This is the essay for the 19th week of the 7th Grade Ron Paul Curriculum. It’s about Christopher Columbus.

Christopher Columbus

 

Christopher Columbus is a famous Italian explorer. He rediscovered the America’s for the World. It was first discovered by Leif Eriksson, but it was forgotten.

Christopher Columbus was born in 1451 in Genoa Italy. He grew up reading science books and the Travels of Marco Polo, which inspired him for his journey. Before Columbus wanted to do the journey he was a businessman and a trader on the west coast of Africa. The reason that Columbus started his journey is that the Ottomans had taken over the Byzantines, which he wanted to free and spread Christianity around the world.

He wanted to have a faster route to bring his gospel to China. So he had the brilliant idea of sailing west of Europe. Back in that time, people believed that the earth was flat even though there was evidence against it. For the expedition he needed funding. Columbus spent a few years to find funding. He finally got a “yes” from Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain, after 2 years of negotiating But Columbus only got half of the money he wanted. Luckily he was able to get the rest from some Italian investors. In the treaty, it stated that Columbus would be made Admiral of the seas and he would also get a portion of the profits he earned.

Columbus’s fleet consisted of three ships, the Nina the Pinta and the Santa Maria. In 1492 he set sail to the Canary Islands where Columbus restocked his fleet and set sail to the west. He arrived at the island of San Salvador five weeks after he left the Canary Islands. The native population was nice to Columbus giving him gifts of food and water. But Columbus thought he landed in China and when he asked if they had any gold and the native’s said no, Columbus was mad. He slaughtered several villages with reinforcements from Spain.

Columbus made four trips to the Caribbean. His last voyage was in 1503. He tried putting up settlements in the Caribbean, but some of them failed. After Columbus had rediscovered the Americas the continent was attractive to explorers and the Americas were being harvested and used for its resources and new land to settle. Columbus had rediscovered the Americas and ushered in a new age for the world. He is remembered as a great explorer.