Why Is Christopher Columbus Important In Brave New World

Riley Willis

Professor Scheller

Spring 2017

History 2322

Exploration

During the late 15th and early 16th centuries, people began to explore the worlds oceans like never before. They were in search of many things, trade, faster routes to Asia, and places to grow their crops. Christopher Columbus is obviously the most famous of these explorers, but there is another explorer who isn’t as famous but is just as important in the history of exploration; Ferdinand Magellan. He was very important in the progress of exploration. There were many things these men accomplished on their journeys, Columbus found an entirely new world that the easterners had no idea even existed. Albeit he was searching for a faster route to India but nonetheless he found

This is strange to most people because he sailed under the Spanish Flag. He did this because the King of Italy wouldn’t give Columbus the money he needed to find a faster and safer route to India. So, he went to talk to the King of Spain; King Ferdinand. King Ferdinand agreed to fund his exploration. He left Spain in August of 1492, he was on the Santa Maria, along side his ship was the Nina and the Pinta. He had three ships to make it across the ocean in search of India. He sailed for 36 days before he finally came upon the shores of the Bahamas. He met up with some friendly natives who began exchanging beads, cotton balls, parrots, and spears. The first thing Columbus noticed about these people were that they were wearing gold.

Magellan circumnavigated the world, he showed people that the Earth was bigger than anyone could have imagined. He also showed those people that the world could be circled by the sea only. Not to mention he was also the first European to cross the largest ocean on Earth. He gave the scientists of this time something incredible to think about, just how large is this Earth we live on? He also mapped most of the Earth’s oceans so the people back in Europe would have an understanding of what it is like. (Szalay) Columbus had many accomplishments just like Magellan, but Columbus is much better known than Magellan. Columbus did the incredible; he found an entirely new world. He was able to give the people of Europe a new world to conquer, use to grow crops, and to trade with, and most importantly, he found gold. All the monarch’s of this time were excited to send their own explorers in search of this new world to find gold, spices, and new foods. However, Columbus died in 1506, just a few years after discovering the New World; he died believing that he found a new route to the East Indies.