Why did Colombus cross the ocean?

Question

I was just curious..Why did Christopher Colombus cross the ocean?

Answer 1

Background to voyages

Navigation plans
Europe had long enjoyed a safe passage to China and India— sources of valued goods such as silk, spices and opiates— under the hegemony of the Mongol Empire (the Pax Mongolica, or Mongol peace). With the Fall of Constantinople to the Muslims in 1453, the land route to Asia became more difficult. The Ottoman conquest of Egypt similarly impeded the Red Sea route. Portuguese sailors took to traveling south around Africa to Asia. The Columbus brothers had a different idea. By the 1480s, they had developed a plan to travel to the Indies, then construed roughly as all of south and east Asia, by sailing directly west across the "Ocean Sea," i.e., the Atlantic.

Following Washington Irving's myth-filled 1828 biography of Columbus, Americans commonly believed Columbus had difficulty obtaining support for his plan because Europeans thought the Earth was flat.[4] In fact, few at the time of Columbus’s voyage, and virtually no sailors or navigators, believed this.[5] Most agreed Earth was a sphere. This had been the general opinion of ancient Greek science, and continued as the standard opinion (for example of Bede in The Reckoning of Time) until scholars misread Isidore of Seville to say the earth was a disk, inventing the T and O map concept. This view was very influential, but never wholly accepted. Knowledge of the Earth's spherical nature was not limited to scientists: for instance, Dante's Divine Comedy is based on a spherical Earth. Columbus put forth arguments based on the circumference of the sphere. Most scholars accepted Ptolemy's claim the terrestrial landmass (for Europeans of the time, comprising Eurasia and Africa) occupied 180 degrees of the terrestrial sphere, leaving 180 degrees of water.

Columbus, however, believed the calculations of Marinus of Tyre, putting the landmass at 225 degrees, leaving only 135 degrees of water. Moreover, Columbus believed one degree represented a shorter distance on the earth's surface than was commonly held. Finally, he read maps as if the distances were calculated in Italian miles (1,238 meters). Accepting the length of a degree to be 56⅔ miles, from the writings of Alfraganus, he therefore calculated the circumference of the Earth as 25,255 kilometers at most, and the distance from the Canary Islands to Japan as 3,000 Italian miles (3,700 km, or 2,300 statute miles) Columbus did not realize Al-Farghani used the much longer Arabic mile (about 1,830 meters).

Columbus' problem was, experts did not accept this estimate. The true circumference of the Earth is about 40,000 km (25,000 sm), a figure established by Eratosthenes in the second century BC,[6] and the distance from the Canary Islands to Japan 19,600 km (12,200 sm). No ship in the 15th century could carry enough food and fresh water for such a journey. Most European sailors and navigators concluded, correctly, that sailors undertaking a westward voyage from Europe to Asia non-stop would die of thirst or starvation long before reaching their destination. Spain, however, having completed an expensive war, was desperate for a competitive edge over other European countries in trade with the East Indies. Columbus promised one.

While Columbus' calculations were inaccurate concerning the circumference of the Earth and the distance from the Canary Islands to Japan, almost all Europeans held the mistaken opinion that the aquatic expanse between Europe and Asia was uninterrupted. As the 16th century developed, a route to America, rather than to Japan, gave Spain a competitive edge in developing an overseas empire.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Colombus#Background_to_voyages

Answer 2

As has already been said, he was searching for a shorter trade route to India, in order to circumvent the Muslims, who controlled the Middle East, who were taxing the trade between East and West.

However, beth said he (and everyone else) did not know about the Americas, which is not accurate. The Vikings had discovered it 500 years earlier, but the Viking civilization was absorbed into other European cultures, so the information existed only in legend.

Answer 3

The Canary Islands are identified to be the sunshine center of Europe! See that sunshine with hotelbye . Canary Islands offer a slight conditions and a selection of outstanding organic attractions. Five of its eight islands have already been stated a Biosphere Reserve, and the archipelago has four national parks. The most outstanding attractions in Canary Islands would be the beaches as they are only ideal for relaxing in the sun or enjoying water activities such as windsurfing and scuba diving. In Canary Islands you is likewise impressing by the inside appeal like: hiking, routine touring, climbing and even caving. Some of the very magnificent attractions of Canary Islands are: the volcanic scenery of Lanzarote, the beaches of Fuerteventura and Gran Canaria using their mud dunes, or the green forests of La Palma and La Gomera.

Answer 4

Ouch, now that should be a basic history knowledge. He was looking for a shorter route to India and he thought it could be found going to the west. Since there was an ocean he had to cross it. Period.

Answer 5

As stated above, the primary reason was to find alternate trade routes with Asia in order to avoid the Muslim "middle men" who controlled the routes in 1492. But there were other reasons, too:

Columbus and his backers hoped to spread Catholicism to new territories as a way to preempt the spread of Protestant Christianity.

Columbus also believed the "end of times" would soon take place, and wanted to launch one last crusade in order to make sure the Holy Lands were in the hands of the Catholic Church before it happened. To raise the money to do this, he needed to find an alternate trade route to Asia. If you look at the names he gave many of the islands he "discovered," they reflect his millenarian ("end of times") views.

Answer 6

He was looking for a shorter route to India for trade, which would enable him and all his backers to get rich. That's why he called the natives he met Indians; he thought he had reached India.

Answer 7

To get to the other side!!!! LOL

Seriously he was trying to find a trade route to the Indies hence why, when he landed on the island he named Hispanola he called the inhabitants 'Indios'- Indians.

Answer 8

He was looking for a short cut to India to buy spices. He (and everyone else) didn't realize there was a whole continent in the way.

Answer 9

He was looking for quick and profitable trade routes, to give his sponsors an advantage over other traders.

Answer 10

to skip out on his child support.