Columbus's four expeditions or how Europeans began to colonize America? Christopher Columbus: “The Greatest of the Losers Which traveler is often called the second Columbus
Initially, the American continent was inhabited by tribes that arrived from Asia. However, in the 13-15th century, with the active development of culture and industry, civilized Europe set out to search for and develop new lands. What happened to America at the end of the 15th century?
Christopher Columbus is a famous Spanish navigator. It was his first expedition that marked the beginning of active travel to the “New World” and the development of this territory. The “New World” was then considered to be the lands that are now called South and North America.
In 1488, Portugal had a monopoly on the waters of the Atlantic coast of Africa. Spain was forced to find another sea route to trade with India and gain access to gold, silver and spices. This is what prompted the rulers of Spain to agree to Columbus's expedition.
Columbus is looking for a new route to India
Columbus made only four expeditions to the shores of the so-called “India”. However, by the fourth expedition he knew that he had not found India. So, let's go back to Columbus's first voyage.
Columbus's first voyage to America
The first expedition consisted of only three ships. Columbus had to get two ships himself. The first ship was given by his fellow navigator Pinson. He also lent Columbus money so that Christopher could equip a second ship. About a hundred crew members also went on the trip.
The voyage lasted from August 1492 to March 1493. In October, they sailed to a land that was mistakenly considered to be the surrounding islands of Asia, that is, it could be the western territories of China, India or Japan. In reality, it was the European discovery of the Bahamas, Haiti and Cuba. Here, on these islands, local residents presented Columbus with dry leaves, i.e. tobacco, as a gift. The locals also walked naked around the island and wore various gold jewelry. Columbus tried to find out from them where they got the gold and only after he took several natives prisoner did he find out the route where they got it. So Columbus attempted to find gold, but found only more and more new lands. He was happy that he had opened a new route to “Western India,” but there were no developed cities and untold riches there. When returning home, Christopher took with him local residents (whom he called Indians) as proof of success.
When did the colonization of America begin?
Soon after returning to Spain with gifts and "Indians", the Spaniards soon decide to send the sailor on his way again. Thus began Columbus's second expedition.
Columbus's second voyage
September 1493 - June 1496 The purpose of this journey was to organize new colonies, so the flotilla included as many as 17 ships. Among the sailors there were priests, nobles, officials and courtiers. They brought domestic animals, raw materials, and food with them. As a result of the expedition, Columbus paved a more convenient route to “Western India”, the island of Hispaniola (Haiti) was completely conquered, and the extermination of the local population began.
Columbus still believed that he was in Western India. On the second trip, they also discovered islands, including Jamaica and Puerto Rico. On Hispaniola, the Spaniards found gold deposits in the depths of the island and began mining it, with the help of enslaving the local residents. Worker uprisings arose, but unarmed local residents were doomed. They died as a result of the suppression of riots, diseases brought from Europe, and hunger. The rest of the local population was subject to tribute and enslaved.
The Spanish rulers were not satisfied with the income that the new lands brought, and therefore allowed everyone to move to the new lands, and broke the agreement with Columbus, that is, they deprived him of the right to rule the new lands. As a result, Columbus decides to travel to Spain, where he negotiates with the kings to return his privileges, and that prisoners will live in the new lands, who will work and develop the territories; moreover, Spain will be freed from undesirable elements of society.
Third journey
Columbus set out on the third expedition with six ships, 600 people also included prisoners from Spanish prisons. Columbus this time decided to pave the way closer to the equator in order to find new lands rich in gold, since the current colonies provided modest incomes, which did not suit the Spanish kings. But due to illness, Columbus was forced to go to Hispaniola (Haiti). There, a rebellion awaited him again. To suppress the rebellion, Columbus had to allocate land to the local residents and give slaves to help each rebel.
Then, unexpectedly, news came - the famous navigator Vasco da Gama discovered the real route to India. He arrived from there with treats, spices, and declared Columbus a deceiver. As a result, the Spanish kings ordered the arrest of the deceiver and returned him to Spain. But soon, the charges against him are dropped and he is sent on the last expedition.
Fourth expedition
Columbus believed that there was a path from new lands to a source of spices. And he wanted to find him. As a result of the last expedition, he discovered islands off South America, Costa Rica and others, but never reached the Pacific Ocean, as he learned from local residents that Europeans were already here. Columbus returned to Spain.
Since Columbus no longer had a monopoly on the discovery of new lands, other Spanish travelers set out to explore and colonize new territories. An era began when impoverished Spanish or Portuguese knights (conquistadors) traveled away from their native lands in search of adventure and wealth.
