Christopher Columbus' Navigation plans

(The "Colombus map" was drawn circa 1490 in the workshop of Bartolomeo and Christopher Colombus in Lisbon.)

(Columbus' geographical conceptions.)
Europe had long enjoyed a safe land passage to China and India— sources of valued goods such as silk, spices, and opiates— under the hegemony of the Mongol Empire. With the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the land route to Asia became more difficult. The Columbus brothers had a different idea. By the 1480s, they had developed a plan to travel to the Indies, then construed roughly as all of south and east Asia, by sailing directly west across the "Ocean Sea”, for example the Atlantic.
Columbus, believed the (incorrect) calculations of Marinus of Tyre, putting the landmass at 225 degrees, leaving only 135 degrees of water. Moreover, Columbus believed that one degree represented a shorter distance on the earth's surface than was actually the case. Finally, he read maps as if the distances were calculated in Italian miles (1,238 meters). Accepting the length of a degree to be 56⅔ miles, from the writings of Alfraganus, he therefore calculated the circumference of the Earth as 25,255 kilometers at most, and the distance from the Canary Islands to Japan as 3,000 Italian miles (3,700 km, or 2,300 statute miles) Columbus did not realize Al-Farghani used the much longer Arabic mile (about 1,830 m).

(Handwritten notes by by Christopher Colombus on the latin edition of Marco Polo's Le livre des merveilles.)

July 15, 1492
As Christopher prepares for his expedition to the Indies, He wanted to write about my life so far so that when he returns triumphantly, everyone shall remember his greatness.
His name is Cristoforo Colombo, but most people know him as Christopher Columbus. He was born in Genoa, Italy in 1451 and he was the oldest of five children. He was an obedient son.
Christopher had little schooling, so he did not learn to read or write as a young boy. But he always loved the sea, so he vowed as a young boy that as soon as he was old enough, he would go out to sea.
He was fascinated by Marco Polo’s accounts of his journey to Asia in 1271. That made him believe that the quickest and most direct route to that fascinating place is to cross the unknown waters that we call the "Sea of Darkness."
P/S: Europeans did not know that the North and South American continents and the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans all lay between the Indies and Spain.

Christopher traveled to Greece and Portugal, and he became a sailor in his early teens. In 1476, he was a crewman on a ship that was attacked by French pirates. He was very lucky and found a piece of what was left of the ship. Fortunately, Christopher was able to swim the six miles to shore. He then traveled to Lisbon, Portugal where his brother, Bartholomew, owned a book and map store. He read many of the books and studied the maps until he had taught himself all he could learn about navigation and mapmaking.Starting in 1484, Christopher tried to convince King John of Portugal to pay for supplies, ships, and a crew to make the voyage to Marco Polo’s amazing gold mine. King John refused to pay for my voyage saying that he would fail. At least King John knew the world isn’t flat like so many others. He just thought the world is much larger than Christopher does.
P/S:King John was correct, Christopher Columbus thought the world was much smaller than it really was.
He then decided to ask King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain to pay for his voyage instead. It took Christopher a couple of tries, but they agreed to supply him with the things he needed. Let the Portuguese sail all the way around Africa and across the Indian Ocean. That is the long way to go! The Portuguese king will regret not paying for his voyage.

August 3, 1492
The rulers of Spain gave Christopher three ships—the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. They also paid for 90 crewmen and supplies.He was so excited. He cannot believe that he was the captain of his own voyage to find spices, gold, and precious jewels. Christopher plans to sail to the Canary Islands and then make a long jump across the Ocean Sea to the gold treasures of the Indies.
P/S: The Ocean Sea that Columbus sailed across was actually the Atlantic Ocean. Columbus and the rest of Europe’s explorers believed there was only one huge sea that connected Europe to Asia.

October 1, 1492
They have sailed for days and days, and there has been no sight of land. They have had clear skies and steady winds, but Christopher's crew is angry and they are fighting. There is even talk of turning back. The crew has even threatened to push him overboard and sail back to Spain. but he is never going to let that happen. He have gone too far to turn back now. He believes land must be near, he knows. Crewmen have spotted branches in the waters and birds that could not possibly go very far from land. From these signs Christopher was certainly sure land is near.

October 7, 1492
Christopher was starting to grow impatient. There are more signs, but no land. But according to his calculations, they should have spotted land many days ago. So Christopher have decided to offer a reward for any sailor that spots land. And he only hopes that the reward will buy himself a few more days before the crew revolts.

