THE 4 VOYAGES OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS AND THEIR EVENTS - HISTORY - 2025

The voyages of Christopher Columbus were those undertaken by the Genoese admiral towards the American continent. There were four in total, the first of these being the one that marked the discovery of the new continent for Europeans. Columbus intended to find a new route to Asia to facilitate trade and expand the Catholic faith.

The rivalry with Portugal, plus the growing complications in following the old land routes to trade with Asian countries, led the Spanish Crown to agree to finance the project. The first trip concluded on October 12, 1492 with the arrival of the Spanish expedition to the Caribbean.

Columbus named the first island on which they anchored as San Salvador. After some time exploring the area and founding a fort, they returned to the peninsula. The second trip started on the wrong foot, since the fort had been destroyed by the natives.

In spite of everything, the expedition went down in history for having founded the first Spanish city on the American continent. It was during the third voyage that Columbus's men reached South America. However, rebellions broke out and the figure of the admiral was seriously damaged. He was returned to Spain accused of various crimes.

The last trip was quite different. The Crown had withdrawn the privileges from Columbus and in American lands it was increasingly being challenged. He returned to Spain after exploring Central America. He was never able to return to the American continent again.

Causes and antecedents

On the commercial side, Europe had been trading with Asia for a long time. Spices, fabrics and other products were highly coveted and, since Marco Polo's time, the Silk Road was one of the most important.

However, Turks and Arabs increasingly controlled the Middle East area, making it difficult for Europeans to move to other Asian territories. For this reason, the need to search for alternatives caused several countries to undertake different projects.

Meanwhile, the Spanish kingdoms continued their fight to end the last Muslim strongholds on the peninsula. The war effort had left the accounts very weakened and, moreover, had prevented them from participating in maritime explorations for a long time. In 1492 the taking of Granada meant the end of the so-called reconquest.

Rivalry with Portugal

The maritime tradition of Portugal made it achieve great achievements in its explorations. He had reached the Azores and Madeira, in addition to traveling the African coasts.

The rivalry in this regard with Spain was due to the search for new riches, with an emphasis on Asia.

New trade routes with Asia

As mentioned before, the growing strength of Turks and Arabs in the Middle East made it necessary to find a new way to continue trade with the Asian continent.

Land routes were unsafe and took a long time to cover. For this reason, some explorers - like Columbus - began to look to the sea to get there.

Expand the Catholic Christian faith

Although little mention is made of this aspect when analyzing the causes of Columbus's travels, in some writings of the time it is clearly reflected.

In the Diary of the First Navigation, written by Bartolomé de las Casas, the friar mentioned evangelization as one of the main reasons for the explorations.

Other documents, such as an administrative one dated in the same 1492, affirmed that Columbus was sent "per maria oçeana ad parts Indie" ("by the ocean seas to the parts of India") for the purpose of, among other purposes, "fidei ortodoxe aumentum ”(“ the increase of the orthodox faith ”).

First trip

The figure of Christopher Columbus is essential to know this time in history. Most historians agree that he was born in the then Republic of Genoa. The sailor was convinced that the Indies could be reached by crossing the Atlantic to the west.

Although there are no conclusive data about when he discovered this possibility, it is thought that some information that Toscanelli wrote on behalf of the Portuguese King Alfonso V.

Looking for financing

Once convinced of the viability of the project, Colón began to look for the necessary financing to bring it to fruition. He first went to John II, King of Portugal, in 1485. The latter, busy with other explorations, refused help.

After that first attempt the sailor moved to Castile. There he proposed his idea to Queen Isabel and her husband Fernando de Aragón. In the middle of the fight against the Muslims, his first answer was negative. Furthermore, the experts did not believe it was possible.

Undaunted, Columbus marched to Andalusia. After several attempts, he found someone who listened to him: Luis de la Cerda, Duke of Medinaceli. Still two years passed until they were able to convince Queen Isabel to speak to Columbus, although she ordered him to wait until they took Granada.

Thus, when the city in the hands of the Muslims surrendered on November 25, 1491, the Genoese left for Santa Fe, where the Christian headquarters was located.