Who was the first to colonize America?
The Spanish conquistadors initially tried to develop new lands in North Africa, but the local population showed strong resistance, so the discovery of the New World came in handy. It was thanks to the discovery of new colonies in North and South America that Spain was considered the main superpower of Europe and the mistress of the seas.
In history and literature, the period of the conquest of American lands is perceived differently. On the one hand, the Spaniards are viewed as educators who brought culture, religion, and art with them. On the other hand, it was brutal enslavement and destruction of the local population. In fact, it was both. Modern countries have different assessments of the contribution of the Spaniards to the history of their country. For example, in Venezuela in 2004, a monument to Columbus was demolished because he was considered the founder of the extermination of the local indigenous population.
F Second Expedition of ColumbusErdinand and Isabella confirmed all the rights and benefits promised to the Genoese in 1492. In the instructions of May 29, 1493, Don Cristoval Colon is styled admiral, viceroy and ruler of the open islands and the mainland. A new flotilla of 17 ships, including three large ships, was immediately equipped; on the largest (200 tons), "Maria Galante", Columbus raised the admiral's flag. The ships were loaded with horses and donkeys, cattle and pigs, vines of various varieties, seeds of various crops: no one had seen any livestock or European cultivated plants among the Indians, and it was planned to organize a colony on Hispaniola. With Columbus, a small group of courtiers and about 200 hidalgos left idle after the end of the war with the Arabs, dozens of officials, six monks and priests went to seek their fortune in new places. According to various sources, there were 1.5–2.5 thousand people on the ships. On September 25, 1493, Columbus's second expedition left Cadiz. On the Canary Islands they took sugar cane and, following the example of the Portuguese, huge dogs specially trained to hunt people.
From the Canary Islands, Columbus headed southwest: the inhabitants of Hispaniola pointed out that to the southeast of them there were “the lands of the Caribs, eaters of people,” and “islands of husbandless women,” where there was a lot of gold. The ships' route ran approximately 10° further south than during the first voyage. The course was taken extremely successfully: Columbus caught a fair wind - the northeast trade wind and crossed the ocean in 20 days. This route was used by ships traveling from Europe to “Western India”. On November 3, a mountainous, forested island appeared. The discovery took place on Sunday ("dominica" in Spanish), and Columbus named it that way. There was no convenient harbor there, and the admiral turned north, where he noticed a small low-lying island (Marie-Galante), on which he landed. Other islands were visible nearby. On November 4, Columbus headed for the largest of them, named Guadeloupe. The Spaniards spent eight days there, landed on the shore many times, inspected villages, and entered dwellings. “In the houses we found a lot of human bones and skulls, hung like dishes for various needs. We saw few men here: as the women explained to us, most of them left in dozens of canoes to rob... the islands. These people seemed to us more developed than the inhabitants of other islands... Although they have straw dwellings, they are built better... they have more utensils... They have a lot of cotton... and quite a few bedspreads made of cotton fabric, made so good that they are in no way inferior to our Castilian ones.” From a letter from the doctor of the second expedition, Diego Alvarez Chanca.
According to the captives, Caribs lived on all three newly discovered islands. They raided the islands of peaceful, almost unarmed Arawaks, making long journeys in large one-tree canoes. Their weapons were bows and arrows with tips made from fragments of tortoise shells or “from jagged fish bones, similar to sharp saws.” “When making raids... - writes D. Chanka, - the Caribs take with them as many women as they can capture in order to cohabit with them... or keep them in service. There are so many women that in 50 houses we saw only Indian women... This explained the rumor about the “islands of husbandless women,” which Columbus believed because he had read about them from Marco Polo and later authors who described voyages in the “Indian Sea.” These women say that the Caribbeans... devour the children born to these women... and raise only those born from Caribbean wives. They take captured men to their villages and eat them there, and they do the same with the dead.” The word "Carib", distorted by the Spaniards to mean "cannibal", soon became equivalent to the word "cannibal". The accusation of cannibalism against the Caribs, as can be seen from Columbus’s “diary” and Chanca’s letter, was based on the words of the inhabitants of Hispaniola and captives from the Lesser Antilles and seemed to be confirmed by finds of human skulls and bones in Caribbean dwellings. However, D. Chanca himself soon doubted that this was proof of cannibalism - the skulls were in the dwellings of peaceful Arawaks: “We found on Hispaniola, in a basket woven very beautifully and carefully, a well-preserved human head. We decided that this was the head of a father, mother, or other person whose memory is highly revered here. Subsequently, I heard that a great many such heads were found, and therefore I believe that we judge this correctly.”
