FACTS ABOUT COLUMBUS

1. Columbus was probably born in Genoa, Italy. His birth name was Cristoforo Colombo.   In his teens, he went to sea.  At age 25, his merchant ship was sunk by pirates.  He floated to shore on a piece of wood and made his way to Lisbon where he studied math, astronomy, cartography, and navigation.
2. He was not the first to believe the Earth was round. The Ancient Greeks knew that as early as Pythagoras in the 6^th Century B.C.  His radical idea was you could successfully sail westward to reach the riches of China and India.  When experts pointed out that the Earth was too big for a ship to sail the distance required, Columbus pulled out his calculations that reduced the size of the Earth to voyage size.  He was not able to convince Portugal or England, but he did talk Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain into back the voyage in exchange for a cut of the riches and the chance to spread Catholicism.  The monarchs disregarded their experts who pointed out the distance was 12,000 miles, not 2,400.
3. Two of his three ships were nicknamed. Nina was officially the Santa Clara.  It was nicknamed after its owner Juan Nino.  Pinta meant “the painted one” which meant prostitute.  It is unknown what its given name was.  The Santa Maria was called La Gallega because it was built in the province of Galicia.
4. Columbus lied to his crew about how far they had sailed because they were aware how far a ship could sail out into the ocean and still get back. They threatened to mutiny around the one-month mark and he got them to give him a couple more days.  They sighted land the next day.  Specifically, Rodrigo de Triana was first to see land, but Columbus stiffed him of the promised gold for whoever sighted land first, claiming he had seen it himself the day before.
5. On Christmas eve, a cabin boy steered the Santa Maria onto a reef and the ship had to be abandoned. Columbus returned on the Nina, but had to leave 40 crewmen behind.  They established the first settlement in the new world on the island of Hispaniola called La Navidad.  When Columbus returned in the fall of 1493, no one was still alive.
6. In his journal, Columbus referred to the natives of Hispaniola as “they would make good servants.” Since they were naïve and unarmed, he added that “with fifty men we could subjugate then all and make them do whatever we want.”  Like search for gold.  Since a limited amount of gold was found, Columbus shipped 500 slaves back to Spain as part of his second expedition to pay off on Ferdinand and isabella’s investment.  Isabella was greatly offended by the slaves and had them shipped back.  She was determined that the natives were to be Spanish subjects, not slaves.
7. Unfortunately, Isabella’s edict was not exactly followed to the letter. Hispaniola was run by slave labor.  The native Taino Indians were forced to dig for gold, and if they did not meet their quota, they could have their hands cut off.  In 60 years, the Tainos went from 250,000 to the low hundreds.
8. Columbus got in trouble for his governorship of Hispaniola. His treatment of the Indians was reported back to the government.  When he was away exploring, the Spanish settlers treated the Indians even worse, resulting in his executing some of them.  This was added to the charges and Columbus was returned to Spain in chains.  He was freed, but stripped of his governorship.  However, a few years later, he talked them into a fourth voyage.  This voyage was a disaster and he and his crew spent a year marooned on Jamaica.
9. On his four voyages, he set foot on several islands in the Caribbean (Cuba, the Bahamas, Haiti, Jamaica), Central America (Mexico, Panama), and South America (Venezuela). He never set foot in any of the 50 states.
10. The natives eventually caught on that these strangers were not beneficent. They stopped naively trading with them.  Once, when Columbus’ crew was badly in need of food, they refused to help.  He consulted his almanac and discovered that there would be a lunar eclipse in a few days, on Feb. 29, 1504.  He threatened the Indians with making the moon go away and when it started to happen, they panicked and gave him the food he needed.
11. America is not named after him because he never claimed to have discovered a new world. He thought he was exploring lands near the East Indies, hence calling the natives “Indians”.  There is some evidence that by the end of his life, he realized he had landed somewhere no European had been before.  (He would not have known that Leif Eriksson had come to America about 500 years earlier.)

https://www.history.com/news/10-things-you-may-not-know-about-christopher-columbus

https://www.britannica.com/list/5-unbelievable-facts-about-christopher-columbus

https://www.thoughtco.com/facts-about-christopher-columbus-2136702