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Christopher Columbus: A Life from Beginning to End
Christopher Columbus Everyone knows who Christopher Columbus is, and everyone knows what he discovered and what he is famous for. Who, really, is this man, so shrouded in mystery? Columbus would tell you he was inspired by God to make his voyages, and it takes a brave soul indeed to sail out into the ocean blue where no one has gone before. Inside you will read about... ✓ Early Life ✓ The Silk Road and Beyond ✓ Columbus' Quest for a Voyage ✓ First Voyage ✓ Second Voyage ✓ Third and Fourth Voyages ✓ Governor of the Indies And much more! In this eBook, you'll find out all about this most remarkable of men. You will uncover why he thought it so important to never give up on his dream, and how impossible his struggles became with each voyage he made. What was it like to sail over the edge of the ocean? This was a voyage not just anyone could undertake. It was the bravery and the brilliance of a man like Christopher Columbus who would make his dream come true and inspire a world to follow him.
121 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 7, 2016
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Hourly History
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
January 14, 2018
This told the story relatively accurately and for once for this series, it was told in chronological order. It only got two stars because of the terrible writing style and use of hyperbole, speculative narration, and total over simplification of so much of the context. I realize that these books have to simplify matters, but this one went way over the top.
April 16, 2018
“He stands in history as the completer of the globe.” —John Sterling
"...he achieved the physical unity of the globe.” —Lamartine
Before his risky voyages the world wasn't yet proved a globe; his voyage and the breakthrough of old frame in people’s mind opened up a new world with enlightenment. Without his challenge there wouldn’t be Copernicus, Kepler, Galilei and Newton, who finally opened the eyes of our world to the truth that had been unknown since the very beginning of our species.
Yes, Christopher Columbus is remembered as a greedy and cruel money chaser, but his daring spirit to challenge the old world point of view, which was totally blind and ignorant limiting Human potential must be respected and inherited (in a refined form) for our future.
(Kindle Locations 434-452)
...Columbus' is a mixed legacy. Many would immediately dismiss his greatness because of how he treated so many of the natives on all of the islands he sailed to. Evidences of brutality and bringing natives back as slaves against their will does not make for a great explorer legacy. As anyone of his caliber would do, he promised too much to sovereigns waiting at home; he believed, wrongly, it would turn out alright in the end, and that he could control every place he founded. As time would tell, many governors of the islands would be needed to control the disarray and new ways of colonizing, including instituting a slave trade which would soon become a reality. Christopher Columbus is credited with opening up the New World. His first voyage was an incredibly brave one. Just think of it: never having gone beyond the horizons, certainly never sailing past the Azores or Madeira - no one knew what lay beyond. Columbus had a feeling there was something there to find. He thought it was the Asian landmass. He failed to find what he set out to – and at first all the Europeans brought to the New World was disease and pestilence. Smallpox was unknown in these lands, and it is estimated that millions died after initially making contact with Columbus and those who came after him. Other things contributed greatly to the cultures of Europe and the Americas. Foods from the Americas such as potatoes, tomatoes, and corn became staples of new cuisines in Europe, and wheat became a new food source for people in North and South America. Because diseases wiped out so many, it was thought that European explorers had every right to treat the natives as they did. It wasn't just Columbus who did this. Couple this with how Christianity affected every explorer who took to the seas from then on to conquer and occupy, and it's easy to see why the Europeans felt so superior to the gentle, peace-loving tribes they discovered. Explorers like Columbus and others believed it one of their duties to enlighten anyone they came upon with the glories of Christianity. He would have looked on it as people in the New World were corrupt human beings without a true God, and he was just there to make it all right. It was the duty, after all, of Christians everywhere to spread the gospel and rescue heathens. This was the reality in the fifteenth century. It would only get worse as the slave trade took off, and for over 300 years millions would be subjected to the wrath of slave traders everywhere. Did Christopher Columbus create this? No; he was merely born into it. He, alone, could not and would not seek to change it. The atrocities and the brutality that were a part of Columbus' voyages were thought to be commonplace behavior. These things happened in Europe as well; throughout the centuries, one country would invade another and decimate its peoples relentlessly...
Funny they thought the others were corrupted Human Beings while they were the ones who were chasing money taking over the lands of other people who believed that land wasn’t to be owned by the people, but by the Mother Earth. See, it was the time of blind ignorance, and among the ignorant people Columbus at least had some gut to challenge the blindness of his time in pitiful darkness.
And for his people in Europe, he was definitely a hero: No one can satisfy everyone; there are always the benefiting-supporters and victimized-resistant.
Despite the author’s balanced interpretation of the figure and events, unfortunately, this book loses one star because of some misinforming lines.
(Kindle Location 10)
...As the 15th century was coming to a close, there were a number of European countries that were ready to sail beyond the horizon's edge. One of these countries was Spain. Another was England...
England in the late-15th century? Was there another England we never knew about?
(Kindle Location 10)
...As the Renaissance had created wealth throughout the lands of Europe, many were now looking beyond their borders for ever greater power and riches. Economic competition was growing fiercer by the day, and powerful nation-states knew they had to reach beyond what was visible to places not yet known to them.
No, the Renaissance opened their eyes for rich, and they had to try the ocean for the rich because the Ottoman Turks blocked the old passage through the Silk Road.
The book’s got a shitty head that misinforms the readers.
(Kindle Location 17)
They would do this through establishing trade routes into places not seen yet. There were countries and lands such as the Americas that had not been seen by Europeans yet, and were still unnamed by anyone. North and South America, and all of the Caribbean islands, were simply there, waiting for something to happen.