Capitulations of Santa Fe

It was in Santa Fe itself that negotiations began between Columbus and the representatives of the Crown to finance the trip. The demands of Columbus, who asked to be appointed admiral and viceroy of the lands he discovered, caused the first meetings to end in failure.

The intercession of an official, Luis de Santángel, was what convinced the queen about the need for her to participate in the project; He was even willing to advance the necessary money. The queen acceded to the plan and accepted the sailor's conditions.

The Capitulations of Santa Fe is the name by which these agreements were known, which were signed on April 17, 1492.

In addition to the aforementioned titles, Colón acquired the right to 10% of the wealth he found, apart from other benefits.

Preparations

The budget that was calculated to carry out the expedition was two million maravedis. The part of the Crown was advanced, as announced, by Luis de Santángel, and consisted of 1,140,000 maravedis. Columbus himself contributed 500,000, while the remaining amount was not delivered in cash, but in the form of two caravels.

To form the crew, the Catholic kings offered forgiveness to prisoners who wanted to enlist. Still, it was not easy to get the 100 men that were needed. Martín Alonso Pinzón, a shipowner, took over the task in exchange for a part of what was found.

As for the ships, they had the two that were already in the town of Palos de la Frontera and that were part of the total budget. It was about the Girl and the Pinta. The Santa María, a nao, was the third vessel to join the journey.

Expedition

With everything ready, on August 3, 1492, the expedition left the port of Palos de la Frontera. Colón reserved command of the Santa María, while Martín Alonso Pinzón was in charge of the Pinta and his brother Vicente, of the Niña.

According to Christopher Columbus himself, the route would be between 3,000 and 5,000 kilometers to reach Japan. Actually, the distance is 19,000.

The ships covered a first stage that led them to the Canary Islands. There they loaded provisions and jumped back into the sea. From that moment, there were 33 days of uninterrupted navigation.

Arrival in America

The trip was not easy for the crew of the three ships. Columbus had to face two riots. The first, on October 1, when they had already been crossing for 2 months.

The lack of food (and the poor state of what was left) made the sailors ask the admiral to change course. A few days after that request, he had to agree.

Since the situation did not improve, the crew continued with their complaints. On October 10, before what was almost an ultimatum, Columbus promised them that if they found nothing in 2 days, they would turn around.

Just when that date was fulfilled, on October 12, 1492, Rodrigo de Triana -who was in La Pinta- sighted land. The expedition had reached the Caribbean, although they thought it was the Indies. That first island was christened San Salvador, and Columbus took possession of it on behalf of the Spanish Crown.

Exploration

Columbus was convinced that the islands they were visiting during the following month were off the Asian coast. In fact, when he arrived in what is now Cuba, he thought he had reached the continent. However, discovering only small indigenous villages, he was disappointed and decided to continue exploring.

The next destination was another island, which they called Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic). In those lands the explorers made contact with some natives, who told them about an area where there was gold.

The name of that place known to the natives was Cibao, but Columbus confused it with Cipango, a name given to Japan.

On December 25, the expedition lost the Santa María, which ran aground on a sandbar. Since the crew did not fit in the two remaining ships, they decided to build a fort, dubbed Christmas. A group of men stayed there, while the rest set out on their way back to Spain.

Second trip

The news of its discovery and the riches that Columbus claimed to have found, without being true, made it easy for the second trip to be organized very quickly.

In this case, the plans were more for conquest and colonization than for exploration. Pope Alexander VI gave Castile bulls that assured him control of what was conquered, ordering that the inhabitants of those lands be evangelized.

Development

The proof of the importance of this new expedition was that it had 17 ships and 1500 people.

On September 25, 1493, they weighed anchor from Cádiz, stopping in the Canary Islands days later. Unlike the first time, the journey was uneventful and on November 2 they arrived in Dominica.

Crossing several islands along the way, they headed towards Fort Navidad, where, in theory, the men left by Columbus were waiting for them. On November 27 they reached the fort. However, it had been destroyed by the natives and the men had been killed.

