Christopher Columbus: Life and Voyages in the Age of Exploration

Christopher Columbus was born in 1451 CE and died in 1506 at the age of 54. He became famous during his lifetime as the man who discovered the ‘new world’ - understood as the Americas generally during the Age of Exploration. Since the 19th century, however, he has been credited with the discovery of North America, specifically the USA, owing to the highly romanticized “biography” of Columbus by the American author Washington Irving. Columbus never set foot on North America and never claimed to have; the understanding that he did all comes from Irving and is a complete myth. Although the continent's discovery is regularly attributed to Columbus, it should strike people who make this claim as strange that it is not known as Columbia but as America!
Columbus made four voyages and he explored the areas of the Caribbean, Cuba, Central America, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Dominican Republic, Haiti, and the Bahamas. Christopher Columbus set out not to find a new world but to find a western sea route to the far east for trade since the Ottoman Empire closed the Silk Road in 1453. The closing of the Silk Road is what forced Europe to branch out, initiating the Age of Exploration. The 12th of October 1492 saw Christopher Columbus arrive at one of the islands of the Bahamas, which he claimed in the name of the monarchs Ferdinand the second of Aragon and Isabella of Castile of Spain, who had funded his voyage. The next three of his voyages were all about consolidating Spain's control and establishing colonies.
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- CHAPTERS -
0:00​ Introduction
0:53 Who was Christopher Columbus?
4:08 Early Life of Christopher Columbus
5:44 Columbus' First Voyage
7:27 The Second Voyage of Christopher Columbus
9:41 Columbus' Third Voyage
11:04 The Fourth and Final Voyage
12:03 Christopher Columbus in the Modern Age
13:28 Outro
- WANT TO KNOW MORE? -
Christopher Columbus www.worldhistory.org/Christop...
European Colonization of the Americas www.worldhistory.org/European...
Native American Enslavement in Colonial America www.worldhistory.org/article/...
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