Columbus's first expedition. What did Christopher Columbus discover? The Journey of Christopher Columbus

Columbus's origins and his dream to discover the western route to India

Christopher Columbus (in Spanish - Cristobal Colon), born in 1446 in Genoa, was originally engaged in the weaving craft of his father and undertook sea voyages on trade, traveled to England, Portugal, in 1482 he was in Guinea.

In the same year, Columbus married in Lisbon the daughter of a distinguished Italian sailor and then went with his wife to the estate of his father-in-law, on the island of Porto Santo, lying northeast of Madeira. Here he found nautical charts, belonging to his father-in-law, from which he got the first information about the islands and lands lying to the west of Europe. From time to time, the sea washed down to the shores of Porto Santo now the trunks of a strange tree species, now a mighty reed, now the corpse of an unfamiliar human race. Unaware of existence vast continent unknown to Europeans, Columbus saw in these signs confirmation of the testimony of the ancient writers - Aristotle, Seneca and Pliny - that India lies on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean and that from Cadiz it is possible to travel there in a few days.

Portrait of Christopher Columbus. Painter S. del Piombo, 1519

This is how Christopher Columbus matured a plan to open the shortest and most direct route to India, without skirting Africa. With his project, he turned (in 1483) to the Portuguese king John, but appointed by the king, a commission of scientists recognized Columbus's thought as a baseless fantasy. Failure did not disarm Columbus, and after the death of his wife, he went to Spain to get there the necessary funds to implement his idea. In Spain, Columbus was not refused, but the expedition equipment was constantly delayed. After staying in Spain for about 7 years, Columbus had already decided to look for patrons in France, but on the way he met in the same monastery with the confessor of Queen Isabella. He reacted very sympathetically to the bold thought of Columbus and persuaded the queen to provide three ships at his disposal. On April 17, 1492, the treaty of Christopher Columbus with the crown was signed, by virtue of which he was granted wide powers and the rights of viceroy in the lands that he would open on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.

Discovery of America by Columbus (briefly)

On May 28, 1492, three ships, "Santa Maria", "Pinta" and "Niña", with a crew of 120, left Palos harbor and headed for the Canary Islands, from there they sailed in a direct westward... The long voyage began to instill in the sailors distrust of the feasibility of Columbus's thought. However, the extant diary of Columbus does not mention anything about the riot of the crew, and the story about this seems to be in the realm of fiction. On October 7, the first signs of the proximity of land appeared, and the ships took to the southwest towards land. On October 12, 1492, Columbus landed on the island of Gwanagani, solemnly declared it, under the name of San Salvador, the possession of the Spanish crown and proclaimed himself its viceroy. Further navigation in search of gold-bearing lands, which the natives of San Salvador passed on, led to the discovery of Cuba and Haiti.

On January 4, 1493, Christopher Columbus took a trip back to Spain to personally announce the success of the venture. On March 15, he arrived in Palos. Travel from Palos to royal residence, Barcelona, ​​was a real triumphal procession, and the same brilliant reception awaited Columbus at court.

Columbus in front of kings Ferdinand and Isabella. Painting by E. Leutse, 1843

Columbus' new expeditions (briefly)

The government hastened to equip with Columbus new expedition consisting of 17 big ships with a detachment of 1200 warriors and horsemen and numerous, colonists, attracted by general rumors about the fabulous wealth of the new countries. On September 25, 1493, Columbus set out to sea, after 20 days of sailing he reached the island of Dominica, on his further journey he discovered the islands of Marie Galante, Guadeloupe, Puerto Rico and others. Having laid a new fort in Haiti to replace the fortress he had previously built, destroyed in his absence by the natives, he went further west to reach India, which he considered very close. Having met a dense archipelago on the way, Columbus decided that he was near China, since Marco Polo says that to the east of China lies a group of thousands of islands; then he postponed for a while further searches for a way to India, in order to establish a more solid government in the open lands.

Meanwhile, the unhealthy climate of some inhabited islands, which caused great mortality, the natural setbacks of the first settlers who followed Columbus with the most fervent dreams, finally, the envy of many for the high position occupied by a foreigner, and the stern disposition of Columbus, which required strict discipline, created Christopher Columbus a lot. enemies in the colony and in Spain itself. Discontent in Spain took on such proportions that Columbus found it necessary to travel to Europe for personal explanations. He again met with a warm welcome at court, but among the population the belief in the wealth and convenience of the new lands was undermined, no one aspired to go there anymore and, equipping a new expedition (May 30, 1498), Columbus had to take exiled criminals with him instead of voluntary colonists ... During the third voyage, Columbus discovered the islands of Margarita and Cubagua.

After Columbus left Spain, a hostile party succeeded in gaining the upper hand at court; it managed to denigrate the genius traveler even in the eyes of Isabella, who more than others sympathized with the great enterprise. Columbus' personal enemy Francis Bobadilla was sent to audit affairs in the new lands. Arriving in August 1499 at New World, he arrested Columbus and his brothers, Eigo and Bartholomew, ordering them to be chained, and the man who prepared her subsequent power, who rendered invaluable merit to the entire Old World, returned to Spain in chains. Ferdinand and Isabella, however, could not allow such a shame, and when Columbus approached Spain, they ordered him to take off his chains; however, Columbus was denied a request to return all of his rights and privileges.

In 1502, Christopher Columbus undertook his fourth and last voyage overseas and, having reached the Isthmus of Panama, had to give up the desire to penetrate Indian Ocean with which he thought the Caribbean was connected.

Death of Columbus

November 26, 1504 Columbus arrived in Spain and settled in Seville. All his requests for the return of lost rights and income in the countries he discovered remained unsatisfied. With the accession to the throne of the new King Philip, Columbus's position did not change, and on May 21, 1506, he died in Valladolid, not seeing his wishes come true and at the same time not realizing the true significance of his discoveries. He died convinced that he had discovered new way to India, and not to a new, hitherto unknown part of the world.

After his death, Christopher Columbus was buried in a Franciscan monastery in the city of Valladolid. In 1513, his body was transferred to Seville, and between 1540-59, according to the dying wishes of Columbus himself, his remains were transported to the island of Haiti. In 1795, with the annexation of Haiti to the French crown, Columbus's body was transferred to Havana and buried in the Havana Cathedral. Statues were erected to him in Genoa and Mexico. Columbus was left with a diary of his first journey, published by Navarrett.

