What was the impact of Christopher Columbus's discovery?

Answer 1

Christopher Columbus, Explorer
Born: 1451
Birthplace: Genoa, Italy
Died: 20 May 1506
Best Known As: Discoverer of the New World
Also Known As: Cristobal Colon (Spanish) and Cristoforo Colombo (Italian)

Five centuries after his daring voyage to the Americas, Christopher Columbus remains as famous as he might have hoped. He's just not as popular as he might have hoped. Though Columbus is undoubtedly one of history's great mariners, recent years have seen much squabbling over whether he was a good-guy hero who discovered new worlds, or a not-so-nice guy who helped grab the Americas from their native inhabitants. Financed by Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castille, Columbus sailed across the Atlantic in search of a sea passage to India. His mission was twofold: open trade routes for exploitation and bring the word of Jesus Christ to the uninitiated. In 1492 he sailed with three ships (Niña, Pinta and Santa Maria) and made landfall somewhere in the Bahamas. He made three more voyages, always believing that he had reached Asia. Columbus' success opened the door for Spain to conquer the Americas.

Early Years

Columbus spent some of his early years at his father's trade of weaving and later became a sailor on the Mediterranean. Shipwrecked near the Portuguese coast in 1476, he made his way to Lisbon, where his younger brother, Bartholomew, an expert chart maker, lived. Columbus, too, became a chart maker for a brief time in that great maritime center during the golden era of Portuguese exploration. Engaged as a sugar buyer in the Portuguese islands off Africa (the Azores, Cape Verde, and Madeira) by a Genoese mercantile firm, he met pilots and navigators who believed in the existence of islands farther west. It was at this time that he made his last visit to his native city, but he always remained a Genoese, never becoming a naturalized citizen of any other country. Returning to Lisbon, he married (1479?) the well-born Dona Filipa Perestrello e Moniz.

By the time he was 31 or 32, Columbus had become a master mariner in the Portuguese merchant service. It is thought by some that he was greatly influenced by his brother, Bartholomew, who may have accompanied Bartholomew Diaz on his voyage to the Cape of Good Hope, and by Martín Alonso Pinzón, the pilot who commanded the Pinta on the first voyage. Columbus was but one among many who believed one could reach land by sailing west. His uniqueness lay rather in the persistence of his dream and his determination to realize this “Enterprise of the Indies,” as he called his plan. Seeking support for it, he was repeatedly rebuffed, first at the court of John II of Portugal and then at the court of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. Finally, after eight years of supplication by Columbus, the Spanish monarchs, having conquered Granada, decided to risk the enterprise.

Voyages to the New World

First Expedition

On Aug. 3, 1492, Columbus sailed from Palos, Spain, with three small ships, the Santa María, commanded by Columbus himself, the Pinta under Martín Pinzón, and the Niña under Vicente Yáñez Pinzón. After halting at the Canary Islands, he sailed due west from Sept. 6 until Oct. 7, when he changed his course to the southwest. On Oct. 10 a small mutiny was quelled, and on Oct. 12 he landed on a small island (Watling Island; see San Salvador) in the Bahamas. He took possession for Spain and, with impressed natives aboard, discovered other islands in the neighborhood. On Oct. 27 he sighted Cuba and on Dec. 5 reached Hispaniola.

On Christmas Eve the Santa María was wrecked on the north coast of Hispaniola, and Columbus, leaving men there to found a colony, hurried back to Spain on the Niña. His reception was all he could wish; according to his contract with the Spanish sovereigns he was made “admiral of the ocean sea” and governor-general of all new lands he had discovered or should discover.

Second Expedition

Fitted out with a large fleet of 17 ships, with 1,500 colonists aboard, Columbus sailed from Cádiz in Oct., 1493. His landfall this time was made in the Lesser Antilles, and his new discoveries included the Leeward Islands and Puerto Rico. The admiral arrived at Hispaniola to find the first colony destroyed by the indigenous natives. He founded a new colony nearby, then sailed off in the summer of 1494 to explore the southern coast of Cuba. After discovering Jamaica he returned to Hispaniola and found the colonists, interested only in finding gold, completely disorderly; his attempts to enforce strict discipline led some to seize vessels and return to Spain to complain of his administration. Leaving his brother Bartholomew in charge at Hispaniola, Columbus also returned to Spain in 1496.

Third Expedition

On his third expedition, in 1498, Columbus was forced to transport convicts as colonists, because of the bad reports on conditions in Hispaniola and because the novelty of the New World was wearing off. He sailed still farther south and made his landfall on Trinidad. He sailed across the mouth of the Orinoco River (in present Venezuela) and realized that he saw a continent, but without further exploration he hurried back to Hispaniola to administer his colony. In 1500 an independent governor arrived, sent by Isabella and Ferdinand as the result of reports on the wretched conditions in the colony, and he sent Columbus back to Spain in chains. The admiral was immediately released, but his favor was on the wane; other navigators, including Amerigo Vespucci, had been in the New World and established much of the coast line of NE South America.

