*The
Italian ONLINE Bakery - Mixed cookies sent anywhere in the US
ENRICO
CARUSO's Greatest hits
Time
to buy XMAS MUSIC by the Great Frank Sinatra - CD is UNDER $9 - It's true!!!
Click Here to buy BOOKS
pertaining to Italian americans OR Here for MUSIC (cds, tapes...)
Porrtrayed by
Sebastiano del Piombo
Picture from 1995 Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia (UPI/Bettmann)
The best available evidence suggests that Christopher Columbus (Cristoforo Colombo in Italian; Cristobal Colon in Spanish) was born in Genoa in 1451. His father was a weaver; he had at least two brothers. Christopher had little education and, only as an adult, learned to read and write. He went to sea, as did many Genoese boys, and voyaged in the Mediterranean. In 1476 he was shipwrecked off Portugal, found his way ashore, and went to Lisbon; he apparently traveled to Ireland and England and later claimed to have gone as far as Iceland. He was in Genoa in 1479, returned to Portugal, and married. His wife, Dona Felipa, died soon after his son, Diego, was born (c.1480).
By this time Columbus had become interested in westward voyages. He had learned of the legendary Atlantic voyages and sailors' reports of land to the west of Madeira and the Azores. Acquiring books and maps, he accepted Marco Polo's erroneous location for Japan--2,400 km (1,500 mi) east of China--and Ptolemy's underestimation of the circumference of the Earth and overestimation of the size of the Eurasian landmass. He came to believe that Japan was about 4,800 km (3,000 mi) to the west of Portugal--a distance that could be sailed in existing vessels. His idea was furthered by the suggestions of the Florentine cosmographer Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli. In 1484, Columbus sought support for an exploratory voyage from King John II of Portugal, but he was refused. The Portuguese also underestimated the distance but believed it to be beyond the capabilities of existing ships.
In 1485 Columbus took his son Diego and went to Spain, where he spent almost seven years trying to get support from Isabella I of Castile. He was received at court, given a small annuity, and quickly gained both friends and enemies. An apparently final refusal in 1492 made Columbus prepare to go to France, but a final appeal to Isabella proved successful. An agreement between the crown and Columbus set the terms for the expedition.
The landing was met by Arawak, a friendly
local population that Columbus called Indians. Some days later the expedition sailed on to
Cuba, where delegations were landed to seek the court of the Mongol emperor of China and
gold. In December they sailed east to Hispaniola, where, at Christmas, the Santa Maria was
wrecked near Cap-Haitien. Columbus got his men ashore. The Indians seemed friendly; so 39
men were left on the island at the settlement of Navidad while Columbus returned to Spain
on the Nina. He had sailed due west from the Canaries with favorable winds; now he sailed
north before heading east and so again found favorable winds. Martin Alonzo Pinzon, who
had explored on his own with the Pinta, rejoined Columbus, but the ships were separated at
sea. Columbus finally landed (March 1493) in Lisbon and was interviewed by John II. Then
he went to Palos and across Spain to Barcelona, where he was welcomed by Isabella and her
husband, Ferdinand II of Aragon. Columbus claimed to have reached islands just off the
coast of Asia and brought with him artifacts, Indians, and some gold.
CHECK OUT HIS CREW ON THE NINA, PINTA AND THE SANTA MARIA.
Finally some positive information:
Rocky Moutain News - Let Columbus rest in Peace
The Great explorers - Christopher Columbus
The
Christopher Columbus Controversy
Presidential proclamation - October 2000 (Clinton)
This is a related material for interlinear readings of
Hart Crane's The Bridge by Eiichi Hishikawa. Columbus text copyright (c) 1995
Grolier, Inc. Danbury, CT.
FastCounter
by LinkExchange
Back to Famous Italians
Back to The Main Page