USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Born in the Republic of Genoa, Columbus was a navigator who sailed for the Crown of Castile (a predecessor to the modern Kingdom of Spain) in search of a westward route to the Indies, thought to be the East Asian source of spices and other precious oriental goods obtainable only through arduous overland routes.

Detailed explanation-2: -On August 3, 1492, Columbus and his crew set sail from Spain in three ships: the Niña, the Pinta and the Santa Maria. On October 12, the ships made landfall-not in the East Indies, as Columbus assumed, but on one of the Bahamian islands, likely San Salvador.

Detailed explanation-3: -Explorer Christopher Columbus sets foot on the American mainland for the first time, at the Paria Peninsula in present-day Venezuela. Thinking it an island, he christened it Isla Santa and claimed it for Spain.

Detailed explanation-4: -He also kidnapped several Native Americans (between ten and twenty-five) to take back to Spain-only eight survived. Columbus brought back small amounts of gold as well as native birds and plants to show the richness of the continent he believed to be Asia.

Detailed explanation-5: -Christopher Columbus and Queen Isabella of Spain Consummate Their Relationship, Santa Fe, January, 1492. Columbus arrives as a supplicant at the court of Queen Isabella of Spain, hoping for cash and three tall ships.