Advertisement

firehouse pizza banner

Aaron Jacobs: Points in American History

Christopher Columbus’ Discovery: On August 3, 1492, Columbus’ fleet of ships, the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria, left Spain. They sailed west in order to find the land of the Orient. On October 12, 1492, the crew sighted land, and they landed on an island that Columbus called San Salvador (“Holy Saviour”). Although Columbus made a great accomplishment in being one of the first to discover this New World, he firmly believed that he had found a trade route to the East.
Columbus believed that he had landed somewhere off the coast of India. The maps and geography books of the time said this was not true, but he denied these claims and called the inhabitants “Indians”. These island dwellers looked nothing like the people of India or the Orient, but Columbus would not listen. The goods and items that Columbus found on these islands were nothing like the things that had been brought back from India and China. This is another point that should have alerted Columbus that he was not in the East but instead in a completely different region. When he returned home, the Spanish were surprised to find Columbus return with “Indian” servants and trinkets and fruit from the tropics instead of products from the Orient. Although he was mistaken about where his voyage landed, Columbus made history by being the first European to travel to the New World. 

Tags: 


Bookmark and Share

Advertisements