Christopher Columbus’s Achievements

Christopher Columbus (1451–1506) was a brilliant navigator and explorer during the age of European exploration. His voyages revealed two continents new to Europeans and initiated a period of rapid colonization, exploration, and exploitation in the Americas. In modern times the legacy of Columbus has been revised to include the devastating effects of European contact on indigenous peoples.

Although little is known of his early life, scholars believe Columbus was born in Genoa [Italy] between August and October, 1451. He began his seafaring career in the Portuguese merchant marine. At the time Portugal was the leading maritime power in Europe. Columbus learned navigation, chart making, and the Atlantic wind systems while working for his Portuguese employers. Columbus’s voyages to West Africa gave him valuable seagoing experience. His goal was to find a westward sea route from Europe to Asia. His ambitions were rooted in Christian missionary fervor and a desire for personal glory and riches. In 1486 he moved to Spain to seek royal patronage for a westward voyage over what was presumed to be open sea.

Columbus’s timing was fortunate. By 1492 the Ottoman Empire and other Islamic states had effectively closed off the land and sea routes along the Silk Road. European nations now sought new routes to Asia to obtain gold, spices, herbs, and medicines.

King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain saw in Columbus’s plans a way to defeat Portugal and other rival nations in the quest for access to India and China. The Roman Catholic Church hoped such a voyage would lead to the recapture of Jerusalem and the conversion of Asian peoples to Christianity. In April 1492 Columbus was awarded the title “Admiral of the Ocean Sea,” and Spain agreed to finance his first expedition. 

On August 3, 1492, Columbus set sail from Spain with three ships, the Niña, Pinta, and Santa María. His navigational genius was evident from the beginning as he headed southward to the Canary Islands rather than due west, where other ships had stalled. He then crossed the Atlantic and on October 12 made landfall in what is now the Bahama Islands. The new admiral was convinced he had reached China and Japan.  Columbus then explored Cuba and Hispaniola and built a stockade on Hispaniola at the new city La Navidad. On January 16, 1493, he began the return trip to Spain with the Niña and Pinta, carrying gold, captives, and spices. The cargo was enough to convince King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to finance a second expedition.

Columbus left Cadiz, Spain, on September 25, 1493, with 17 ships. When he reached Hispaniola, Columbus discovered that Taino natives had destroyed the stockade at La Navidad. This action began a pattern of indigenous resistance and European retaliation that ended in the conquest of Hispaniola. Columbus departed for Spain on March 10, 1496, and left his brothers Bartholomew and Diego in charge on Hispaniola. During this time Spain and Portugal signed the Treaty of Tordesillas, on June 7, 1494, dividing the Western Hemisphere between them. Columbus pressed Ferdinand and Isabella for a third voyage, but Spain was at war with France and could finance only six ships. Columbus started back for Hispaniola on May 30, 1498. On this expedition Columbus explored Trinidad, the Gulf of Paria, Venezuela, and the mouth of the Grande River. He realized that he had encountered another continent, South America, but failed to find treasures or a strait to India. Columbus and his brothers antagonized both the indigenous chiefs and the Spanish settlers. The Spanish chief justice sent the three men back to Spain in chains. 

Columbus embarked on his final voyage on May 9, 1502. Although plagued by illness, Columbus insisted on leading the expedition, believing his voyages were divinely inspired. Denied entry into Hispaniola, he sailed south to explore Jamaica, southern Cuba, Honduras, the Mosquito Coast of Nicaragua, and parts of Panama. Columbus returned to Spain on November 7, 1504, only to learn that Queen Isabella was dying. Columbus would not make another Atlantic voyage. He died in Valladolid, Spain, on May 20, 1506, insisting to the end that he had reached the Far East.

Columbus’s expeditions were once celebrated as “voyages of discovery,” but it is now recognized that European contact had disastrous effects on the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Today some cities and regions in the Americas recognize this complex legacy by observing both Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Yet Columbus’s skills as a navigator are undisputed, and his voyages remain remarkable feats of maritime exploration.