Biography

Early life of Christopher Columbus

It is believed that Columbus was born into a poor Genoese family: father - Domenico Colombo (Italian. Domenico Colombo), mother - Susanna Fontanarossa (Italian. Susanna fontanarossa). The exact transliteration of his name from Spanish - Cristobal Colon , however, he became world famous as Christopher Columbus ( Christophor- Latin transliteration of the Greek name). In addition to Christopher, there were other children in the family: Giovanni (died in childhood, in 1484), Bartolomeo, Giacomo, Bianchella (married Giacomo Bavarello). Traditionally, six cities in Italy and Spain vie for the honor of being the small homeland of Columbus.

The appearance of Columbus is known from the portraits that were painted after his death. Bartolomé de Las Casas, who saw Columbus in 1493, describes him as follows:

He was tall, above average, his face was long and impressive, 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 labors.

Studied at the University of Pavia. Around 1470 he marries Dona Felipe Moniz de Palestrello, daughter of a navigator of the time of Prince Enrique. Until 1472, Columbus lived in Genoa, and from 1472 in Savona. In the 1470s he took part in sea trade expeditions. It is believed that as early as 1474, the astronomer and geographer Paolo Toscanelli told him in a letter that, in his opinion, India could be reached by a much shorter sea route if sailing west. Apparently, even then Columbus was thinking about his project. sea ​​travel to India. Having made his own calculations on the basis of Toscanelli's advice, he decided that it was most convenient to sail through the Canary Islands, from which, in his opinion, about five thousand kilometers remained to Japan.

Here Queen Isabella took a step forward. The idea of ​​the upcoming liberation of the Holy Sepulcher captured her heart so much that she decided not to give this chance to either Portugal or France. Although the Spanish kingdom was formed as a result of the dynastic marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, their monarchies, however, retained separate independent administrations, cortes and finances. “I'll pawn my jewelry,” she said.

Second expedition

Second expedition

Columbus's second flotilla consisted of 17 ships. The flagship is "Maria Galante" (displacement of two hundred tons). According to various sources, the expedition consisted of 1500-2500 people. There were already not only sailors, but also monks, priests, officials, serving nobles, courtiers. They brought with them horses and donkeys, cattle and pigs, vines, seeds of agricultural crops, to organize a permanent colony.

During the expedition, the complete conquest of Hispaniola was carried out, and the mass extermination of the local population began. The city of Santo Domingo was founded. The most convenient sea route to the West Indies has been laid. The Lesser Antilles, the Virgin Islands, the islands of Puerto Rico, Jamaica have been discovered, the southern coast of Cuba has been almost completely explored. At the same time, Columbus continues to claim that he is in Western India.

Chronology

• September 25, 1493 - The expedition left Cadiz. In the Canary Islands, they took sugarcane and dogs accustomed to hunting. The course was about 10 ° south of the first time. Later, all ships from Europe to "Western India" began to use this route.
• With a successful tailwind (in the equatorial region of the Atlantic Ocean, winds constantly blow to the west), the journey took only 20 days, and already on November 3, 1493 (Sunday), an island from the Small Antilles named Dominica.
• November 4 - The expedition arrives at the largest of the local islands, called Guadeloupe. On open islands the Caribs lived, making large canoes raiding the islands of the peaceful Arawaks. Their weapons were bows and arrows tipped with fragments of tortoise shells or jagged fish bones.
• November 11 - Montserrat Islands, Antigua, Nevis open.
• November 13 - The first armed clash with the Caribbean occurs off the island of Santa Cruz.
• November 15 - to the north of Santa Cruz, an archipelago was opened, which Columbus called the "Islands of the Eleven Thousand Maidens" - now they are called the Virgin Islands. Bypassing the archipelago on both sides, the ships of the flotilla in three days joined at the western end of the ridge.
• November 19 - The Spaniards landed on west bank a large island, which Columbus named San Juan Bautista. Since the 16th century, it has been called Puerto Rico.
• November 27 - the flotilla approached the one built during the first expedition to the island. Haiti fort La Navidad, but on the coast the Spaniards found only traces of a fire and corpses.
• January 1494 - A city, La Isabella, is built to the east of the burnt fort, in honor of Queen Isabella. Many Spaniards were struck down by the yellow fever epidemic. A detachment sent to reconnaissance inland found gold in river sand in the mountainous region of the Cordillera Central.
• March 1494 - Columbus hiked inland. Meanwhile, in La Isabella, most of the food supplies deteriorated due to the heat, and Columbus decided to leave only 5 ships and about 500 people on the island, and send the rest to Spain. With them, he conveyed to the king and queen that he had found rich deposits of gold, and asked to send cattle, food supplies and agricultural implements, offering to pay for them with slaves from among the local residents.
• April 24, 1494 - Leaving a garrison in La Isabella under the command of his younger brother Diego, Columbus led three small ships west along the southeastern coast of Cuba.
• May 1 - a narrow and deep bay was discovered ( modern city Guantanamo Bay with Guantanamo Bay). Further to the west are the Sierra Maestra mountains. From here, Columbus turned south.
• May 5 - Jamaica Island is opened (Columbus named it Santiago).
• May 14 - after walking along the northern coast of Jamaica and not finding gold, Columbus returned to Cuba. The next 25 days, the ships moved through small islands along south coast islands.
• June 12 - having walked almost 1,700 km along the southern coast of Cuba and before reaching only 100 km to the western tip of the island, Columbus decided to turn, because the sea was very shallow, the sailors were dissatisfied, and the provisions were running out. Before that, in order to protect himself from accusations of cowardice that could follow in Spain, he demanded that the entire team swear that Cuba is part of the continent, and therefore there is no point in sailing further. Turning back, the flotilla discovered the island of Evanhelista (later called Pinos, and since 1979 - Juventud).
• June 25 - September 29 - on the way back, we rounded Jamaica from the west and south, passed along the southern coast of Hispaniola and returned to La Isabella. By this time, Columbus was already quite seriously ill.
• Over the past five months, Columbus's second brother, Bartolomé, brought three ships from Spain with troops and supplies. A group of Spaniards captured them and fled home. The rest scattered around the island, plundering and raping the natives. They resisted and killed some of the Spaniards. After his return, Christopher was ill for five months, and when he recovered, in March 1495 he organized the conquest of Hispaniola by a detachment of two hundred soldiers. The natives were almost unarmed, and Columbus used cavalry against them and specially trained dogs brought with him. After nine months of this harassment, the island was conquered. The Indians were taxed, enslaved in gold mines and plantations. The Indians fled from the villages to the mountains, dying from unknown diseases brought by the colonists from Europe. Meanwhile, the colonists moved to South coast islands, where in 1496 Bartolomé Columbus founded the city of Santo Domingo - the future center of Hispaniola, and later - the capital Dominican Republic.
• Meanwhile, the Spanish royal couple, having discovered that the income from Hispaniola (some gold, copper, valuable wood and several hundred slaves sent to Spain by Columbus) was insignificant, allowed all Castilian subjects to move to new lands, paying off the treasury in gold.
• April 10, 1495 - The Spanish government severed ties with Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci was granted the right to supply India until May 1498. On January 11, 1496, Vespucci receives 10,000 maravedis from treasurer Pinello to pay sailors' wages. In fact, he signed a contract for the supply in Andalusia of one (if not two) expeditions in India, in particular the third expedition of Columbus. The success of Columbus's venture inspired Amerigo with the idea of ​​leaving the commercial business in order to get acquainted with the newly discovered part of the world.
• On June 11, 1496, Christopher Columbus returned to Spain to defend the rights granted to him earlier. He provided a document according to which he really reached the Asian mainland (see above, although in fact it was the island of Cuba), stated that in the center of Hispaniola he discovered the wonderful country of Ophir, where gold was once mined for the biblical king Solomon. In addition, Columbus proposed to send criminals, not free settlers, to the new lands, reducing their sentence by half. The last proposal could not fail to find a response from the ruling elite, since, on the one hand, it rid Spain of undesirable elements, reducing the cost of keeping them in prisons, and on the other hand, it provided the development of newly discovered lands with rather desperate "human material".

