Where was Christopher Columbus born? Chapter IX

Despite the fact that the famous navigator was able to discover America with the help of the Spanish king, he himself was from Italy. The young years of life fell on a stay on the Apennine Peninsula. He was born in Genoa in 1451 and educated at the University of Pavia. Since birth, he lived near the sea and decided to devote himself to travel. The point is also that the years of the life of Christopher Columbus fell on the era of geographical discoveries, when the Europeans left the Mediterranean Sea and began to look for a way to India.

Beginning of navigation

Christian governments financed the sailors in order to gain access to expensive resources. Even before Columbus, Portuguese explorers traveled east along the coast of Africa. In the 70s, Christopher decided to find a way to a distant country by the western way. According to his calculations, it was necessary to go in this direction along the latitude of the Canary Islands, after which it would be possible to reach the coast of Japan.

At this time he lived in Portugal, which was the center of all European navigation. He participated in an expedition to Guinea, where in 1481 the fortress of Elmina was built. At the same time, the ambitious explorer visited England, Iceland and Ireland, where he learned about local legends about Vinland. So in the old days, the Vikings called the land they discovered. These were the shores of North America. Due to the fact that in the Middle Ages there were no strong ties between pagan Scandinavia and Christian Europe, this discovery went unnoticed.

Arranging a trip to the west

Many years of the life of Christopher Columbus were spent persuading various governments or merchants to finance the expedition he had planned to the west. At first he tried to find a common language with merchants from his native Genoa, but they refused to risk their money. In 1483 the project was laid on the table of João II. He, too, rejected the risky undertaking.

After this failure, Christopher left for Spain. There he managed to enlist the support of local dukes, who brought him together with the king and queen. Officially, Spain did not yet exist. Instead, there were two states - Castile and Aragon. The marriage of their rulers (Ferdinand and Isabella) allowed the two crowns to be merged into one. The couple gave an audience to the navigator. A commission was appointed to evaluate the costs and how justified it was for the treasury. The first results were disappointing for Columbus. He was refused and offered to revise the project. Then he tried to negotiate with the king of England and Portugal (again).

Treaty with Spain

In 1492, Spain captured Granada and completed the Reconquista - the expulsion of Muslims from the Iberian Peninsula. The king and queen were again freed from political issues and engaged in the expedition of Columbus. The decisive word was given by Isabella, who even agreed to pawn all her personal treasures and ornaments in order to secure ships and provisions. The navigator was promised that he would become viceroy of all those lands that he would discover. He was also immediately given the title of a nobleman and Admiral of the Sea-Ocean.

In addition to the authorities, Columbus was helped by the shipowner Martin Alonso Pinson, who offered one of his ships ("Pinta"). The first expedition also involved the carrack "Santa Maria" and the ship "Nina". In total, a team of one hundred people was involved.

First expedition

The years of the life of Christopher Columbus were not wasted. He was finally able to realize his old dream. Many details of his first journey to the west are known to us thanks to the ship's log, which he kept every day. These priceless notes have been preserved thanks to the fact that the priest Bartolome de las Casas made a copy of the papers a few years later.

On August 3, 1492, the ships left the Spanish harbor. On September 16, the Sargasso Sea was discovered. On October 13, an unknown land appeared in the way of the ships. Columbus entered the island and hoisted the banner of Castile on it. It was named San Salvador. Here the Spaniards first saw tobacco, cotton, maize and potatoes.

With the help of the natives, Columbus learned about the existence of a large island, which was located somewhat to the south. It was Cuba. Then the expedition still believed that it was somewhere in East Asia. Some of the natives were found to have pieces of gold, which inspired the team to keep searching for the treasure.

Further discoveries

Second expedition

Even before that, the second journey of Christopher Columbus began. This time, under his command there were already 17 ships. This is not surprising, because the admiral now enjoyed the great favor of the king, queen and numerous Spanish feudal lords, who willingly began to give him money for travel.

