Biography of Christopher Columbus
w
ithout Christopher Columbus, our lives would not be the same
because he did something that many people would never have
thought of doing. Columbus discovered new land which we now
call home. Between 1470 and 1500 he contributed to society
remarkably. He was not only an explorer, but also a navigator, map
maker and a colonizer. Columbus’s voyages across the Atlantic
Ocean led to general European awareness of the American
continents in the Western Hemisphere. This is important because it
showed that there was land on the other side of the earth and now
the Britain’s knew that. His legacy was that he discovered new land,
as we all now call America, in 1492. He in fact thought he was
finding a path to India but instead discovered an easy pass to the
“new world”. In the same year he discovered the Bahamas and so
his legacy is remembered until this day. Finding the Bahamas is a big
achievement because they then discovered all of South America.
Columbus helped prove that the world was round and also helped
make the first map of America. It is important to have a map of
America because without it Britain would not know how to go to get
to America and learn what a great place it is. It helps a lot because
without a map it is hard to know what place is best to grow crops
and live. Attacking Moors to make them stop robbing England was
another one of Columbus’s contribution to society. Moors are
people who have been referred to several historic and modern
populations of Muslim. The reason he went on his voyages is he
wanted more land for Britain and so England would not be so
crowded. This was a very selfless choice knowing that it meant he
could die. He was brave enough to sail across the Atlantic Ocean
before any other man. His legacy was good and it benefited
mankind incredibly. He found land for people to live on and a place
for Britain and other residents of the country to grow and produce
their own food and crops. Columbus beneficially sailed to America
thinking that he was going to India in search of spices, oil, and other
things which he then was going to give to the people in power at
the time. By finding more land he made many Britain people’s lives
easier. Christopher Columbus left a huge legacy and contributed
much to society.
Christopher Columbus had a
respectable but impoverished family of
seven. His father, Demenico Colombo, and
mother, Susanna Fontanarossa, had five children of which
Christopher was the eldest. The Columbus’s were very cultural and
thought Christians were the best. He was born and brought up in
Genoa, Italy where many middle class families’ business included
wool weaving. Naturally, Columbus’s father was a wool weaver and
expected Christopher to become one as well. Christopher learned
reading, writing, basic arithmetic and Latin at his grammar school. At
home his mother taught him and his siblings Spanish. The family had
a limited education due to lack of money. This frustration, which
Christopher bottled up inside him, showed occasionally. He rarely
ever got along with his siblings and had many arguments with his
parents. Instead of going to his grammar school, Christopher helped
his father with their wool weaving business. Christopher was in
charge of carding the wool for spinning into yarn. So, for many hours
every day, Christopher would sit in his father’s shop, scraping heavy
wooden paddles with bristles together to make little fluffy balls of
wool. Perhaps it was these hours of hard labour that convinced him
that being a wool weaver was not the life he wanted. At age ten
Christopher first fell in love with the ocean and decided to become
an explorer. His father was against him being an explorer for he
wished him to carry on the family business. Later on in life Christopher
Columbus married Felipa Perestrello e Moniz. His first and only son
with Felipa was Diego Columbus in 1480. Columbus’s favourite son
was Fernando, born to Beatriz Enriquez de Arana. Many people still
say that for such an extraordinary person, young Christopher had a
very ordinary childhood.
No matter how great the person, there’s
got to be some mistakes and Christopher
Columbus made many. At a very young age
Christopher learned about anger and frustration. He was never nice
to his siblings and this caused them to never be helpful in his times of
need. When Columbus planned his first voyage he did not have
enough money for supplies and so he went to his younger brother in
search of help. His brother and he were not in a good relationship so
Columbus’s brother refused to help him. Because of this incident
Columbus did not have enough supplies to last his crew members
through their whole voyage but Columbus decided to go anyways.
When he was young Christopher never liked wool weaving and
whenever he was helping his father he always messed up. This led
the family to not excel in the wool weaving business and so they
ever had lots of money. Also, because of not having money,
Columbus couldn’t go to school and learn how to navigate ships
properly. Nevertheless, he taught himself and his talent helped him
remarkably. Another big mistake of Christopher Columbus was that
he thought that America (or the ‘New World’) was only around 4000
km apart from England but actually they are more like 19000 km
apart. So this ended with him with even fewer supplies and wrong
information. Columbus was also a very cruel man to the natives. The
natives had helped him and the crew members so much by giving
them food, shelter, and more supplies. He should have treated the
natives with respect and should have listened to their ideas. When
they landed on the islands many of the natives died because of the
diseases the Columbus and the crew members were bringing. Plus,
instead of giving the crew members another chance, Columbus
hanged them when they made a mistake. Columbus found some
spices on the islands but he did not want to take them back to
England to the Queen. He wanted to keep them and sell them for
more ship supplies so he could go on more voyages. As well, when
Columbus was told to return to Spain in chains for not bringing back
the spices, he simply refused. To this day people think that if
Columbus hadn’t made so many mistakes, his legacy might have
been a little different.
From Christopher Columbus we
can learn to overcome obstacles and
keep going and no matter how mad,
don’t take your anger out on the
innocent. One of Christopher Columbus’s big mistakes was that he
guessed many things and did not take time to get information from
reliable sources. Because of this, Columbus’s ships did not have
enough supplies and they weren’t prepared for the storm of their
lives. Columbus thought that by sinking the ship all the crew
members would just swim to shore and so that is what they did. This is
a good example of think before doing because apparently
Columbus did not think. The thing that kept Columbus going was his
incredible drive. This helped him a lot, through the hardest times of
his life. When Columbus asked the king to help with the voyage and
the king said no, Columbus kept on going. He said that when the
going gets tough, don’t stop, just keep on going.
A hero is not always someone who wears
a suit and saves people from burning buildings.
A hero is anyone who can show courage when
faced with a problem. A hero is a person who is
able to help another in various ways. Someone can become a hero
by saving someone who is in danger. Another example of a hero is
someone who is there to help others and gives them strength to go
on through life's difficulties. Christopher Columbus was a hero
because he found new land. He gave the people of England a new
place to live and he was selfless in this act. He was a hero to his crew
members; when his ship sank in the storm he helped everyone to
shore and saved many lives, In addition to all of this, Christopher
Columbus was a hero to his family. He had always been a helpful
father even though he was on his voyages most of the time. On the
other hand, Columbus wasn’t a hero to the natives. Columbus was
cruel to them if they didn’t help him properly and it was a very big
mistake. He was a hero. He just didn’t understand that being a hero
means you’re nice to everyone.