Third expedition

Third expedition

Little money was found for the third expedition, and only six small ships and about 300 crew members went with Columbus, and criminals from Spanish prisons were accepted into the crew.

Amerigo Vespucci, a representative of the Florentine bankers who financed the enterprise, also went on an expedition with Alonso Ojeda in 1499. Approaching the South American mainland at a latitude of about 5 ° N. sh., Ojeda headed north-west, walked 1200 km along the coast of Guiana and Venezuela to the Orinoco Delta, then through the straits to the Caribbean Sea and to the Pearl Coast.

Meanwhile, Amerigo Vespucci, moving southeast, opened the mouths of the Amazon and Para rivers. Having climbed 100 kilometers upstream in boats, he was never able to disembark because of the dense forest. The movement further to the southeast was extremely hampered by a strong countercurrent. This is how the Guiana Current was discovered. In total, Vespucci discovered about 1200 kilometers of the northeastern coast of South America. Returning north and northwest, Vespucci landed in Trinidad and later linked up with Ojeda's ships. Together they explored the coast west of the Pearl Coast, discovered eastern part Caribbean Andes, participated in armed clashes with unfriendly Indians, discovered the islands of Curacao and Aruba - the westernmost of the Lesser Antilles. The bay to the west was named Ojeda Venezuela ("Little Venice"). Later, this name spread to the entire southern coast. Caribbean to the Orinoco delta. In total, Ojeda surveyed more than 3,000 kilometers of the northern coast of an unknown land and never found an end to it, which meant that such a land must be a continent.

The fate of the remains

Columbus tomb in Seville

However, in late XIX century during the restoration of the cathedral of Santo Domingo, the oldest in the New World, a box with bones was discovered, on which it was written that they belong to Columbus. After that, a dispute arose between Seville and Santo Domingo over the right to be considered the place where the great navigator rests.

The statue of Columbus is 90 meters high, which is twice more height Statue of Liberty without a pedestal. The sculpture weighs 599 tons. The Baltimore Sun newspaper called the article about Tseretelian Columbus "From Russia with" ugh "".

Subsequently, the workings of the Columbus monument were used by the sculptor in 1997 when erecting in Moscow, by order of the Moscow government, on the spit of the Balchug Island between the Moskva River and the Vodootvodny Canal, a huge statue of Peter the Great in medieval clothing of a Spanish grandee at the helm of a Russian sloop 98 meters high.

In July 2010, it became known that on the northern coast of Puerto Rico, near the city of Arecibo, a statue of Christopher Columbus by Zurab Tsereteli will be installed.

The statue, divided into 2,750 pieces, lay in warehouses for two years. According to the government of Puerto Rico, it takes $ 20 million to reassemble it. The statue, if installed, would be the tallest structure in the US-controlled Caribbean.

Demolition of Columbus Monuments in Venezuela

Named after Columbus

• asteroid (327) Columbia, discovered in 1892.
• ISS module Columbus

• Main Opera theatre Argentina Colon theater
• Columbus theater in the book by Ilf and Petrov "12 chairs"

• Studio Columbia Pictures
• Monetary units of Costa Rica and El Salvador columns
• Argentine football club from Santa Fe Colon
• Columbus exchange- moving plants, animals, microorganisms and people from the Old World to the New and vice versa

On the money

Columbus on columns

In honor of Christopher Columbus (in Spanish Cristobal Colon) was named the currency of El Salvador - Salvadoran Colon. On all the issued banknotes of all years of issue and all denominations on the reverse side there was a portrait of a young or elderly Columbus.

Reverse: 1 column, and		5, and

10, and		10, and 2,

25, and 50,		100, and

Columbus in philately

Filmography

• Christopher Columbus (Italy-France-USA, 1985). Mini-series (4 episodes). Director

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The Middle Ages are rich in biographies of people with amazing fates. In that harsh time, everything was possible: the beggars became dukes and kings, apprentices created masterpieces of art, and dreamers discovered new worlds. Someone was given everything easily and playfully, while someone on the way to the top was forced to overcome all conceivable and inconceivable obstacles ...

Few people today know that the greatest of the medieval sailors, the legendary Christopher Columbus can quite deservedly and reasonably be called one of the biggest losers of the Age of Great Discoveries and the Middle Ages in general.

Why is that? It is enough to read at least a little into his biography to understand everything.

The most interesting thing for you!

Italian in the service of the Spanish crown

To begin with, Columbus is not Spaniard or even Portuguese, as many believe. He is an ardent son of Italy, from Genoa. It was there that he was born somewhere between August 26 and October 31, 1451 (and 29 years later, another famous navigator Fernand Magellan). It is generally accepted that Christopher Columbus grew up in a poor family. But in general, not much is known about his childhood and youth. In general, it is amazing that in the biography of a person so famous even in his era, there are a lot of "white spots".

