Columbus Before His 1492 Voyage
The Well-Spent Years Leading up to the Discovery of the New World
The years leading up to Columbus' 1492 voyage were busy ones for the young, enterprising Genoan.
This article continues where the previous one on Columbus, entitled Christopher Columbus' Early Years, left off.
A Shipwreck in the Right Place Can Prove to be a Lucky Break
In 1476, following an attack by French privateers, Columbus' ship was destroyed off the coast of south-west Portugal, where he swam to while clinging to wreckage of his burning ship.
Portugal was not, in fact, a bad place for Columbus to have washed ashore. At the time Lisbon, in particular, had no shortage of Italian shipbuilders, map makers, explorers, adventuring rogues and such, so Columbus must have felt right at home. Even better, his brother Bartolomeo was already working as a map maker in Lisbon.
Time to Sail Again -- Hopefully with No Shipwrecks This Time
Sailing out from Lisbon on merchant voyages, Columbus sailed to such faraway places as Ghana, Ireland and Iceland. During this time, Columbus must have been doing all right for himself, as he was either the owner or master of the ships upon which he sailed.
Wedding Bells Sound for Christopher Columbus
While in Portugal Columbus married (in 1478 or '79) Felipa Perestrello e Moniz , who was the daughter of a Portuguese nobleman. Though the family was in decline and possessed limited means, they were not without influence in the Portuguese court, which would prove useful for Columbus when he would later take his westward-voyage case to the Portuguese king.
Shortly after the birth of their son, in perhaps the year 1481, Columbus' wife died.
The Novelty of a Proposed Trade Route to the Indies
Certain events favourable to Columbus were now set in motion. With the Ottoman capture of Constantinople in 1453, the price of Eastern trade goods had gone through the roof in Europe. Like others--for he was by no means the first-- Columbus recognised that if a westward route could be found to the East which would bypass the Muslim-controlled lands of the Middle East, then --bingo--a fortune could be made.
Using his royal connections, Columbus took his case to the Portuguese king, King John II. The king passed his proposal for a westward journey to the Council of Geographical Affairs, which, after a public hearing, decided to reject Columbus' request. The council decided that the trip would be too expensive and that Columbus was mistaken about the distance and measurements of the Earth; and, finally, such a plan contradicted Portugal’s avowed attempts to find an eastward route to the East by traveling around and along the coast of Africa.
Now That Those Pesky Moors Have Been Despatched After 700 Years of Continued Warfare, What's Next on Our Royal Agenda?
The year was now 1486 or thereabouts. With his down-but-not-out frown, Columbus took his scheme on the road, leaving for Spain. There he tried to peddle his same idea to the Spanish court. But as luck would have it Spain was embroiled in a war against the Moors-- or actually had been for the better part of the past 700 years. In short, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella were in no mood to use valuable time or money in such a venture as Columbus proposed.
Lady Luck had not entirely deserted Columbus' side, however. All signs pointed toward the war being won and over soon; so Columbus decided to bide his time and build up his networking contacts till such time as he might, hopefully, be favourably received by the Spanish sovereigns.
Also during this period, Columbus met Beatriz Enriquez de Harana, with whom he had an out-of-wedlock second son, Fernando in 1488.
Four years later, in January, 1492, Spanish forces managed to take Granada, the last Moorish city in Spain, and the 700-year-old war was finally over..
Columbus then wasted no time in again making his case to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, who, after mulling over the idea and passing it along to a royal commission, decided against the idea. The commission calculated -- and quite accurately, as it turned out -- that the distance to be traversed from Spain westward to the East was of an unmanageable distance, such that no ship could possibly hope to make it to there before running out of food and water.
A Roll of the Dice That Hopefully, for Columbus' Sake, Does Not Result in "Snake Eyes"
Having been pooh-poohed once too often in Spain, a disappointed Columbus decided to try his luck in France, where he hoped he might be given the go-ahead for his sea-voyaging plan.
Columbus was actually on his way out of Spain on the road to France, when an out-of-breath royal messenger caught up with him. It seems that one of Columbus' influential friends at court, Luis de Santángel, Ferdinand’s treasurer, had managed, despite the disapproving, constipated-like frowns of the royal commission, to persuade Queen Isabela to roll the dice and take a gamble on Columbus' seemingly half-baked westward scheme
Isabel and Ferdinand provided Columbus with three ships for an August 3, 1492, voyage of discovery that they hoped would not come up "snake eyes."
Also related to Christopher Columbus:
Christopher Columbus' Early Years
Columbus Discovers America -- for the Third Time
Columbus in the Garden of Eden: the Third Voyage
Conditions on Early Ocean Voyages