As for the testimony of the Arawaks who suffered from the raids of the Caribs, even some bourgeois historians and ethnographers of the 19th century. did not consider such evidence to be unconditionally credible. They emphasized that the colonialists deliberately exaggerated the “bloodthirstiness” of the Caribs in their reports in order to justify the mass enslavement or extermination of the inhabitants of the Lesser Antilles. Soviet ethnographers admit that the Caribbean, like other peoples, during the period of transition from matriarchy to patriarchy, had cannibalism as a military custom: they believed that the courage, strength, speed and other military prowess of the enemy would go to the one who eats his heart or the muscles of the arms and legs.
From Guadeloupe, Columbus moved northwest, discovering one island after another: November 11 - Montserrat, Antigua (the Spaniards did not land there) and Nevis, where the ships anchored; November 12 - St. Kitts, St. Eustatius and Saba, and November 13 - St. Croix (in the west), where cultivated fields were visible. Hoping to get a guide here to other islands and Hispaniola, Columbus sent a boat with armed men to a coastal village the next day, who captured several women and boys (captives of the Caribbean), but on the way back the boat collided with a Caribbean boat. The Caribbean were numb with surprise when they saw large ships at sea, and at that time the boat cut them off from the shore. “Seeing that they would not be able to escape, the Caribs drew their bows with great courage, and the women did not lag behind the men... there were only six of them - four men and two women - against twenty-five of ours. They wounded two sailors... And they would have hit most of our people with arrows if our boat had not come close to the canoe and capsized it...
They started swimming and wading - it was shallow in this place - and... continued to shoot from bows... They managed to take one, mortally wounding him with a blow from a spear” (D. Chanka). These were, apparently, a people who knew how to fight and defend their freedom from invaders.
On the morning of November 15, a “land consisting of forty or even more islands, mountainous and mostly barren,” opened in the north. Columbus called this archipelago the “Isles of the Eleven Thousand Virgins.” Since that time they have been called Virgin. The “Maiden Islands” were named by Columbus because they dot the sea in a long line, reminiscent of the procession of “Eleven Thousand Virgins” (E. Reclus). According to legend, maidens making a pilgrimage from Cornwall to Nîmes were killed on their way back by the Huns besieging Cologne. In three days, small vessels of the flotilla circumnavigated the northern islands of the archipelago, and large vessels circumnavigated the southern ones. They connected at Fr. Vieques, to the west of which a large land opened up. The Indians taken on Guadeloupe declared that they were from there, that it was Boriquen, which was often subject to raids by the Caribs. All day (November 19) the flotilla moved along the mountainous southern coast of the “very beautiful and, it seems, very fertile island.” The Spaniards landed on the west coast at 18° 17" N, where they saw many people, but they fled. Columbus named it San Juan Bautista (from the 16th century Puerto Rico - “Rich Harbor”).
Just before reaching Fort Navidad, the sailors landed on the shore of Hispaniola to draw water and found four decomposed corpses with ropes around their necks and legs. One of the dead was bearded, therefore European. The flotilla approached the fort on the night of November 27 and gave a signal with two cannon shots, but there was no response. At dawn, Columbus himself went ashore, but found neither a fort nor people - only traces of fire and corpses. It was not possible to find out the circumstances of the death of the Spaniards, but, undoubtedly, they were guilty of robberies and violence. The Indians said that each colonist acquired several wives, discord began, most of them went inside the island and were killed by the local cacique (tribal leader), who then destroyed and burned Navidad. The defenders of the fort, fleeing by boat, drowned.
Columbus built a city east of the burned fort and named it Isabella (January 1494). A new enemy appeared there - yellow fever: “most of the people were affected by the disease.” The admiral sent a small detachment under the command of Alonso Ojeda to explore the interior of the country. A few days later he returned with the news that the interior of the island was densely populated by peaceful Indians and that there were rich gold deposits there: he brought samples of river sand with a significant gold content, which he found in the river valley. Yaque del Norte, at the foot of the Cibao Mountains (Cordillera Central). In search of gold, on March 12–29, Columbus made a trip into the island. Haiti, and crossed the ridge. Cordillera Central (up to 3175 m, the highest point of the Antilles). In Isabella, unpleasant news awaited him: most of the food supplies had spoiled due to the humid tropical heat. Famine was approaching - it was necessary to reduce the number of eaters - and the admiral decided to leave only five ships and about 500 people on Hispaniola. He sent the rest on 12 ships to Spain under the command of Antonio Torres with a “Memorandum” for transmission to the king and queen.
