Christopher Columbus changed the map of the world forever. You likely know the rhyme about 1492 and the ocean blue. However, the man himself was a complex figure who died believing he was in Asia. He was arrested for his brutality and saved by a lunar eclipse. Furthermore, he never actually touched North America. Let’s explore the life of the Admiral of the Ocean Sea.
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus never actually set foot on the continent of North America. He explored the Caribbean islands, Central America, and the coast of South America instead. Consequently, the man whom history credits with discovering “America” never saw the land that became the United States.
He believed until his dying day that he had found a new route to Asia. He thought the islands he landed on belonged to the East Indies, near Japan or China. This conviction led him to call the indigenous people “Indians,” a misnomer that persists centuries later.
His famous ships measured surprisingly small. The Santa Maria, the largest of the trio, operated as a slow cargo vessel only about 60 feet long. The Niña and the Pinta were even smaller, roughly the size of modern cruising yachts.
The Spanish crown arrested him and brought him back to Spain in chains after his third voyage. Authorities detained him for his brutal mismanagement and tyranny as the governor of Hispaniola. The King eventually released him but stripped him of his prestigious titles.
A lunar eclipse saved his life in Jamaica. When the indigenous people stopped feeding his starving crew, Columbus predicted the moon would turn blood red. The eclipse occurred exactly as he warned, which terrified the locals into providing food immediately.
Christopher Columbus was not his real name. His parents in Genoa, Italy, named him Cristoforo Colombo. Spanish history books call him Cristóbal Colón, and English speakers later Anglicized it to the name we use today.
He demanded massive rewards before he even set sail. He insisted that the Crown appoint him “Admiral of the Ocean Sea,” make him Viceroy of all new lands, and give him 10 percent of all future revenues. The monarchs nearly rejected his proposal because of these greedy terms.
The Santa Maria ran aground and shipwrecked on Christmas Day in 1492. Columbus ordered his men to strip the timber from the wrecked ship to build a fort called La Navidad.
He introduced horses to the Americas on his second voyage. Along with pigs, chickens, and cows, he transported the first European livestock to the New World. This biological exchange permanently altered the ecology of two continents.
His voyages triggered a massive global trade system known as the Columbian Exchange. He brought tomatoes, potatoes, and chocolate back to Europe. In return, he delivered wheat, sugar, and deadly diseases like smallpox to the Americas.
Artists created every famous portrait of him years after his death. Since he never sat for a painting during his lifetime, no one knows exactly what he looked like. Painters simply guessed at his appearance based on written descriptions.
He lived as a deeply religious man who believed God guided his voyages. He often wore a plain Franciscan habit and even wrote a book of prophecies later in life. He viewed his discoveries as a necessary step toward the Second Coming.
His remains traveled almost as much in death as he did in life. Priests moved his body from Spain to Santo Domingo, then to Havana, and finally back to Seville. DNA tests in 2006 confirmed that the bones in Seville belong to the explorer.
Kings of Portugal, France, and England all rejected his math before Spain said yes. They correctly argued that the ocean stretched much wider than Columbus calculated. He actually survived only because he luckily bumped into a continent he didn’t know existed.
He enslaved hundreds of indigenous Taino people. When he failed to find the massive gold deposits he promised the King, he filled his ships with slaves to send back to Spain instead. This cruel decision jumpstarted the transatlantic slave trade.
