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Transcript Provided by YouTube:
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Christopher Columbus has become a controversial historical figure.
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Acclaimed for centuries as the discover of America (he wasn’t), he has gained notoriety
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for the decimation of the native people’s that he encountered.
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Obsessed with obtaining gold and slaves in order to pay off debt and impress the King
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and Queen of Spain, he ended up as an outcast, unwanted in the place that he had discovered
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and sent back to Spain in disgrace.
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In this week’s Biographics we get to the uncomfortable truth about Christopher Columbus.
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Early Life
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There is no agreed upon date as to when Christopher Columbus entered into the world.
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Some historians put the date as early as 1436 and as late as 1455, but the majority agree
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that he was likely born between August 25th and October 31st, 1451.
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The place of his birth is more certain – the Italian coastal city of Genoa.
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Christopher was the oldest of five children born to Susanna Fontanarossa and Domenico
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Colombo, the name Columbus being an English derivation of the Italian Colombo.
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Domenico was a weaver and an innkeeper.
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But he was also a keen seafarer and his love of the ocean was soon transferred to his oldest
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son.
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As early as age ten, Christopher ranged up and down the Genoese harbor in borrowed single
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man sailboats and dreamed of venturing out in the vast expanse beyond.
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We know very little about Christopher’s early life.
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We do know that his father was able to provide a modest yet comfortable living for the family
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and that he was a kindly, involved man who brought his sons up with strong Biblical morals.
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We do not even know if young Christopher went to school.
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It was recorded that he was of great intellect but little education and so he may have still
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been illiterate when he left home at around the age of twenty.
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Still, he overcame his lack of formal education by teaching himself many valuable skills,
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including mapmaking, functional mathematics and a range of languages including Spanish,
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Latin and Portuguese.
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By the time he sailed to the Americas, he had also learned to read and write.
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Heading out to Sea
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It is generally agreed that Columbus first went to sea at the age of fourteen.
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He began his maritime career as a messenger and worked his way up to the position of common
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sailor.
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For the next six years, he worked on a variety of ships that plied the European oceans.
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A legend has emerged that, at the age of twenty-one, Columbus tried his hand at piracy.
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He was in the employ of Duke Rene of Anjou, who had appointed the young man to capture
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a warship in the Tunis harbor, in North Africa.
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En route, the men with Columbus got timid and persuaded him to turn back to France and
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gather reinforcements.
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The story goes that during the night, Columbus played a trick on his men by altering the
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ship’s compass so that they sailed south instead of north.
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When day broke they were within sight of the target warship and Columbus managed to rally
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his men for the successful attack.
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Many scholars dismiss the account due to the fact that Christopher was only twenty-one,
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which seems far too young to be given such a command.
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There is more certainty regarding a voyage he took two years later.
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The destination was the Greek island of Khios in the Aegean Sea.
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He and the rest of the crew spent a year on the island.
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In 1476, at the age of twenty-five, Columbus first ventured beyond the realms of the Mediterranean
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and into the wider oceans beyond.
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He was pat of a fleet of five ships bound for Lisbon, Portugal.
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En route the fleet was attacked by a Franco-Portuguese war fleet.
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In the ensuing battle, ships from both sides went down, with hundreds of men drowning.
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Columbus was on the Bechella which was struck and sunk by a French warship.
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It was only a stroke of fortune that his life was saved.
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Diving into the sea he managed to cling to a floating oar and use it as a buoy to get
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to the Portuguese shore at Lagos, some six miles away.
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Luckily, the people of Lagos took him and treated him back to good health.
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He managed to make his way from there to Lisbon, where he joined up with a large colony of
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Genoese shipbuilders and merchants.
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In 1477, he joined a voyage to Iceland, which he described as ‘much beyond the limit of
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the west’.
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Voyaging Experience
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Returning to Lisbon, he learned much of the inner workings of the seafaring trade.
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This port city was the center of seafaring voyage and discovery – the place where stories
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of what lay beyond were told and schemes of exploration expounded.