Columbus reported that he had found deposits of gold, greatly exaggerating their wealth, as well as “signs and traces of all kinds of spices.” He asked to send cattle, food supplies and agricultural tools, and offered to cover the costs with slaves, whom he undertook to deliver in large quantities, realizing that goods for the colony could not be paid for with hopes of gold and spices alone. “Memoir” is a heavy indictment against Columbus, characterizing him as the initiator of the mass enslavement of Indians, as a bigot and a hypocrite: “...Concern for the good of the souls of cannibals and the inhabitants of Hispaniola led to the idea that the more they were brought to Castile , the better it will be for them... Their Highnesses will deign to give permission and the right to a sufficient number of caravels to come here annually and bring livestock, food and everything... necessary for populating the region and cultivating the fields... Payment... can be made in slaves from among the cannibals, cruel people... well-built and very intelligent. We are confident that they can become the best slaves, but they will cease to be inhuman as soon as they find themselves outside the borders of their country.” On this occasion, Karl Marx remarks: “[ Robbery and robbery- the sole goal of the Spanish adventurers in America, as Columbus's reports to the Spanish court also show]. [Columbus's reports characterize him as a pirate]; ... [Slave trade as a basis!].” Archives of Marx and Engels, 1940, vol. VII, p. 100.
Having established a strong garrison in Isabella under the command of his younger brother Diego, the admiral on April 24, 1494 led three small ships to the west “to discover the mainland of the Indies.” Rounding Cape Maysi, he moved along the southeastern coast of Cuba and on May 1 discovered a narrow and deep bay, which he named Puerto Grande (modern Guantanamo Bay). Further to the west the coast became more and more mountainous. “The most wonderful bays and high mountains opened up before him every hour...” This was the Sierra Maestra with Peak Turquino (1974 m), the highest peak in Cuba. Here he turned south: according to the instructions of the Indians, “nearby [in the south] lies the island of Jamaica, where there is a lot of gold...” (wrote B. Las Casas). This island appeared on May 5th. Columbus named it Santiago. Naked Indians, “painted in different colors, but mostly black,” with feather headdresses, approached the ships in one-tree canoes without fear and tried to prevent the landing. Columbus ordered to shoot at them with crossbows. “After six or seven Indians were wounded, they thought it best to cease resistance...” and many canoes approached the ships. “The Indians brought food supplies and everything else that they owned, and willingly gave what they brought with them... for any thing...”
The admiral sailed along the northern coast of Jamaica to 78° W. d. There was “no gold or other metals on the island, although in all other respects it seemed like a paradise,” and Columbus returned to Cuba on May 14, to Cape Cruz. “The sea was shallow - they entered the shallow Gulf of Guacanaybo. Columbus carefully moved west, and a strange archipelago opened up before him: the further he went, the more often small and low islands he encountered along the way. The closer to the shores of Cuba, the friendlier and greener they seemed. The admiral named them Jardines de la Reina ("Gardens of the Queen"). Columbus sailed west for 25 days in this labyrinth of islands. Every evening, with a stormy wind, there was a downpour and thunderstorm. Sailors sometimes did not close their eyes for a whole day. More than once the ship's keel scraped the bottom. Soon the mountains appeared - the Sierra del Escambray. Moving along the steep coast to the west, the admiral missed the narrow entrance to the bay, where the port of Senfuegos later grew, but explored the Bay of Cochinos (“Bay of Pigs” - here in 1961 Cuban counter-revolutionary emigrants landed and were defeated). Then the ships found themselves in a shallow water area - the Bay of Batabano, which intrigued the Spaniards: the water in it, due to the movement of the waves, became either white like milk or black like ink. The reason for this phenomenon was established much later: the bottom of the bay is composed of white marl and black sand, and the waves raise either white or black “dregs”. The mangroves along the shores of the bay were, according to Columbus, so “thick that not even a cat could reach the shore.” On May 27, the ships passed the western tip of the marshy Zapata Peninsula, and on June 3, the Spaniards landed on the marshy northern shore of Batabano Bay (at 82°30" W).