What were the native people there, wild animals or transparent spirits? If I stopped reading at this point, I’d give the book a flat-one star rating. But it’s a fine book if you read it to the last page.
What I like the most about the book is presented in the following lines:
(Kindle Locations 41-51)
It wasn't until the Black Death in the 14th century that great changes began happening. So many people died in these terrible scourges. It didn't matter if you were a peasant, a priest or a king; the sickness claimed everyone. What it left behind were gaps in the culture. Where once there were more than enough people to do a job, now there were very few. This meant better opportunities for everyone. Skilled crafts flourished while now there was an abundance to eat and harvest. Suddenly, people had money in their pockets. In order to spend that money, they needed new goods and services to be created. Thus was born the Renaissance, or re-birth. This period in history, which began in Italy and spread to all of Europe, was marked by a desire everywhere to make life better for everyone. Slowly, a middle class was emerging, one that was different from peasant life and which became vital in the new ways that towns and cities were organized. During the 14th to the 16th centuries, many new inventions and discoveries would be created. Not only was life being made easier, but now man's quest for greater things outside his scope was beginning to emerge like never before. New ways of doing things were being introduced into everyday life; paper, printing, painting, learning, music, and literature were all being transformed by masters who had the vision and fore-thought to create new realities.
This book explains why the Revolution had to follow afterwards, opening up a new era of democracy: The advent of the middle class among the common people. Democracy is unavoidable, and the only way to make it work for everyone is “right” education for the voters.
"...he achieved the physical unity of the globe.” —Lamartine
Before his risky voyages the world wasn't yet proved a globe; his voyage and the breakthrough of old frame in people’s mind opened up a new world with enlightenment. Without his challenge there wouldn’t be Copernicus, Kepler, Galilei and Newton, who finally opened the eyes of our world to the truth that had been unknown since the very beginning of our species.
Yes, Christopher Columbus is remembered as a greedy and cruel money chaser, but his daring spirit to challenge the old world point of view, which was totally blind and ignorant limiting Human potential must be respected and inherited (in a refined form) for our future.
(Kindle Locations 434-452)
...Columbus' is a mixed legacy. Many would immediately dismiss his greatness because of how he treated so many of the natives on all of the islands he sailed to. Evidences of brutality and bringing natives back as slaves against their will does not make for a great explorer legacy. As anyone of his caliber would do, he promised too much to sovereigns waiting at home; he believed, wrongly, it would turn out alright in the end, and that he could control every place he founded. As time would tell, many governors of the islands would be needed to control the disarray and new ways of colonizing, including instituting a slave trade which would soon become a reality. Christopher Columbus is credited with opening up the New World. His first voyage was an incredibly brave one. Just think of it: never having gone beyond the horizons, certainly never sailing past the Azores or Madeira - no one knew what lay beyond. Columbus had a feeling there was something there to find. He thought it was the Asian landmass. He failed to find what he set out to – and at first all the Europeans brought to the New World was disease and pestilence. Smallpox was unknown in these lands, and it is estimated that millions died after initially making contact with Columbus and those who came after him. Other things contributed greatly to the cultures of Europe and the Americas. Foods from the Americas such as potatoes, tomatoes, and corn became staples of new cuisines in Europe, and wheat became a new food source for people in North and South America. Because diseases wiped out so many, it was thought that European explorers had every right to treat the natives as they did. It wasn't just Columbus who did this. Couple this with how Christianity affected every explorer who took to the seas from then on to conquer and occupy, and it's easy to see why the Europeans felt so superior to the gentle, peace-loving tribes they discovered. Explorers like Columbus and others believed it one of their duties to enlighten anyone they came upon with the glories of Christianity. He would have looked on it as people in the New World were corrupt human beings without a true God, and he was just there to make it all right. It was the duty, after all, of Christians everywhere to spread the gospel and rescue heathens. This was the reality in the fifteenth century. It would only get worse as the slave trade took off, and for over 300 years millions would be subjected to the wrath of slave traders everywhere. Did Christopher Columbus create this? No; he was merely born into it. He, alone, could not and would not seek to change it. The atrocities and the brutality that were a part of Columbus' voyages were thought to be commonplace behavior. These things happened in Europe as well; throughout the centuries, one country would invade another and decimate its peoples relentlessly...
Funny they thought the others were corrupted Human Beings while they were the ones who were chasing money taking over the lands of other people who believed that land wasn’t to be owned by the people, but by the Mother Earth. See, it was the time of blind ignorance, and among the ignorant people Columbus at least had some gut to challenge the blindness of his time in pitiful darkness.
And for his people in Europe, he was definitely a hero: No one can satisfy everyone; there are always the benefiting-supporters and victimized-resistant.
Despite the author’s balanced interpretation of the figure and events, unfortunately, this book loses one star because of some misinforming lines.
(Kindle Location 10)
...As the 15th century was coming to a close, there were a number of European countries that were ready to sail beyond the horizon's edge. One of these countries was Spain. Another was England...
England in the late-15th century? Was there another England we never knew about?
(Kindle Location 10)
...As the Renaissance had created wealth throughout the lands of Europe, many were now looking beyond their borders for ever greater power and riches. Economic competition was growing fiercer by the day, and powerful nation-states knew they had to reach beyond what was visible to places not yet known to them.
No, the Renaissance opened their eyes for rich, and they had to try the ocean for the rich because the Ottoman Turks blocked the old passage through the Silk Road.
The book’s got a shitty head that misinforms the readers.
(Kindle Location 17)
They would do this through establishing trade routes into places not seen yet. There were countries and lands such as the Americas that had not been seen by Europeans yet, and were still unnamed by anyone. North and South America, and all of the Caribbean islands, were simply there, waiting for something to happen.
