Christopher Columbus became convinced of the possibility of reaching Asia by traveling west. He tried to get support for his adventures from many sources, including the King of Portugal. But in 1492, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain finally approved his voyage and provided him with three ships: the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria.
On Columbus’ famed 1492 voyage, his flagship Santa Maria ran aground and sank. He was supposed to return to Spain loaded with spices and other valuable goods and knowledge of an important new trade route to Asia. Instead, he returned empty handed and without the best of the three ships given to him by the Kind and Queen of Spain. They were still grateful for the new lands Columbus has discovered and decided to fund a second voyage that included 17 ships and over 1,000 men. Also included in this journey were European domesticated animals: pigs, horses, and cattle. Columbus’ orders were to expand the settlement on Hispaniola, convert the natives to Christianity, establish a trading post and continue explorations. Columbus was assigned the responsibility of being the governor of the new world. The fleet set sail on October 13, 1493 and spotted land on November 3rd.
The island first sighted was named Dominica by Columbus, a name it retains to this day. Columbus returned to Spain in March of 1496 to obtain supplies to keep his starving colony alive. He returned to the new world in May, 1498. He sent half of his fleet to resupply Santo Domingo and continued to explore the north east part of South America. As governor, Christopher Columbus was despised by the people. He and his brothers were bad administrators. Spain sent a replacement governor, named Francisco de Bobadiela who arrested Columbus and his brothers and returned them to Spain in chains in 1500.
Columbus convinced the Spanish crown to finance one more journey. He left May, 1502 and stayed two years in the Caribbean, Central America, and Jamaica before returning to Spain. Columbus never accepted that he had not found a water route to Asia, even though the rest of Europe was convinced that the Americas were definitely the New World.
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