To the west (at 84° W) the sea became very shallow, and Columbus decided to return: the ships were leaking, the sailors were grumbling, provisions were running out. On June 12, 1494, under oath from almost every member of the crew, he received testimony that Cuba was part of the continent and, therefore, it was useless to sail further: an island of such length could not exist. In reality, the admiral was almost 100 km from Cape San Antonio, the western tip of the island. Cuba. The total length of the southern Cuban coast he discovered was about 1,700 km. Turning east, Columbus discovered a large island. Evangelista (Pinos, 3056 km²) Since 1979, the island has been called Juventud. and stood there for about two weeks to give people rest. From June 25 to July 18, he sailed southeast across the same island-strewn sea to Cape Cruz. “At the same time, he was especially annoyed by the showers that fell on the ships every evening.” After resting at Cape Cruz, he tried to go straight to Hispaniola, but due to nasty winds he was forced to return to Jamaica on July 22. He circled from the west and south “this green, beautiful and happy land... Countless canoes followed the ships, and the Indians served the Christians, giving them food, as if the strangers were their own fathers... However, every evening storms and downpours plagued the crews of the ships " Fortunately, good weather arrived on August 19, and the next day Columbus crossed Jamaica Channel and approached the southwestern salient of Hispaniola. For 40 days he explored the coast of this island, which had not yet been visited by the Spaniards, and only on September 29 he returned to the city of Isabella, exhausted and seriously ill. He was ill for five months.
During the absence of the admiral, his brother Bartolome Columbus brought three ships with troops and supplies from Spain. A group of Spaniards secretly captured these ships and fled to their homeland. Detachments of newly arrived soldiers scattered across the island, plundering and raping; some of them were killed by the Indians. In this regard, Columbus undertook the conquest of Hispaniola in March 1495, bringing out 200 soldiers, 20 horses and the same number of dogs. The Indians had numerical superiority, but the most primitive weapons, and they did not know how to fight - they attacked in droves. Columbus acted in small detachments, choosing areas for battle where the cavalry could deploy. The horsemen crashed into dense crowds of Indians, trampling them under the hooves of their horses. But the unfortunate ones were especially frightened by the dogs that took an active part in hostilities. The persecution lasted for nine months, and Hispaniola was almost completely conquered. Columbus imposed an excessive tribute on the Indians - gold or cotton. They left the villages, went deep into the island, into the mountains, and tens of thousands died from diseases that the conquerors brought with them. Those who could not escape became slaves on plantations or gold mines. Due to the yellow fever epidemic, the colonists left the northern coast of Hispaniola and moved to the southern, healthier one. Here in 1496, Bartolome Columbus founded the city of Santo Domingo, which became the political and economic center of Hispaniola, the oldest European settlement in America.
Meanwhile, Columbus sent some gold, copper, valuable wood and several hundred Indian slaves to Spain, but Isabella suspended their sale until she consulted with priests and lawyers. The income from Hispaniola turned out to be insignificant compared to the costs of the expedition - and the kings violated the treaty with Columbus. In 1495, a decree was issued allowing all Castilian subjects to move to new lands if they contributed two-thirds of the gold mined to the treasury; the government was only obliged to supply the settlers with food supplies for a year. The same decree allowed any entrepreneur to equip ships for new discoveries in the west and for gold mining (with the exception of Hispaniola). Alarmed, Columbus returned to Spain on June 11, 1496 to personally defend his rights. He brought a document stating that he had reached the Asian continent, which he took, or pretended to accept, as Fr. Cuba. He claimed to have found the wonderful country of Ophir in the center of Hispaniola, from where the biblical King Solomon received gold. He again charmed the kings with speeches and obtained a promise that no one other than himself and his sons would receive permission to open lands in the west. But free settlers were very expensive for the treasury - and Columbus proposed populating his “earthly paradise” with criminals - for the sake of cheapness. And by. Following a royal decree, Spanish courts began exiling criminals to Hispaniola, cutting their sentences in half.
In the second expedition, as well as in the first, Columbus showed himself to be an outstanding navigator and naval commander: for the first time in the history of navigation, a large formation of different types of ships crossed the Atlantic without losses and passed through the labyrinth of the Lesser Antilles, replete with shoals and reefs, without even hint on the map.
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The Age of Great Geographical Discovery was one of the most romantic periods in the life of mankind. The rapid development of navigation not only opened up the world map for Europe, but also raised a huge number of all sorts of dark personalities from the social lowlands to the heights of glory.
If we take a closer look at the participants of those same expeditions, we will find practically no scientists there. It is with great difficulty that we find merchants (although approximately half of the expeditions were carried out with the money of private individuals, large and medium-sized businessmen). There were no priests there, thirsting for glory on the basis of missionary work. Excuse me, but who was there then? And there were adventurers, rogues and swindlers of all stripes and varieties, gentlemen of fortune, romantics of the high road, and so on and so forth...
Moreover, they were not only ordinary sailors. The commanders and inspirers of most expeditions: Drake, Magellan, Cortes - all of them were either condottieres or simply robbers.
The most important discovery of that period was the discovery of America. The man who did this covered himself with unfading glory. His name was Christopher Columbus. And what is curious: almost all sources, describing his life path, begin their narration precisely from the moment of his first expedition, modestly keeping silent about what happened before. In addition, the events that took place around him after the start of his expeditions are in no way amenable to logical explanation.