What were the native people there, wild animals or transparent spirits? If I stopped reading at this point, I’d give the book a flat-one star rating. But it’s a fine book if you read it to the last page.
What I like the most about the book is presented in the following lines:
(Kindle Locations 41-51)
It wasn't until the Black Death in the 14th century that great changes began happening. So many people died in these terrible scourges. It didn't matter if you were a peasant, a priest or a king; the sickness claimed everyone. What it left behind were gaps in the culture. Where once there were more than enough people to do a job, now there were very few. This meant better opportunities for everyone. Skilled crafts flourished while now there was an abundance to eat and harvest. Suddenly, people had money in their pockets. In order to spend that money, they needed new goods and services to be created. Thus was born the Renaissance, or re-birth. This period in history, which began in Italy and spread to all of Europe, was marked by a desire everywhere to make life better for everyone. Slowly, a middle class was emerging, one that was different from peasant life and which became vital in the new ways that towns and cities were organized. During the 14th to the 16th centuries, many new inventions and discoveries would be created. Not only was life being made easier, but now man's quest for greater things outside his scope was beginning to emerge like never before. New ways of doing things were being introduced into everyday life; paper, printing, painting, learning, music, and literature were all being transformed by masters who had the vision and fore-thought to create new realities.
This book explains why the Revolution had to follow afterwards, opening up a new era of democracy: The advent of the middle class among the common people. Democracy is unavoidable, and the only way to make it work for everyone is “right” education for the voters.
February 21, 2021
Apart from narrating the journey(s) that this master traveler undertook, the book provides certain unknown but fascinating aspects of Columbus. All this makes for an interesting read.
May 26, 2021
Hourly History provides a balanced view of this much famed navigator. It does a great job in covering those aspects which are mostly unknown to larger section of people.
March 8, 2024
Decent short history/biography. I appreciated that it was straight to the point. However, the writing was a bit too casual for my taste (for instance, the author says that the people “wised up” Columbus to the fact that Cuba was an island and not Asia.). I also felt like the author gave Columbus a pass on his atrocities because “that’s how things were back then” and “everyone did this.” I understand that that’s true, but the informal/casual style made it seem like the author was excusing him.
September 28, 2017
It is this trivia that we hear in school - Columbus discovered America. While that statement is inaccurate on many counts, considering, the Viking explorere Leif Erikson arrived in Newfoundland around 500 years before Columbus did, and the first European explorere to first set foot in the American mainland was Amerigo Vespucci. Despite all these, Columbus did possess a lot fo courage and introduced the Europeans to a whole new world and this is a short biography attempting to recollect the life and journey of Columbus.
Columbus was from Genoa (present day Italy), and was from a middle class family. His brother Bartholomew was a cartographer and Columbus too was passionate about ships and the sea. It then moves on to Columbus' adult life, sailing as a business agent to various parts of Europe. Columbus always believed that there was a route to Asia through the west and believed that it wasn't too far away. However, his ambitious project didn't receive sufficient funding, and the King of Portugal was not interested in funding his expedition. Queen Isabella of Castille did respond and accepted to fund his expedition and he finally ventured past Azores, something carried out by no European in the past. It then talks about his three expeditions, his discovery of Hispaniola, Cuba, among various other islands and governing them on behalf of Castille. There were also scandals that broke out, saying Columbus was a fraud, and also on how he treated the natives and others.
The book brought out the fact that the task undertaken by Columbus was very daring, because Europeans were already comfortable with the Cape of Good Hope route to Asia and were not interested in taking such a big risk. The description of his disappointments upon realising that it wasn't Asia was also brought out well, his misgovernance, treatment of slaves and in fact, the slave trade he carried out with the natives, was all described very well in the book. I felt that in an hour, this book covered the details in a manner in which you could read it all in an hour and at the same time, revisit some of Iberian history of the 15th century.
The book concluded on how Columbus should be viewed - whether as a daring explorer who opened up Europeans to a world beyond Azores or someone who ill treated the natives, indulged in slave trade and forcibly imposed his religion on them. The book left the judgement on Columbus to the individual reader.
Based on my experience with it, I would award the book a rating of four on five.
Columbus was from Genoa (present day Italy), and was from a middle class family. His brother Bartholomew was a cartographer and Columbus too was passionate about ships and the sea. It then moves on to Columbus' adult life, sailing as a business agent to various parts of Europe. Columbus always believed that there was a route to Asia through the west and believed that it wasn't too far away. However, his ambitious project didn't receive sufficient funding, and the King of Portugal was not interested in funding his expedition. Queen Isabella of Castille did respond and accepted to fund his expedition and he finally ventured past Azores, something carried out by no European in the past. It then talks about his three expeditions, his discovery of Hispaniola, Cuba, among various other islands and governing them on behalf of Castille. There were also scandals that broke out, saying Columbus was a fraud, and also on how he treated the natives and others.
The book brought out the fact that the task undertaken by Columbus was very daring, because Europeans were already comfortable with the Cape of Good Hope route to Asia and were not interested in taking such a big risk. The description of his disappointments upon realising that it wasn't Asia was also brought out well, his misgovernance, treatment of slaves and in fact, the slave trade he carried out with the natives, was all described very well in the book. I felt that in an hour, this book covered the details in a manner in which you could read it all in an hour and at the same time, revisit some of Iberian history of the 15th century.
The book concluded on how Columbus should be viewed - whether as a daring explorer who opened up Europeans to a world beyond Azores or someone who ill treated the natives, indulged in slave trade and forcibly imposed his religion on them. The book left the judgement on Columbus to the individual reader.
