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Christopher Columbus history

October 12th, 2009 - 7:56 pm ICT by Aishwarya Bhatt ( 13 comments )

Christopher Columbus New York, Oct 12 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Christopher Columbus is known as ‘the man who discovered America’, when he on the contrary trying to find a westward sea passage to the Orient when he instead landed in the New World in 1492. This unintentional and accidental discovery was to change the course of world history forever.

Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa in 1451. His father was a weaver and small-time merchant, and Columbus had two more siblings. As a teenager, Christopher started his sea voyages traveled extensively and eventually made Portugal his base. It was from here, in Portugal that he attempted to gain royal patronage for a westward voyage to the Orient - his ‘Enterprise of the Indies’.

No king or royal kingdom was ready to fund his project. He tried to convince them, but failed everywhere, except for the Spanish King and Queen who saw some promise in his proposal. Finally, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella agreed to sponsor this historic sailing expedition, and on 3 August 1492, Columbus and his fleet of three ships, the Santa Maria, the Pinta and the Niña, set sail across the Atlantic.

Some two and a half months later, they sighted land. On 12 October, Columbus and a group of his men set foot on an island’s soil, what later became famously known as the Bahamas. However, Columbus thought that he had reached the Indies, so the sailors started calling the natives of that island as ‘Indians’.

In all, Columbus made 4 voyages to the west, till his health degraded badly and he was unable to sail further. He died of arthritis and malaria.

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13 Responses

  1. Alfred Says:

    Columbus didn’t discover America, he discovered that people already lived here. They had their own religion and their own form of Government. He discovered a trade route and that’s all.

  2. x Says:

    interesting how we have a holiday to honor a person who is responsible for the annihilation of millions of native americans! Columbus day should be boycotted

  3. Chris Says:

    Columbus “discovered” Americas for the European. What happened afterwards was not his fault.
    The history of U.S.A is the history of conquer, betrayal, extermination of native American.
    For total massacre and civilization extinction, check out Conquistadors in South America.

  4. Manuel Says:

    Columbus was a genocidal MURDERER. He got his start as a slave trader in Africans. He was lost and washed up in the Caribbean, thinking he was in India.

    He massacred Indigenous peoples, enslaving them, raping them.

    Just read The Journals of Columbus for yourself! He wrote shamelessly about it!

  5. Don McReynolds Says:

    I agree with Alfred, just a man who found a new trade route. I hardly doubt he wanted to destory a whole human race. Those who think he was horrible need to get a life or maybe go find the perfect little world and live there. Life is not perfect get a life and let go. Honor Columbus for what he found.

  6. Jacks Are Better Says:

    Wake up and smell the coffee.
    Columbus is a real hero. He searched for a route to the Orient and stumbled on a new world. He actually landed in the Bahamas on his first trip. He called the native peoples ‘Indians’ because he actually believed he was in India. X is an idiot as Columbus did not annihilate any native Americans. [He never made it to what would be later called America.] There is no doubt that his crew had sexual relations, but not rape as Manuel claims, with the peoples as they carried back a gift frome them to Europe STD’s. Some try and contend that it was not a ‘discovery’ as people lived in what was to become known as the West Indies. It was hard for the Europeans to understand them as they were one step above cave peoples. They scalped (invented by the Indians not the white man as you were taught) and skinned alive their foes. They say history is written by the winners, however, in America the libs re-write history to fit their adjenda and to be politically correct. Columbas was no doubt a man of his time, but he was a true hero and explorer.

  7. WLEIT Says:

    Horray for Columbus! He found a land of savages, slaughtering each other by the thousands for hundreds of years, put in motion a land where modern civilazation could florish. Aztecs, mayans, iriquois killed by the millions. THAT’S the FACTS you morons. Oh, and add the adena and hopewells who vanished behing their fortifications staving off their fellow savages. Columbus did everyone a favor.

  8. Manuel Says:

    1) Columbus didn’t find a new trade route to the Orient. He never made it to the Orient. He was thousands of miles lost.

    2) There was no “trade route” with the Western Hemisphere. Only stealing and slavery. None of the “Indians” were given any trading agreements with Spain or any part of Europe.

    3) In his journals, Columbus writes that “These people wil make excellent slaves.”

    4) Columbus is a terrorist based upon his murderous actions which he shamelessly wrote about in his own journals. Read them yourself.

    5) Columbus Day is the day when pirates and murderers started terrorizing the Western Hemisphere. The Europeans were too weak to take on Islam, too weak to take on China.

  9. Greg Says:

    My my my — I wonder what would happen if we started talking about ancestors of other countries where the ancestors (of those posting nasty remarks about Columbus) were found to be murderers and rapists to civilizations that are now extinct…hmmmm? Who existed before the natives who lived in the Americas before Columbus (e.g. Anasazi)? What happened to them? Do you think they were the first to inhabit the Americas? If so, how do you know? Bit unconfortable now, aren’t you, Misters Pot and Kettle…? Lucky you live in a country (courtesy of European influence) that allows you to open your big mouth without having your tongues cut. I suggest you stop assuming recorded history encompasses all history and that you stop assuming that your pure blood lines are completely clean. The problems you outline are not new to mankind, they’ve been around for millenia. The only difference here is that the history of late was actually recorded.

  10. Sheila Ouzts Says:

    It is a same that we are taught in school to admire this Christopher Columbus. So sad to here the truth about him.

    I guess, all we can do now is know that something good always comes from something BAD.

  11. Tom Says:

    This politically correct cultural equivalency makes me laugh. The “civilizations” in the portion of Americas discovered by Columbus were nothing but tribal organizations consisting of people living in Stone Age conditions. And this was the beginning of the period of time in which European civilization leapfrogged ahead of those of the Chinese and Muslims, who dared not venture far beyond their shores. Columbus, and the civilization from which he came, did more to shape the world than all other civilizations combined. There simply is no disputing this.

  12. Alfred Says:

    The route that was established by Columbus was indeed used for the slave trade. Afterwards, the Pilgrims followed. They landed on the shores of Plymouth Rock. The weather was so bad that they sure would’ve starved if weren’t for the indigenous peoples that were there to help them. I wonder what would’ve happened if these Native Americans weren’t such friendly and giving people?

  13. piya Says:

    i want to short history of cristopher columbus
    plz send me a short history
    today because i giving a presentation

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