Since the future discoverer grew up near the sea itself, from childhood he raved about the profession of a sailor. By the way, from childhood he dreamed of the sea and Admiral Nelson is one of the most famous personalities in England. This did not stop Columbus from studying a little at the University of Pavia, after which he entered service in the Genoese fleet in about 1465. It is known that some time after that he was seriously wounded and temporarily left the sea. By the way, then Columbus sailed exclusively under the Spanish and Portuguese flags, but at home he was unclaimed.

In 1470, Christopher married Dona Felipe Moniz de Palestrello, who was the daughter of a prominent navigator of the time. He managed to live quietly almost without the sea until 1472 in Genoa. From 1472 he appeared in Savona, lived there for a while and moved to Portugal in 1476, and again began to actively participate in sea trade expeditions.

Until 1485, Columbus sailed on Portuguese ships, living, then in Lisbon, then in Madeira, then on Porto Santo. During this time, he was mainly involved in trade, education and mapping. In 1483, he already had a finished project for a new sea trade route to India and Japan, with which the navigator went to the Portuguese king.

But Columbus's time had not yet come, or he could not properly argue the need to equip the expedition, or for some other reason, but the monarch, after two years of deliberation, rejected this enterprise, and even disgraced the impudent sailor.

Columbus left him, going to the Spanish service, where a few years later, after a series of complex and subtle intrigues, he still managed to persuade the king to finance the expedition.

The birth of a great project

No one can say for sure when exactly the project of the western sea route to India was drawn up. Scientists have proved that in his calculations Columbus was based on ancient knowledge about the sphericity of the Earth, and also studied the calculations and maps of scientists of the 15th century. Presumably, the very idea of ​​sphericity and the possibility of such a voyage in 1474 was pushed by the geographer Paolo Toscanelli, which was confirmed by his letter to Columbus. The navigator began to make his own calculations and decided that if you sail through the Canary Islands, then there should not be more than five thousand kilometers from them to Japan.

The improvement of Columbus's project was also facilitated by a visit to England, Ireland and Iceland in 1477, where he collected rumors and data from Icelanders that there was vast land in the west. He perfected his sailing skills on long voyages in 1481, when he sailed to Guinea, being the captain of one of the ships in the expedition of Diogo de Azambuja, sent to build the fortress of Sant Jorge da Mina. Apparently, it was after this voyage that Columbus had not only a firm conviction about the possibility of the success of his project, but also a good evidence base was collected in his favor. It only remained to learn how to persuade those in power to finance ...

It should be noted that he made the first proposal to organize an expedition to the authorities and merchants of his native Genoa after about 1476, but then he was still too young and could provide very little evidence to take his thoughts seriously. But Genoa, modest at all times, eclipsed by Venice and Rome, could for several centuries become the center of the world instead of Spain, by the time of Columbus's expedition a former weak and rather poor country.

In 1485, the project of sailing to India was rejected by the Portuguese king João II, so categorically that Columbus and his family were forced to urgently flee to Spain. Oddly enough, it was this flight that became fateful for Columbus, because he found his first refuge in the monastery of Santa Maria da Rabida, whose abbot, Juan Perez de Marchena, was a close acquaintance of Hernando de Talavera, the queen's confessor. It was through him that it was possible to convey to the reigning person a letter with the ideas of Columbus. The royal couple at this time lived in Cordoba, preparing the country and the army for the war with Granada, but the grain was sown.

Already in 1486, Columbus managed to ignite with his project the fantasy of the wealthy and influential Duke of Medina Seli, who, moreover, introduced an essentially poor navigator to the circle of royal financial advisers, bankers and merchants. But the most useful thing was the acquaintance with his uncle - the Spanish cardinal Mendoza. This one has already taken up the project in all seriousness, having gathered with his authority a commission of theologians, lawyers and courtiers. The commission worked for four whole years and did not give anything, since here Columbus was let down by his character - secretive and distrustful.

In any case, from 1487 to 1492 Columbus does not swim so much as travels around Spain following the Royal couple. In 1488 he received an invitation from the Portuguese king to return to Portugal, but it was too late - Columbus felt that here, in Spain, he would definitely achieve something. However, he sent letters with his proposals to all influential courts of Europe, but received an answer only from the English king Henry VII, who in 1488 expressed his support to the navigator, but did not offer anything concrete. Who knows, maybe if Henry VIII, the son of Henry VII, had been on the throne at that time, Christopher Columbus would have gone on an expedition under the flag of England. Henry VIII was very fond of the fleet, which only cost him the creation of huge ships by those standards, the Great Harry and Mary Rose!

The Spaniards wanted to organize an expedition, but the country was in a protracted war and it was not possible to allocate funds for navigation. In 1491, Columbus in Seville again personally met with Ferdinand and Isabella, but to no avail - money and help were not given. In January 1492, Granada fell, Spain ended the war, and Columbus had the opportunity to organize an expedition almost immediately, but his character let him down again! The sailor's demands were exorbitant: the appointment of the viceroy of all new lands, the title of "chief admiral of the sea-ocean" and a lot of money. The king refused.

The situation was saved by Queen Isabella, who dissuaded Columbus from emigrating to France and threatened to pawn her family jewels for organizing the expedition. As a result, an enterprise was drawn up, according to which one ship was given by the state, one by Columbus himself, and one by Martin Alonso Pinson, who equipped the Pinto. In addition, this tycoon lent money to Columbus, who, according to the contract, was supposed to take on an eighth of the expenses of the expedition.

On April 30, 1492, the king officially granted Christopher Columbus the title of "don", making him a nobleman, and also confirmed all the requirements of the daring sailor, up to the title of viceroy of all newly discovered lands and his inheritance.

Expeditions of Christopher Columbus

Columbus' first expedition took place on August 3, 1492 and was small - about 90 people on three ships - "Santa Maria", "Pinte" and "Niñe", set off from Palos. Reaching Canary Islands, she turned west, crossed the Atlantic along a small diagonal, discovering the Sargasso Sea on the way. The first land seen was one of the islands of the Bahamas archipelago, named San Salvador. Columbus landed on it October 12, 1492 and this day became the official date of the discovery of America.

It is noteworthy that until 1986 geographers and historians did not know exactly which of the islands Columbus discovered first, until the geographer J. Judge proved that it was Samana Island. In the following days, Columbus discovered a number of Bahamas, and on October 28 came to the coast of Cuba. Already on December 6, he saw Haiti and moved along the northern coast. There, on December 25, the Santa Maria landed on the reef, although the crew was rescued.

