CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS

origin mystery

worldwide famous navigator Christopher Columbus was born into a poor Genoese family in Italy on October 29, 1451 on the island of Corsica - the then possession of the Republic of Genoa. According to another version, the discoverer was born on May 20, 1506 in the Spanish town of Valladolid. In fairness, it should be noted that today 6 cities of both countries dispute the honor of being the birthplace of Columbus.

In his youth, Christopher studied at the University of Pavia, and in 1470 marries the daughter of the famous navigator Don Felipe Moniz de Palestrello. Bartolome de Las Casas, a contemporary of Christopher Columbus, described his portrait as follows: “He was tall, above average, his face was long and respectful, his nose was aquiline, his eyes were bluish-gray, his skin was white, with redness, his beard and mustache were reddish in his youth, but turned gray in his works.”

But let us return once again to the question of the origin of Columbus. One Spanish legend says that the navigator was the illegitimate son of the Spanish prince De Vian, and pretended to be a commoner so as not to discredit his father's honor. According to this or another version, Columbus was born in Mallorca and hid the secret of his origin, because. in his youth, in the person of the captain of a corsair ship, he fought against the king of Aragon, the father of the founder of the Spanish state, Ferdinand.

The Italian Encyclopedia states that the Jewish origin of Christopher Columbus is a well-known fact. This version can be disputed by assuming that the so-called "crypto-Jews" (Jews who outwardly observed Christianity) lived in medieval Mallorca, and this explains the presence of "Jewish motives" in the notes of Columbus. By the way, an analysis of Columbus's notes established that the navigator never used the Italian language in his letters, and the stylistic character and handwriting indicate that he was a well-educated and cultured person, and not a self-taught commoner who accidentally discovered the New World.

And, finally, confirmation in favor of the "Jewish" version is the data of Spanish and Portuguese historians, who report that Columbus was a baptized Jew and had nothing to do with Italy, and therefore was engaged in cartography and calligraphy - Jewish professions characteristic of that era.

The development of the world and the youth of Columbus

In the second half of the 15th century, throughout Western Europe, big cities, trade developed, money became a universal medium of exchange, which sharply increased the demand for gold. The latter, the Spaniards believed, could be found in large quantities in India. The development of trade forced many countries to think about new ways of marketing - for example, Portugal was looking for southern sea and western routes. At the same time, in the era of the European Renaissance, theories about the sphericity of the Earth began to appear.

In 1474, the astronomer and geographer Paolo Toscanelli wrote to Columbus about his assumption that India could be reached through the West. Christopher Columbus, who moved to Savona in 1472, already then began to make plans for his sea expeditions, in particular, he was interested in traveling to India. Taking into account the opinion of Toscanelli, Christopher decided to sail to India through the Canary Islands, from which, according to his calculations, about 5 thousand km remained to Japan.

In 1476, Columbus settled in Portugal in order to be closer to information sources about the planned sea routes. For 10 years of his residence in Portugal, the discoverer managed to visit England, Guinea, Ireland and Iceland - also in order to collect more data on lands in the West.

Illuminated by the thirst for new discoveries, Columbus hastened to communicate his decision to sail to India to the government of his native Genoa, but they ignored his initiative. In 1483, Columbus tried to get approval for his project through Juan II, but the Portuguese king also refused the young navigator. Then Columbus, together with his son Diego, moved to Spain, where in the winter of 1485-1486. settled in the monastery of Santa Maria da Rabida in the status of a beggar.

Many historians believe that Columbus was hiding from his pursuers, and in Spain he received, so to speak, political asylum. Father Abbot of the monastery Juan Perez de Marchena not only saved Columbus from starvation, but also, having familiarized himself with Christopher's bright ideas about the transformation of the world, wrote a letter to his friend Fernando de Talavera, the confessor of the Queen of Spain. At that time, the king of Spain was extremely busy - he was preparing for war with Granada in the city of Cordoba. Columbus spent the next year in vain attempts to establish contacts with royal financial advisers, merchants and bankers. Finally, in the winter of 1486, the navigator was introduced to the Archbishop of Toledo and the Grand Cardinal of Spain, Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza. The cardinal facilitated an audience with the Spanish king, after which theologians, lawyers, cosmographers, monks and even courtiers studied the project for about a year, who ultimately rejected the ideas of Columbus, considering his requests to be overly arrogant and his ideas unrealistic.