This is somehow strange: one gets the impression that much of the biography of the great navigator is deliberately overlooked. If you look into his life path in more detail, then the reasons for such “shyness” of the authors become quite clear. Columbus was such an extraordinary person that it would be somewhat “inconvenient” to describe all his deeds...
No one knows exactly where Columbus was from, however, the names of his parents are known, in any case, they are mentioned in metrics and in the works of historians. For a long time it was believed that our hero was born in Genoa. Today, 2 Italian, 2 Portuguese and 4 Spanish cities dispute the right to be called the birthplace of Columbus.
It is known that from about the age of 12, Columbus definitely lived in Genoa, where he could observe the peculiarities of social life and business of that time. Christopher perfectly mastered the rules of this game, in which business was closely intertwined with power structures, and by the age of 25, having graduated from the University of Pavia, having gained some experience in maritime trade and acquired the necessary connections, he moved with his family to Portugal. The reason for the move was a conflict with the authorities of Genoa. Columbus, who by that time had his own enterprise, tried to deceive his partner, who later became the doge. Even today, businessmen who “abandon” power later regret it for a long time, but back then it was like death.
In Portugal, Columbus developed extensive activities: he participated in many trade expeditions, visited almost all European countries, and traveled a lot to Africa. It was here that the first thoughts came to his mind about another route to India, different from those that the Portuguese sailors tried to find (bypassing Africa).
The problem was that one of the crown princes of Portugal, Enrique, nicknamed the “navigator,” promoted this particular idea for so long and persistently that even under the current king of Portugal, João 2nd, who was Enrique’s grandson, there were no other ways to get to India wasn't even considered. This is what authority means, especially royal authority!
However, even the devil could envy Columbus's tenacity. The cunning Genoese was able to convey his ideas to King Juan, but the king did not really like what Columbus wanted for himself personally, and he did not give permission for this enterprise. That, however, did not stop him from giving Columbus the opportunity to earn money on some government orders.
Juan could not even imagine what kind of cunning rogue he was allowing into the development of public funds. In three years, Columbus earns several times more than in his entire previous life. João 2nd was a politician, primarily concerned with strengthening royal power and not particularly interested in the finances of the state (fortunately, the then Portuguese economy was quite stable), so no one paid much attention to Columbus’s dark dealings.
But no matter how much the rope twists, it ends up in a loop. Our hero's last successful scam was a contract to supply the construction of the Elmina fortress in Ghana. In less than two years, the fortress was built, but Diogo de Azambuja, the head of construction and the first commandant of the fortress, carried out a sudden audit and found out that several hundred thousand reals had stuck to the unclean hands of our hero. And since the king himself paid special attention to the first fortress of “Black Africa,” a serious scandal broke out.
However, it didn’t come to a loop, but Christopher had to urgently flee with his family from Portugal, which had suddenly become very uncomfortable, to Spain in 1485. That, however, did not prevent him from keeping almost all the money he “earned” in Portugal. By this time, he had already finally thought through ideas on how to sail to India directly, and not through southern Africa.
Business in Spain did not follow the rules that Columbus was accustomed to in Genoa and Portugal; in addition, the Granada War, which the King of Spain, Ferdinand 2nd, personally led, left a certain imprint on all processes in the kingdom.
It must be said that Ferdinand was a very smart monarch and the affairs of the kingdom under him were kept in relative order, and all kinds of dubious activities were not particularly encouraged. Having spent all his money in unsuccessful ventures in about a year and a half, Columbus was left with practically nothing, and the only idea he had left was to sail to India across the Atlantic Ocean.
Supported by the authority of his new Spanish friends, he presents his business plan for a trade route to India to the King of Spain, but again finds no support. And again, as in the case of the Portuguese king, everything comes down to the ambitions of the “Genoese upstart”.
What did Columbus want? Firstly, to be the viceroy of all the lands he discovered, which meant formally subordinate to the Spanish Crown, but in fact to no one. Secondly, to receive the title of “chief admiral”, which, again, did not oblige him to anything, but provided him with a very good allowance. It is not surprising that the kings refused him.
However, from a financial point of view, the plan was actually very good. And so much so that even João 2nd, the king whom Columbus actually “threw away,” wrote him a letter saying that he could return to Portugal without fear of persecution from the authorities, as long as he carried out his plan.