The second trip of Christopher Columbus differed from the first one in the composition of the team. This time there were not only sailors on the ships. Monks and missionaries were added to them in order to baptize the local peoples. Also, officials and nobles took their place, who were supposed to organize the life of a permanent colony in the west.

Already after 20 days of travel, Dominica and Guadeloupe were discovered, where the Caribs lived, distinguished by their aggressive attitude towards peaceful neighbors. The first encounter with them occurred on the shores of the island of Santa Cruz. At the same time, the Virginia archipelago and Puerto Rico were discovered.

Island colonization

The team wanted to get to the sailors left in Haiti during the first expedition. Only corpses and remains were found at the site of the fort. At the same time, the forts of La Isabella and Santo Domingo were founded. Meanwhile, in Spain, the government decided to transfer the exclusive rights of Columbus to another navigator - Amerigo Vespucci. Christopher, having learned about this, went to Europe to prove his case. At the royal court, he declared that he had already reached Asia (in fact, it was Cuba). Christopher Columbus also briefly spoke about the fact that there is definitely gold there and now in new expeditions you can use the labor of prisoners for great economic benefits.

Third expedition

Thus began the third expedition of Christopher Columbus. In 1498, his ships rounded Haiti and went south, where, according to the captain, there should have been gold mines. So was opened as well as the mouth in present-day Venezuela. Having made this voyage, the expedition returned to Haiti (Hispaniola), where the local colonists had already managed to revolt. They did not like that they were given little land. Then it was decided to allow taking local Indians into slavery and increase personal allotments.

However, this did not solve the main problem posed by the discoveries of Christopher Columbus. Spain still had no gold. Meanwhile, the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama was able to reach the real India. In accordance with the agreement with Castile, he circled Africa and ended up in the long-awaited country. From there, he brought expensive spices to Portugal that were not available in Europe. They were worth their weight in gold.

The Spanish government, realizing that they were losing the ocean race to their neighbor, decided to revoke Columbus' monopoly on exploration. He himself was returned in chains to Europe.

Fourth expedition

The story of Christopher Columbus could have ended very badly if he had not acquired many influential friends - magnates and nobles during his successful expeditions. They persuaded King Ferdinand to give the navigator another chance and go on a fourth voyage.

This time, Columbus decided to go due west, bypassing the numerous islands. So he discovered the coast of modern Central America - Honduras and Panama. It became clear that the Atlantic Ocean is closed by some vast territory. On September 12, 1503, Columbus forever left the islands he discovered and returned to Spain. There he fell seriously ill.

Death and the meaning of discoveries

From that moment on, other navigators, and not Christopher Columbus, took up the discoveries. America has become a magnet for numerous adventurers and those who want to enrich themselves. The life of Christopher Columbus, meanwhile, was complicated by illness. He died on May 20, 1506 at the age of 54. This loss has gone virtually unnoticed in Spain. The value of Columbus' discoveries became clear only a few decades later, when the conquistadors discovered gold in America. This allowed Spain to enrich itself and become the most influential European monarchy for several centuries.

Chapter IX. The last days of Columbus and his death

Trouble awaiting Columbus in Spain. - Death of Isabella. - Trampling of the rights and claims of Columbus by Ferdinand. — Deadly illness and death of Columbus. - A few final words .

Columbus arrived in Spain completely broken, dying. He lived, however, for another year and a half. These last days of his life were still full of sorrows and troubles. The man to whom Spain owed the whole world, and with whom, by agreement, the Spanish crown was to share all the wealth and income of this world, suffered from poverty. The great soul of Columbus could easily endure poverty, but his misfortunes were tripled due to the fact that he was unable to help his unfortunate comrades, who spent two and a half years with him on the last such ill-fated journey. When these unfortunates were transported from Jamaica to Haiti, the Spanish government left them to their own fate. Columbus transported them to Spain at his own expense, not distinguishing between those who remained faithful to him and those who rebelled and even plotted against him. But then his funds were exhausted, and he could no longer do anything for them. These unfortunates, exhausted by four years of misfortune, were not only left without any help by the Spanish government, but they were not even given a salary for the journey. And they daily came in crowds to Columbus, begging him to help them or intercede for them. The disease kept Columbus in bed and prevented him from personally taking care of the unfortunate, but he wrote about it many times - sometimes to the New World Office, sometimes to the king and queen. All his ideas were left without the slightest attention. Isabella lay dying at that time, and Ferdinand only laughed at the naive old man who expected justice from the Spanish government.

