Columbus Journey To America Summary

The great journey known by everyone was at first not wanted by many rulers. Columbus had asked King John II of Portugal first but he had refused. He then went on to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain but they also refused. Columbus was persistent with them for seven years but they kept saying no. Finally, he told them that he would go ask the French King for help and that was when the Spanish King and Queen changed their minds at the last minute and decided to say yes. On August 3, 1492 Columbus's three ships, the Santa Maria, the Nina, and the Pinta set sail from Palos, Spain. The voyage was very long and frightening and they were about to turn back, when on August 12 they spotted land.
Columbus and his crew had reached a part of the Bahamas which he thought was India. The same day he went ashore and had claimed it as Spain's. Later that month he had traveled to Cuba which at the time he thought was China. In December he had reached Hispaniola which again he mistakenly thought was Japan. There he established a small colony with thirty nine of his men. Columbas then journeyed back to Spain with many goods in March of 1493. He carried with him things
The second voyage took place in September 1493. This time he took with him seventeen ships. They traveled to Hispaniola where the small colony founded by the sailors left behind from the first one was. When Columbus arrived the colony was found empty. The sailors there had tried to take over the land and the natives already living there had attacked and killed them. He then found another colony naming it after the Queen of Spain, Isabella. He proceeded to travel around Cuba and Jamaica and then decided to return home again. His brother, Bartolome, stayed at the colony in Hispaniola and founded yet another colony named Santo Domingo, which was the first permanent European settlement in the new land. Columbus arrived back from this voyage in