Columbus Discovers America
Generations of school children have been taught that Christopher Columbus discovered the New World. In fact, the second Monday in October is celebrated as a national holiday – Columbus Day – to honor the European explorer.
Columbus thought the shortest way to reach the East was to sail west across the Atlantic Ocean. He was right. But he also was wrong. He believed the world was much smaller than it is. He did not imagine the existence of another continent – and another huge ocean – between Europe and East Asia.
Columbus and a crew of 88 men left Spain on August 3, 1492 in three ships – the Niña, the Pinta and the Santa Maria. By October 12, the sailors stood on land again on an island that Columbus named San Salvador.
Columbus explored that island and the nearby islands of what are now known as Cuba and Hispaniola. He believed they were part of the coast of East Asia,which was then called the Indies. He called the people he found there Indians.
In 1502, Columbus made his final voyage to what some by then were calling the New World. He stayed on the island of Jamaica until he returned home two years later.
During all his trips, Columbus explored islands and waterways, searching for that passage to the Indies. He never found it. Nor did he find spices or great amounts of gold. Yet, he always believed that he had found the Indies. He refused to recognize that it really was a new world.
You may be wondering about the name of this new land. If Christopher Columbus led the explorations, then why is it called “America”? The answer lies with the name of another Italian explorer: Amerigo Vespucci.
He visited the coast of South America in 1499. He wrote stories about his experiences that were widely read in Europe.
In 1507, a German mapmaker, Martin Waldseemueller, read Vespucci’s stories. He decided that the writer had discovered the new world, and thought it should be called America in his honor. And so it was.