In 1488, Columbus received a letter from the Portuguese king, in which he urged him to return to the country and solemnly promised to stop all persecution of his person. In the same year, Columbus received another good letter from King Henry VII of England, who approved of Christopher's ideas for a trip to India, but did not promise or offer anything specific.

All Western Europe was busy preparing for the coming war, and no government dared to sponsor a pilot project. The latest confirmation of this was the comments of the kings of Castile, Isabella and Ferdinand: "In view of the enormous costs and efforts required to wage war, the start of a new enterprise is not possible."

In January 1492, a joyful event took place - the capture of the Alhambra fortress. Granada fell and the war ended successfully in victory for Spain. Columbus was waiting for this moment, inspired, he came to the king of Spain and offered to appoint himself viceroy of the new lands, award the title of Chief Admiral of the Sea-Ocean, and all this under the banner of discovery and ownership of new lands. His Majesty opposed such insolence, calling Christopher's demands "excessive and unacceptable", and disrupted the negotiations on an unfriendly note.

In 1492, Columbus made a statement about migration to France - apparently for reasons try to negotiate with the French king. And then Queen Isabella of Castile unexpectedly takes a step forward: impressed by the idea of ​​liberating the Holy Sepulcher, she offers to pawn her jewelry in order to give money to Columbus for his journey. On April 30, 1492, the royal couple appoints Columbus as their nobleman and announces that if his expedition succeeds, Christopher will officially become Admiral of the Sea-Ocean and Viceroy of all the lands that he discovers. He also has the right to pass on his titles by inheritance. However, royal jewels were not enough for a full-fledged overseas equipment. The queen did not receive taxes from her people, and Columbus himself, who did not have a penny, had to pay 13% of the expenses for the expedition.

Columbus was helped to scrape together the amount to pay off his share by his friend Martin Alonso Pinson, who gave him his own fully equipped ship, the Pinta, as well as money for a second and third ship. As you know, the funds for the 3rd ship were issued under the guarantee of Martin by local marranos - at the expense of their budgetary payments.

The beginning of discoveries

Over the next 12 years, Christopher Columbus undertook as many as 4 expeditions by decree of the King of Spain. Columbus recorded his impressions and new information about the world obtained from his travels in a logbook, part of which was copied by Bartolome de Las Casas. Thanks to these surviving copies, many details of the expeditions have survived to this day.

So, on the first expedition, traveling with his three ships - Pinta, Santa Maria and Nina,
and a team of 90 people, Columbus discovered America. New lands, islands caribbean(Bahamas, Haiti and Cuba), Christopher at first considered East Asia. For a long time, Europeans seriously called them "Western India", because the islands had to sail to the West, as opposed to India and Indonesia proper, which in Europe were called "East India". Despite the confusion, after the first significant journey of Columbus began the expansion of Spain into the New World.

The second flotilla of Christopher consisted of 17 ships and a crew of about 2000 people - sailors, priests, officials, service nobles, courtiers. Several ships housed animals - cattle, donkeys, horses, pigs. Also, people brought with them the seeds of agricultural crops for the settlement of future lands. This time Haiti was completely conquered: having barely landed on the shore, the Europeans began to mercilessly exterminate the local population. During the second expedition, almost the entire coast of Cuba was explored - the Lesser Antilles, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico Islands, Jamaica. At the same time, Columbus continued to believe that he was in Western India.

Little money was found for the third voyage, so Columbus' flotilla consisted of only of 6 ships and 300 crew members, which also included Spanish criminals. Believing that gold could be found closer to the equator, on May 30, 1498, Columbus left the mouth of the Guadalquivir River with his flotilla and decided to stay closer to the South. Three ships went from the Canary Islands towards Haiti, and three more Columbus led to the South-West, to the islands Green Cape. Two months after the start of the third expedition, Columbus discovered the island of Trinidad and, without stopping there, went around it from the South, ending up in the Orinoco Delta and the Gulf of Paria. Not having time to complete the exploration of nearby lands, the navigator fell seriously ill and was forced to turn north, to Santo Domingo.

Having sailed to Haiti, Christopher Columbus discovered that the colonists had raised an armed rebellion against Bartolome during his absence. As a result, Columbus had to go for the introduction of a system of enslavement of the Indians for the rebellious colonists, each of whom was given a solid piece of land.

