Christopher Columbus Research Paper

Upon every era in history, there is always an accommodating characteristic that is paired with it. Economic worth and value are the characteristics for the 1490’s. In the mindset of a superior king with rational thinking, you would want your kingdom to be at the top of the economy. That is exactly what the Spanish Monarchy had in mind when they sponsored Christopher Columbus on his voyage. With Columbus being an educated and intellectual man, in addition to his extensive history in past accomplished voyages, he persuaded the Spanish Monarchy that he would be the right candidate to fulfill their needs. Not only did he help the Spanish conquer pioneering , but his journey marked the beginning of centuries of transatlantic conquests and colonization.

Columbus started working on ships at the age of fourteen years old. Through self teachings and reading, Columbus attended Prince Henry's school of Navigation in Portugal. During the 1470’s he went on numerous trading trips and crossed multiple regions such as Aegean Sea and Northern Europe. Once married and with child, his family and he moved to Lisbon and stayed there until his wife, Filipa Moniz Perestrello passed away in 1485. The next chapter in his life began when Columbus and his son Diego moved to Spain. While there in Spain columbus hypothesised that the Earth was sphere shaped. This meant that there was an undiscovered trade route to better conserve time. With the education that he had once received, he assumed that navigators could reach the far East by setting trade routes in Asia by sailing north. For quite some time, years to be approximated, Columbus tried to advise Spanish and Portuguese kings to generate the financial support and stability needed for his plan to follow through, but no one invested time, money, or interest in Columbus’s proposition. Soon to come in 1492, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella both reviewed Columbus’s plan again and decided to join a partnership with the navigator once the moors were expelled from Spain. They agreed that if they sponsored Columbus, he had to promise to bring back: gold, spices, and silk from Asia. He also had to spread Christianity throughout the

King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella suggested that Columbus and his crew insure a friendly relationship with the native people so that it would help conform them to the Christian religion.

This went right in the hand of spreading their religion which Columbus made it a point, when taking upon this assignment.

Another favoring aspect was the materials that could be used for trading. Many tradable items such as: spices, gold, gems, silk, tobacco plants, etc. made the economy for high demand. So at this point in time, Spain has the most reliable route for transportation, most valuable trading items, and the largest territory.

Now, with every success story, there are downfalls. Unfortunately dealing with the new lands, they made them into cash crop plantations, taking away land from the indigenous people belongs to them. While taking their belongings, it also pushed them away from the religion of Christianity which was the complete opposite of the Spanish Monarchy wanted. This made the population decrease greatly, but the efforts to proceed with the conversion