Exploration has been the main curiosity of man since the beginning of time. This trait was especially evident in Christopher Columbus, an Italian explorer born in 1451.Columbus would then grow up to have an idea to find a better oceanic route to Asia from Europe. However, Columbus had to receive support for this voyage. Due to the fact that the Portuguese and English governments did not wish to support Columbus on his endeavours, he struggled to find the support he needed for his voyage. Finally, in 1492, Columbus found this support from Spanish monarchs Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile. The Spanish monarchs hired Columbus because of their interest in strengthening Spanish commercial prospects in other places, Columbus and the …show more content…
Another reason the Spanish monarchs wanted a part of Columbus’ voyage was to spread Catholicism to far places in hopes of gaining a larger following of Catholicism. Columbus, being a devout follower of the Catholic religion, approved of this because he also wanted to spread the religion. Also, at the time of Columbus’ expedition, Spain’s “Reconquista”, the expulsion of Jews and Muslims, was complete, the Spanish turned their focus to exploring and conquering other parts of the world while spreading the Catholic religion. The Spanish, with Columbus’ help, saw an opportunity with the expedition to begin this exploration and conquest. When Columbus found the Americas instead of the passage to Asia, this gave the Spanish monarchs even more of a reason to begin exploration and conquest of these new lands. This was another driving factor of the Spanish monarchs support for Columbus. Another reason the Spanish monarchs were supportive of Columbus’ ideas for sailing West was because they saw an opportunity to earn more money in the west with exportation of the goods that Spain was abundant with. Instead, while Columbus was sailing west, he found the Americas and this changed European life forever. Columbus didn’t bring much gold or riches back from his voyage, but he did bring back goods that the Europeans had
When Christopher Columbus sailed to America he was happy and proud of himself because he was the first to discover the land which is now named america, and he was also happy because he found out that there were a lot of resources found on that land which he found was necessary to take and use. According to the document A “Day after day they looked for land;They dreamed of trees and rocks and sand” this shows that the purposely are trying to find land for them to dock and discover. Additionally according to the document A “Columbus sailed on to find some gold To bring back home, as he'd been told.He made the trip again and again,Trading gold to bring to Spain” this shows that he was there not just to discover land but to make riches too and
They funded and encouraged his journey because they all wanted something out of it. The Pope just wanted to to spread his religion and Catholicism. The King and Queen, however wanted land, slaves, more money and possessions. Columbus could not say no. Whatever the King and Queen said was the law and could not be refused or he would have been executed. The Pope would have done the same thing. Like everyone else during that time he wanted to take an adventure, see new things, and discover more land so he set sail with his crew.
Columbus started out on his first voyage in the middle of 1492. It turned out to be a great success and he won Spain many places in South America. The king, queen, and the people of Spain were pleased with Columbus. Isabella immediately ordered him to sail again. On this second voyage, he formed the first European settlement in the Americas. Colonists that accompanied him began to criticize Columbus and his adventures. However, Isabella continued to support him.
One would think the famed 1492 voyage by the Italian sailor known as Christopher Columbus Italy logically funded the voyage, right? Well, actually that is not the case! Columbus managed to convince Spanish monarchs Ferdinand V and Isabella I to fund his voyage to find a new trade route to India. Christopher Columbus, known as Cristobal Colon in Spanish, actually didn’t go to the Spaniards first; he actually went to officials in Portugal, France and England, but he they turned him away due to disputes about the size of the earth. In 1491, he convinced the Spanish monarchy to fund his voyage. The Spaniards provided him with two small ships called caravels and one larger type of ship called a carrack. They were fifteen to thirty meters long. On August 3rd, Columbus set voyage with the three ships: the Nina (originally named la Santa Clara), the Pinta (called la Pintada by the sailors), and the Santa Maria (actually named la Santa Gallega or Maria Galante). He arrived on Hispaniola on October 12. But why would a foreign country be interested in funding a foreign explorer? There were several reasons why King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella supported the voyage of Columbus. Those reasons were the monarch’s wish to become a world power, their want to trade with Asia, and lastly, to spread their religion. There were various other reasons, but these were the main three.
Christopher Columbus was an Italian who worked on behalf of, King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I. The Spanish monarchs’ ultimate goals were to find a trade routine to India, Asia and to spread the Catholic religion to others. They financed Columbus with the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria to find a western route to India. Thinking that it was India, Columbus found land. In his journal, Columbus described his first account of the natives as “they were very friendly to us, and perceived that they could be much more easily converted to our holy faith by gentle means than by force” (“Fordham University”). Also, he plans for them to be great servants so they “may learn our language” (“Fordham University”). He says
The main idea behind the voyage was to find a faster route to the Indies, as well as introduce Christianity and The King and Queen to the new world along with its inhabitants. As said by Columbus “Your Highnesses, as Catholic Christians, and princes who love and promote the holy Christian faith, and are enemies of the doctrine of Mahomet, and of all idolatry and heresy, determined to send me, Christopher Columbus, to the above-mentioned countries of India, to see the said princes, people, and territories, and to learn their disposition and the proper method of converting them to our holy faith; and furthermore directed that I should not proceed by land to the East, as is customary, but by a Westerly route, in which direction we have hitherto no certain evidence that any one has gone.” Like said, it shows that Columbus wished to find a faster route, so Spain could easily be able to obtained traded goods which would produce more profit for the country of Spain. This kind of shows that Spain needed to find this route due
On May in 1486 almost a year after Columbus had enter Spain, he was finally allowed to meet with the queen who is said to be known for her great judgment in choosing the right man for the right job. The queen turned down Christopher’s proposals several times before giving it any true thought. The queen sent out her confessor to examine the great project to see if it was feasible. For the next six months Columbus lived the worst days of his life. Christopher was subjected to continuous prejudice even though he knew his great project would open new pathways to maritime achievement and opportunity, but still the public viewed his revolutionary planes as a crackpot idea. Very few of the queen’s staff were in favor of the great quest except for one, Diego de Deza who granted Columbus 12,000 maravedis a year, which was about $83 in gold. It was enough to support a man like Columbus. Columbus had simple tastes.