While Columbus dealt with the colonists, the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama opened the sea route to the real India. Returning from India with a cargo of spices, Vasco began to denounce Columbus that he was a deceiver, and the lands he had discovered were not India at all. The Spanish royal treasury did not receive income from its new colony for a long time and in 1499 abolished Columbus' monopoly on the discovery of lands. A year later, the royal couple, suspecting Columbus of a conspiracy against the country and an exceptional desire to seize new lands themselves, sent their representative Francisco Bovadilla to Haiti. He took all the power on the island into his own hands, arrested Christopher Columbus along with his brothers, put them in shackles and delivered them to Spain. However, rather quickly, local financiers managed to convince the king to drop the charges against the navigator.

Columbus did not tend to give up even in a very difficult situation. He obtained permission from the king for a new expedition, justifying this with a desire to find a way from the lands he had discovered to South Asia. Once, observing a strong sea current off the coast of Cuba, going west through the Caribbean Sea, Columbus realized that such a path exists.

On the fourth expedition, he took with him his 13-year-old son Hernando and his brother Bartolome. During the last expedition, Christopher discovered Central America - the mainland south of Cuba, proving that Atlantic Ocean separates from South Sea, as the Indians called it, "an insurmountable barrier." Columbus also became the first to tell about the Indian peoples who inhabited the shores of the South Sea.

Death and eternal memory

Upon returning to Seville, Columbus was very seriously ill. He did not have the strength and former energy to seek the restoration of his rights and privileges from the kings, and he spent all the money on travel comrades. 20 May 1506 last words the great navigator became: “Into your hands, Lord, I entrust my spirit,” and in the same year he was buried in Seville. Interestingly, after the death of Columbus, Emperor Charles V took the initiative to fulfill the dying wish of the navigator and bury him in Western India. The ashes of Columbus in 1540 were first delivered to Haiti in Santo Domingo, then, at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries, part of the islands passed from the Spaniards to the French, and the ashes were transported to Cuba in Cathedral Havana. After the Spaniards were expelled from Havana in 1889, the ashes of the navigator were again returned to Santo Domingo, and then to Seville.

Like most geniuses, Columbus was recognized only after his death, when in the middle of the 16th century, after the conquest of Mexico, Peru and the states in the north of the Andes, ships with a huge amount of silver and gold went to Europe.

El Salvador's currency was named after Christopher Columbus (Cristóbal Colón in Spanish) - Salvadoran colon. On all issued denominations of all years and all denominations, a portrait of a young or elderly Columbus was placed on the reverse side. Also named in honor of the navigator: the state in South America Colombia, Mount Cristobal Colon in Colombia, District of Columbia in the USA, province British Columbia in Canada, the Columbia River in the USA and Canada, the Columbia Pictures film studio, cities in the USA Columbus and Columbia, the shuttle Columbia, the ISS module Columbus, the city in the Panama Canal zone of Colon, the province of Colon in Panama, the Department of Colon in Honduras, the Argentine football club from Santa Fe Colon, the main opera house of Argentina, the Colon Theater, the Columbus Theater in the book by Ilf and Petrov "12 chairs".

Christopher Columbus - the discoverer of the South and Central America. Expeditions of Columbus.

Christopher Columbus biography

1 expedition. Discovery of America by Columbus in 1492

• The first expedition Christopher Columbus assembled from three ships - "Santa Maria" (a three-masted flagship 25 m long, with a displacement of 120 tons, the captain of the ship Columbus), caravels "Pinta" (captain - Martin Alonso Pinson) and "Nina" (captain - Vicente Yanes Pinzon) with a displacement of 55 tons and 87 people of the expedition personnel.
  The flotilla left Palos on August 3, 1492, turned west from the Canary Islands, crossed the Atlantic Ocean, opening the Sargasso Sea and reached an island in the Bahamas (the first to see American land was the sailor "Pinta" Rodrigo de Triana October 12, 1492). Columbus landed on the shore, which the locals call Guanahani, hoisted a banner on it, announced open land property of the Spanish king and formally took possession of the island. The island was named San Salvador.
  For a long time (1940-1982) Watling Island was considered San Salvador. However, our contemporary American geographer George Judge in 1986 processed all the collected materials on a computer and came to the conclusion that the first American land seen by Columbus was Samana Island (120 km southeast of Watling).
  On October 14-24, Columbus approached several more Bahamas, and on October 28 - December 5, he opened part northeast coast Cuba. December 6 reached the island of Haiti and moved along the northern coast. On the night of December 25, the flagship Santa Maria landed on a reef, but the crew escaped. For the first time in the history of navigation, on the orders of Columbus, Indian hammocks were adapted for sailor bunks.
  Columbus returned to Castile on the Nina on March 15, 1493. From America, Columbus brought seven captive American natives, who were called Indians in Europe, as well as some gold and plants and fruits never seen before in the Old World, including an annual corn plant (in Haiti it is called maize), tomatoes, peppers, tobacco (“dry leaves that were especially appreciated by the locals”), pineapples, cocoa and potatoes (because of their beautiful pink and white flowers). The political resonance of Columbus's voyage was the "papal meridian": the head of the Catholic Church established a demarcation line in the Atlantic, indicating different directions for the discovery of new lands to rival Spain and Portugal.