It was after the wreck of the Santa Maria, when the sailors had to make room for the remaining ships, that Columbus ordered hammocks to be installed for the sailors instead of bunks, having spied this idea from the natives. So we managed to compactly place more people, and the method itself has become so accustomed that it disappeared into oblivion only a century ago.

In March 1493, the remaining ships returned to Castile. They brought some gold, a few natives, strange plants and bird feathers. Columbus claimed to have discovered western India. After reading about Cook's first expedition, the curious can compare the successes of Columbus and James Cook at the stages of their early careers. The difference between these expeditions is 275 years!

The second expedition set off in the same year 1493. Columbus headed it already in the rank of admiral and viceroy of all open lands. It was a huge undertaking, involving 17 large courts and more than 2,000 people, including priests and officials, as well as lawyers, artisans and soldiers. In November 1493, Dominica, Guadeloupe and the Antilles were discovered. In 1494, an expedition surveyed the islands of Haiti, Cuba, Juventud and Jamaica, but very little gold was found there.

In the spring of 1496, Columbus went home, completing the journey on June 11. This expedition opened the way for colonization, after which they began to send settlers, priests and criminals to new lands, who turned out to be the cheapest way to settle new colonies.

Columbus's third expedition began in 1498. It consisted of only six vessels and was exclusively research. On July 31, he discovered Trinidad, found the Gulf of Paria, discovered the mouth of the Orinoco and the Paria Peninsula, finally reaching the continent. Having climbed a little further than Columbus, the conquerors Hernan Cortez and Claudio Pizarro invaded the rich lands of South America. On August 15, the island of Margarita was discovered, after which the navigator arrived in Haiti, where a Spanish colony was already operating.

In 1500, Columbus was arrested on a denunciation and sent to Castile. However, he did not sit there for very long, but he kept his shackles for the rest of his life. Having gained freedom, Columbus was still deprived of most of his privileges and most of his wealth. So, he no longer became vice-emperor, and this was the main disappointment of the final part of the seafarer's life. From the third expedition, Columbus was disappointed, but survived, but Cook's third expedition was the last for the traveler.

The fourth expedition began in 1502 and was carried out on only four ships. On June 15, he traversed Martinique, and on July 30, he entered the Gulf of Honduras, where he first came into contact with representatives of the Mayan state. In 1502-1503, Columbus carefully explored the coast Central America in search of the cherished passage to the west, because the fabulous wealth of America had not yet been discovered and everyone was eager to get to India. On June 25, 1503, Columbus crashed near Jamaica, and was only rescued a year later. The navigator came to Castile on November 7, 1504, seriously ill and upset by failures. This was the end of his epic. Not finding the coveted passage to India, left without rights and money, Christopher Columbus died in Valladolid on May 20, 1506. His merits were appreciated much later, centuries later, and for his era he remained just one of the sailors going to distant countries.

The character of Christopher Columbus

Great people never have a simple character. The same can be said about Columbus, and it was this that largely caused his collapse at the end of his life. Christopher Columbus was a passionate dreamer, a fan of his idea and purpose, which he served all his life. At the same time, historians and contemporaries characterize him as a greedy, immoderately domineering person who all his life dreamed of being superior to others. Excessive desires did not allow him to remain at the pinnacle of wealth and nobility, but still he lived an outstanding life, having accomplished outstanding deeds!

Tragedy of Christopher Columbus

If you look deeper, you can understand that Columbus was dying unhappy. He did not get to the fabulously rich India, and it was this, and not the discovery of a new continent, that was his goal and dream. He did not even understand what he had discovered, and the continents he saw for the first time received the name of a completely different person - Amerigo Vespucci, who simply extended the paths beaten by Columbus a little. In fact, America was discovered by the Normans several centuries before him, so here the navigator did not become the first either. He achieved a lot, and at the same time did not achieve anything. And this is his tragedy.

The world after Columbus entered the Age of Great Discoveries, and before him Europe was poor, hungry and constantly fighting for small resources, not thinking about world domination. Suffice it to recall how hard it was for Columbus to organize his first expedition, and with what ease all countries rushed to send ships to distant lands after him. This is the main historical merit of a person who is unhappy personally, but who gave impetus to the change of the whole world!

What year and where was Christopher Columbus born?

FOURTH EXPEDITION
(1502 - 1504): 4 ships. In June 1502, Columbus discovered Martinique, then the land of the Maya Indians (Honduras), the Mosquito Coast (Nicaragua) and the Gold Coast (Costa Rica). In 1502, ships came to the bay, which in 400 years will become the northern entrance to the Panama Canal. In April 1503, Columbus reached the Uraba Strait and turned back to Haiti. Along the way, they discovered the Cayman Islands, called "turtle" islands; and in May 1503 there was a wreck off the coast of Jamaica. Columbus returned to Spain in 1504 already a sick man ... and in May 1506 ... he was gone ...

Name: Christopher Columbus

Age: 54years

Place of Birth: Genoese republic

A place of death: Valladolid, Castile and Leon

Activity: the Spanish navigator who discovered America

Family status: was married

Christopher Columbus - biography

Christopher Columbus remained in history not only as the discoverer of the New World, but also as a victim of human injustice. He gave the Spanish "Catholic monarchs" an entire continent full of treasures, but was chained by their orders. The lands he discovered were given an alien name. Having traveled around the world, he himself never found a homeland or a home of his own. His remains have been reburied so many times that it is no longer clear where they ended up. And this is just one of the secrets associated with the name of the great navigator.

The controversy over Columbus has been fueled by two anniversaries. In May 2006, exactly 500 years have passed since the death of the admiral. In September -555 years from the date of birth. Many blank spots remain between these events. The main mystery- the origin of the admiral. He has already been declared Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, Greek, English and even Ukrainian. The matter is complicated by the variety of forms of his name. In Spain he was Cristobal Colon, in Portugal - Cristobal Colom, in Italy - Cristoforo Colombo. All these names sound quite local, and their carriers in the respective countries are no less than in Russia by the Golubevs. Recall that Columbus is the Latin name for the bird of the world.

True, Columbus himself more than once called himself a native of Genoa. In that old town the documents of his family have been preserved, and even the house where he was allegedly born. There remains another question - about his Jewish origin. Some facts from the life of Columbus hint at this. For example, the departure of his first expedition, scheduled for October 2, was postponed despite the fine weather. The fact is that on this date there was a day of mourning over the destruction of the Jerusalem temple, when the Jews did not start any business.

