Christopher Columbus and the Discovery of the Americas

Preparing for the First Voyage

After receiving Queen Isabella's support, Columbus went to Huelva to organize the expedition with the help of Franciscan monks in the Friary of La Rábida. The Pinzóns, a family of ship owners, helped Columbus organize a fleet of 105 sailors and three ships: a carrack (the Santa María) and two caravels (the Pinta and the Niña).

The First Expedition to the Unknown

The 1492 Journey

The expedition left the port of Palos (Huelva) on 3 August 1492. On 12 October 1492, they arrived on Guanahani Island in the Bahamas, which Columbus named San Salvador.

In the following weeks, they explored Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic) and Cuba, and they began their return journey in January 1493.

The Later Expeditions

• Second Expedition (1493): A large expedition of 17 ships and 1,200 men created the first trading post on Hispaniola.
• Third Expedition (1498): Columbus reached the north coast of South America and discovered Martinique, Trinidad, and the mouth of the Orinoco River.
• Fourth Expedition (1502): Exploration of the coasts of Central America.

Columbus' Geographical Beliefs

Columbus believed that he could reach Asia by navigating west across the Atlantic Ocean for the following reasons:

• Like the majority of the Seven Sages of Ancient Greece, Columbus was convinced that the Earth was a sphere.
• According to the Florentine mathematician Toscanelli, who had made several portolan charts, there was only one ocean between Europe and Asia.
• Portuguese sailors who had reached the Azores (1431) believed that there was land just a little further west from the islands.

Scientific Miscalculations and the New World

The Ancient Greeks estimated that the Earth had a circumference of 38,000 kilometers—very close to the real figure of 40,000 kilometers—but this information was lost. In Columbus' time, it was believed to be only 29,000 kilometers.

Using this data, Columbus calculated that the distance between the Canary Islands and Japan had a longitude of 135 degrees, barely 4,500 kilometers, which was very different from the actual 20,000 kilometers that separate the two.

Columbus never found out that he had not arrived in Asia but, in fact, had reached another continent between Europe and Asia.