  The first landing of Christopher Columbus on the shores of the New World: in San Salvador, Wisconsin, October 12, 1492.
  Author of the painting: Spanish artist Tolin Puebla, Theophilus Dioscor Dioscoro Teofilo Puebla Tolin (1831-1901)
  Publisher: American firm Currier and Ives (engravings, lithography, popular prints), publication 1892.

  
  

2 expedition of Christopher Columbus (1493 - 1496)

• The second expedition (1493-96), led by Admiral Columbus, in the position of Viceroy of the newly discovered lands, consisted of 17 ships with a crew of 1.5-2.5 thousand people. On November 3-15, 1493, Columbus discovered the islands of Dominica, Guadeloupe and about 20 Lesser Antilles, on November 19, the island of Puerto Rico. In March 1494, in search of gold, he made a military campaign deep into the island of Haiti, in the summer he discovered the southeast and south coast Cuba, the Isle of Youth and Jamaica. For 40 days, Columbus examined South coast Haiti, whose conquest continued in 1495. But in the spring of 1496 he sailed home, completing his second voyage on June 11 in Castile. Columbus announced the discovery of a new route to Asia. The colonization of new lands by free settlers, which began soon, was very expensive for the Spanish crown, and Columbus proposed to populate the islands with criminals, halving their sentence. With fire and sword, plundering and destroying the country of ancient culture, Cortez's military detachments passed through the land of the Aztecs - Mexico, and Pizarro's detachments passed through the land of the Incas - Peru.

3 expedition of Christopher Columbus (1498 - 1499)

• The third expedition (1498-99) consisted of six ships, three of which Columbus himself led across the Atlantic. On July 31, 1498, he discovered the island of Trinidad, entered the Gulf of Paria, discovered the mouth of the western arm of the Orinoco Delta and the Paria Peninsula, marking the beginning of the discovery of South America. Having entered the Caribbean Sea, he approached the Araya Peninsula, discovered the island of Margarita on August 15 and arrived in Haiti on August 31. In 1500, upon a denunciation, Christopher Columbus was arrested and, shackled (which he then kept for the rest of his life), was sent to Castile, where he was expected to be released.

4 expedition of Christopher Columbus (1502 - 1504)

I often notice that chance plays a big role in our life. An example is my favorite story about the discovery of America by Columbus. I think it's an amazing coincidence when an explorer was looking for India and discovered a new continent.

Who is Christopher Columbus

Very little has come down to us about the life of Columbus before the discovery of the continent. He is believed to have been born in Italy. In his youth he served in the navy. During the fighting, he was wounded and went to Spain.

The idea that India can be reached across the Atlantic Ocean originated with him during his military service. To implement the plan, Columbus needed money. He sent many letters to various nobles for financial support. Only the Spanish king responded to his requests.

Columbus set out on his first expedition in 1492.

What was the great discovery that Columbus made?

Everyone wanted to find a sea route to India at that time. The Portuguese tried to go around Africa, and the Spaniards, believing Columbus, equipped three ships to cross the Atlantic Ocean.

The Columbus crew stayed on the voyage for about three months until they stumbled upon the islands. This happened in the autumn of 1492. When Columbus saw the locals, he decided that he had arrived in the poor provinces of China. The navigator brought gold, unprecedented plants and natives with him to Spain.

In the future, Columbus was on three more expeditions to America. The second visit to America was aimed at colonization. Several thousand people went on the expedition. Having landed a second time, the Spaniards still believed that they were in India.

On the third and fourth expedition, Columbus tried to open the way to southern Asia. His attempts led to the discovery of South America.

There are a few more facts about the discovery of America:

• Columbus believed until the end of his life that he had discovered India.
• To go on his first expedition, Columbus took ten years to raise funds.
• The Spaniards sent prisoners to settle in America.