Based on my experience with it, I would award the book a rating of four on five.
May 16, 2020
Got this book for free on Kindle. Super quick read and rather interesting.
December 2, 2022
Much sloppy writing, much evidence, of author of this volume being not only a rabid racist, but a complete ignoramus and a smug one at that.
***
Author spends much of introduction asserting rights of exploration and stating that it's human nature to not stay in one place for long, before glorifying Columbus as a leader.
If all that were true and humanity were as nomadic as author claims, why would there be any architecture anywhere, much less monumental constructions - or anyone living outside green tropical regions with plenty of waters, bananas and coconuts?
Fact is, few people are nomadic by nature, despite the bias of biblical creeds. Most like a settled life and a homestead, and it was the 'tortured and oppressed' (as the Statue of Liberty says) of the European lands who needed to escape who spearheaded the large scale migration from need, whereas Vikings, interested in keeping their finds to themselves for benefit of rich fishing being kept secret so it wasn't shared by others, hadn't encouraged migration to continents they found in West.
***
There's sloppy writing .
"Genoa at this time was a large city with a proud history. It had actively taken part in the Crusades in earlier centuries and had successfully participated in battles with other Italian seaports. Because of its enormous commerce, it had grown exceedingly wealthy; everywhere you looked, there was another beautiful marble church or palace.
"Christopher Columbus was just like any other boy of his time: someone destined to follow in his father's footsteps. He would have been very skilled in all aspects of wool weaving. It would have been easy for him to take his work to the wharves, where he could watch all that was going on with all of the sea vessels coming in and going out.
"This also gave Columbus the opportunity to talk to some of these sailors. He found out many of them had been to foreign lands and faraway places; while some had sailed all around Italy and its ports, others had ventured out into the Black Sea eastward, and a few had even passed through the great Straits of Gibraltar and seen the vast, unending ocean."
Surely the ocean looks just as "vast, unending" on Mediterraenean shores? Surely one can't see across to Africa except at Gibraltar? Surely it's only sailors and cartographer who might have a clue of more, and others take their word, until aircrafts and satellites era?
***
"By 1422 there was a Portuguese captain who bravely pushed on and eventually rounded the Cape of Good Hope, the rocky point of land where the Atlantic Ocean gives way to the Indian Ocean.
"It wouldn't be until after Columbus sailed for Western lands in 1492 that another explorer, this one with the name of Vasco da Gama, would round the Cape of Good Hope again and find his way to Calcutta, India."
Again, funny - Arabs had traded with southern west vast of India, why would Vasco de Gama go to Calcutta which then wasn't anything more than a temple on a large river?
No, the author is ignorant as usual with Hourly History, and is confusing British practice with normal trade before. Vasco de Gama, if anything, landed on South-West coast, somewhere between Goa to Kerala. Judging by his name, Goa it must be. But as per Wikipedia,
" ... Gama landed in Calicut on 20 May 1498. ... "
Oh, so author is too ignorant to know the difference! Calicut is in Kerala on West coast in South, now back to original name Kozhicode, while Calcutta is in East in Bengal.
And the city named Vasco in Goa has nothing to do with Vasco de Gama except Goa was colonised by Portugal.
***
"By 1470 a Florentine astronomer had predicted that it would be easier to go west to find the Spice Islands (now known as the Maluku Islands). These lied near Indonesia and had always been known for their nutmeg, mace, and cloves cultivation. Also, sailors wanted another route to China, which was known as Cathay."
That should be 'lay', not "lied".
***
Again, sloppy writing.
"Many Portuguese explorers developed a passage to India by sailing around the Cape of Good Hope (in actuality, the Cape is not the “official” bottom of Africa; you have to sail another hundred miles east to come upon Cape Agulhas, where the two oceans actually meet)."
Oceans aren't fenced, and the only way you make any sense there is to say, and know, that Cape Agulhasis the southernmost point of Africa, which isn't apparent to casual beachcombers or cruise tourists, but only to those measuring.
***
"By the 1480s the Columbus brothers had come up with a plan to do something entirely different. They wanted to sail west across the “Ocean Sea” which they also knew as the Atlantic. This would be another way to reach the Indies. However, now that sailing around the Cape of Good Hope had become a reality, Portuguese explorers decided to stick with that. And suddenly, Portugal was leading the European nations in maritime exploration.
"So, it's no small wonder that Christopher Columbus headed to Lisbon. This was the city in Portugal where anyone who wanted to learn all there was to know about ocean navigation would gather.
"Once Columbus had headed to Iceland, it is here that many believe he started hearing rumors about “land to the west.” Columbus' brother Bartholomew was a mapmaker, and the two brothers began looking into ocean navigation seriously. They either opened a book-and-map shop or worked in one, but neither one made any kind of profit off of these endeavors."
That, indeed, is the key to his sailing west.
***
And now back to racism it is. US style, whereby the words "India", "Indian" are used as generic terms for anything not European, Chinese or African.
"One of the many people Columbus sought out to talk with was a mapmaker from Nuremberg in Germany, Martin Behaim. He had improved on navigational instruments such as the astrolabe, which was used to take the altitude of the sun, and by the time Columbus made his first voyage in 1492, Behaim had created a globe, the first of its kind. On it he showed how to get to places west of Europe and sail to Asiatic India."
The name India stems from the river Sindhu, which Europeans twisted to Indus, and was the easiest route in ancient era to the land across, bounded by Himaalaya to North and ocean on three other sides. The very name Sindhu literally means ocean, not because it's large as ri ers in India go, but because it came to flow in place of an ocean thst existed between India and Asia, before Himaalaya rose out of that ocean.