It is also known that among the members of the expedition and its sponsors there were many baptized Jews - Marranos. True, this does not mean anything - there were enough of them among the rich and courtiers of that time. They say that even the founder of the Inquisition, Thomas Torquemada, who put a lot of effort into expelling his fellow tribesmen from Spain, belonged to them. Columbus is a different matter. As a devout Catholic, he treated Jews with unusual respect, which also gave food to rumors. Spanish historian Salvador Madariaga believes that the mother of Admiral Susanna Fontanarossa was Jewish, about whose origin little is known.

We know a little more about the sailor's father, Dominico Colombo. He belonged to the workshop of cloth weavers, whose products were sold from Genoa throughout Europe. Genoese merchants visited many countries, and one of them, Marco Polo, even penetrated the far unknown East. Together with rare goods, they brought stories about the wonders of India, China and the country of Sipango (Japan), depriving Genoese boys of sleep. One of them was the eldest son of the clothier, Christopher, born in 1451. Later, his brothers Giovanni, Bartolomeo and Giacomo, better known by the Spanish name Diego, were born.

Father was respected in the city - at one time he held the honorary position of the guardian of the city gates. The gates were strong, and beyond them there was a terrible narrowness. Already at that time, Genoa was built up with houses of five floors and higher. Many people forced many Genoese to move to a foreign land. But the main reason that sent the descendant of Columbus weavers on long voyages was, oddly enough, the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453.

The Genoese Republic lost its sources of raw materials, including wool, and markets. The weavers became impoverished, and Dominico was no exception. Trying to pay off debts, he traded in whatever he had to, opened a tavern, and started selling real estate. A questionable deal took him to prison, from where he fled to neighboring Savona. The old man died at the end of the century, having managed to hear about the great discoveries of his son.

Young Christopher helped the family as best he could. He worked as a wool comber, and then began helping his father in the trade. From the age of 18, he sailed with goods along the coast of Italy, managed to learn maritime business and, most importantly, to love the sea. Changeable like Fortune, it promised unprecedented adventures and discoveries. Columbus willingly listened to the tales of seasoned sailors and even more willingly read geographical works. He was taught reading and writing at the school of the merchant's guild, and then he studied himself, studying Aristotle, Ptolemy and new authors who boldly refuted the theory of a flat earth.

Columbus also believed that the Earth is a ball, which meant that from the shores of Europe it was possible to get to India and China. No one yet knew that the American continent was blocking the road to them. It is possible that the inhabitants of the Old World have been there more than once, but their voyages have remained unknown to scientists. Even the discoveries of the Vikings, who founded settlements on the coast in the 10th century, have been forgotten. North America.

But have they forgotten? Another secret of Columbus is the allegedly known information about the existence of a new continent. They talked about some maps that he hid from prying eyes, about ancient manuscripts and stories of travelers. Even that the Genoese inherited the knowledge of a secret society, reported almost from the time of Atlantis. But why then did Columbus believe and persuade others that the lands he discovered were part of Asia? Why did he bring gifts to the "Great Khan" and interpreters who knew Turkish and Arabic? If this is a deception, is it too tricky?

The geography of Christopher's voyages expanded gradually. In 1474, he first went to the island of Chios, from where the Genoese exported fragrant mastic. A year later, in the company of merchants Negro and Spinola, he repeated the voyage and returned with a rich cargo. The companions decided to sell the mastic in Flanders and in August 1476 they hit the road. On reaching the Atlantic, their ship was attacked by French pirates and sunk. Columbus swam to the Portuguese coast and soon found himself in Lisbon, where he was greeted by his fellow Genoese. Portugal at that time was the capital of geographical discoveries.

Prince Enrique, nicknamed the Navigator, sent fleets to Africa, made plans for even more distant voyages, collected rare books and nautical tools in his palace of Sagres. Perhaps it was here that Columbus's idea of ​​reaching Asia by sea was born.

But in Lisbon, it was not geography that held him back, but love. Once in the church, he saw the noble daughter Felipa Moniz de Perestrelo. Her beauty amazed the Genoese. Perhaps she liked Columbus too. We can judge about his appearance from the words of the biographer Bartolomé de Las Casas: “He was tall, above average, his face was long and respectable, his nose was aquiline, his eyes were bluish-gray, his skin was white, his hair was reddish in his youth, but in his works soon turned gray. "

There are many portraits of Columbus, but almost all of them were painted after his death. Only two belong to the beginning of the 16th century and can be considered lifetime. Both of the navigator have large expressive eyes that could well conquer dona Felipa. However, everything was decided by the will of her parents, who hoped for the trade relations of their future son-in-law. At the end of 1576, a wedding took place, and soon the son of Diego was born - his father's faithful assistant on his voyages.

In the winter of 1577, leaving his young wife, Columbus went with the Genoese merchants to England. He also visited the “island of Thule”, which scientists consider to be either Ireland or Iceland. There is a version that there he learned about the Viking voyages to America, or even made a voyage to those lands himself. In his diaries, he wrote about the non-freezing sea, which at this time of the year he could see only off the coast of North America warmed by the Gulf Stream. But such a journey could not remain a secret, and if it happened, Columbus would not have to discover the New World a second time. Most likely, he did not swim further British isles and the diary entries were an exaggeration common to sailors of that era.

The next few years, Columbus spent on voyages to Madeira, from where he transported sugar on the orders of the Genoese. At the same time, together with his brother Bartolomeo, he opened a bookstore in Lisbon, selling printed books new for that time. Including the essay of the French cardinal Pierre d "Ayy" The Image of the World. It gave measurements of the Earth, according to which the distance from Portugal to China was only 5000 miles. Columbus sent a letter to the famous Florentine geographer Paolo Toscanelli and he confirmed - yes, these calculations Therefore, the possessions of the "Great Khan" could have been reached in a maximum of a month!

In early 1484, Columbus presented his plan to King João II. He listened to the stranger with interest, but found his claims exorbitant - the title of nobility, the title of viceroy of all newly discovered lands and one-tenth of the wealth found. A new misfortune was added to the royal refusal - Columbus's wife died. Now nothing connected him with Portugal, and he decided to try his luck in other countries. Having sent the brothers to scout the situation in France and England, he himself moved to Spain. Namely, to Andalusia, which was to become the base for his travels. There he found shelter in the Rabida monastery, whose abbot introduced the guest to his acquaintances at court.

