I studied about Christopher Columbus.
Naturally, I had to write an essay about him.
Below is the essay,
enjoy! ;)
~Photobug
In many respects, Christopher Columbus could be considered a failure. In other ways, he could be considered a success. While he did not discover a new way to Cathay, he did discover a New World full of riches untold.
Columbus was born in Geneva, Italy in 1451. As he grew up, young Columbus’ eyes were always on the ships that sailed to and fro the Geneva docks. Columbus wanted to sail.
And that’s what he did, sailing to places such as Iceland and England. On one trip he was sailing around the coast of Portugal when his ship burst into flames and sunk. Columbus took hold of some of the wreckage, and amazingly swam the six miles to the Portugal shore.
Lucky for him, Columbus swam right onto the center of knowledge of the seas, Portugal. There he and his brother Bartholomew took up map making as a profession. They were constantly talking with the fishermen and sailors that came in, listening about how the winds and currents move.
But Columbus had his own ideas. He didn’t just want to stick to map making, he wanted to go on a history-making voyage himself! He and some of his friends made his case of sailing west to Cathay to several governments, those of Portugal, Spain, France and England.
Perhaps the reason that governments were so unwilling to back Columbus up was that he demanded much. He insisted on having 10% of the riches of Cathay for himself and his posterity, as well as the title “Admiral of the Ocean Seas” for him and his posterity. Finally Spain backed him up.
Spain gave him three small ships: the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria.
After possible mutiny, the small fleet finally sighted land. They had reached the islands of Jamaica and Cuba. When Columbus found the natives, he asked them where the riches were. He thought they told him where the Great Khan of China was, however, they meant the island of Cuba.
Unfortunately Columbus met with some crises. The Pinta found riches and decided to sail back alone to Spain, so she could have the glory herself. The Santa Maria was wrecked. So Columbus and his fifty-some men decided to colonize, as the Nina could not take them all back to Spain. So they built a fort and 39 men stayed behind.
In the tiny Nina, Columbus and his crew raced the Pinta back to Spain. The Nina endured through many storms, even one blowing to shreds all but one of their sails! But the Nina got to Spain just hours before the Pinta did, and Christopher Columbus got the glory.
Columbus went on 3 more voyages to the New World. On the second journey he worked on colonizing and converting the natives to Christianity. But on the third voyage his faults began to show. Yes, he was a good sailor and leader of men, but no, he was not a good administrator. Christopher Columbus was arrested and sent back to Spain in chains.
However, Christopher Columbus was not done with sailing. He persuaded the Spanish government to send him on one more voyage to the New World. But fate followed him on this voyage too. His boats got worms, and the worms ate the boats to shreds. Columbus and his crew were marooned on Jamaica for over a year.
During this stay was not a good time for the “Admiral of the Ocean Seas”. Some of his men ran away, and the Indians did not give him and his remaining crew food. So he deceived and tricked the Indians. Finally a rescue ship was sent, and he and his crew sailed back to Spain.
So was Christopher Columbus a success or a failure? In many ways he was both. He was a success in that he explored and discovered a New World. He tried to colonize and convert the natives.
However, he can be considered a failure as well. He did not find Cathay or the riches he wanted. Several times misfortune stuck him severely, and he was also very boastful.
Just like many of us, Christopher Columbus was both successful and a failure sometimes at what he tried to do.
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