the discoveries he had made. The most affirmative proof was the recommendation from the queen and king of Spain, and he was granted permission to continue with his discoveries. His discoveries were important as he had discovered a country that was rich in production of valuable metals. Columbus discovery is one of the most appreciated voyages in today’s time but not considered so during that time. Columbus has made promises to invent more discoveries. He considered his findings as the greatest as he made new discoveries that had not yet been made by any researcher. Columbus himself did not believe that he had made such an important finding like the gold, cotton and the tobacco that he brought. Work Cited Herring, Hubert. A History of Latin America From the Beginnings to the Present. New York: Knopf, 1962. Print Hugh, Thomas. Rivers of Gold: The Rise of the Spanish Empire, from Columbus to Magellan. New York: Random House, 2005. Print Boller, Paul. Popular Myths about America from Columbus to Clinton. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995. Print Read More