Columbus came to Spain at a good time. The country has just reunited thanks to the marriage of King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castile. "Catholic monarchs" were preparing to erase the last stronghold of Islam, the Emirate of Granada, from the Spanish map, and also tried to keep up with the Portuguese in the development of overseas lands. The Genoese with his project appeared just in time, but still he had to seek the consent of the king and queen for seven long years.

At this time, he earned a living in the old ways - completing assignments of fellow countrymen and bookselling. And in his free time, he visited the house of the young beauty Beatrice de Arana, who in 1488 gave birth to his son Fernando. He recognized the boy, but did not legalize his relationship with his mother.

Refusal followed refusal. The crown's money was spent on the war with Granada, in addition, the commission of learned theologians doubted the reality of Columbus's plans. However, the navigator also had patrons - Chancellor Luis de Santangel and Chamberlain Juan Cabrera. Both of them were baptized Jews and either sought to help their fellow tribesman, or, more likely, anticipated profit. For the same reason, Genoese merchants volunteered to finance the expedition. This made Ferdinand and Isabella promise: after the fall of Granada, the expedition will take place.

The recalcitrant fortress surrendered in January 1492, and a day later a decree was signed to send three ships to the "Great Khan". Columbus, who received the title of Admiral of the Sea-Ocean, became the head of the expedition. He was provided with the small caravels "Pinta" and "Niña", and the larger ship "Santa Maria" he equipped at his own expense. The authorities of the city of Palos, from where the small flotilla sailed, also invested in the business. "Catholic monarchs" were stingy - beautiful legend that Isabella sold her jewelry to help Columbus remains only a legend.

On the third of August, the three ships left the mouth of the Rio Tinto and headed west. On board were 90 people, including the admiral himself and the captains of the Pinta and Niña, the old sailor Martin Alonso Pinson and his brother Vicente. By a strange coincidence, it was on this day that all Jews who did not want to be baptized were expelled from Spain. Perhaps some of them took refuge on the ships of Columbus, but most the crew consisted of hereditary Andalusian sailors - violent and obstinate people.

Among them there were also criminals who had traded hard labor for a dangerous voyage. Among them, the admiral had to always be on the lookout, combining severity with persuasion. A month and a half had passed, and the ships entered a strange sea overgrown with grass. The admiral's calculations were not justified, the desired land was not. Food supplies and fresh water were running out. The team began to grumble, then an open mutiny broke out. Columbus had to give the sailors the promised: two more days' journey, and they turn back.

On October 12, shortly after midnight, Pinta's watchman Rodrigo Bermejo woke the crew up with a desperate shout of "Earth!" On the horizon lay Guanahani Island, present-day Watling, the easternmost of the Bahamas, the first coast of the New World seen by Columbus. Going ashore, the navigator gave the island the name San Salvador (Savior) and hoisted on it a green banner with a cross and the initials of "Catholic kings".

The newcomers were surrounded by almost naked swarthy people, whose bodies were painted with black and white paint. Their features were Asian, in which Columbus saw proof of his innocence. True, none of them understood the interpreter and did not know where the residence of the Great Khan was. But in exchange for red caps and glass beads, they supplied the Spaniards in abundance with fruit and water. They also taught them to inhale smoke from burning leaves rolled into a tube with an incomprehensible name "tobacco".

A couple of days later, the ships left the island, taking with them six Indians - as Columbus called the locals. He intended to present them to the king and queen as proof of his discoveries. Alas, in San Salvador and neighboring islands there was no gold or other valuables. But according to the natives, to the south lay big Island Cuba, which the admiral mistook for the coveted Japan-Sipango.

On October 27, the expedition reached the shores of the island, but the same thing awaited it there - vast forests and huts of half-naked Indians. After wandering along the coast of Cuba for a month, Columbus sailed to the east, where lay the island of Haiti, which he called Hispaniola - "little Spain". There was no gold there either; in addition, the Pinta was lost on the way, and the Santa Maria ran aground on December 25 and sank. It is believed that navigator Juan de la Cosa, who was trying to speed up her return home, deliberately killed her.

On the little "Ninya" 70 people were gathered - the crews of two ships and the captured Indians. Columbus had to build Fort Navidad on the coast and leave 39 Spaniards there, hoping for their friendship with the local cacique (chief) Guacanagari. After that, he set off on the return journey, meeting the prodigal "Pinta" along the way. Having successfully caught the wind, the travelers reached the Azores, which belonged to Portugal, within a month. On the way, the ships were twice caught in a fierce storm and barely survived.

But the greatest danger threatened them in Lisbon, where they arrived on March 5, 1493. Jealously watching the successes of the Spaniards, the Portuguese could well have killed the sailors in order to conceal their discovery. Columbus went for a trick: he asked his comrades to tell everywhere about the lands they found. Soon rumors reached Spain, and this saved the expedition - João II did not want to quarrel openly with his neighbors. On March 15, the Niña returned to Palo, where Pinzón arrived a little later in the Pinta.

Columbus's return was triumphant. He discovered new lands, declared the possession of the Spanish crown. Thanks to him, Europe learned potatoes, rubber, tobacco, and later corn (maize), cocoa and many other useful plants came from the New World. True, the gold that the Spaniards dreamed of was never found - at least in large quantities... However, at first, no one remembered this. Crowds of people, simple and noble, were in a hurry to see the admiral and his companions, to listen to their amazing stories.

In April, Columbus was solemnly received in Barcelona, ​​where the royal court was located. Las Casas writes: “Among the gentlemen and noble people, the admiral seemed like a true Roman senator. His face was noble, his smile was noble, modest and joyful, and the glory of his feat shone in it. " Columbus received the nobility and the title of Viceroy of the Indies.

The holiday was overshadowed by the claims of the Portuguese king to open land... The conflict was resolved peacefully: with the mediation of the Pope, Spain and Portugal divided the world along a meridian in the middle of the Atlantic. Later it turned out that a piece of America remained to the east of it, which gave the Portuguese the basis to create a colony of Brazil there. In the meantime, the "Catholic monarchs" immediately began to prepare a second expedition to "stake out" new possessions. It was no longer convicts who were sent to it, but noble nobles, attracted by rumors about the wealth of the "Indies".

