Offers insight into the historical events that prompted Columbus' efforts to establish new trade routes to the Indies, his struggles to obtain financial support for his voyages, and the important discoveries that caused him to become known as the "Great Admiral of the Seas."

"In 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed across the ocean and discovered America. Right? Wrong! Columbus never actually set foot in what is now the United States. His voyages took him to islands in the Caribbean and along the coast of South America. The truth is, when Columbus first arrived, Indigenous peoples, including the Taino, had been living there for thousands of years, raising their families, running their societies, and trading with their neighbors....

"Born in 1451 in the seafaring nation of Genoa in northern Italy, Christopher Columbus grew up watching ships sail into the harbor loaded with riches from Egypt, Spain, England, and Belgium. Columbus was convinced that he could gain gold, silk, ivory, and much personal wealth for himself if he were to sail west from Europe to the East and trade with China and India. When Queen Isabella of Castile and King Ferdinand of Aragon finally provided him with...

A history of the Spanish in America in chronological format, with illustrative documents and comprehensive bibliography.

In 1492 Christopher Columbus sailed west from Europe and landed on a Caribbean island in what he thought was India. Over the next twelve years, Columbus made several voyages to the New World, seeking gold and power and bringing other Europeans to start colonies. How can we know what the journey was like for Columbus, his shipmates, and the Taino people he met in the Caribbean? We can study maps and tools Columbus used, excerpts from his journal, and...

"Why did Columbus want to reach the New World, and was he the first to cross the Atlantic Ocean? What was life like on one of his ships? What did America look like before Columbus arrived? How did Columbus treat the native people? The engaging story of Columbus's voyage and the effect his arrival had on the native people will fascinate kids" --Amazon.

Christopher Columbus's 1492 voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in search of a trading route to China, and his unexpected landfall in the Americas, is a watershed event in world history. Yet Columbus made three more voyages within the span of only a decade, each designed to demonstrate that he could sail to China within a matter of weeks and convert those he found there to Christianity. These later voyages were even more adventurous, violent, and ambiguous,...