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During this time, Columbus undertook the study of astronomy, geography and celestial navigation.
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In 1478, he set off for the three key Atlantic archipelagos.
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The first island group visited were the Azores, 800 miles west of Portugal.
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The other two were the Madeira archipelago and the Canary Islands.
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During these voyages Columbus ginned valuable experience on the open sea.
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On his return to Lisbon, Christopher met and fell in love with a twenty-five-year-old woman
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by the name of Felipa Moniz.
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Despite being of noble birth and with family connections to the Portuguese court, Felipa
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did not come from a wealthy family.
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When the two were married just a few months after the courtship began, her father had
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no dowry to offer.
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The newlyweds settled in the town of Porto Santo on the Madeira Islands, where Felipa’s
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father had previously been the governor.
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In 1480, a son was born, Diego.
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Soon after giving birth, Felipa died.
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The detail surrounding her demise are unclear, but most historians believe the cause was
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tuberculosis.
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Seeking Asia
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By the age of 30, Christopher Columbus had developed a great deal of skill and experience
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as an ocean voyager.
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He had travelled as far afield north as Iceland and west to Ghana.
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Still, he was fascinated with what lay to the west.
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The area beyond the horizon was known as the ‘Green Sea of Darkness’ and there was
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much speculation as to what could be found there.
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Columbus was convinced that by sailing west he would eventually end up in Asia.
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This was a novel idea and before he could test it out, he needed to gain academic support
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for his belief.
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Along with his brother Bartolomeo, he spent months poring over geographical maps, astronomical
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books and other related works.
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When he found anything that supported his hypothesis, he underlined it and scribbled
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it onto his notepad.
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Columbus’ study led to three key assumptions upon which he funded his belief – firstly
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that there was only one ocean, the, he believed, narrow Atlantic.
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His second belief was that the world was relatively small and that Asia was much closer to Europe
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than it actually proved to be.
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His final assumption was that there was no large landmass between Europe and Asia.
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In hindsight, we know that Columbus was guilty of selective research.
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Anything that didn’t support his hypothesis was rejected outright.
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He gained much support from the writings of Marco Polo and first century cartographer
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Marinus of Tyre, convincing him that is he sailed due west out of Genoa he would reach
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Asia in less than 3,000 miles.
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Royal Backing
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With the scientific backing that he needed, Columbus now set out to find a backer for
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his planned voyage of discovery.
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More than mere financial support, he was after a royal backer who could garner him the prestige
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and status that he would earn by such a perilous journey.
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In his own words he wanted to . . .
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be entitled to call myself Don and should be High Admiral of the Ocean Sea and Viceroy
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and Governor in perpetuity of all the islands and mainland I discover and gain or that might
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thereafter be discovered and gained in the Ocean Sea, and that my elder son should succeed
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me and his heirs thenceforth, from generation to generation, forever and ever.
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In return for such honors, Columbus would bestow the riches of Asia upon the sponsoring
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sovereign.
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To back his case, he quoted from the journals of Marco Polo about the riches of the Orient.
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Having lived in Portugal for the past eight years, it was only natural that his first
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request was made to that country’s king, Joao.
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But, despite his persuasiveness, Columbus’s proposal was rejected.
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The king viewed this unproved sailor as being vain and conceited and prone to bragging.
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The fact that, in addition to honors, Columbus also demanded one tenth of all the income
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derived, didn’t help his cause either.
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Beyond all that the vast majority of the king’s advisers believed that the plan to reach the
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Orient by sailing due west was nothing more than a fool’s errand.
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With a round rejection from his adopted country, Columbus set his sights on the King of Spain.
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By now the would-be adventurer was 34-years of age, penniless, widowed and with a young
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son to care for.
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Arriving in the Spanish port town of Palos with five-year-old Diego in tow, he first
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set out to find food, lodging and a place for Diego to stay as his father made his approach
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to the king.
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Columbus made his way to a Franciscan monastery overlooking the port and pleaded poverty.
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For the next five months this monastery would be his base.
