Christopher Columbus was an Italian navigator and explorer. He completed four voyages to the Atlantic Ocean with the help of the Catholic king, opening the door to the expansion and expedition of European colonization in America. He was the first European to discover the continent of America, and, through him, the first link was established with the Caribbean, Central America, and South America.
Columbus was a self-educated person. He had acquired a good knowledge of geography, astronomy, and history. By finding a sea route westward to the East Indies, that is, the Indian subcontinent, he planned to trade spices in India. Wanting a spice trade in India, Columbus offered to find a westward sea route to the East Indies. However, Columbus’s plans were looked at skeptically, and when Columbus presented his proposal to King John II of Portugal, he was denied. He soon approached Spain, whose Queen Isabella I and King Ferdinand II, following the victory of the Battle of Granada, decided to get along with his expedition. In August 1492, with three ships, he departed from Castile and landed in America on October 12.
A map drawn by the German cartographer Henricus Martilus guided him across the Atlantic during the voyage. He reached the island of Guanahani in the Bahamas of the United States and thought of this new land as India. He then went to Cuba and Hispaniola and settled a colony there, which is now Haiti. In 1493, Columbus returned with some captive indigenous people to the Kingdom of Castile in Portugal. The story of his sea expedition spread like a forest fire throughout Europe in no time.
Columbus led three more expeditions to Central and South America in 1493, 1498, and 1502. During that time, he christened many geographical features, particularly small islands. He named the inhabitants of America as Indios or Indians. He sharply believed that he reached India in the Far East. He was appointed as a colonial ruler of America by the king of Castile, though removed from office and arrested due to extreme cruelty against his native people.
For centuries, this time of Columbus’s voyage was interchangeably named the Age of Exploration, Occupation, and Colonization. The phrase “Columbian Exchange” defined the goods, ideas, and people transferred following Columbus’ voyages from the Old World to the New World. He was convinced he found India until the day he died.
This exchange altered diets, economies, and ways of life on both sides of the Atlantic but had as a consequence the decimation of the native people through disease and exploitation. He remained convinced until he died in 1506 that he had reached Asia. His voyages indeed caused immense suffering amongst the indigenous populations, even though his voyages opened up a New World to European colonization of the Americas. It is all so very controversial in that it celebrates Columbus as a pioneer of this new era of globalization yet underlines the disastrous consequences that his actions had for the indigenous inhabitants of the American continent. Yet, Columbus’s voyages certainly represented a significant turning point in history toward a new era of exploration and exchange.
To read more blogs like this click here
Writer
Fazlul Karim,
Intern,
Content Writing Department
YSSE.