But Columbus had no time for the Portuguese king. Ferdinand's wife, Queen Isabella, became interested in his plan. Being a very devout Catholic, she appreciated the part of Columbus's plan that concerned missionary activity, as well as the benefits that the route to India, bypassing the Ottoman Empire, provided. In general, the royal couple finally gave Columbus the go-ahead for his expedition.
And again the “cunning” nature of our hero appeared. While recruiting sponsors for the expedition, he pretended to be a “poor relative” who had absolutely no money. It got to the point that, when drawing up the budget for the expedition, he borrowed half of its cost from Martin Pinson, which he contributed to its authorized fund on his own behalf, promising to pay at the end. Pinson joined the expedition as an ordinary shareholder with a much smaller share than Columbus.
During the first voyage, Columbus teased Pinzón in every possible way, eventually causing him to lose his temper and go home on his own. This subsequently played a fatal role in his fate. Having preceded Pinson's ship by only a few hours, Columbus presented the case to the king in such a way that Pinson was generally forbidden to appear at court, as a person who had lost the royal trust. From the resulting stress, Pinson fell ill and died a few months later, giving Columbus every right not to return the money borrowed from him.
Having discovered new lands, Columbus quickly realized that this was not India at all, however, admitting this openly was tantamount to death. And Columbus decided to hold out until the last minute, simultaneously using his status as viceroy to the fullest.
To quickly develop open lands, the newly-minted viceroy did not disdain any means. He extorted from the king the right to recruit settlers from prisoners, since they did not have to pay wages - they worked for their freedom. In addition, for new expeditions, he received huge loans from the rich of that time, promising to pay them back with spices and jewelry that had not yet been found. And “on the ground” our financial genius created such a wonderful state that future dictatorships will seem like just innocent holiday camps. The local Indians were first “tied” to plots of land, like serfs, and then actually turned into slaves.
The most interesting thing was that Columbus did not let go of almost all the income, paying only the king, and then only slightly covering the amounts given to him. There could be no talk of any profits “ten doubloons per one invested.”
For almost six years he misled the public, until Vasco da Gama, having circumnavigated Africa from the south, found a real sea route to India. The indignation of the deceived aristocrats was so great that a special fleet was sent for Columbus, whose crew arrested the adventurer and brought him to Spain in shackles.
However, the financial circles of Spain, which had already begun to develop new lands and saw considerable potential in them, interceded with the king about Columbus’s innocence, and he was quickly released.
Columbus's last voyage was a kind of “redemption.” In it, he really behaved like a real researcher, not caring about his pocket. Over the course of two and a half years, he explores the coast of Mexico and creates a map of it. And two years later he dies in Seville.
A few years after the death of Columbus, both of his sons make a kind of coming out. However, we are not talking about what our contemporaries understand by this. The heirs simply show what their unforgettable father left them.
The combined fortune of Diego and Fernanda Columbus was such that it exceeded the annual income of all of Spain by about five times. Absolutely all the money that Columbus somehow “knocked out” from sponsors, the Crown and simply successful “geshefts” on the new continent, he sent to his good friend, Luis de Cerda, a Spanish aristocrat, who, in fact, helped Columbus present his project to the royal couple of Spain. De Cerda died several years before Columbus's death, however, his heirs continued to help Columbus. And then they transferred all the finances to both of his sons.
Christopher Columbus was one of the most controversial figures in human history. He was a brilliant discoverer who was ahead of his time. However, we should not forget about the dark side of his nature. Excessive love for easy enrichment brought happiness to few people. Perhaps this is why the open lands were named not in his honor, but in honor of the man who thoroughly explored them and proved that this was not just “not India,” but in general the New World. This man was Amerigo Vespucci, but that’s a completely different story...
September 25, 1493 17 ships left Cadiz under the command of the legendary traveler and discoverer Christopher Columbus. According to various sources, the second expedition included from 1,500 to 2,500 people, among them were sailors, priests and monks, as well as nobles and courtiers, officials seduced by the opportunity to make quick money on newly discovered lands. The ships carried donkeys and horses, cattle, pigs, crop seeds and grapevines, which were needed to organize the colony.
Unlike the first voyage, this time Columbus set a course 10° to the south, caught a fair wind and was able to cross the ocean in a record time - 20 days. In November, the ships approached the island, which Columbus named Dominican Republic. The island was discovered on Sunday, and "dominica" is translated from Spanish as "Sunday." Then the expedition turned north. Along the way, Columbus discovered and marked on the map a number of islands, including St. Croix, St. Eustatius and St. Kitts, Saba, Montserrat, Nevis, Guadeloupe and Antigua. Continuing to head north, he saw a land consisting of forty islands, which were called the Virgin Islands (translated from Spanish as “maidens”).
