USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -On August 3, 1492, Christopher Columbus and his crew set sail from the port of Palos in southern Spain on three vessels: la Santa Clara (Niña ), la Pinta and la Santa Gallega (Santa Maria).

Detailed explanation-2: -Columbus set sail from Spain in three ships: the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. On August 3, 1492, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus started his voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. With a crew of 90 men and three ships-the Niña, Pinta, and Santa Maria-he left from Palos de la Frontera, Spain.

Detailed explanation-3: -There are no known contemporary likenesses of Columbus’s ships. Santa María (also known as the Gallega) was the largest, of a type known as a carrack (carraca in Spanish), or by the Portuguese term nau. La Niña and La Pinta were smaller. They were called caravels, a name then given to the smallest three-masted vessels.

Detailed explanation-4: -Everyone knows the names of the three ships that sailed on Christopher Columbus’ maiden voyage to the New World – the Niña, Pinta and Santa Maria. Few realize that only the Santa Maria was the true name of the three ships. The Niña and Pinta were nicknames given to the vessels.

Detailed explanation-5: -Ask any American schoolchildren and they’ll tell you Columbus’s ships were named Niña, Pinta, and Santa Maria. However, at least two of those were likely nicknames. In Columbus’s time it was the custom in Spain to name ships after saints and to call them by nicknames instead.