Columbus decided to ask for an audience with Isabella, despite her and his own illness. The suffering of the great old man reached such an extent that he could not undertake the journey to the court by ordinary means. Neither riding nor riding in a carriage was possible for him. Friends from the clergy suggested that he ride in a huge hearse, which was taken to bury the Seville archbishops. Columbus's bed was placed in this strange carriage, and, lying on it, he went to the court. It was a sad journey. Crowds of people went out to meet the unfortunate sufferer, as in that memorable procession that fell to the lot of Columbus on his return from his first trip to America; but these crowds were no longer attracted by the name of Columbus, but by his carriage, and, having learned that only the man who discovered America, and not the body of the archbishop, was being carried in it, they dispersed disappointedly.

When Columbus appeared at court at the end of November 1504, Isabella had just died. Columbus's last hopes were gone.

After the death of Isabella, Columbus addressed Ferdinand with a number of letters, demanding the restoration of his rights as Viceroy of the New World. But Ferdinand calmly left all the letters of Columbus unanswered.

The half-dying Columbus again appeared at the court and demanded an audience. Ferdinand did not dare to refuse him this and accepted him. When these two people of such opposite moral qualities came face to face, Ferdinand did not have the courage to frankly declare to Columbus his unwillingness to restore Columbus to his rights, and he resorted to the most gross lies. He politely asked Columbus about the last journey and asked him to have a good rest, after which they would talk about Columbus's entry into his duties as Viceroy. Several times after that, Columbus again appeared to Ferdinand, and each time the king ended the conversation with the same false promise. The case ended with Ferdinand offering Columbus a small pension in exchange for giving up his rights. Columbus indignantly rejected this proposal.

Finally, the forces finally left Columbus. He felt that his end was near. Around him at this time were his sons, some of the officers who were under his command and a small number of friends. Departing to another world, the great old man looked at the chains in which he was chained several years ago by Bobadilla and which served for him as an emblem of all human injustices, in such abundance he experienced.

The funeral of Columbus was extremely modest. He was buried with less solemnity than the most ordinary hidalgo or wealthy citizen. Only seven years later, Ferdinand, as if under the influence of remorse, arranged for the solemn transfer of the remains of Columbus from Valladolid, the place of his death, to Seville, where his body was buried with extreme pomp in the main cathedral.

In 1536, the remains of Columbus were disturbed again. This time they were transported across the ocean and buried in Haiti.

Two and a half centuries later, in 1795, the coffin of Columbus was dug up for the third time and transferred to Cuba, to the city of Havana, where the remains of Columbus lie at the present time.

Such was the tragic fate of the great man who discovered America and thus brought about the greatest changes in the life of the Old World. His whole life from the moment when he had confidence in the possibility of discovering new countries unknown to the Old World and the determination to carry out this discovery, is a long series of suffering. Rising significantly above his contemporaries with his mental development, Columbus was an order of magnitude higher than them in his highly moral personality; it is understandable that under such conditions he had to suffer from low and treacherous people. The majority of contemporaries could not appreciate the great significance of the acts of Columbus, and therefore did not have the respect for him that he deserved. But posterity fully appreciated this great personality. We have already mentioned how his remains became a sacred object, and the open America took them away from the mother country. The more time passed, the more the great significance of the discovery of America became clearer, and the stronger the respect of civilized mankind for the great Genoese increased.

