Christopher Columbus Discovers America: October 12, 1492
This text comes from our book, Light to the Nations, Part I.
Trade with the Indies brought great wealth to Portugal. But was the route discovered by da Gama the only way to reach those far-off lands? One man thought there was another, and better, way to reach India, China, and Japan. His name was Christopher Columbus.
Columbus, who was born in the little maritime city-state of Genoa in Italy in 1451, thought it was possible to reach the Orient by sailing westward across the ocean. He would cross the Atlantic, pass Japan, and so approach the Indies. His plan was actually impossible for the small ships of his day, for the distances across the ocean from Europe to Asia were far greater than he thought they were. Too, he did not know that a vast continent lay between him and his goal.
In 1484, when he was 32 years old, Columbus began to seek funding for his plan, which he called the “enterprise of the Indies.” He took his idea first to the king of Portugal, who showed little interest in it. After being rejected by Portugal, Columbus in 1485 went to Castile to seek the backing of Queen Isabel. During the war with Granada, the queen could not spare funds for any risky ventures. But Columbus did not give up. He persevered for seven years until Granada was conquered. Because the war had ended, the queen could no longer use it as an excuse to dismiss Columbus’s request. Isabel provided funds for chartering three small, privately owned ships, salaries for the crew, and provisions. The names of the vessels were the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa María.
A sea captain from the Spanish town of Palos, Martín Alonso Pinzón, was the second in command on the voyage of discovery. Pinzón convinced some 90 men—his relatives and neighbors from his village and several other towns along the coast—to join this expedition led by an Italian foreigner.
In Columbus’s day, ships rarely ventured out of sight of land for more than a few days; yet, for 33 days (September 9–October 11, 1492) Columbus, the Pinzón brothers, and their men saw nothing but water and sky. After sailing away from the known world for two weeks, the sailors wanted to turn back because food was getting scarce.
Columbus was able to steady the emotions of his men, boost their morale, and keep them moving toward his goal. In the twilight of dawn on the morning of October 12, 1492, there appeared, out of the mists ahead, the shape of a mountain. The lookout shouted, “Land! Land!” and the little ships sailed into a bay, shrouded in mist. Columbus and his men thought they had reached their goal; they thought they had reached the Indies.
After sunrise the fleet anchored in the bay of a small island that was called Guanahani by the Taino natives who lived there. The three captains (Christopher Columbus and the two oldest Pinzón brothers) and the queen’s two representatives were the first to go ashore. The five Europeans carried the white-and-green standard of their expedition, the flag of Castile, and a Christian cross. Hiding in the lush undergrowth, dozens of naked Taino natives watched in amazement as Christopher Columbus and the Pinzóns planted banners and the Cross of Christ in the sand and claimed the land for the Church and the Catholic Monarchs, Isabel and Fernando.
The expedition, of course, had not reached the Indies. Columbus and his crew had arrived at the outer islands of a vast continent unknown to Europeans. Yet, Christopher Columbus and his men had made the most significant geographical discovery ever recorded—though they did not then know it. They had begun the meeting of two worlds, the “old world” of Europe and the “new world” of what would be called America. They had opened the first chapter of a new story that would tie Europe ultimately to all the peoples of the world. Columbus’s discovery on that autumn morning in 1492 changed the course of global history more profoundly than any other event except the Incarnation of Our Lord.
