Posthumous portrait of Christopher Columbus by Sebastiano del Piombo in 1519. No known actual representations of Columbus survive.
The believed geography of Europe and Asia during the time of Columbus. He believed China, or ‘Cathay’, would lie across the Atlantic Ocean.
Columbus’ four voyages to the New World. Columbus relied on the trade winds [the ‘easterlies’ and the ‘westerlies’] to go to and fro from the Americas to Europe.
In order to be rescued from the island of Jamaica, Columbus impressed the natives by predicting a lunar eclipse in 1504, where they later helped Columbus reach the island of Hispanola controlled by his rival, Nicolas de Ovando y Caceres.
Christopher Columbus was granted nobility and arms by Pope Alexander IV in 1504, for his actions in ‘proselyting the Indian population and bringing the Word of God to Asia.’
While Columbus’ sailors were outnumbered compared to the natives, superior steel weapons and gunpowder weapons allowed his small group a large advantage. Columbus and his crew also relied on a large network of tribal allies and tributaries to combat larger native nations.
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