Yansong ma biography of christopher columbus died

Podcast: Play in new window Download. Don Cristobal Colon, otherwise known to us by the name Christopher Columbus was a pivotal historical figure and one whose legacy continues to be a matter of contention and debate over years after his death. However, despite his fairly obscure origins, it is known that from a young age he travelled widely, as far as the British Isles, and according to some reports even as far north as Iceland.

Yansong ma biography of christopher columbus died: After the Ming state withdrew from

During this period, he also travelled as far south as Africa to what is now Ghana. As far as is known, Christopher Columbus had no formal education and appears to have been largely self-taught. Despite this, the fields of history, geography, and astronomy would feature heavily in his future career as an explorer and navigator. Since the Portuguese had gained a tight hold on the spice trade route to the East Indies via Africa, Columbus began to develop a plan to reach the East Indies by travelling west instead of East.

Columbus, just like everyone else at the time, had no idea that there was any land in between and simply believed that an open ocean voyage travelling west would allow Spain to bypass their trade rival, Portugal. After many years of lobbying, Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain finally agreed to put money down and support a small exploratory voyage by Columbus.

Although the exact location reached on that date is unknown, it was likely somewhere in the Bahamas. Columbus was by no means the first to discover the American continent, as many indigenous natives had been living there for millennia, nor was he even the first European as research has shown that the Vikings most likely found their way into Greenland and Canada.

However, Christopher Columbus can be credited with bringing the first detailed reports back to a receptive Europe and the promise of new lands for exploitation, colonization, farming, and of course, the acquisition of resources.