There's no other India and to give that name to natives or islands across Atlantic west of Europe is fraud perpetrated by Columbus, but there's no excuse other than a nazi level racism to continue perpetration of that fraud in an attempt to wipe out the very existence of an ancient land and her living ancient culture.
***
"It is said although Columbus knew how to draw maps and make his own spherical globes, he had little scientific knowledge. He was smart enough to seek out those who had been to places he wanted to see, places such as the Azores and Madeira, places where he had heard fabulous stories of islands filled to the brim with lush landscapes and foods. He also heard these same men speak of lands beyond these places where no one had ventured to date.
"Columbus would have trouble initially gaining financial backing for his voyages; it seemed that most Catholic rulers still believed in a flat world, even though a world which was spherical had been practically proven by the ancients, men such as Aristotle and Ptolemy. Christian writers, such as St. Bede the Venerable, writing in the 8th century, also proclaimed the world to be round.
"Even in Columbus' time, the techniques of celestial navigation, or that which uses the sun and the stars to guide their way, had been in use for centuries. These techniques were starting to be used by sailors."
Does the author even realise the contradiction between first sentence and the last one there? Or who else, if not sailors, does author think can it mean when speaking of using sun and stars for navigation?
***
"Most scholars reasoned that there was no sure way west from Europe to Asia. There was a ray of hope for Columbus, however. The Catholic monarchs of Spain, King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castile, had just concluded an expensive war and were looking for a way to gain an edge over other European monarchs.
"Christopher Columbus' quest for an expedition heading west into the Atlantic Ocean to find new lands and new ways to Asia held great promise for the king and queen. Yet before he spoke with them, he had one more monarch to win over."
There's the largest reason for the voyage, which is here left unmentioned, which was inquisition. India had been a known refuge from fanatics persecuting those of other creeds, and not only Jews since several centuries ago but also Persians, then comparatively more recently fleeing religious persecution, had found a sanctuary in India.
Columbus wanted sanctuary from inquisition, for Jews of Europe, who were facing persecution of inquisition.
Hence search for a route via ocean to India.
***
"“One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.”
"—Andre Gide"
***
"Columbus’ crew believed they had reached some island off of the coast of Asia. Columbus had mistakenly believed that Asia lay much closer than it actually did. ... "
Columbus, according to some sources, did know he was nowhere near India, but made his men swear falsely.
West especially continues the fraud of nomenclature knowingly, which is due to sheer racism, and its no better than, say, all Asia calling every European - and descendents of European migrants elsewhere - English.
***
"By October 28, Columbus had sailed on to the island of Cuba and explored the northeast coast. He and the Pinzon brothers continued to explore islands in search of gold; Columbus sailed to the northern coast of Hispaniola, landing there in early December. They kept looking for cities made of marble, for they thought they were near to China, but all they kept encountering were little villages of huts and natives who would run away when they would appear.
"Columbus noted in his diary that these natives had a funny custom of rolling up large dry leaves, which they called tobago. They would light one end of the rolled up leaf and smoke it. Instead of continuing westward, where Columbus might have learned about a land which we know as Florida, he instead headed east. Still looking for gold, spices and pearls, he asked many natives if they knew where any of these riches were."
"Word spread like wildfire throughout Spain and the rest of Europe that Columbus had seen the New World. It was March 15, 1493, ... "
"Columbus had proof of his findings in the New World: his six prisoners, whom he called “Indians”, along with parrots, flamingos, an iguana, and tropical plants. Townspeople figured he had gold too, but was not showing it as he traveled."
Again, that's no different from say, Chinese calling all Europeans, and descendents of European migrants too, including US citizens - Russian.
................................................................................................
"Travelling along the northern coast of Hispaniola, Columbus established another new settlement, which he named La Isabela. Because of its poor location, La Isabela didn't last long."
Whether that means name changed, or the island sank, is unclear, and so is the relevance of "its poor location" in the matter.
That was another example of bad writing by author of this volume of Hourly History.
***
"Columbus' second voyage; no gold, no riches of any kind, captive natives, and a visit with a friendly “king” who had helped them when the Santa Maria had grounded the year before. Most of all, Columbus and his sailors encountered the wrath of the island peoples – people who were really not willing to help out the Spaniards in any way.
"Many on this voyage had become ill, and Columbus was among them. He really didn't know what to tell the king and queen of Spain about this voyage; what was there to say about island after island, and animosity towards their seeming hospitality? What Columbus didn't realize was that just beyond these Caribbean islands lay an enormous land yet to be discovered."
" ... During this second voyage, Columbus believed that Cuba was Asia, and was going to write to the king and queen saying so. It was the natives who finally wised him up to the fact that Cuba was an island. He was again greatly disappointed."
But he did know he was nowhere near Asia, much less India. Why then continue abuse of the name of India? Racism, pure and simple.
After all, he hadn't called the natives he captured "chinamen", despite being aware thst sailing west from Europe he'd arrive at shores of China long before he was anywhere near India. Knowing he wasn't near China, yet, why abuse name of India?
Only as lure of gold and wealth to be looted as promised by the name, so finance and men for future expeditions would be easy?
***
" ... As the 15th century was coming to a close, there were a number of European countries that were ready to sail beyond the horizon's edge.
"One of these countries was Spain. Another was England. As the Renaissance had created wealth throughout the lands of Europe, many were now looking beyond their borders for ever greater power and riches. Economic competition was growing fiercer by the day, and powerful nation-states knew they had to reach beyond what was visible to places not yet known to them."
But Vikings had not only known of the continent across the pond, they had a settlement for centuries, with trading posts as far south as Watertown in Massachusetts.
