The Discovery of America

The most significant discovery of the New World is not the Viking’s discovery but that of the Spanish.

In 1484 the Portuguese were already working on a way to Asia by going around the coast of Africa, and rejected Christopher’s theories that the Indies could be reached by sailing west around the world.

Columbus moved to Spain, and initially met similar rejections from a Spanish royal commission. In April 1492 his persistence finally paid off as Ferdinand V, king of Castile, and Queen Isabella agreed to sponsor his expedition with promises of riches and nobility for the navigator if his theories were right.

The fact that Christopher Columbus (who was not originally Spanish) appealed to a foreign court to offer his services proved that the discovery of America was not incidental.

The Canary Islands were an excellent bridgehead for alternate routes. This is what Christopher Columbus offered and he offered it to a State that needed them, but which was also accustomed to and prepared for this type of venture. Unified Spain possessed in 1492 a powerful war machine, a solid economy, an exterior projection, naval experience including the exploration of trade routes and notable scientific-technical potential mathematicians, geographers, astronomers and shipbuilders who had been formed in a melting-pot of three cultures (Jews, Muslims and Christians). Its only rival was its neighbor, Portugal, which had put a stop to Spanish expansion in Africa.

In 1492 the joint rulers of Castile and Aragon conquered the Moorish kingdom of Granada, that had been providing Castile with African goods through its tribute, and they decided to fund Christopher Columbus’ expedition that they hoped would bypass Portugal’s lock on Africa and the Indian Ocean reaching Asia by travelling west.

Christopher Columbus made a total of four voyages from Spain to what he called the New World, between 1492 and 1504.

On the 12th of October of the same year 1492, Columbus did not reach Asia, but rather found a New World, America. It was the first voyage which was set sail from Palos, Spain, on August 3, 1492, with Christopher Columbus in the Santa María; accompanied by the Niña and the Pinta, and less than one hundred men.

The mast of the Pinta was damaged after three days and they were forced to drop anchor in the Canaries to repair it. The three vessels weighed anchor again on September 6 and sailed west.

After more than a month at sea, the crew could have been forgiven for thinking that their commander had lost his way and perhaps his marbles too. Columbus altered course to the south-west and the men soon saw signs that they were approaching land.

Early on the morning of October 12th land was indeed sighted, and a landing party arrived on an island in the Bahamas and named it San Salvador. The natives must have been surprised to hear that their island now belonged to Spain.

Over the next few weeks landings were also made on Cuba, named Juana by Columbus, and Española, now known as Hispaniola and shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Columbus believed that they had arrived in the Indies.

In the end, the continent that celebrates Columbus Day is actually named after Amerigo Vespucci, another Italian navigator who explored the northern coast of America between 1499 and 1500, and told the world that they had discovered a new continent.