At the end of November, the ships moored in Hispaniola (Haiti), where a terrible sight was revealed to the sailors. The fort that was built here during the first voyage was burned. There were no Europeans left: some were killed by local residents, others drowned while trying to escape by boat. The team rebuilt a new fort and went in search of new lands. The expedition rounded Cape Maysi, passed along the southeastern coast of Cuba, reached the island of Jamaica, from where it turned back towards Cuba, reached Cape Cruz, headed west and, having reached 84° W, turned back. Having covered a distance of 1,700 km, Columbus did not reach only 100 km to the western tip of Cuba, but was forced to return due to the fact that the sea had become fairly shallow, the sailors were dissatisfied, and food was running out. The ships entered the harbor of Cadiz in June 1496.
The result of Columbus's second voyage was the conquest of Hispaniola and the extermination of the local inhabitants, the city of Santo Domingo was founded and appeared on the map, and the optimal sea route to the West Indies was laid out. A map of the southern coast of Cuba was compiled. Among the discoveries are the islands of Puerto Rico, Jamaica, the Lesser Antilles and the Virgin Islands. However, Columbus is confident that his ships are passing through Western India. It is noteworthy that the sea route to India was opened only in the 16th century. Nevertheless, the name “West Indies” was assigned to the islands that appeared on the map thanks to Columbus.
Despite the fact that with the voyage of Columbus the geographical map of that time was significantly enriched, it was considered unsuccessful. This is because little gold was discovered, and disease was raging in the organized colony of Isabella. In Spain, Columbus was greeted coldly, and subsequently he was deprived of many privileges.
Who was called the Russian Columbus? Who was the second Columbus and got the best answer
Answer from Lyudmila Smirnova[guru]
The Russian Columbus is the name given to the outstanding Russian navigator, discoverer of North-West America (Alaska), Captain-Commander Alexei Ilyich Chirikov.
In Luzhny they are looking for, studying, recreating everything connected with Alexei Chirikov. The story of his life, which even now you will not find in every encyclopedia, is very unusual. On his own initiative, he wrote to Peter the Great asking to be accepted into the newly opened navigation school. Then Chirikov, among the best students, was transferred to the Maritime Academy. The king himself took exams from him.
...The second Kamchatka expedition was given difficult tasks: to map the borders of Russia in the north and northeast, to find trade routes to America. Two ships were built: "St. Peter", commanded by Bering, and "St. Paul" - captained by Chirikov. On the night of July 15-16, 1741, Chirikov reached the shores of America two days earlier than Bering. But all the glory of the “discoverer” of Alaska, by the will of fate and opportunistic considerations of that time, went to Vitus Bering.
The “Russian Columbus” was buried, according to his will, in his small homeland, in Luzhny. Chirikov was almost never mentioned in textbooks on Russian history. Lomonosov also wrote: “The American expedition through Kamchatka does not mention Chirikov, who was the main one and went further, which is necessary for our honor.”
Humboldt arrived in Russia already world famous. He is the founder of modern physical geography and climatology, a recognized expert in mining and finance. His scientific authority is recognized both at the court of the Prussian king and in the circle of the Russian emperor, which contributes to the implementation of the largest scientific projects at that time.
“Until I was 16, I had no desire to study science. I was possessed by a spirit of restlessness, and I wanted to become a soldier,” recalled Alexander von Humboldt. He was born on September 14, 1769 in Berlin into a rich and noble family. Parents gave Alexander and his older brother Wilhelm, who later became one of the leading linguists of his time, a varied education. Alexander von Humboldt was attracted to natural science. He studies at the universities of Frankfurt an der Oder and Göttingen, takes a course in finance at the Industrial Academy of Hamburg, and studies mineralogy at the Freiberg Mining Academy.
In Freiberg, Humboldt met Russian students, became fascinated by their stories about Siberia, and included Russia among the countries where he would like to travel in the future. In the meantime, he still had a five-year journey through the Spanish colonies in South and Central America in 1799-1804. in search of gold for the needs of the Spanish crown. One of his main achievements in that period was the development of the doctrine of climate - “all changes in the atmosphere that can perceptibly affect our organs are as follows: temperature, humidity, calmness of the air or the influence of various winds.” It was Humboldt who for the first time in the history of science described two types of climate:
"maritime" and "continental". We still use these definitions today. In August 1804, A. von Humboldt returned to Europe, and with him the scientist’s luggage arrived in Paris - 30 weighty boxes of rare exhibits from the New World. The scientist was 35 years old, and academic Paris called his journey “the scientific discovery of America,” while the scientist himself was called nothing less than the second Columbus.
