Columbus: A Brand New World

The Grand Jouney

In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. After 33 long days at sea, his three small ships, a minuscule Spanish Armada, hit land on an island in the West Indies. The world would never be the same.

Christopher Columbus thought he had found a new trade route to the profitable ports of Asia, famed for such luxuries as gold, gems and spices, with their terrific mark-up potential. But ‘twas not so – Instead Columbus had landed with his band of about 90 sea-hardened men on the tiny Bahamas island of San Salvador, initiating the “Columbian Exchange,” an earth-shattering convergence of Old World and New that transformed biology, society, religion and culture in just about every conceivable way.

Of course, the Old World of Europe, Asia and Africa had been charted by geographers in ancient times, but the everyday person in these Old World continents knew little of the world outside their immediate neighborhood. Visits and news from distant parts was rare and precious, and the lands far from home were often imagined as exotic, if not magical, places.

People understood even less about the world that lay beyond the long blue horizon of the Atlantic Ocean to the west. The first great sea voyages of the early 15^th Century came from the Portuguese, and their attempts led them to discover new routes around Africa, thereby allowing them to avoid paying high caravan prices for eastern goods. This new “Age of Exploration” led to similar attempts by other European powers to find sea route directly to ports in Asia.

Columbus had a plan. He, like all other educated Europeans of the time, knew that the world was round, but he theorized incorrectly about the size of the earth. Thus he thought he could reach Asia with a relatively short sea journey to the west.

He may have been wrong, but his mistake – which continues to be both praised and vilified today – had an enormous impact, an impact which continues to the present day.

Travel's Easier Today

When Columbus sailed, he used a tool called a quadrant, a forerunner of the astrolabe. This simple navigational device helped Columbus determine ship’s latitude by keeping its sight set on the North Star.

Luckily for you, there’s now GPS systems to do the trick.

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Columbus Day Questions

 I didn't get the day off ... did you??