Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus or Cristóbal Colón (Born in: location disputed, On: c. 1436-1456 - Died: Valladolid, Spain, May 20 of 1506) was a navigator , cartographer, admiral, viceroy and Governor General of Indian the service of Corona de Castilla, famous for making the so-called 'discovery' of America in 1492.

The original home of Columbus is the subject of debate and various places suggested as his birthplace. The thesis supported mostly is born in Genoa, although documentation there is on this is lack of gaps and mysteries , besides his son Hernando Colón helped to generate more controversy in this aspect by concealing their origin in the book dedicated to his father. Because it has arisen multiple hypotheses and theories about its origins that do Catalan, Galician, Portuguese or Jewish.

Until the publication of the map Martin Waldseemuller in 1507, American territory was known as "West Indies" and, although perhaps Columbus was not the first explorer European America. It can be said that he discovered a new continent to civilization European, Being the first to map a route round building on ocean currents the Atlantic, The route is still used today.

Christopher Columbus made four trips to American lands. His First trip commenced August 3 , 1492 from the port Palos de la Frontera (Huelva) Reaching Guanahani (now the Bahamas) on October 12 of that year. This pushed decisively the worldwide expansion of Europe and colonized by various European powers much of the American continent and its inhabitants .

The name of Christopher Columbus in Italian Cristoforo Colombo, and Latin Christophorus Columbus. This anthroponym inspired the name of at least one country , Colombia and two regions North America: The Columbia British in Canada and District of Columbia in States United.

Apparently , Columbus maintained that could be reached Far East (the Indian) From Europe traveling westward, and it was possible to travel by sea with the possibility of success. At that time, Portuguese were seeking a direct route Asia East along Africa and were granted a monopoly of navigation on the Atlantic except for Canary Islands.

From Ancient Greeks (Eratosthenes) Was known as the circumference of Earth. Apparently , the assumption of Columbus about the possibility of the trip was based on miscalculations on size areaAs it was supposed to be smaller than it really is.

Other theories argue that Columbus had heard stories, talk of marine on the life land much closer to Europe of what supposed scientifically was Asia, and set out to reach to trade without relying on Genoa or Portugal.

One theory uggests that during the time that Columbus stayed in the Portuguese islands of Atlantic, he looked after a dying Portuguese or Castilian mariner whose caravel had been dragged from the Gulf of Guinea to the Caribbean by the currents. Some researchers suggest that it might have been Alonso Sanchez de Huelva, but according to other sources could be Portuguese or from Biscay. This theory suggests that prenauta confided Columbus the secret. According to some scholars , the strongest evidence for this theory are Capitulations of Santa Fe because they speak of the land "discovered ", while giving to Columbus a number of privileges not granted until then to anyone .

What is certain is that Columbus not only made it to America, but returned to Europe, Making a total of four trips , giving rise to a route for navigation regular and safe between Europe and America.

Although it is known that Siberian had arrived in America in the Pleistocene and that there is documentation that talks about any previous trips made by Carthaginians, Andalusian, Vikings or Chinese, is from the voyages of Columbus and other explorers and conquistadors who followed him, when he established permanent links and we can speak of "discovery" , to be recognition of the nations involved and evidence testable at the time. As a result ,some European powers invaded part of American territory, imposing its control over various civilizations and peoples installed there, as the empires Inca and Aztec, among others, destroyed most of these cultures, including techniques writing and written testimony, knowledge scientific and artistic, religions and most of their languages. Also imposed were several languages and European religions European, especially the variants of Christianity.

On his Christopher Columbus first voyage , the explorer reached the island of San Salvador (called Guanahani by the people who found) in the current Bahamas. After two-month voyage , visiting after Cuba and the place he christened La Hispaniola -- which was called QuisQueya by the local Taino natives, and later renamed La Republica Dominicana, the Dominican Republic we know today.

Christopher Columbus returned to Spain seven months after his first departure to try and locate a faster sea route to India, that ended with his 'stumbling upon' what became known as the new world. On his last trip it only took a month and four days for him to reach the American shores.

Statue of Christopher Columbus in Santo Domingo

Read more about...:

• Early history of Santo Domingo


• Brief history of Dominican Independence


• "20th century political timeline of the Dominican Republic


• Santo Domingo - the sparkling capital city

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Acknowledgement:
With thanks to Wikipedia article which inspired and informed some of the foregoing content.