Description
Like most navigators of his time, contrary to popular legend, Columbus thought the Earth was a sphere and not flat. He began lobbying in 1485 for financing for three ships to make the voyage across the Atlantic to the Orient of India and China. His estimated distance was short of the consensus of contemporary scholars, so his offer was rebuffed by Portugal, Venice, Genoa, England, and Spain. Spain did put him on a stipend to keep him from peddling his dream all over Europe, but he persisted until Isabella and Ferdinand finally granted his wish in 1492. Itís common knowledge Columbus didn't discover America proper on his first voyage, but landed first to what is now San Salvador, and then Cuba. Columbus was not bashful about his expected return for his efforts. The king and queen agreed to make him Admiral of the Ocean Sea (Atlantic) and appoint him Governor of any new lands. He asked for 10% of all the profits from the new lands for perpetuity, but this provision was denied. But he was granted the option of buying one-eighth interest in all future commercial businesses in the new lands, so as to receive one-eighth of the profits. It was a magnanimous contract, but, as one of Columbus' two sons wrote later, neither monarch really expected their father to return. But return he did, with somewhat overstated claims he'd reached Asia (Cuba) and one of China's coastal islands (Hispaniola). Like the bestiaries of his time which described sightings of mermaids, griffons, and unicorns, his description of the new world was half truth and half fancy. The rivers and mountains were heavy with gold, harbors deep and smooth, and the smell of rare spices filled the air. Though modern historians agree that Columbus was probably not in fact the first European to touch the new world, his discovery and return voyages opened the gate for the expanding nation states of Europe, and invited the first tentative emigration of explorers and freedom seekers who would transform the new world.
