Christopher Columbus
...ews that sailed to England, Iceland, and Ireland. He traveled to West Africa to trade along the forested coast after spending sometime as a sugar buyer for an Italian Company in Spain. In 1479 Columbus married Felipa Perestello e Moniz, she was from a noble Portuguese family. They had their son Diego in 1480 and Felipa had died 5 years later in 1485. After that Columbus began a relationship with Beatriz Enriquez de Harana of Coraoba. Even though the two had never gotten married they had a son together and named him Ferdinand. Columbus became eager to seek a westwards sea route to the “Indies”, which included; China, India, and other Asian lands. By the mid-1480’s, Columbus had become focused on his plans to discover a westward route to Asia. He had gone to Spain with his young son Diego to seek the aid of Queen Isabella of Castile and her Husband King Ferdinand of Aragon. In 1492 after being rejected twice, he gained support from both Ferdinand and Isabella. After this they gave Columbus the title of “High Admiral of the Ocean Sea and Governor of the islands and continent of which I should discover” Three reasons for the voyage were, 1. Columbus hope to enrich his family and to gain honor and fame, 2.Columbus’s royal patrons shared his desire to spend Catholicism, one of Columbus’s plans was to Conquer non-catholic lands and convert their peoples to Catholicism, and 3. Spain’s rivalry with Portugal gave the Spanish and extra reason for backing the voyage. Shortly before sunrise on Friday August 3, 1492 the fleet of three ships the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria sailed out toward Palos on the Tinto River in Southern Spain. Some dangers that were awaiting them during the voyages were Oceans Storms, Starvation, and Rickets, a spinal cord disease resulting from lack of fresh fruits and vegetable. Columbus showed his great navigational skills by avoiding going west due to Atlantic storms that had blown other ships to pieces so instead he went south. Columbus had no idea how big the planet was because they ended up not having enough food and water to last them all the way to Asia. At dawn on October 12 the crew of the Pinta spotted land, many scholars believe this land was the island of San Salvador, in the Bahamas. The first Native Americans that Columbus and his crew had met were the Tainos and they gave them a very warm welcome. On January 16, 1493 only two ships set s...