The saddest thing is that Columbus in old age was deprived of all honors and titles.

The project of the western sea route from Europe to India was developed by Christopher Columbus in the 1480s.

The Europeans were interested in finding a sea route to Asia, since at the end of the 15th century they still could not penetrate the Asian countries by land - it was blocked by the Ottoman Empire. Merchants from Europe had to buy spices, silk and other oriental goods from Arab merchants. In the 1480s, the Portuguese tried to go around Africa in order to penetrate Indian Ocean to India. Columbus also suggested that Asia can be reached by moving west.

His theory was based on the ancient doctrine of the sphericity of the Earth and the incorrect calculations of scientists of the 15th century.

The monarch created a council of scientists that considered and rejected Columbus' proposal.

Having received no support, in 1485 Columbus went to Spain. There, in early 1486, he was introduced to the royal court and received an audience with the king and queen of Spain, Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile.

The royal couple became interested in the project of a western route to Asia. To consider it, a special commission was created, which in the summer of 1487 issued an unfavorable conclusion. The Spanish monarchs postponed the decision to organize an expedition until the end of the war with the Emirate of Granada (the last Muslim state on the Iberian Peninsula).

In 1492, after a long siege, Granada fell, and the southern territories of the Iberian Peninsula were annexed to the Spanish kingdom.

After lengthy negotiations, the Spanish monarchs agreed to subsidize Columbus's expedition.

On April 17, 1492, the royal couple entered into an agreement (“surrender”) with Columbus in Santa Fe, granting him the title of noble, the titles of Admiral of the Sea-Ocean, Viceroy and Governor-General of all the islands and continents that he opens. The position of admiral gave Columbus the right to decide in disputes arising from matters of trade, the position of viceroy made him the personal representative of the monarch, and the position of governor general provided the highest civil and military authority. Columbus was given the right to receive a tenth of everything found in the new lands and an eighth of the profits from trading in foreign goods.

On August 9, she approached Canary Islands. After repairing the Pinta, which had leaked, on the island of Homer, on September 6, 1492, ships headed west and began crossing the Atlantic Ocean.

On September 16, 1492, bunches of green algae began to appear on the way of the expedition, which became more and more. The ships sailed through this unusual body of water for three weeks. This is how the Sargasso Sea was discovered.

On October 12, 1492, land was discovered from the Pinta. The Spaniards reached the islands of the Bahamas - the first land they encountered in the Western Hemisphere. This day is considered the official date of the discovery of America.

On October 13, 1492, Columbus landed, hoisted the banner of Castile on it and, having drawn up a notarial deed, formally took possession of the island. The island was named San Salvador. It was inhabited by the Arawaks, a people who were completely destroyed in 20-30 years. The natives gave Columbus "dry leaves" (tobacco).

On October 14-24, 1492, Columbus approached several more Bahamas. Europeans first saw hammocks in the houses of local residents.

Having learned from the natives about the existence of a rich island in the south, Columbus left the Bahamas on October 24 and sailed further southwest. On October 28, the flotilla approached the shores of Cuba, named by Columbus Juana. Communicating with local residents, Columbus decided that he was on one of the peninsulas East Asia. No gold, no spices, no major cities the Spaniards did not find. Columbus, believing he had reached the poorest part of China, decided to turn east, where he believed richer Japan lay. The expedition moved east on November 13, 1492.

On November 21, 1492, the captain of the "Pinta" Pinson took his ship away, deciding to search for the rich islands on his own. The two remaining ships continued east until they reached Cape Maisi on the eastern tip of Cuba.

On December 6, 1492, Columbus discovered the island of Haiti, named Hispaniola because of the similarity of its valleys to the lands of Castile. Further, moving along the northern coast, the Spaniards discovered the island of Tortuga.

Moving along north coast Hispaniola, the expedition on December 25, 1492 approached the Holy Cape (now Cap Haitien), where the Santa Maria sat on the reefs. With the help of local residents, guns, supplies and valuable cargo were removed from the ship. From the wreckage of the ship, a fort was built, named Navidad ("Christmas"). Columbus left 39 sailors as the personnel of the fort, and on January 4, 1493 he went to sea on the Nina.

On January 16, 1493, both ships headed northeast, using a fair current - the Gulf Stream.

On February 12, 1493, a storm arose, and on the night of February 14, the ships lost sight of each other.