At present, in view of the upcoming (October 12, 1892) 400th anniversary of the discovery of America by Columbus, a whole series of commemorations of this benefactor of mankind is being prepared. Movement in this direction is most evident, of course, in America. The Geographical Society of Buenos Aires took the initiative to build a colossal statue of Columbus in the bay of Rio de Janeiro, which could serve as a lighthouse, at the expense of all the states of South America. Chile and Peru have already approved this project. Republican Brazil, which destroyed all the orders established by the former empire, founded instead the Order of Columbus, which has already been awarded to several thousand Brazilians. In the United States of North America, where the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America will be celebrated by the world's fair in Chicago, there has been a project to perpetuate the name of Columbus with a monument of a very special kind. The monument, according to the project, will be a colossal globe resting on a pedestal, and the diameter of the globe should exceed one thousand feet (300 meters), the height of the pedestal is three hundred feet. At the top of the globe it is supposed to put a ship with all the gear. Around the entire globe, along the equator, a gallery will stretch about a verst in circumference. From the equator to the north pole, meandering around the globe, a rail track of six versts in length will go. Under the through, latticed pedestal, a significant free area will be formed, in the center of which a huge statue of Columbus will be placed, and around the Columbus Museum, a library dedicated to the literature of the discovery of America, and ... several restaurants will be located. An observatory will be built at the top of the monument. The cost of such a monument is determined at twelve million rubles. Will this grandiose project be realized?

Europe is also preparing to celebrate the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America and honor the memory of the culprit of this great event. The initiative was taken over by Spain, whose government decided to arrange a special exhibition in Madrid in honor of Columbus. The exhibition will be opened on the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America, that is, October 12 (according to the new style), 1892. It will contain objects that characterize, on the one hand, the state of the peoples of America at the time of the discovery of this part of the world, and, on the other hand, the cultural state of the American states at the present time.

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Name: Christopher Columbus

State: Italy, Spain

Field of activity: Navigator

Greatest Achievement: First to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Opened America to Europeans.

Christopher Columbus used his strong personality to persuade rulers and scientists to rethink conventional wisdom and theories about the size of the Earth in order to find and open a new route to Asia. Although he was not the first European to find the Americas (the honor fell to the Viking Leif Eriksson), his journey opened up the possibility of trade between the two continents.

born by the sea

Born in 1451 to Domenic and Susanna (Fontanarossa), Christopher grew up in Genoa, Italy. Later, while living in Spain, he was better known as Cristobal Colon. He was the eldest of five children in the family and worked with his brothers in adulthood.

Located on the northwest coast of Italy, Genoa was a port city. Columbus completed his basic studies at an early age and began to travel with merchant ships. In 1476 he visited Portugal where he started his cartographic business with his brother Bartholomew. In 1479 he married Felippa Moniz de Palestrello, daughter of the governor of the Portuguese island.

Their only child Diego was born in 1480. Felippa died a few years later. His second son Fernando was born in 1488 to Beatriz Henriques de Arana.

Round the world trip of Christopher Columbus

In the 50s of the 15th century, she took control of northern Africa, blocking the shortest and easiest access for Europeans to valuable Asian goods, such as spices. In search of an alternative to this dangerous and long journey, many countries have turned their eyes to the sea. Portugal, in particular, took a huge step towards finding a way around southern Africa, eventually rounding the Cape of Good Hope in 1488.

Instead of trying to go around the African continent from the south, Columbus decided to go west. Educated people knew the fact that the earth was round, the only question was how big it was.

The Greek mathematician and astronomer Eratosthenes first determined its size in 240 BC, later scientists improved this number, but none of these assumptions have been proven. Columbus believed that the figure voiced by scientists was too large, and that the large Asian continent would reduce the need for a long sea voyage.

According to his calculations, the Earth was 66% smaller than it was according to scientists. Surprisingly, his calculations were very close to the actual size of the globe.