And a monk from s monastery in Ireland had traveled across, lived there for three years and returned. When excommunicated, he'd traveled to Vatican and presented his testimony with evidence, resulting in withdrawal of his excommunication and an injunction to not speak of it, his documents kept by Vatican since.
***
"This would be the time known as the European colonization of the New World. Where kings and explorers once went in great array into neighboring countries to plunder and conquer, now they would turn their sights on foreign lands, all for whatever “gold” lay undiscovered there.
"They would do this through establishing trade routes into places not seen yet. There were countries and lands such as the Americas that had not been seen by Europeans yet, and were still unnamed by anyone. North and South America, and all of the Caribbean islands, were simply there, waiting for something to happen."
Is the author nullifying the then local populations of the continent across the Atlantic, all of them - because they were not European?
Height of racism.
***
"Christopher Columbus was not the first explorer to ever reach the far shores of North America; as far back as the 11th century the Vikings, headed by Leif Erikson, had skirted the shores of Greenland and the eastern provinces of Canada. In centuries past, the Vikings had raided parts of Scandinavia, and the British Isles relentlessly.
"They never established colonies in the “New World”; merely using their superior sailing skills had been enough for the Vikings to see these lands with their own eyes. It would take another time and place for the European expansion to begin."
No, that's false. Norumbega Tower in Waltham, MA is testimony to Viking establishments along the coast.
Colonies, no, but trading posts, yes.
***
Author spends rest of introduction asserting rights of exploration and stating that it's human nature to not stay in one place for long, before glorifying Columbus as a leader.
If all that were true and humanity were as nomadic as author claims, why would there be any architecture anywhere, much less monumental constructions - or anyone living outside green tropical regions with plenty of waters, bananas and coconuts?
***
"What is factually known about Christopher Columbus' early years is scarce indeed. He was born before October 31, 1451, in the Republic of Genoa, which is in modern Italy. Over a dozen towns have claimed to be Columbus' birthplace, but Genoa seems to be the most authentic. Columbus' father had a little house there.
"Some say he was born in the city of Genoa and others say it was the province of Genoa. Even Columbus says in his diary that he was born in the city itself and even today there is a house with an iron tablet placed on it which says in Latin “no house is more to be honored than this, in Christopher Columbus spent his boyhood and his early youth.”"
Herein author discourses on how life was then miserable - until Black Death came and ravaged Europe.
"Where once there were more than enough people to do a job, now there were very few. This meant better opportunities for everyone. Skilled crafts flourished while now there was an abundance to eat and harvest. Suddenly, people had money in their pockets. In order to spend that money, they needed new goods and services to be created.
***
"Thus was born the Renaissance, or re-birth. This period in history, which began in Italy and spread to all of Europe, was marked by a desire everywhere to make life better for everyone. Slowly, a middle class was emerging, one that was different from peasant life and which became vital in the new ways that towns and cities were organized.
"During the 14th to the 16th centuries, many new inventions and discoveries would be created. Not only was life being made easier, but now man's quest for greater things outside his scope was beginning to emerge like never before. New ways of doing things were being introduced into everyday life; paper, printing, painting, learning, music, and literature were all being transformed by masters who had the vision and fore-thought to create new realities."
Here author fails to acknowledge debt to the traders of silk route who had brought a number of manuscripts from India, and Arab and Jewish scribes who had copied manuscripts and preserved them.
***
"This was the new world that Columbus was born into. Italy, being a seafaring land because of its many ports all along the Mediterranean Sea, meant that sailing and the quest for new adventures was always on someone's mind.
"Columbus' father, Domenico Columbo, was a middle-class wool weaver. He also owned a cheese stand where Christopher helped out when he was growing up. His mother was Susanna Fontanarossa. Almost nothing is known of her life aside from the fact that she bore her husband five children: Cristoforo, Bartolomeo, Giovanni, Giacomo, and Bianchinetta."
What else is known of most women of the time?
***
Author spends much of introduction asserting rights of exploration and stating that it's human nature to not stay in one place for long, before glorifying Columbus as a leader.
If all that were true and humanity were as nomadic as author claims, why would there be any architecture anywhere, much less monumental constructions - or anyone living outside green tropical regions with plenty of waters, bananas and coconuts?
Fact is, few people are nomadic by nature, despite the bias of biblical creeds. Most like a settled life and a homestead, and it was the 'tortured and oppressed' (as the Statue of Liberty says) of the European lands who needed to escape who spearheaded the large scale migration from need, whereas Vikings, interested in keeping their finds to themselves for benefit of rich fishing being kept secret so it wasn't shared by others, hadn't encouraged migration to continents they found in West.
***
There's sloppy writing .
"Genoa at this time was a large city with a proud history. It had actively taken part in the Crusades in earlier centuries and had successfully participated in battles with other Italian seaports. Because of its enormous commerce, it had grown exceedingly wealthy; everywhere you looked, there was another beautiful marble church or palace.
"Christopher Columbus was just like any other boy of his time: someone destined to follow in his father's footsteps. He would have been very skilled in all aspects of wool weaving. It would have been easy for him to take his work to the wharves, where he could watch all that was going on with all of the sea vessels coming in and going out.
"This also gave Columbus the opportunity to talk to some of these sailors. He found out many of them had been to foreign lands and faraway places; while some had sailed all around Italy and its ports, others had ventured out into the Black Sea eastward, and a few had even passed through the great Straits of Gibraltar and seen the vast, unending ocean."
Surely the ocean looks just as "vast, unending" on Mediterraenean shores? Surely one can't see across to Africa except at Gibraltar? Surely it's only sailors and cartographer who might have a clue of more, and others take their word, until aircrafts and satellites era?