On 17 ships, including veterans - "Pinta" and "Ninya" - sailed almost one and a half thousand people. Among them were two dozen royal officials and six monks who were called to convert the Indians to Catholicism. The expedition was financed by a whole department headed by Archdeacon Juan de Fonseca. It jealously watched that the ships of other countries did not fall into the new possessions - they had to be mercilessly sunk. In "India" was banned from entering the Gentiles, persons who have been under the court of the Inquisition, and even their children and grandchildren.

On September 25, 1493, the flotilla left Cadiz and went into the ocean. Now Columbus was moving more confidently, and already on November 3, land appeared on the horizon. It was the island of Dominica from the Lesser Antilles ridge. It was not the peaceful Indians who inhabited Cuba who lived here, but the warlike Caribs, or Canibans, from whose name the word "cannibal" originated. They really ate human flesh - the admiral almost vomited when the cacique of one of the islands cordially offered him a boiled hand. In some places, the Caribbean tried to engage in battle with the aliens, but were scattered by fire from the arquebus.

Moving along the Antilles ridge, the expedition on November 19 discovered the large island of San Juan - present-day Puerto Rico. On November 27, she reached the fortress of Navidad, on the site of which ashes were discovered. The Spanish settlers disappeared - died of fever or were killed by the Indians. The admiral with difficulty prevented his companions from immediately dealing with the subjects of the Cacique Guacanagari. Columbus built the fortress of Isabella nearby and began sending troops into the interior of the country. One of them returned with good news - gold was found in the Cibao Valley!

In January, the admiral sent part of the ships to Spain, sending with them all the gold he found. He asked urgently to send him food and medicine, promising to answer this with regular deliveries of cannibal slaves. But the king and queen needed not overseas cannibals, but gold. The admiral was ordered to speed up his search, and he went to Cuba and Jamaica, which he took for the islands of Indonesia. Meanwhile, the governor Alonso de Ojeda, who was left on Hispaniola, brutally oppressed the Indians, and they revolted.

Returning Columbus had to fight the rebels throughout 1495. Las Casas writes that as a result "there was a terrible massacre of the Indians, and whole areas were completely depopulated." Two-thirds of the local residents were killed, but the Spaniards also suffered losses. In March of the following year, the admiral went home on two ships, leaving power to his brother Bartolomeo.

This time he was greeted unkindly. The ill-wishers who left Hispaniola managed to turn the courtyard against him. But for the time being, Ferdinand and Isabella continued to endure the admiral - they needed him for a new campaign. Due to a lack of money, it was possible to equip it only in the spring of 1498. Six ships reached Trinidad in July and headed west. On the first of August, for the first time appeared before them South America. A new country the admiral called Venezuela - "little Venice", because the Indian pile huts reminded him famous city on the water. After sailing along the coast, he turned north towards Espagno-le. There the Spaniards not only almost exterminated the local population, but also fought among themselves.

Royal officials demanded that the admiral severely punish the rebels, but he pardoned them. This was immediately reported to Madrid. The emissary Francisco Bobadilla, sent by the king and queen, without thinking twice, chained Columbus and sent him to Spain to investigate. In November 1500, barely arriving in Cadiz, the admiral sent a bitter letter to the queen: “I gave a thousand battles and withstood in all ... now neither weapons nor advice help me. With cruelty I will be plunged into the abyss. "

A comedy of forgiveness was played at court. The shackles were removed from the admiral, but since then he did not part with them and, dying, ordered them to be put in a coffin. For two months of imprisonment, he grew old for many years - before the "Catholic monarchs" stood a weak old man. Nevertheless, he was ordered to prepare a new expedition in order to finally reach the possessions of the Great Khan. In April 1502, four caravels set off and reached Martinique in June. 140 people sailed on them, including the two sons of the admiral. Just in those days came out of new capital Es Panjola Santo Domingo, the Spanish fleet was sunk by the storm.

Bobadilla and other enemies of Columbus drowned, in which he saw evidence of his divine calling. Back in Spain, he began to compose a book of prophecies, written, however, in such an ornate style that no one could understand them. Remembering his name Christopher - "God-bearer" - he considered his main merit to convert the New World to Christianity. And he did not want to notice that in the name of Christ the Spaniards exterminated the local inhabitants or turned them into slavery. In Haiti, by the middle of the 16th century, 500 of the 300 thousand Indians remained.

Having reached the "Indies", the admiral headed for the coast of Honduras (the name of this country in Spanish means "depths") and sailed along the coast to Panama. Locals they told him that beyond their land there was an immense ocean, but he did not want to believe it, still believing that China and Sipango lay somewhere nearby. The expedition got stuck for a long time in the Panama Bay of Belen, then in Jamaica, and only in November 1504 returned to Spain. There, a new test awaited Columbus - he was removed from the affairs of governing the Indies and deprived of his share of the colonial booty.

A tiresome correspondence began with the royal court, which was not up to him - the "Catholic king" Ferdinand, having buried his wife, was preparing for marriage with the young beauty Germaine de Foix. In the end, the admiral's strength ran out. Having summoned his relatives, he dictated a will, dividing the poor property between his sons. I remembered about hometown, bequeathing small sums to all friends and acquaintances whom he could remember. "Exhausted with gout, grieving over the loss of his property, he gave his soul to God on May 20, 1506 in Valladolid," - this is the end of the biography of Columbus, written by his son Fernando.

The adventures of the Admiral of the Sea-Ocean did not end even after his death. In 1509, his body was solemnly reburied in Seville. Later, someone came up with the idea of ​​transporting him to Cathedral Santo Domingo. His brother Bartolomeo and his son Diego were also buried there. In 1795, Haiti was captured by France, and the admiral's ashes were evacuated to Havana. In 1898, the Spaniards also lost Cuba, so the ashes were returned to Seville. However, back in 1877 in Santo Domingo, an urn with the inscription “Don Cristobal Colon” ​​was found walled up in the wall. Therefore, the inhabitants of the Dominican Republic believe that the "genuine"

Columbus rests with them. In 2003, Spanish scientists decided to study the Sevillian remains and found that they belonged to a short and rather fragile man of about forty years old, while the admiral died at 55 and was tall and strong. Probably, in the turmoil, the remains of the navigator's brother or son came to Spain. Now there is a study of the Dominican urn - maybe the ashes of Columbus are in it?

Ideological disputes are also raging around the name of Columbus. Indian organizations propose to condemn him as the instigator of the bloody conquest and to demolish monuments erected in many cities of the New World. But the admiral could hardly have foreseen the consequences of his action. He was driven by a great dream, and he saw its fulfillment - which was more important to him than titles and money.