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Then, towards the end of 1485 he made his way to Cordoba to seek an audience with King
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Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.
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He had to wait for the monarchs to return from Madrid, during which time he met a young
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woman named Beatriz Enriquez de Harana.
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She became his mistress, giving birth to his second son, Ferdinand on August 15th, 1488.
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The audience before the king and queen was granted on May 1, 1486.
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Columbus and Isabella developed an immediate bond, being of the same age and clearly like
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-minded.
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Still the monarchs turned the idea over to a commission of investigator.
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Columbus would have to wait for five and a half frustrating years to learn of their final
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decision.
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During that time he had returned to Lisbon in an attempt to reopen negotiations with
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King Joao, but to no avail.
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In the end the Spanish commission also rejected the plan.
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Their main reasons for doing so were that a voyage to Asia would require an absence
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of three years, which was far too long with the available technology and the belief that
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if a ship did manage to get to the other side of the world, there is no way it could get
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back.
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The final decision, however, was left to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.
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The king was happy to go along with the commission’s recommendation.
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After all, he disliked Columbus on a personal level.
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The queen, however, took pains to reassure Columbus that he would be able to re-submit
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his plan in the future.
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The Spanish struggle against the Moors had been going on for 700 years yet was nearly
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at a conclusion.
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When it was decided, the queen told him, he would get a better reception.
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On January 2nd, 1492, the Moorish city of Granada fell to the Spanish.
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Shortly thereafter, the royal minister of the budget who was friendly with Columbus
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entrusted upon the queen to show favour to the mariner’s scheme.
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She relented and Columbus, who was then on his way back to Cordoba on the back of a mule,
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was intercepted and rushed to the royal palace to receive the good news.
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Voyage to a New World
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After waiting for five years, it took Columbus just ten weeks to gather together the three
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ships, crew and supplies he needed.
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His three ships, the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria, were skillfully built and according
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to him were ‘well suited for the task at hand.’
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Columbus gathered a crew of ninety men to be split between the three ships.
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The fleet sailed out of Palos on the early morning of August 3, 1492.
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The first stop was the Canary Islands, a thousand miles to the south.
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There the ships were refitted and resupplied before heading out into the green sea of darkness.
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The ships made good progress thanks to the strong easterly winds.
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After some days they entered into an area known as the Saragossa Sea.
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All around the waters were filled with gulfweed, a thick green plant that floated on the surface.
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At the same time the winds died down to nothing.
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After three weeks at sea, the crew began to sight land nesting birds.
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Still there was no sighting of land.
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As the weeks passed with no indications of terra firma, the crew became increasingly
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agitated.
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On board the Santa Maria they were close to mutiny.
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With things coming to a boiling point, Columbus made an ultimate declaration on October 10th.
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If land was not sighted in three days, he promised, he would turn back.
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Two days later, the long-awaited word came.
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At 2 am on the 12th, the cry of Terra!
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Terra! resounded from ship to ship.
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Ninety pairs of eyes strained to see the island that was six miles in the distance.
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Columbus had promised that the first man to sight land would receive a yearly pension
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of 10,000 maraveidas for life.
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Yet that man, a sailor named Rodrigo, never received this reward.
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Columbus claimed to have seen a light the evening before and gave himself the reward!
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They had come across an island in the Bahamas situated in the middle of the Caribbean Sea.
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It was populated by Arawak Indians.
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These were a friendly people and some of them swam out to meet the newcomers.
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These people lived in village communes and had developed an agricultural economy.
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They had no iron implements but, Columbus was quick to notice, wore tiny pieces of gold
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in their ears.
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Columbus was determined to get to the source of the Arawak’s gold.
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He lured some of the natives aboard his ships and them took them as prisoners.
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He demanded that they guide him to the place where the gold was located.
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Not having success, he sailed on to modern day Cuba and then to Hispaniola.
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There his visions of a vast gold empire were rekindled when a local chief presented him
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a with a gold mask.
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Decimating the Natives
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Columbus had his men build a fort on the island of Hispaniola.
