Swords Christopher Columbus

October 31, 2023 6 min read

The Sword of Christopher Columbus appears in numerous paintings during the discovery of America and is therefore one of the most popular and well-known. Christopher Columbus began as a modest craftsman and merchant who came into contact with the sea through coastal navigation for commercial purposes. In 1476 the Genoese fleet in which he was traveling was shipwrecked, when it was attacked by French corsairs near Cape Saint Vincent (Portugal); Since then Columbus settled in Lisbon as a commercial agent for the Centurione house, for which he made trips to Madeira, Guinea, England and even Iceland (1477).

Then he dedicated himself to making maps and acquiring self-taught training: he learned the classical languages that allowed him to read ancient geographical treatises (taking knowledge of the idea of the sphericity of the Earth, defended by Aristotle); and began to make contact with the great geographers of the time (such as the Florentine Toscanelli).

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From one and the other came Christopher Columbus the idea that the Earth was spherical and that the Eastern coast of Asia could be easily reached by sailing towards the West (since a series of erroneous calculations had made him underestimate the perimeter of the Globe and therefore assume that Japan was 2,400 nautical miles from the Canary Islands, approximately the location of the Antilles). Portuguese sailors versed in Atlantic navigation surely informed him of the existence of islands that allowed a stopover during transoceanic navigation; and it is even possible that, as less proven theories claim, he had news of the existence of lands to explore on the other side of the Ocean, coming from Portuguese or Nordic sailors (or from the papers of his own father-in-law, colonizer of Madeira).

With all this, Columbus conceived his project of opening a naval route to Asia through the west, based on the correct hypothesis that the Earth was round and on the double error of assuming it to be smaller than it is and ignoring the existence of the American continent, which stood in the way of the projected route. The economic interest of the project was undoubted at that time, since European trade with the Far East was extremely lucrative, based on the import of spices and luxury products; said trade was carried out by land through the Middle East, controlled by the Arabs; The Portuguese had been trying for years to open a sea route to India along the African coast (an enterprise that Vasco da Gama would complete in 1498).

Columbus offered his project to King John II of Portugal, who rejected it, advised by a committee of experts. He then tried his luck in Spain with the Duke of Medina Sidonia and with the Catholic Monarchs, who also rejected him, considering him unviable and because of the excessive pretensions of Columbus.

Finally, Queen Isabella approved Columbus's project through the king's treasurer, Luis de Santángel, following the capture of Granada, which put an end to the Christian reconquest of the Peninsula from Islam (1492). The queen granted the Capitulations of Santa Fe, by which she granted Columbus a series of privileges in return for his risky enterprise; and financed a flotilla of three caravels - the Pinta, the Niña and the Santa María -, with which Columbus left Palos on August 3, 1492.

He sailed to the Canary Islands and then westward, reaching the island of Guanahaní (San Salvador, in the Bahamas) on October 12; On that trip he also discovered Cuba and Hispaniola (Santo Domingo) and even built the first Spanish establishment there with the remains of the shipwreck of the Santa María (fort Navidad). Persuaded that he had reached the Asian coasts, he returned to Spain with the two remaining ships in 1493.

Columbus made three more trips to continue the exploration of those lands: on the second (1493-96) he visited Cuba, Jamaica and Puerto Rico and founded the city of La Isabela; but he had to return to Spain to face accusations arising from discontent with his way of governing Hispaniola. On the third trip (1498-1500) he discovered Trinidad and touched land at the mouth of the Orinoco; but the uprising of the colonists of Hispaniola forced his dismissal as governor and his sending as a prisoner to Spain.

After being tried and rehabilitated, all privileges were renewed -except viceregal power- and he undertook a fourth trip (1502) with a prohibition from approaching Hispaniola; He toured the Central American coast of Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. He returned to Spain that same year and spent the rest of his life trying to obtain royal grants for himself and his descendants, as King Ferdinand tried to reduce the privileges granted given the proportions that the discovery was taking and the inconvenience of leaving an upstart as the sole lord of the Indies.

Columbus had discovered America by chance as a result of his intuition and willpower. Although it failed in its original idea of opening a new trade route between Europe and Asia, it opened something more important: a "New World" that, in the following years, would be explored by navigators, missionaries and soldiers from Spain and Portugal, incorporating a vast empire into Western civilization and profoundly modifying the political and economic conditions of the Old Continent. Although the Vikings had arrived in North America some five hundred years earlier (Leif Ericson's expedition), they had not left permanent settlements nor had they circulated the news of the discovery, therefore it remained without consequences until the time of Columbus.

CHRONOLOGY OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS

1451 Probable date of birth of CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS in Genoa
1476 The ship in which he is a sailor is shipwrecked off the coast of Portugal and Columbus is taken to Lisbon.
1478 He marries Felipa Moniz de Perestrello. It is introduced into the Portuguese court.
1484 He offers his discovery project to the King of Portugal, John II.
1485 He moves to Spain. Reach the La Rábida monastery. His wife dies.
1486 First interview with the Catholic Monarchs.
1492 Capitulations of Santa Fe. First voyage and discovery of America.
1493 Return to the Peninsula. Interview in Barcelona with the kings. The second journey begins.
1494 Exploration of Cuba and Hispaniola.
1496 Return from the second trip.
1499 Appointment of Francisco de Bobadilla to replace him in the government of the Indies.
1502 Beginning of the fourth journey. Discovery of the Central American Isthmus.
1504 Definitive return to Spain. Attempt to have the kings restore him to his positions.
1506 He writes his will and dies on May 20.