Christopher Columbus was born in the family of a Genoese cloth weaver in 1451. The childhood and youth of the future navigator, the eldest son in the family, passed in a weaving workshop, where he helped his father in his work. However, from an early age, he dreamed of long-distance sea voyages. Already in the early 1470s, Columbus Christopher first got on his first trading expeditions. Many biographers of the eminent Italian believe that it was during this period that he had the idea of finding a new path to
India. It is believed that the well-known geographer and astronomer Paulo Toscanelli could have suggested such an idea to him.
New way to India
At this point, it is necessary to dwell on the military-political situation in Europe at that time. The fact is that in the east of the continent the Muslim Ottoman Empire was growing more and more. So, for example, in 1453, the ancient capital of Byzantium, Constantinople, was captured (which is still the largest Turkish city of Istanbul today). This mighty empire during the XV century. effectively blocked the classical silk caravan route from Europe to Asia, imposing high duties on merchants and hindering the development of such trade. However, the eastern lands have always attracted residentsOld world. Legends about fabulous creatures and the incredible we alth of the East did not lose popularity. These facts stimulated the idea of finding additional detours to the East, in particular to India. The reality of such plans, among other things, confirmed the "young" at that time assumption about the sphericity of the Earth.
Famous voyage to India
Columbus Christopher arrived in Portugal in 1477, where he met people who changed his life forever. Acquainted with the principles of navigation, gaining experience
in trading expeditions, the traveler first expressed the idea of trying to find a way to India by circumnavigating the African continent. With this proposal, he turned to the Portuguese king Juan III in 1483. However, the project of the future discoverer seemed too incredible to the monarch, and also prohibitively expensive. Columbus Christopher was refused. Moreover, over the next nine years, he experienced five more such failures. Until in 1492, such a journey was not approved. The first expedition set off for the ocean on August 3, 1492. It consisted of three very small ships: "Pinta", "Nina" (literally "small") and "Santa Maria". The further story of how sailors, having lost their course, went not along Africa, but far to the west, is widely known. Only two months later, on October 12, 1492, already desperate sailors saw land on the horizon. It was one of the modern Bahamas. Subsequently, Columbus made three moreexpeditions to the shores of a new continent. However, having become seriously ill after the fourth voyage, he died in 1506. What is paradoxical, without knowing that he opened not just a new path, but a whole new continent. This fact will be reported to the world for him by another famous Italian - Amerigo Vespucci. And the honor of opening a bypass route to India will go to Vasco da Gama.
The significance of the voyage of Columbus and the Great geographical discoveries in general
The continent that Christopher Columbus discovered had yet to significantly transform the face of our world. Not only regarding geographical knowledge, but also in all spheres of life in the Old World. Many new goods and gold reserves of American civilizations poured into the markets of Europe. This process stimulated the so-called primitive accumulation of capital, the development of market relations and capitalism. The barely discovered continent over the next few centuries became home to numerous colonizers who later founded their own states. Several European states became global colonial empires that not only forced the native peoples (not only in America, but also in other parts of the world) to work for themselves, but also contributed to the establishment of European value orientations around the world. Of course, Columbus Christopher is not the only one who so significantly influenced the development of world history, besides him, there were hundreds of other travelers, theorists and inspirers. However, he is undoubtedly one of the greatest discoverers.