October 12, 1492
Finally, after days, Christopher and his crew have spotted land. He had named it San Salvador. In addition, he believes that Japan is only a short distance to the west.
P/S:Columbus landed in the Bahamas south of Florida. He believed that he was on islands off the coast of Japan.
There are strange looking people there, very different from his men as well as himself. They wear little clothing and they are of a different colours. Christopher and his crew's giant ships with enormous white sails had amazed them. Those Indians were not what Christopher have expected, and there are no cities of gold like Marco Polo described. P/S: Columbus had actually met members of the Taino tribe, but he believed he was in the Indies. This is why he called them Indians.
He noticed that several of them were wearing gold. They tell him that islands to the north and south were where the gold will be found, so Christopher ordered his men to set sail for the gold.

December 5, 1492
They searched many different islands, but only found more Indians. There were no cities and no gold. They even traveled north to a much larger island, but still, more Indians and no gold. The King and Queen will not be happy if Christopher does not find gold.

December 25, 1492
As they started to prepare to return to Spain, the Santa Maria ran into a coral reef. It tore holes in the bottom of the ship. They were forced to build a fort out of the wreckage of the Santa Maria. With only two ships, all of them could not take everyone back to Spain with them, so Christopher found 40 volunteers to stay behind to build a small colony.

March 15, 1493
They sailed back across the Ocean Sea. Despite the terrible storms, Christopher's navigation skills have brought them back to Spain. He had received a letter from the king and queen. They have named him Admiral of the Ocean Sea and the governor of all of the islands that he himself had discovered. News of Christopher's discoveries had traveled across Europe. His voyage is known by all, and he is a hero. He would certainly like to see the look on King John of Portugal’s face. Christopher bet he regrets not paying for his voyage now. Christopher was anxious to return to the land that he had discovered because he still has not found the gold that he himself know is there.

September 29, 1494
Christopher have spent the last year on his second voyage across the Ocean Sea. Sadly, he found the fort and the men that he had left behind from the first voyage dead. He does not know what exactly happened to them. Christopher had built a new village on another island. And his men found gold on this island. He then sent a load of gold back to Spain. The Indians were not as friendly that time, and he was forced to kill many of them. Christopher still have not found the great cities that Marco Polo described.

October 9, 1501
The king and queen were being so ungrateful. They have thrown Christopher in jail because the men in the new colony complained to them that he was not a good governor. How dare them. Christopeher have now sailed across the Ocean Sea three times. And he had claimed many islands for Spain and helped them increase their power, and that was how they treat him. It was slightly disappointing and unfair to him.

November 7, 1504
The king and queen had realized their mistake and finally freed Christopher from jail. They even paid for another voyage across the Ocean Sea. Unfortunately, his ships leaked so badly that he became stranded for an entire year on an island he called Jamaica. Christopher was feeling slightly sad. He then decided that his explorations have come to an end as the king and queen refuse to pay for a fifth voyage. At least he could retire a hero in the end.

Columbus died on May 20, 1506, never getting to the Indies. Still, Columbus may have been the greatest sailor of his time. He sailed across almost 5,000 miles of ocean and was able to find the same island over and over, without the knowledge of how a compass worked or an accurate map. He was the first European to travel to the island of the Caribbean Sea, and he would touch on South America and Central America. He never made it to the United States, but he did make it as far north as Cuba, only 90 miles from Florida.

Christopher's routes for all 4 voyages

(Voyage number 1)

(Voyage number 2)

(Voyage number 3)

(Voyage number 4)

These are some of the places that Christopher Columbus visited:

San Salvador

San Salvador is the capital and largest city of the nation of El Salvador. The second most populous city in Central America, after Guatemala City, it covers an area of 568 km² and is home to nearly 1.6 million people. Home to one-half of El Salvador's wealth, the city's per capita GDP - PPP is approximately USD 11,200, compared to a national average of USD 5,260 (2002).

Jamaica

Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, 234 kilometres in length and as much as 80 kilometres in width situated in the Caribbean Sea. It is about 145 kilometres south of Cuba, and 190 kilometres west of the island of Hispaniola, on which Haiti and the Dominican Republic are situated. Its indigenous Arawakan-speaking Taíno inhabitants named the island Xaymaca, meaning the "Land of Wood and Water", or the "Land of Springs". Formerly a Spanish possession known as Santiago, it later became the British West Indies Crown colony of Jamaica. It is the third most populous anglophone country in the Americas, after the United States and Canada.