Fourth Expedition

It was 1502 before Columbus finally gathered together four ships for a fourth expedition, by which he hoped to reestablish his reputation. If he could sail past the islands and far enough west, he hoped he might still find lands answering to the description of Asia or Japan. He struck the coast of Honduras in Central America and coasted southward along an inhospitable shore, suffering terrible hardships, until he reached the Gulf of Darién. Attempting to return to Hispaniola, he was marooned on Jamaica. After his rescue, he was forced to abandon his hopes and return to Spain. Although his voyages were of great importance, Columbus died in relative neglect, having had to petition King Ferdinand in an attempt to secure his promised titles and wealth.

Historical Perspective

Columbus was not the first European mariner to sail to the New World—the Vikings set up colonies (c.1000) in Greenland and Newfoundland (see Leif Ericsson and Thorfinn Karlsefni)—but his voyages mark the beginning of continuous European efforts to explore and colonize the Americas. Although historians for centuries disputed his skill as a navigator, it has been proved that with only dead reckoning Columbus was unsurpassed in charting and finding his way about unknown seas. During the 1980s and 90s the long-standing image of Columbus as a hero was tarnished by criticism from Native Americans and revisionist historians. With the 500th anniversary of his first voyage in 1992, interpretations of his motives and impact varied. Although he was always judged to be vain, ambitious, desirous of wealth, and ruthless, traditional historians viewed his voyages as opening the New World to Western civilization and Christianity. For revisionist historians, however, his voyages symbolize the more brutal aspects of European colonization and represent the beginning of the destruction of Native American peoples and culture. One point of agreement among all interpretations is that his voyages were one of the turning points in history.

Answer 2

Lisbon is Europe's second-oldest capital and once home to the world's greatest explorers like Vasco da Gama, Magellan and Prince Henry the Navigator, getting the initial true earth town, the capital of an empire distributing over all continents, from South America (Brazil) to Asia (Macao, China; Goa, India) and know you are able to invest several day to know that historic town, with hotelbye is where you need to start. Probably the most acknowledged of Lisbon's important attractions may be the St. George's Castle. This fort commands a wonderful place near Alfama on the crown of a hill overlooking the Portuguese capital. This is one of Lisbon's most popular tourist destinations. Its extraordinary battlements, engaging museum, and intriguing archaeological site combine to help make the fortress a satisfying experience for all the family, and children specially will love clambering on the strong walls and towers that encircle the grounds.

Answer 3

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When Europeans found out there were populated continents previously unknown to them, it shook up their world. They did not know what to make of people who had lived for almost 1500 years without hearing of Jesus Christ and thus unaware of what Europeans believed to be the only way to salvation and, eventually, to heaven. Results of this new knowledge led to protracted arguments about whether the newly found people were indeed humans or some sub-species (and thus without souls), and if they were human, the disposition of the souls of those American Indians who were already dead. Roman Catholic missionary work became an important part of every subsequent voyage from Spain and Portugal to the New World, even so far as to carry the tortures of the Spanish Inquisition into Latin America.

Answer 4

Its amazing how many people forget that he did not technically discover the Americas, but the Caribbean islands(i believe) and believed he was in the West Indies till his death. However, he was responsible for bringing Amerigo Vespucci, the man that realized he was on a different continent, to the Americas. That is why they are called that, after Amerigo. Even so, the world was getting smaller and someone else would have found the continent anyway. The world was getting smaller, it was just a matter of time.

Answer 5

That Europe, Asia and Africa weren't the only land mass in the world. That the new found land could be use to exploit its resources. Then started a bunch of masacres by the Spanich and the inca's, so forth and so forth.

Answer 6

As my old AP Euro teacher used to say, Columbus' greatest contribution to the Native Americans was smallpox, and his greatest contribution to Europe?
Syphalis.

Answer 7

You exist. You probably would not be living if he had not done what he had done. Liberals forget this. I know I would not be living had he not done it. I am a mix of 6 different nationalities (if you want to divide the British Isles into 4). That to me is the impact of Columbus's voyage.

Answer 8

Columbus Day

Answer 9

The near genocide of the native Arawak tribes. Other than that, not much besides his desire and greed for land and money.

Answer 10

We live here now, instead of in Europe. That's big for me since I'm into oral hygeine and talking without a funny accent.

Answer 11

An absolute disaster for the natives of America.