Columbus first presented his plans to Portugal in 1483, but they were not heard. He left for Spain, which was ruled jointly by the monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella. Although Spain was at the time engaged in a war with the Muslim states, it provided Columbus with a job in the Spanish court. Spain took possession of the southern provinces in January 1492, and in April of that year Columbus's plan was approved. He began preparations for the journey.

Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria

Columbus set out on a journey from the Canary Islands in September 1492. He drove the caravel (a type of Portuguese ship) "Santa Maria". Two other ships, the Nina and the Pinta, sailed alongside 90 sailors on board. On October 12, 1492, they reached a small island in the Caribbean that Columbus named San Salvador. This day is celebrated as Columbus Day in the US every second Monday in October; other countries also celebrate this day under different names.

Confident that he had arrived in the East Indies, Columbus named the natives Indians. According to his description, kind, but primitive people had to experience harsh treatment from the Europeans.

Leaving San Salvador, the team continued their journey along the coast of Cuba and Hispaniola (modern day Haiti and the Dominican Republic). On the eve of Christmas Eve, the Santa Maria crashed on a reef off the island of Haiti. Forty men were forced to stay in a hastily constructed camp in search of gold while Columbus, taking the Nina and the Pinta, sailed back to Spain to announce his success.

Several captured natives were taken on board as proof of their mission, but some of them did not survive the arduous sea voyage.

Columbus was not the first European to set foot on the land of the New World. The Vikings discovered this land several centuries before. But their raids were scattered, and information about them never spread throughout Europe.

After the discovery of Columbus, trade in goods, people and ideas began between the two continents.

Three more trips

In the rest of his life, Columbus made three more trips to the New World in search of the Asian mainland. He returned to the islands with 17 ships and 1,500 sailors, but did not find any traces of people there, which he observed a few months ago. Columbus established a company in several small forts along the coast of Hispaniola.

But problems soon arose when the colonists realized that the gold promised by Columbus did not exist. At the same time, a dozen ships with a disgruntled crew on board returned back to Spain. Relations with the indigenous also did not go well, as they abandoned their search for gold. When criticism of Columbus's policies reached the monarchs, he returned to Spain and successfully dispelled all rumors, shielding himself from complaints and restoring his reputation.

In 1498, Columbus took six ships and went in search of the Asian continent to the south of the area he had previously explored. Instead, he arrived off the coast of Venezuela. Returning to Hispaniola, he gave the land to the settlers and allowed the enslavement of the Taíno peoples to govern it. Complaints about the activities of Columbus continued to come to the monarchs, until they finally sent a commission to check the validity of the complaints. Shocked by the conditions of life in the colony, the commission arrested Columbus and his brother and sent them to Spain for trial. Soon they were set free by the royal authorities, but Columbus lost his post as governor of Hispaniola forever.

In 1502, he made his last attempt to find the Asian continent, setting sail with his son Ferdinand. They passed along the coast of Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. Two ships were forced to land on the northern coast of Jamaica due to holes, where their crews spent a whole year waiting for help and returning to their homeland.

Columbus returned to Spain in 1504. He died two years later, on May 20, 1506, still convinced that he had found a sea route to Asia.

Christopher Columbus was born between August 26 and October 31, 1451 on the island of Corsica in the Republic of Genoa. The future discoverer was educated at the University of Pavia.

A brief biography of Columbus did not retain accurate evidence of his first voyages, but it is known that in the 1470s he made sea expeditions for trading purposes. Even then, Columbus had the idea of traveling to India through the west. The navigator many times appealed to the rulers of European countries with a request to help him organize an expedition - to King Juan II, the Duke of Medina Seli, King Henry VII and others. Only in 1492 was Columbus' voyage approved by the Spanish rulers, primarily Queen Isabella. He was given the title of “don”, rewards were promised if the project was successful.

four expeditions. Discovery of America

In 1492 Columbus made his first voyage. During the journey, the navigator discovered the Bahamas, Haiti, Cuba, although he himself considered these lands "Western India".

