CHRISTOPHOR COLUMBUS

CHRISTOPHOR COLUMBUS.
His first long journey in the Atlantic. Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer and navigator. He was born in 1451 in Genoa, Italy. When he was in his 20s he had moved to Lisbon, Portugal and later on moved to Spain which became his home for the rest of his life. Christopher Columbus first went to sea as a teenager. He was participating in some trading long journeys in the Mediterranean and Aegean seas, one such journey he took was to the island of Khios. His first journey was in the Atlantic Ocean in (1476) he was nearly killed as the commercial fleet he travelled with was attacked by French privateers (a private person or ship that under a commission of war) off the cost of Portugal. They had to swim had to swim to the Portuguese shore, where he made his way to Lisbon, Portugal settled and married Felipa Perestrello. The two soon had a son, Diego at around (1480). His wife had died soon after and Columbus moved back to Spain. Columbus then had a second son, Fernando who was born out of wedlock (a child born to parents who are legally married to each other, and of a child conceived before the parents obtain a legal divorce) in (1480) with Beatriz Enriquez de Arana, who was Columbus’ other mistress. After participating in other several expeditions to Africa, Columbus gained knowledge of the Atlantic Ocean’s currents flowing east and west from the Canary islands.
Columbus’ first long journey to America: Routes and Ships. Since the Muslim’s total control of the trade Middle East made travel eastward difficult, Columbus invented a new route to sail west across the Atlantic to reach Asia believing it would be faster and safer. He judged the value of the world would be a sphere and the distance between the Canary islands and Japan would be about 2,300 miles. Many contemporary navigational experts disagreed. They believed in the (now known to be correct) second-century BC judged the value of the earth would be 25,000 miles, which made a distance between the Canary islands and Japan about 12,200 miles. Despite their disagreement with Columbus on the distance, they all agreed that a westward journey would be an uninterrupted water route. Columbus proposed ship journeys of discovery across the Atlantic first to the Portuguese king, to Genoa and finally to Venice. He was rejected each time, in (1486) he went to the Spanish monarchy of Isabella of Castile and Fernand of Aragon. Their focus was on a war with the Muslims and transport experts were had doubt so initially rejected Columbus.
Christopher Columbus’ death. In the