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Naming it Navidad (Christmas), he left 39 men there with strict orders to find the gold.
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He then took more prisoners and began for the return journey to Spain.
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Before leaving his men killed two natives who refused to trade as many bows and arrows
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as they demanded.
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On the return journey, some of the prisoners died from exposure to the cold weather.
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On his return to Spain, Columbus made extravagant claims about what he had encountered.
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He stated that he had reached Asia, when in fact he had landed on Cuba, and he spoke of
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rivers flowing with gold and an abundance of spices.
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He promised that, with a little more financial help from the King and Queen, he would go
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back and bring back as much gold as they needed . . . and as many slaves as they needed too.
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The king and queen were suitably enamored.
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The second voyage was made up of seventeen ships and more than 1200 men.
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Whereas they first trip had been focused on reaching Asia, now the objective was twofold
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– slaves and gold.
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From island to island they raged, taking prisoners and demanding that they be led to the gold.
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As word spread of the impending danger, villages were evacuated and the sailors who had been
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left behind at Navidad were executed.
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With no gold to be found, Columbus embarked upon a massive slave drive.
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1500 Arawak men, women and children were thrown into pens and from them the 500 best specimens
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were chosen to be taken back to Spain.
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Two hundred of these died on the way back, with the remainder being sold at auction.
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Still, Columbus was desperate to get his hands on the gold.
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In Haiti he ordered that every person aged fourteen years or over was to collect a minimum
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quota of gold every three months.
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Those that did were given a copper necklace to wear.
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Anyone without the necklace would have their hand cut off.
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The reality was that there was hardly any gold to be had, apart from small amounts to
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be found in streams.
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The result of Columbus’ gold obsession was that, in two years, the Arawak population
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was cut in half, with 125,000 people being murdered, starved to death or committing suicide.
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Columbus established his base on Hispaniola and named himself governor of the island.
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The situation quickly devolved into chaos.
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Most of the Europeans on the island were sick and many of them were ex-convicts.
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They occupied themselves raping the native women and terrorizing the men and children.
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Looting was rampant and the quantity of gold gathered was pitiful compared to what Columbus
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had promised.
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In October, 1495, a royal inspector arrived on Hispaniola in the wake of worrying reports
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that had reached the Spanish court.
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The inspector soon gathered plenty of evidence to implicate Columbus, giving him no choice
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but to return to Spain in order to defend himself before the king and queen.
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Continental Search
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Setting sail on the Nina, the 45-year-old Columbus arrived back in Portugal on June
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11th, 1946.
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He clothed himself in a friar’s robe as a sign of penitence and set out to meet the
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sovereigns at Burgis, some 500 miles from his landing port of Cadiz.
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On meeting the king and queen he immediately reassured them there was still plenty of gold
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to be had.
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He also tried to convince them that he had reached the Malay peninsulas of south-east
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Asia.
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As a final enticement he told the monarchs that he was convinced that there was a whole
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new continent lying just to the south of the islands he had landed on.
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To his surprise and great pleasure, the King and Queen were willing to overlook the bad
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reports that they had received.
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Further, they agreed to finance another voyage specifically to confirm the existence of the
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proposed new continent.
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However, Columbus would have to wait a further two years before again venturing forth.
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This time, the sovereigns had insisted, he take with him colonists rather than soldiers.
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The third voyage therefore included 30 women, 50 farmers, 20 mechanics and 10 gardeners,
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along with 30 sailors.
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The fleet consisted of six ships, which Columbus split into two separate commands.
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The first three ships headed for Hispaniola with supplies for the colony that was stationed
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there.
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The remaining ships made up the discovery fleet.
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With Columbus at the helm it took a southerly route to the Indies in search of any lands
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lying south of the Antilles.
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Throughout this voyage, Columbus suffered from terrible pains, gout and fever.
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Land was sighted on July 31st, 1498 and the fleet soon made in at Trinidad.
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For the next two weeks they explored the area between Trinidad and the South American mainland.
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Sailing further west they again saw land.