During the second expedition of Columbus's assistants, there were such famous personalities as the future conqueror of Cuba Diego Velasquez de Cuellar, the notary Rodrigo de Bastidas, the pioneer Juan de la Cosa. Then the discoveries of the navigator included the Virgin, Lesser Antilles, Jamaica, Puerto Rico.

The third expedition of Christopher Columbus was made in 1498. The main discovery of the navigator was the island of Trinidad. However, at the same time, Vasco da Gama found a real way to India, so Columbus was declared a deceiver and sent under escort from Hispaniola to Spain. However, upon his arrival, local financiers managed to persuade King Ferdinand II to drop the charges.

Columbus did not leave the hope of opening a new shortcut to South Asia. In 1502, the navigator was able to obtain permission from the king for a fourth voyage. Columbus reached the coast of Central America, proving that the mainland lies between the Atlantic Ocean and the South Sea.

Last years

During the last trip, Columbus fell seriously ill. Upon his return to Spain, he failed to restore the privileges and rights granted to him. Christopher Columbus died on May 20, 1506 in Seville, Spain. The navigator was first buried in Seville, but in 1540, by order of Emperor Charles V, the remains of Columbus were transported to the island of Hispaniola (Haiti), and in 1899 again to Seville.

Other biography options

Historians still do not know the true biography of Christopher Columbus - there are so few actual materials about his fate and expeditions that the biographers of the navigator make many fictitious statements in his biography.
Returning to Spain after the second expedition, Columbus proposed to settle criminals on the newly discovered lands.
Columbus' dying words were: "In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum" ("Into your hands, Lord, I entrust my spirit").
The significance of the navigator's discoveries was recognized only in the middle of the 16th century.

Biography test

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Christopher Columbus(Latin Columbus, Italian Colombo, Spanish Colon) (1451-1506) - navigator, Viceroy of the Indies (1492), discoverer of the Sargasso Sea and the Caribbean Sea, the Bahamas and the Antilles, part of the northern coast of South America and the Caribbean coastline Central America.

In 1492-1493, Columbus led a Spanish expedition to find the shortest sea route to India; on 3 caravels ("Santa Maria", "Pinta" and "Nina") crossed the Atlantic Ocean, discovered the Sargasso Sea and reached the island of Samana on October 12, 1492 (the official date of the discovery of America), later - the ancient Bahamas, Cuba, Haiti . In subsequent expeditions (1493-1496, 1498-1500, 1502-1504) he discovered the Greater Antilles, part of the Lesser Antilles and the coasts of South and Central America and the Caribbean Sea.

Gold is an amazing thing! Whoever possesses it is the master of whatever he wants. Gold can even open the way to heaven for souls.

Columbus Christopher

Christopher Columbus was born in the autumn of 1451 in Genoa, Genoese by origin. He was above average height, strong and well built. Reddish in his youth, his hair turned gray early, which made him look older than his years. On an oblong, wrinkled and weather-beaten face with a beard, lively blue eyes and an aquiline nose stood out. He was distinguished by faith in divine providence and omens, and at the same time rare practicality, morbid pride and suspicion, and a passion for gold. He had a sharp mind, the gift of persuasion and versatile knowledge. H. Columbus was married twice and had two sons from these marriages.

Three-quarters of Christopher Columbus' life was spent sailing

Among the great figures of world civilization, few can compare with Columbus in the number of publications devoted to his life, and at the same time in the abundance of "blank spots" in his biography. More or less confidently, it can be argued that he was a Genoese by origin and around 1465 he entered the Genoese fleet, after some time he was seriously wounded. Until 1485, Christopher sailed on Portuguese ships, lived in Lisbon and on the islands of Madeira and Porto Santo, engaged in trade, mapping and self-education. It is not clear when and where he drafted the western, in his opinion, the shortest sea route from Europe to India; the project was based on the ancient doctrine of the sphericity of the Earth and on the incorrect calculations of scientists of the 15th century. In 1485, after the refusal of the Portuguese king to support this project, Columbus moved to Castile, where, with the help of Andalusian merchants and bankers, he organized a government sea expedition under his command.