First Spanish city in America

After the shock of discovering this circumstance, they decided to leave before the natives could attack. They headed east, looking for some area to establish a colony.

The chosen place was a bay, in which the first Spanish settlement in America was established: La Isabela.

Search for Asia and return to Spain

Diego de Colón, the admiral's brother, was in command of that first colony with part of the men, while the rest continued their journey. At that time they still thought they were in Asia and set out in search of the continent.

They were four months of navigation in which they passed through many other islands, but without finding anything more relevant. Finally, they returned to Isabela. Upon arrival, they discovered that it was half empty. Apparently the area was almost uninhabitable and many had decided to return to Spain.

Among those who returned was Pedro Margarit, a captain who began to speak ill of Columbus in front of the court. Before the doubts created, the kings sent a representative to investigate what was true in what Margarit told.

After investigating, he returned to the peninsula to report. Columbus accompanied him along with more than 200 men who did not want to stay in the new continent.

Third travel

Although the atmosphere at court was changing, the Catholic kings confirmed all his privileges and positions to Columbus. The main difference in organizing the third trip was that the Crown was much more involved in the preparation. Likewise, they forced the sailor to accept religious and other professionals among their members.

On January 23, 1498, the third of Columbus's voyages began. They left Sanlúcar de Barrameda and divided to reach various places.

Discovery of South America

It was on this expedition that Columbus reached the continent. Thus, he arrived in present-day Venezuela, where he found a large indigenous population and was impressed by its beauty.

But, apart from the findings, this trip marked the beginning of the end for the figure of Christopher Columbus. It all started when it arrived in Santo Domingo, which had just been founded.

He found the natives up in arms, but also the Spanish very irritated. They reproached the admiral who had lied to them when he told them about the wealth of gold in those lands and how easy it was to get it.

This meant that there were several rebellions and Columbus began to negotiate with the discontented. Meanwhile, these news had reached the Spanish court and the monarchs sent a judge to investigate.

It was in the year 1500 when that official reached Santo Domingo. He immediately became governor, had the Columbus brothers arrested and sent them to Spain.

Fourth trip

The result of all these events was very negative for Colón. He lost all the privileges previously granted and was expressly prohibited from ruling any colony. In addition, the kings allowed other expeditions.

Without surrendering, Columbus returned to organize a new expedition; again, his goal was to reach Asia.

Development

On May 9, 1502, Columbus set course for the fourth time to America. He left Cádiz on May 9 and reached Santo Domingo in a month. The new governor prevented him from landing, so he had to continue his journey. Thus, he arrived in Honduras, meeting the Mayans for the first time.

Central America exploration

Despite the inconveniences, this fourth trip saw how the first Spanish city was created on continental lands. It was Santa María de Belén, in Panama. However, this settlement did not last long due to the climate and the belligerence of the indigenous people.

The rest of the trip was very eventful, since they lost many caravels and men for various reasons. In the end, they settled for a year in Jamaica.

Columbus's disagreements with his men caused them to rebel several times. The situation deteriorated so much that they ended up asking Santo Domingo for help. That was the end of the fourth trip.

I return to spain

Sick and without support, Christopher Columbus returned to Spain on September 7, 1504. After a period of convalescence, he met with King Ferdinand and, later, settled in Valladolid.

On May 20, 1506, he died in that city without Spanish society giving him any importance.

References

1. Córdoba Toro, Julián. Christopher Columbus's travels to America. Obtained from iberoamericasocial.com
2. Ministry of Education and Science. The Voyages of Columbus. Obtained from elmo.pntic.mec.es
3. Cervantes Virtual. Christopher Columbus. Obtained from cervantesvirtual.com
4. Minster, Christopher. The First New World Voyage of Christopher Columbus (1492). Retrieved from thoughtco.com
5. History.com Staff. Christopher Columbus. Retrieved from history.com
6. Flint, Valerie IJ Christopher Columbus. Retrieved from britannica.com
7. Minster, Christopher. The Third Voyage of Christopher Columbus. Retrieved from thoughtco.com
8. Ruiz, Bruce. Fourth Voyage 1502 - 1504. Retrieved from bruceruiz.net