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Columbus now declared that he had found the longed for undiscovered continent.
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Rebellion
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Having achieved his objective, Columbus set the fleet north for Hispaniola.
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When he arrived, he found the place in a state of rebellion.
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While he was gone, many of his men had died, mainly from starvation, while those who survived
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were disgusted at the harsh treatment they had been subjected to under the nominal rulership
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of Columbus’ brother, Bartolomew, the acting governor.
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The rebels were led by a man named Roldan.
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Gathering both Spaniards and natives to his cause, he set about the process of overthrowing
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the fragile government that Columbus had established.
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After a period of fierce fighting, the exhausted and physically ill Columbus entreated with
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Roldan for peace terms.
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Columbus gave in to all of Roldan’s demands, including appointing him as mayor and giving
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land grants to every Spaniard who wished to stay on the island.
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With this humiliating defeat, Columbus’ only desire now was to leave.
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Meanwhile news of the latest rebellion had made its way back to Spain.
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The king sent a man by the name of Francisco de Bobadilla, a servant of the crown and a
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knight, to the Indies to sort the situation out.
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He arrived in Hispaniola to discover that a mass execution of rebels was underway.
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Displaying his royal orders, he put a halt to the proceedings and had Columbus and his
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two brothers thrown into irons.
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At the King’s Mercy
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The three brothers were shipped back to Spain.
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When the people of Cadiz saw the great Columbus in chains after the ship had docked they became
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angry.
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Hearing of this popular reaction, the king ordered that they be freed.
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Columbus’ reunion with the King and Queen was an emotionally charged affair.
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He threw himself at the Queen’s feet and, through sobs, kissed her hands and feet.
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He pleaded innocence, saying that any wrongs he had committed were as a result of ignorance
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not wickedness.
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The sovereigns took pity on him and promised to restore his wealth and titles.
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The king, however, was convinced that, while he may be superior at sea, Columbus was no
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governor of men on land.
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Still, his skills as a voyager were an asset that could be further utilized.
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As a result, Ferdinand authorized a fourth voyage to the West Indies in the hopes of
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finding a direct route to Asia.
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However, he was ordered to stay well away from Hispaniola.
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This was strictly to be a voyage of discovery.
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Columbus set forth on this final voyage of May 9th, 1502.
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His fleet reached the West Indies in 21 days.
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Two weeks later his three ships encountered a terrible storm which they managed to see
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through with no loss of life.
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The fleet eventually reached the offshore island of Bonacca, a few miles from Honduras.
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From there they encountered terrible sea conditions for 38 days straight, which tested the men
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to their absolute limits.
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Finally, they found their way to the Panamanian coastline.
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Here they were heartened to find gold in abundance.
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They spent the next several months travelling up and down the coast gathering gold and then
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headed back for Hispaniola.
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But the weather beaten and worm-eaten ships never reached Hispaniola.
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With the ships taking on water they barely limped into Jamaica.
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The ships were now useless and the party remained stranded for over a year, only to be rescued
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when two ships arrived from Santa Domingo.
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Columbus and his men were taken to Hispaniola to recover from their ordeal.
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But the former governor knew that he was not welcome there.
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As soon as he could manage it, he found passage on a ship bound for Spain, arriving back in
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Cadiz on November 7, 1504.
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The Curtain Falls
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Columbus returned to Spain sick, broken and disheartened.
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He was so ill that he had could hardly stand on his own power.
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However, he still had the stamina to demand an accounting of his accumulated possessions.
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The agreement that he had made years ago with Ferdinand and Isabella for a tenth of all
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bounty had made him a rich man and he now sought to claim it.
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As a result, gold was shipped to him and he was given possession of land claims back in
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Hispaniola.
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But the wealth came to late for Columbus to enjoy it.
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In May, 1506 his bad health deteriorated fatally.
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He became bedridden and, on May 19th, a priest was called to administer the last rites.
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He died the next day, moments after whispering, ‘In thy hands Lord, I command my spirit.’
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He was just 54 years of age.
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Photo credit: Screenshot from video