Those who live in illusions die of disappointment.

Columbus Christopher

First expedition of Christopher Columbus 1492-1493, consisting of 90 people on three ships - Santa Maria, Pinta and Nina - left Palos on August 3, 1492, turned west from the Canary Islands, crossed the Atlantic Ocean, opening the Sargasso Sea, and reached an island in the Bahamas, named by the traveler San Salvador, where Columbus landed on October 12, 1492 (the official date of the discovery of America). For a long time (1940-82) Watling Island was considered San Salvador. However, our contemporary American geographer J. Judge in 1986 processed all the collected materials on a computer and came to the conclusion that the first American land seen by Columbus was Samana Island (120 km southeast of Watling). On October 14-24, Columbus approached several more Bahamas, and on October 28 - December 5, he discovered part of the northeast coast of Cuba. December 6 reached the island of Haiti and moved along the northern coast. On the night of December 25, the flagship Santa Maria landed on a reef, but the crew escaped. For the first time in the history of navigation, on the orders of Columbus, Indian hammocks were adapted for sailor bunks.

A false step more than once led to the opening of new roads

Columbus Christopher

Columbus returned to Castile on the Nina on March 15, 1499. The political resonance of the voyage of H. Columbus was the "papal meridian": the head of the Catholic Church established a demarcation line in the Atlantic, indicating different directions for the discovery of new lands by rival Spain and Portugal.

Second expedition(1493-96), headed by Admiral Columbus, in the position of Viceroy of the newly discovered lands, consisted of 17 ships with a crew of 1.5-2.5 thousand people. On November 3-15, 1493, Columbus discovered the islands of Dominica, Guadeloupe and about 20 Lesser Antilles, on November 19, the island of Puerto Rico. In March 1494, in search of gold, he made a military campaign deep into the island of Haiti, in the summer he discovered the southeastern and southern coasts of Cuba, the islands of Youth and Jamaica.

For 40 days, Columbus explored the southern coast of Haiti, the conquest of which continued in 1495. But in the spring of 1496 he sailed home, completing his second voyage on June 11 in Castile. Columbus announced the discovery of a new route to Asia. The colonization of new lands by free settlers, which began soon, was very expensive for the Spanish crown, and Columbus proposed to populate the islands with criminals, halving their sentence. With fire and sword, plundering and destroying the country of ancient culture, Cortez's military detachments passed through the land of the Aztecs - Mexico, and Pizarro's detachments passed through the land of the Incas - Peru.

Third Expedition of Columbus(1498-1500) consisted of six ships, three of which he himself led across the Atlantic. On July 31, 1498, the island of Trinidad was discovered, entered the Gulf of Paria, discovered the mouth of the western arm of the Orinoco Delta and the Paria Peninsula, marking the beginning of the discovery of South America. Having entered the Caribbean Sea, he approached the Araya Peninsula, discovered the island of Margarita on August 15 and arrived in Haiti on August 31. In 1500, upon a denunciation of Christopher Columbus, he was arrested and shackled (which he then kept all his life) was sent to Castile, where he was expected to be released.

Having obtained permission to continue searching for a western route to India, Columbus on four ships (fourth expedition, 1502-1504) reached the island of Martinique on June 15, 1502, on July 30 - the Gulf of Honduras, where he first met representatives of the ancient Mayan civilization, but did not attach any importance to this. From August 1, 1502 to May 1, 1503, he discovered 2,000 km of the Caribbean coast of Central America (up to the Gulf of Uraba). Unable to find a passage to the west, he turned north and on June 25, 1503, was wrecked off the coast of Jamaica. Help from Santo Domingo came only a year later. Columbus returned to Castile on November 7, 1504, already seriously ill.