Christopher Columbus was a well-known traveler who originated from Italy. Christopher Columbus had a legacy that was troubled with disagreements for reason of his treatment towards the native population. His journeys encouraged mass amount of Europeans to obtain interest in taking over the Americas. Throughout his letter written to Sant’ Angel, Columbus explains his emotion in being very satisfied with the results he has revised throughout his first voyage. Christopher Columbus then goes into detail concerning his appreciation to the royal King and Queen, Ferdinand and Isabella as he mentions, “I passed over the Indies with the fleet which the most illustrious King and Queen, our lords, gave to me” (Columbus 8). Christopher Columbus creates a powerful image for the King and Queen because he trusts that the maintenance of Ferdinand and Isabella throughout his journey was an incredible aspect that resulted in his spectacular accomplishment.
First and foremost, Columbus’ experience was of high value to the Spanish monarchy. Despite initially following in the footsteps of his father as a member of the wool weaving industry, Columbus was quick to pick up mapmaking and sailing as studies (Mariners Museum). Columbus was on the sea even as a teen, joining expeditions through the Aegean and Mediterranean seas (Don Quijote). It was difficult to find such an experienced and educated seaman in contemporary Spain. Many of the future influential conquistadors had yet to be born; the oldest was Francisco Pizarro, and even he was only sixteen years of age when Columbus set sail in 1492. With experience being such a valuable commodity, it was difficult for the Spanish monarchy to justify allowing Columbus to simply offer his skills to another country. Columbus’
King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella gave funds to the Italian explorer and navigator, Christopher Columbus, to discover a new route to Asia. By finding a new route to Asia, Spain would have the advantage in trading with them by having access to a shorter and safer trade route instead of having to go around the African continent. Why did King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella hire Columbus instead of a Spanish Explorer? The deal between Spain and Columbus was that any minerals and resources found would go to Spain and Columbus would become Governor of any place he landed at. In this way, there are many advantages and disadvantages of working relationships between foreign parties.
- Spain (Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand) actually assisted Columbus in his attempts, in order to accumulate goods that were valuable during time such as gold. Furthermore, it also tried to help the Catholic church financially.
Christopher Columbus was sponsored by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel of Spain in 1492 to find an alternate trade route to Asia. The Reconquista was just wrapping up in Spain, and in hopes to continue the movement, the King and Queen encouraged Columbus to spread Christianity once he made landfall. Their goals for his voyage were similar to many at the time: find riches, spread faith, and claim any unconquered lands. Columbus was successful in all three, however, there is much controversy in the measures Columbus took to do so. Although Christopher Columbus caused the death of many indigenous people and ecological succession, his ultimate goal was to carry out the requests of the Spanish government, therefore he should not be found guilty because
Christopher Columbus is known for being an explorer and is said to have made one of the most important voyages in world history without even wanting to. Something else that is also believed is that he “opened up” the Americas to European nations, which changed the course of American history. Before he went on his voyage though, he was in need of resources. So he asked Portugal, France, Italy among many other countries but they all denied Columbus and thought his statement was incorrect. Columbus’ statement was that he had found a faster way to get to Asia than the Portuguese had, which was going around the continent of Africa. Columbus lived a majority of his life in Spain, so when it came to setting sail for the west, Spain was one of the first nations he asked for funding. Though it took Columbus a little more than a few years to convince a nation to fund his voyage, Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand from Spain subsequently granted to endow him in 1492. He would then leave for “Asia” on August 3, 1492. There are many unanswered questions and thoughts on why Spain decided to finally fund Columbus’ voyage, especially since he was an explorer that was born in Italy.
Hence, The Spanish explorations were most notably able to occur due to the King and Queen’s efforts to unify the Spanish nation and the growing competition between the unified Spain and its neighboring country, Portugal (Nardo, 1947). The King and Queen did many other things to improve and fund exploration in Spain, and perhaps the most significant thing they did was sponsor Christopher Columbus after he proposed an exploration to India, guaranteeing that he could discover and establish valuable trade routes from India to Eastern Asia (Nardo, 1947). The King and Queen agreed to sponsor him because Spain often sought out trade opportunities and wanted to find gold and valuable spices from Asia, specifically from India, and this exploration almost guaranteed all of that (Nardo, 1947). Therefore, the reasons for Spanish exploration include the desire to establish trade routes between India and Eastern Asia, to find valuable resources, the empire’s competition with Portugal, and the King and Queen’s unification of their kingdoms and sponsorship of Christopher
Christopher Columbus and his goalsCertainly, Columbus was a devout Catholic. He lived during the period of the great Spanish Inquisition, which led to the defeat of the Jews and Muslims. Perhaps he wanted to continue the Spanish legacy and spread the faith toward the west. However, personal ambitions may have also sparked Columbus's interest in finding a water route to the Indies. He asks for gold many times from the natives and searches all the islands in hopes of discovering more. He views the natives as a source of economical benefit, hoping to employ them for practical purposes. Even though there are not any indications of immense amounts of gold and spices in the New World, Columbus continues to ask for more Spanish support in order