When did Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand sponsor Christopher Columbus?

If it weren't for Isabella and Ferdinand, Christopher Columbus would have never set foot in North America. Ferdinand and Isabella were important people in the Renaissance they are strong, smart, and efficient powerful leaders. They ruled most of Spain they ruled the castles of Aragon and Castile together. They got married on October 19, 1469. Ferdinand and Isabella started the Spanish Inquisition, they united Spain's kingdoms, and sponsored Christopher Columbus in his voyage to North America. Ferdinand and Isabella were successful with their career. Ferdinand of Aragon was born March 10, 1452. His father was John II of Aragon and Navarre and his mother is Juana Enríquez their religion was Roman Catholic. Ferdinand was king of Aragon from…show more content…
They wanted to unite all the domain kingdoms of Spain and make it a dominant world. They united Spain's largest kingdoms and ruled Aragon and Castile together. Their biggest impact in the Spanish society was definitely the Spanish Inquisition. An inquisition is a series of investigations designed to judge and find heretics. Ferdinand and Isabella conquer the Granada from the Moors (Muslims) which gave them the title Catholic Kings in 1492. This ordered and Jews and Muslims to convert to Christianity. They tortured the heretics that did not convert to catholic finally all Jews and Muslims who refused to convert were banned from Spain. The Jews and Muslims could practice their own religion but it had to be secretly done. Isabella sponsored the voyage of Christopher Columbus which brought money to Spain and a new world. When Columbus discovered the new land they were given to Castile because of Isabella’s sponsorship. With the new world some Native Americans were sent to the new land to be slaves but Isabella disagreed with that and believed they should be treated fairly and with justice. Ferdinand and Isabella were parsons and they made Spain better by establishing buildings and institutions for education. Ferdinand and Isabella both knew Latin and they could read. They also educated all of their

Christopher Columbus was a 15th and 16th century explorer credited for connecting the Old World (Europe, Africa, and Asia) and the New World (North America and South America).

Born in Genoa, Italy, in 1451, Columbus made his way to Spain, where he gained support from the Spanish monarchy. He persuaded King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I to sponsor his quest to find a westward route to China, India, and Japan—lands then known as the Indies.

The monarchy considered Columbus’s expedition as an opportunity to expand Spain’s trading network into the Indies’ lucrative economy. Proponents of the Catholic Church, the monarchy also hoped the voyage would help spread Christianity into the East.

In August 1492, Columbus’s expedition set sail with three ships: the Niña, Pinta, and Santa María. After more than two months of sailing across the Atlantic Ocean, the fleet spotted what would eventually be known as the Bahamas on October 12, 1492. The fleet also came across other Caribbean islands on this expedition, including modern-day Cuba and Haiti, which Columbus believed were the Indies. While it has been commonly said that Columbus discovered the Americas, that is not accurate. Even before he set sail from Spain, thousands of people were already living on these lands for centuries. There is also the saga of Leif Eriksson's voyage to Vinland—the mysterious spot on which he landed in North America. The exact location of Vinland is debated among scholars, but it is generally agreed it was somewhere along the northern Atlantic coast.

Columbus may not have discovered the Americas, but it was his arrival—and subsquent three additional voyages over the next twelve years—that shephereded in an era of exploration and colonization of North and South America.

While this opened up economic and political opportunities for European powers, the colonization of the New World led to the exploitation of its indigenous peoples, often violently and eventually with disastrous results for many cultures. Columbus’s participation in such brutality eventually led to his arrest and caused him to lose favor with the Spanish monarchy. Columbus Day is a national holiday in the United States, but due to inhumane actions taken by the European powers who came in waves to the Americas, several states have replaced the holiday with Indigenous People's Day to honor the original inhabitants of these lands.

Columbus also continued to believe that he had found a route to Asia, despite the increasing evidence that proved otherwise—a denial that would severely tarnish his reputation. While Columbus obtained great wealth from his expeditions, he became an outcast and died of age-related causes on May 20, 1506 in Valladolid, Spain.

On August 3, 1492, Columbus set sail from Spain to find an all-water route to Asia. On October 12, more than two months later, Columbus landed on an island in the Bahamas that he called San Salvador; the natives called it Guanahani.

For nearly five months, Columbus explored the Caribbean, particularly the islands of Juana (Cuba) and Hispaniola (Santo Domingo), before returning to Spain. He left thirty-nine men to build a settlement called La Navidad in present-day Haiti. He also kidnapped several Native Americans (between ten and twenty-five) to take back to Spain—only eight survived. Columbus brought back small amounts of gold as well as native birds and plants to show the richness of the continent he believed to be Asia.

When Columbus arrived back in Spain on March 15, 1493, he immediately wrote a letter announcing his discoveries to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, who had helped finance his trip. The letter was written in Spanish and sent to Rome, where it was printed in Latin by Stephan Plannck. Plannck mistakenly left Queen Isabella’s name out of the pamphlet’s introduction but quickly realized his error and reprinted the pamphlet a few days later. The copy shown here is the second, corrected edition of the pamphlet.

The Latin printing of this letter announced the existence of the American continent throughout Europe. “I discovered many islands inhabited by numerous people. I took possession of all of them for our most fortunate King by making public proclamation and unfurling his standard, no one making any resistance,” Columbus wrote.

In addition to announcing his momentous discovery, Columbus’s letter also provides observations of the native people’s culture and lack of weapons, noting that “they are destitute of arms, which are entirely unknown to them, and for which they are not adapted; not on account of any bodily deformity, for they are well made, but because they are timid and full of terror.” Writing that the natives are “fearful and timid . . . guileless and honest,” Columbus declares that the land could easily be conquered by Spain, and the natives “might become Christians and inclined to love our King and Queen and Princes and all the people of Spain.”

An English translation of this document is available.

Excerpt

I have determined to write you this letter to inform you of everything that has been done and discovered in this voyage of mine.

On the thirty-third day after leaving Cadiz I came into the Indian Sea, where I discovered many islands inhabited by numerous people. I took possession of all of them for our most fortunate King by making public proclamation and unfurling his standard, no one making any resistance. The island called Juana, as well as the others in its neighborhood, is exceedingly fertile. It has numerous harbors on all sides, very safe and wide, above comparison with any I have ever seen. Through it flow many very broad and health-giving rivers; and there are in it numerous very lofty mountains. All these island are very beautiful, and of quite different shapes; easy to be traversed, and full of the greatest variety of trees reaching to the stars. . . .

In the island, which I have said before was called Hispana, there are very lofty and beautiful mountains, great farms, groves and fields, most fertile both for cultivation and for pasturage, and well adapted for constructing buildings. The convenience of the harbors in this island, and the excellence of the rivers, in volume and salubrity, surpass human belief, unless on should see them. In it the trees, pasture-lands and fruits different much from those of Juana. Besides, this Hispana abounds in various kinds of species, gold and metals. The inhabitants . . . are all, as I said before, unprovided with any sort of iron, and they are destitute of arms, which are entirely unknown to them, and for which they are not adapted; not on account of any bodily deformity, for they are well made, but because they are timid and full of terror. . . . But when they see that they are safe, and all fear is banished, they are very guileless and honest, and very liberal of all they have. No one refuses the asker anything that he possesses; on the contrary they themselves invite us to ask for it. They manifest the greatest affection towards all of us, exchanging valuable things for trifles, content with the very least thing or nothing at all. . . . I gave them many beautiful and pleasing things, which I had brought with me, for no return whatever, in order to win their affection, and that they might become Christians and inclined to love our King and Queen and Princes and all the people of Spain; and that they might be eager to search for and gather and give to us what they abound in and we greatly need.