Christopher Columbus
Uploaded by kaileen on Jan 31, 2002
Perhaps the most famous explorer was Christopher Columbus. Born in Genoa, Italy, in 1451 to a weaver, young Columbus first went to sea at the age of fourteen. As a young man, he settled in Portugal and married a woman of noble background. After his wife's death in 1485, Columbus and his young son, moved to Spain. He theorized that since the earth was a sphere, a ship could eventually reach the Far East from the opposite direction. He thought to establish trade routes to Asia in this manner. The fifteenth century Europeans were not aware of the South and North American continents during this timeframe. Mapmakers did not show an accurate picture and no one knew there was a Pacific Ocean. For a decade, Columbus approached the Portuguese king and the Spanish monarchs to obtain a grant to explore possible trade routes to the west. After initially turning him down, and reconsidered once the Moors had been successfully expelled from Spain in 1492. Columbus promised to bring back gold, spices, and silks from the Far East, to spread Christianity, and to lead an expedition to China. Many may think that Christopher was a bad person by what they may have heard. I disagree with that, I believe he gave courageous efforts and attempted what others thought to be a suicide mission.
Because of Columbus, Christianity was spreading and if it were not for him, citizens wouldn’t have started exploring a new content at that time. He also claimed new lands under the flag of Spain. In return, Columbus asked for and got the hereditary title "admiral of the ocean seas" and became governor of all discovered lands.
Christopher Columbus should and will always be remembered by the date of October 10, 1492 because of what remarkable actions he took. As I said before he was a great man and should always be remembered.