***
"By 1422 there was a Portuguese captain who bravely pushed on and eventually rounded the Cape of Good Hope, the rocky point of land where the Atlantic Ocean gives way to the Indian Ocean.
"It wouldn't be until after Columbus sailed for Western lands in 1492 that another explorer, this one with the name of Vasco da Gama, would round the Cape of Good Hope again and find his way to Calcutta, India."
Again, funny - Arabs had traded with southern west vast of India, why would Vasco de Gama go to Calcutta which then wasn't anything more than a temple on a large river?
No, the author is ignorant as usual with Hourly History, and is confusing British practice with normal trade before. Vasco de Gama, if anything, landed on South-West coast, somewhere between Goa to Kerala. Judging by his name, Goa it must be. But as per Wikipedia,
" ... Gama landed in Calicut on 20 May 1498. ... "
Oh, so author is too ignorant to know the difference! Calicut is in Kerala on West coast in South, now back to original name Kozhicode, while Calcutta is in East in Bengal.
And the city named Vasco in Goa has nothing to do with Vasco de Gama except Goa was colonised by Portugal.
***
"By 1470 a Florentine astronomer had predicted that it would be easier to go west to find the Spice Islands (now known as the Maluku Islands). These lied near Indonesia and had always been known for their nutmeg, mace, and cloves cultivation. Also, sailors wanted another route to China, which was known as Cathay."
That should be 'lay', not "lied".
***
Again, sloppy writing.
"Many Portuguese explorers developed a passage to India by sailing around the Cape of Good Hope (in actuality, the Cape is not the “official” bottom of Africa; you have to sail another hundred miles east to come upon Cape Agulhas, where the two oceans actually meet)."
Oceans aren't fenced, and the only way you make any sense there is to say, and know, that Cape Agulhasis the southernmost point of Africa, which isn't apparent to casual beachcombers or cruise tourists, but only to those measuring.
***
"By the 1480s the Columbus brothers had come up with a plan to do something entirely different. They wanted to sail west across the “Ocean Sea” which they also knew as the Atlantic. This would be another way to reach the Indies. However, now that sailing around the Cape of Good Hope had become a reality, Portuguese explorers decided to stick with that. And suddenly, Portugal was leading the European nations in maritime exploration.
"So, it's no small wonder that Christopher Columbus headed to Lisbon. This was the city in Portugal where anyone who wanted to learn all there was to know about ocean navigation would gather.
"Once Columbus had headed to Iceland, it is here that many believe he started hearing rumors about “land to the west.” Columbus' brother Bartholomew was a mapmaker, and the two brothers began looking into ocean navigation seriously. They either opened a book-and-map shop or worked in one, but neither one made any kind of profit off of these endeavors."
That, indeed, is the key to his sailing west.
***
And now back to racism it is. US style, whereby the words "India", "Indian" are used as generic terms for anything not European, Chinese or African.
"One of the many people Columbus sought out to talk with was a mapmaker from Nuremberg in Germany, Martin Behaim. He had improved on navigational instruments such as the astrolabe, which was used to take the altitude of the sun, and by the time Columbus made his first voyage in 1492, Behaim had created a globe, the first of its kind. On it he showed how to get to places west of Europe and sail to Asiatic India."
The name India stems from the river Sindhu, which Europeans twisted to Indus, and was the easiest route in ancient era to the land across, bounded by Himaalaya to North and ocean on three other sides. The very name Sindhu literally means ocean, not because it's large as ri ers in India go, but because it came to flow in place of an ocean thst existed between India and Asia, before Himaalaya rose out of that ocean.
There's no other India and to give that name to natives or islands across Atlantic west of Europe is fraud perpetrated by Columbus, but there's no excuse other than a nazi level racism to continue perpetration of that fraud in an attempt to wipe out the very existence of an ancient land and her living ancient culture.
***
"It is said although Columbus knew how to draw maps and make his own spherical globes, he had little scientific knowledge. He was smart enough to seek out those who had been to places he wanted to see, places such as the Azores and Madeira, places where he had heard fabulous stories of islands filled to the brim with lush landscapes and foods. He also heard these same men speak of lands beyond these places where no one had ventured to date.
"Columbus would have trouble initially gaining financial backing for his voyages; it seemed that most Catholic rulers still believed in a flat world, even though a world which was spherical had been practically proven by the ancients, men such as Aristotle and Ptolemy. Christian writers, such as St. Bede the Venerable, writing in the 8th century, also proclaimed the world to be round.
"Even in Columbus' time, the techniques of celestial navigation, or that which uses the sun and the stars to guide their way, had been in use for centuries. These techniques were starting to be used by sailors."
Does the author even realise the contradiction between first sentence and the last one there? Or who else, if not sailors, does author think can it mean when speaking of using sun and stars for navigation?
***
"Most scholars reasoned that there was no sure way west from Europe to Asia. There was a ray of hope for Columbus, however. The Catholic monarchs of Spain, King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castile, had just concluded an expensive war and were looking for a way to gain an edge over other European monarchs.
"Christopher Columbus' quest for an expedition heading west into the Atlantic Ocean to find new lands and new ways to Asia held great promise for the king and queen. Yet before he spoke with them, he had one more monarch to win over."
There's the largest reason for the voyage, which is here left unmentioned, which was inquisition. India had been a known refuge from fanatics persecuting those of other creeds, and not only Jews since several centuries ago but also Persians, then comparatively more recently fleeing religious persecution, had found a sanctuary in India.
Columbus wanted sanctuary from inquisition, for Jews of Europe, who were facing persecution of inquisition.
