five things about Christopher Columbus you didn't know.

 

Christopher was a great Italian explorer and navigator, he is so famous and you probably knew hes name, but in this article i will show you five things about hem you didn't know.

Christopher Columbus

5. He actually gave up before embarking:

Columbus first submitted a proposal to Portugal, who denied his request for funding twice. He also suggested the plan to Genoa and Venice, but didn’t gain support from either Italian city. He even tried to get money from the English crown.

 

Two years later, Columbus received word that Fernando and Isabella had ultimately decided to financially back his journey in 1492. This was only the beginning of the long interaction between the heads of Spain and their Italian explorer.

4. He was given a rank in the military:

Columbus was named Admiral of the Ocean by the Spanish monarchs, thanks to his discovery of America. He was promised this title before embarking, since it was part of his proposal for the reward of a successful  journey.

 

Furthermore, he was deemed Viceroy and Governor of the lands he conquered for the Spanish crown. Therefore, he controlled the people of Hispaniola as he wished while in the west and didn’t necessarily do a good job.

 

3. His real name is different in Italian:

Cristoforo Colombo was born in Genoa in 1451, but there are not many documents confirming his early years. Later in his life, he moved to Portugal, where he met his wife, Felipe Perestrello. She became the mother of his first son before dying soon after.

 

Following this tragic event, Columbus moved to Spain and found a new family. He had another son there with Beatriz Enriquez de Arana. Thus began his Spanish life and the legendary impression that he left on Spain’s culture and history.

2. Columbus was very religious man:

From a modern perspective, it seems like wealth would be the primary motivation for sailing across the Atlantic Ocean. But, in the context of the 15th century, one of the most important pursuits was religion.

 

Additional to Columbus’ motive of sailing in search of gold, Christianity also played a role. Since Christianity was expanding in Europe at the time, the upper class wanted to spread its influence. In fact, they used their beliefs to control others. Columbus, like others, was so religious that he used Christianity to justify things far beyond the religious scope.

 

For this reason, it makes sense that Queen Isabella funded his trip. Spain is historically Catholic, and also saw religion as a warfare tactic. It could be used as a form of control over other nations. Columbus showed this attitude during his explorations, and it sheds light on the way he wanted to influence the indigenous people.

1. he was not great at math:

At the time Columbus made his famous journey, a lot of overseas travel was guesswork. The exact size of the planet Earth was unknown, and there were two main ways of measuring degrees of latitude—the method developed by the Greek philosopher Poseidonius and the method developed by the medieval Arabs. In making his own calculations, Columbus argued that the circumference yielded by both methods was the same…ignoring, or forgetting, that Arab miles were longer than Roman miles.

Using that data, which ultimately rendered the planet about 25 percent smaller, Columbus assured his backers that his small wooden ships could make it from Spain to Japan in 30 days. Some scholars think Columbus willfully misrepresented the distance, but the jury is still out.

 

In the end we need to remember that, man like columbus have changed the world many times, just look at america now, you will get the idea.