Columbus's Voyage to "Asia"

Which was really America

by John N.

020819 (February 8, 2019)

This map depicts Columbus's journey from Palos, Spain, where he and his crew departed, to The Canary Islands, where he restocked his ships with resources. It also shows the Azores, an island chain owned by Portugal, where they restocked on the return to Europe, under the condition that they go to Lisben, Portugal before continuing back to Spain. However, I think that Columbus should have had more resources on his ships in Europe, so that he didn't have to restock (as much) in the Canaries. I Wonder Question: Why didn't Columbus stock up more on items in Europe (because he had to restock fairly early on, but then made it the rest of the way)? Possible answer: He knew he would have to restock somewhere because water and food would go bad, but he could make it from the Canaries to "Asia."

This map is a map of Columbus's voyage across the Atlantic ocean. The longitude markings are guesses, because in 1492, humans could not measure longitude. But they COULD measure latitude. This map includes markings of where he was every three days. For the most part, they went about 100 miles in a day, because the boats had square sails.

This map shows where Columbus was during his time in the Caribbean region. He was in the northern area of the Caribbean (Bahamas, Cuba, Hispaniola). It includes dates and points where he was. While he was there, he tried to get what he wanted from the natives, assuming they had what he wanted. He gave them things that they did not know of, but where of [probably] [somewhat] little value to him. He also convinced some natives to go with him back to Spain to be slaves. My opinion on this is that Columbus was not a very nice and greedy person. I Wonder Question: How did Columbus convince the Natives to go with him?

While there, some natives came across some of Columbus' men in a slow row boat, and according to an article, the natives deemed the Europeans fat. This kind of relates to my life (by that I mean that it somewhat is relevant to modern times, not my specific life) because it seems that anyone fatter than you is considered fat (like I said, this doesn't really apply to me, but it seems to be generally true). I Wonder Question: How did their communication proceed, because of language differences

Now. Columbus was in the Caribbean because he thought that it was Asia. He was there searching for gold, and Cublaikhan. Where he landed in the Bahamas, the natives referred to Cuba as Cubanacan, which he misheard as Cublaikhan. I think that Columbus was not the brightest guy, considering that he misheard these things. I Wonder Question: what is it that caused Columbus to mishear these things?

This map was created in MS Paint (Microsoft Paint), and shows the Caribbean with all the general sub-regions of the Caribbean, although some islands may not be present (because there are many small islands). When Columbus and his crew landed, they were greeted with some things that were unknown to the Europeans, such as hammocks, corn,and tobacco. I Wonder Question: If one of Columbus' men stated that smoking tobacco was a bad custom, why was it still brought back to Europe and made widespread?

This map shows not only the voyage to America, but also the voyage back to Europe, along with the travel in the Caribbean. From January 22 to January 31, 1943, near the start of the voyage back (which did not include the Santa Maria, the largest of the ships, as it was beached in the Caribbean), very little progress was made, and the two remaining ships did not go very far. This is because of the square sails on the boats, which are considerably faster than lateen sails, which can sail into the wind, but are slower because of their lower surface area. About halfway through the journey, the two remaining boats became separated and reached Spain at different times. The boat that Columbus was on returned earlier, although had to stop in Lisben, Portugal, because they needed to resupply in the Azores, an island chain owned by Portugal. This is because they were from Spain, and had to meet with the Portugese king in exchange for resupplying in the Azores.