what was Cristopher Columbus

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Christopher Columbus's Adventurer

     Columbus was born to a wool weaver in Genoa, Italy. As a boy he help his father with the weaving, but he wanted to be adventuring at sea. In 1476 Columbus was sailing on an Italian ship when he was attacked by a French fleet off the coast of Portugal. The ship sank and Columbus swam to shore, but that didn't stop him from sailing. He went to Lisbon, Portugal to search for his brother, Bartholomew, who lived there. After leaving Lisbon, Columbus when on several more sea voyages trading goods. His sea travels carried him to interesting places, including Ireland, Iceland, and Western Africa. 


      Columbus heard of the explorer Marco Polo and his tales of riches in faraway Asia. Columbus thought it would be in possible to reach Asia traveling west instead of going south under Africa and then east. In 1484 he asked the king of Portugal, John 11,to give him money for a voyage, but the king refused, so Columbus went to Spain. There he ask Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand to pay for the expedition. At first they were not interested, but in1492 they gave him the money for his trip. Columbus was given control of  three ships- Santa Maria, Nina, Pinta. The three ships set sail from Palos, Spain on August 3, 1492.The crew enjoyed the wonderful weather on their journey west across the Atlantic.On October 12,1492, Columbus and his crew landed on an island now known as Guanahani in the Bahamas. Columbus named it San Salvador. There he met native people called the Tainos.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              


this is Christopher Columbus the sailor

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