Columbus: The Four Voyages

Posted on October 10, 2021 by vanbraman

Four years ago I read Columbus: The Four Voyages by Laurence Bergreen. I really enjoyed this book as I learned a lot more about Christopher Columbus. Most often we only hear of Columbus’ first voyage in 1492, but he did make three later voyages to the New World.

Here is what I wrote about it back then.

Columbus: The Four Voyages, Laurence Bergreen, Eclipse, HistoryThe fourth voyage was very interesting to me as by this time Columbus was in poor health and was rapidly falling out of favor with the Spanish. On this voyage he explored the shoreline of Central America. On his way back to Hispaniola he was shipwrecked in Jamaica.

Jamaica, St. Annes Bay, Columbus, Castaway, EclipseColumbus and his men spent a year marooned in Jamaica as they waited for the governor Nicolas de Ovando to rescue them. It did not help that there was enmity between Columbus and Ovando.

While in Jamaica they had to rely on the natives for food, but as happened time and again the natives were not treated well and they withheld food from Columbus and his men.

This happened at an auspicious time as Columbus discovered that a lunar eclipse was going to occur very soon on February 29, 1504.

Blood Red Moon, Eclipse, tripod, Sony, ZeissColumbus, like many navigators, carried books of astronomical tables or ephemerides with him. He was able to figure out when the eclipse would start. You can imagine the shock of the natives when the moon rose above the horizon with a missing section and then turned blood red. Columbus then secluded himself to pray and returned just before the eclipse was ending the period of totality. He then said they were forgiven and that the moon would reappear.

Relations with the natives improved and four months later they were finally rescued and were taken to Hispaniola from where they soon sailed back to Spain. Columbus would only survive for about two more years during which time he tried to win back favor with the Spanish crown.

Eclipses have been used as a plot device in several novels, although authors (Twain) should make sure they consult astronomical tables before giving dates of eclipses 🙂

Today eclipses are well publicized so this would be hard to pull off.

Partial Solar Eclipse, Picture of Eclipse, Solar Eclipse, Dark FilterOf course the next big eclipse is happening in less than a month. In this case it will be a solar eclipse. This makes me think back to almost three years ago when I took pictures of a partial solar eclipse.

See my post: Partial Solar Eclipse

Visit the post to find out ways that you can safely observe the eclipse without looking directly at the sun.

I am going to have to dig out the items I used just in case I have time to observe the eclipse this year.

Steven

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When did Columbus become Italian?

Posted on October 9, 2021 by vanbraman

Monday is Columbus Day, which has pretty much turned into Italian Heritage Day in the United States.

But, was Columbus Italian?

I will not question where Columbus was born, although there are theories out there that he was born in Portugal, Spain, Greece or Poland.

I will go with the majority and for this post focus on Genoa.

Google Maps, Genoa, Italy, France, ColumbusThe dates differ, but Columbus was born in the Republic of Genoa ca 1450-1451. There is some dispute as to whether it is was in Genoa itself or one of the nearby villages.

His birth name would have been Christoffa Corombo in the local Genoese dialect of the Ligurian language.

Genoa, Corsica, 1492, Columbus, French, ItalyAt the time of his birth the Genoa Republic consisted of the island of Corsica and an area along the coast of the Ligurian Sea. They also had colonies on the islands of Lesbos, Chios and Samos along the coast of modern day Turkey and another colony on the north coast of the Black Sea.

What is even more interesting is that the Genoa Republic was under the control of France.

Genoa, Savona, Columbus, Columbus Day, Geneo Republic, Ligurian SeaWhen Columbus was about 10 years old the family moved to Savona.

From Savona Columbus began his sea voyages as a business agent. There is evidence that he made voyages to the island of Chios. He also went to Bristol, England and Galway, Ireland. He may have also gone to Iceland during this time period.

In 1485 Columbus started to look for support for his voyages. He first approached the Portuguese and then went to Genoa and Venice. He even sent his brother to the English court without success. He finally approached the Spanish court of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile and finally received his financing. Of course we all know when the first journey was made:

In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue.

So now, back to the question.

Vanished Kingdoms, The Rise and Fall of States and Nations, Norman Davies, Genoa, Italy, ColumbusWas Columbus Italian?

One of the reasons that I ask this question is because when I wrote this back in 2014 I had just finished reading Vanished Kingdoms: The Rise and Fall of States and Nations by Norman Davies.

One of the chapters in the book covered the history of several of the nations and states that later came together to form the Kingdom of Italy.

During the lifetime of Columbus, Genoa was controlled by France. In the 1520’s the area was conquered by Spain and the Republic of Genoa regained their independence.

In the late 1790’s Genoa again came under the control of the French when they were occupied by the army of Napoleon Bonaparte. Genoa then passed through control of the Ligurian Republic and the Kingdom of Sardinia before finally being incorporated into the Kingdom of Italy in 1860.

I find it interesting that the first time that Italian Americans celebrated Columbus Day was in 1866 shortly after Genoa became part of Italy.

So was Columbus Italian?

Steven

Originally written back in 2014. Small changes have been made for this re-post.

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