CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS
The story behind the sailor
COLUMBUS DAY



Occurs annually every second Monday in October
Columbus has been accredited for opening up the
Americas to European colonization
He also was one of few people who believed that the
world was round, not flat
FACTS OF COLUMBUS BEFORE HE WAS FAMOUS
Born in 1451 in Italy, which at the time was
Republic of Genoa.
 Columbus was born into a merchant home and
did not get involved in sailing until he was a
teenager

DEVELOPMENT OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS
Married and settled to Felipa Perestrello in
Lisbon, Portugal
 They both had one son who was named Diego
around 1480
 Felipa died after the family moved to Spain
 Columbus had another son in 1488 with
Beatriz Enriquez de Arana out of wedlock

FIRST VOYAGE IN ATLANTIC
Almost cost him his life
 Attacked by French privateers
 Columbus escaped by swimming to shore
 The shore he swam to was Lisbon, Portugal
where he later met his future wife

SAILOR COLUMBUS

Travelled to Africa through many trading
expeditions


Gained more knowledge of the Atlantic current flowing
east and west with every journey
Travelled to India and China for trade
The route was dangerous because of war with Middle
East
 Led to thinking of a different route for going west to
India and China

ROUGH START

Experts disagreed with Columbus
Distance was further than anticipated
 Widely believed that the earth was flat


Rejection
Portugal
 Genoa
 Venice
 Spain


The Spanish monarch took interest but rejected
Columbus due to the war that they were engaging
with the Middle East
PERSISTANT!
Columbus continued to speak with the royal
court numerous times during the war
 War was finally over in January 1492

 Columbus
was well funded with three ships
 Columbus left that August with permission of the
courts
THE THREE RANGERS

Columbus was given three ships to sail across
the ocean blue
 Santa
Maria
 Pinta
 Niña
36 days of sailing across the Atlantic
 Landed not in the Americas but the Bahamas!
 There he met local natives

UNDER ATTACK?
No, Natives were timid but
friendly
 They traded with Columbus
and his crew

Columbus also noticed the
golden jewerly that the natives
were wearing
 This foreshadowed
catastrophic events that will
come in the future


He built a village because
the boat Santa Maria
wrecked on the coast
RETURN HOME
39 men stayed behind to attend the town
 Two of the three ships (Niña and Pinta)
returned to Spain by 1493

 They
brought the good news (thinking that they had
reached Asia)
CONTINUOUS VOYAGES
When Columbus returned he
found out that the village he
left behind was burned to the
ground and the people were
massacred.
 Columbus came back to further
explore for gold along the land
that he has come across
 His third voyage, he finally
encountered the mainland
(Venezuela)

MUTINY!
The new settlers and crew claimed that they
were misled and lied to with poor management
 Columbus was brought before court in chains
and brought on trial
 The charges were eventually dropped but
Columbus was stripped of his title of governor
of the Indies

LAST VOYAGE
A few years later Columbus convinced King
Ferdinand using riches to persuade him to permit
this voyage even after all the trouble Columbus
had caused
 Last voyage was in 1502


While along the eastern coast of Central America, a
storm led to his ship being wrecked
TROUBLED TIMES WITH ISLANDERS

Islanders were fed up with the poor treatment and the
European gold obsession


Retaliation





They did not supply the Europeans with food like they did in
the past
Columbus threatened the islanders by stating he was going
to punish them!
He claimed he had the power of taking the moon away
Knowing a lunar eclipse was going to occur
It scared the Natives back into trade
Eventually a rescue party came in November of 1504
NEAR THE END OF COLUMBUS’ LIFE
He did regain some of the riches with that last
expedition but Columbus never regained his
title of Governor
 Columbus died May 20th, 1506

 He
left this world with the impression that he
discovered Asia
MIXED LEGACY

Pros
He opened up a trade route to Americas
 Proved that the world was indeed round


Cons
Destruction of native peoples
 Did not find a new easier trade route to India


Overall

Affected every society on the planet by the transfer of
plants, animals, disease and cultures.
WORK CITED

Information found at:
 "Christopher
Columbus. biography." bio. True Story.
A&E Television Networks, 2011. Web. 6 Oct 2011.
<http://www.biography.com/people/christophercolumbus-9254209?page=1 >.

All pictures found from Microsoft Clip Art