February 15, 1493 "Nina" reached the ground. But only on February 18 she managed to land on the shore. It was decided to name the discovered island in honor of the lost ship of the Santa Maria expedition (the island of the Azores archipelago).

February 24, 1493 "Nina" left Azores. On February 26, she again fell into a storm, which washed her on the coast of Portugal on March 4. March 9, 1493 "Nina" anchored in the port of Lisbon. Juan II gave Columbus an audience at which the navigator informed the king about the discovery of a western route to India.

March 13 "Nina" was able to sail for Spain. On March 15, on the 225th day of sailing, she returned to the port of Palos. On the same day, "Pinta" also came there. Columbus brought with him the natives (who were called Indians in Europe), some gold, as well as plants (corn, potatoes, tobacco) and bird feathers that had never been seen before in Europe.

Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile gave Columbus a solemn reception and gave permission for a new expedition.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources

Initially, the American continent was inhabited by tribes that arrived from Asia. However, in the 13th-15th century, with active development culture, industry, civilized Europe goes in search and development of 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" then considered the lands that are now called South and North America.

In 1488 Portugal had a monopoly on the waters Atlantic coast Africa. Spain was forced to look for 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 the expedition of Columbus.

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, back to Columbus' first voyage.

Columbus' 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 gave Columbus a loan so that Christopher could equip a second ship. About a hundred crew members also went on a trip.

The voyage lasted from August 1492 to March 1493. In October, they sailed to the land, which they mistakenly considered the surrounding islands of Asia, that is, it could be the western territories of China, India or Japan. In fact, it was the discovery by Europeans Bahamas, Haiti and Cuba. Here, on these islands, local residents presented Columbus with dry leaves, i.e. tobacco, as a gift. Also, the locals 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 way where they take them. So Columbus made attempts to find gold, but found only more and more new lands. He was happy that he discovered new way to "Western India", but there were no developed cities, and untold riches. When returning home, Christopher took with him the locals (whom he called Indians) as proof of success.

When did the colonization of America begin?

Shortly after returning to Spain with gifts and "Indians", the Spaniards soon decide to send the sailor on the road again. Thus began the second expedition of Columbus.

Second Voyage of Columbus

September 1493 - June 1496 The purpose of this trip was to organize new colonies, so as many as 17 ships entered the flotilla. Among the sailors there were priests, and nobles, officials and courtiers. They brought pets, raw materials, 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, islands were also discovered, including Jamaica and Puerto Rico. On Hispaniola, the Spaniards found gold deposits in the depths of the island and began to mine it, with the help of the enslavement of local residents. There were uprisings of workers, but the unarmed locals were doomed. They died as a result of the suppression of riots, diseases brought from Europe, hunger. The rest of the local population was subjected to tribute and enslaved.
The Spanish rulers were not satisfied with the income that the new lands brought, and therefore they allowed everyone to move to new lands, and they broke the contract with Columbus, that is, they deprived him of the right to manage new lands. As a result, Columbus decides to travel to Spain, where he negotiates with the kings about the return of his privileges, and that prisoners will stay in the new lands, who will work and develop territories, and Spain will be freed from unwanted elements of society.

third journey

On the third expedition, Columbus went 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 was waiting for him again, Columbus had to allocate land to the local residents in order to suppress the rebellion and give slaves to help each rebel.

Then, unexpectedly, news came - the famous navigator Vasco da Gama opened a real way to India. He arrived from there with treats, spices, and declared Columbus a deceiver. As a result, the Spanish kings ordered the deceiver to be arrested and returned to Spain. But soon, the charges are dropped from him and 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 the islands off South America, Costa Rica and others, but never got to Pacific Ocean, because I learned from local residents that there were already Europeans here. Columbus returned to Spain.

Since Columbus no longer had a monopoly on discovering new lands, other Spaniards traveled on their way to explore and colonize new territories. An era began when the impoverished Spanish or Portuguese knights (conquistadors) traveled away from their native lands in search of adventure and wealth.

Who first colonized America?

The Spanish conquistadors at the beginning tried to develop new lands in North Africa, but the local population put up 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 super-hard 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 considered as enlighteners who brought culture, religion, and art with them. On the other hand, it was a gross enslavement and destruction of the local population. Actually, it was both. Modern countries differently assess the contribution of the Spaniards to the history of their country. For example, in Venezuela, in 2004, a monument to Columbus was demolished, as they considered him the ancestor of the extermination of the local indigenous population.