Hence search for a route via ocean to India.
***
"“One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.”
"—Andre Gide"
***
"Columbus’ crew believed they had reached some island off of the coast of Asia. Columbus had mistakenly believed that Asia lay much closer than it actually did. ... "
Columbus, according to some sources, did know he was nowhere near India, but made his men swear falsely.
West especially continues the fraud of nomenclature knowingly, which is due to sheer racism, and its no better than, say, all Asia calling every European - and descendents of European migrants elsewhere - English.
***
"By October 28, Columbus had sailed on to the island of Cuba and explored the northeast coast. He and the Pinzon brothers continued to explore islands in search of gold; Columbus sailed to the northern coast of Hispaniola, landing there in early December. They kept looking for cities made of marble, for they thought they were near to China, but all they kept encountering were little villages of huts and natives who would run away when they would appear.
"Columbus noted in his diary that these natives had a funny custom of rolling up large dry leaves, which they called tobago. They would light one end of the rolled up leaf and smoke it. Instead of continuing westward, where Columbus might have learned about a land which we know as Florida, he instead headed east. Still looking for gold, spices and pearls, he asked many natives if they knew where any of these riches were."
"Word spread like wildfire throughout Spain and the rest of Europe that Columbus had seen the New World. It was March 15, 1493, ... "
"Columbus had proof of his findings in the New World: his six prisoners, whom he called “Indians”, along with parrots, flamingos, an iguana, and tropical plants. Townspeople figured he had gold too, but was not showing it as he traveled."
Again, that's no different from say, Chinese calling all Europeans, and descendents of European migrants too, including US citizens - Russian.
................................................................................................
"Travelling along the northern coast of Hispaniola, Columbus established another new settlement, which he named La Isabela. Because of its poor location, La Isabela didn't last long."
Whether that means name changed, or the island sank, is unclear, and so is the relevance of "its poor location" in the matter.
That was another example of bad writing by author of this volume of Hourly History.
***
"Columbus' second voyage; no gold, no riches of any kind, captive natives, and a visit with a friendly “king” who had helped them when the Santa Maria had grounded the year before. Most of all, Columbus and his sailors encountered the wrath of the island peoples – people who were really not willing to help out the Spaniards in any way.
"Many on this voyage had become ill, and Columbus was among them. He really didn't know what to tell the king and queen of Spain about this voyage; what was there to say about island after island, and animosity towards their seeming hospitality? What Columbus didn't realize was that just beyond these Caribbean islands lay an enormous land yet to be discovered."
" ... During this second voyage, Columbus believed that Cuba was Asia, and was going to write to the king and queen saying so. It was the natives who finally wised him up to the fact that Cuba was an island. He was again greatly disappointed."
But he did know he was nowhere near Asia, much less India. Why then continue abuse of the name of India? Racism, pure and simple.
After all, he hadn't called the natives he captured "chinamen", despite being aware thst sailing west from Europe he'd arrive at shores of China long before he was anywhere near India. Knowing he wasn't near China, yet, why abuse name of India?
Only as lure of gold and wealth to be looted as promised by the name, so finance and men for future expeditions would be easy?
***
" ... As the 15th century was coming to a close, there were a number of European countries that were ready to sail beyond the horizon's edge.
"One of these countries was Spain. Another was England. As the Renaissance had created wealth throughout the lands of Europe, many were now looking beyond their borders for ever greater power and riches. Economic competition was growing fiercer by the day, and powerful nation-states knew they had to reach beyond what was visible to places not yet known to them."
But Vikings had not only known of the continent across the pond, they had a settlement for centuries, with trading posts as far south as Watertown in Massachusetts.
And a monk from s monastery in Ireland had traveled across, lived there for three years and returned. When excommunicated, he'd traveled to Vatican and presented his testimony with evidence, resulting in withdrawal of his excommunication and an injunction to not speak of it, his documents kept by Vatican since.
***
"This would be the time known as the European colonization of the New World. Where kings and explorers once went in great array into neighboring countries to plunder and conquer, now they would turn their sights on foreign lands, all for whatever “gold” lay undiscovered there.
"They would do this through establishing trade routes into places not seen yet. There were countries and lands such as the Americas that had not been seen by Europeans yet, and were still unnamed by anyone. North and South America, and all of the Caribbean islands, were simply there, waiting for something to happen."
Is the author nullifying the then local populations of the continent across the Atlantic, all of them - because they were not European?
Height of racism.
***
"Christopher Columbus was not the first explorer to ever reach the far shores of North America; as far back as the 11th century the Vikings, headed by Leif Erikson, had skirted the shores of Greenland and the eastern provinces of Canada. In centuries past, the Vikings had raided parts of Scandinavia, and the British Isles relentlessly.
"They never established colonies in the “New World”; merely using their superior sailing skills had been enough for the Vikings to see these lands with their own eyes. It would take another time and place for the European expansion to begin."
No, that's false. Norumbega Tower in Waltham, MA is testimony to Viking establishments along the coast.
Colonies, no, but trading posts, yes.
***
Author spends rest of introduction asserting rights of exploration and stating that it's human nature to not stay in one place for long, before glorifying Columbus as a leader.
If all that were true and humanity were as nomadic as author claims, why would there be any architecture anywhere, much less monumental constructions - or anyone living outside green tropical regions with plenty of waters, bananas and coconuts?
***
"What is factually known about Christopher Columbus' early years is scarce indeed. He was born before October 31, 1451, in the Republic of Genoa, which is in modern Italy. Over a dozen towns have claimed to be Columbus' birthplace, but Genoa seems to be the most authentic. Columbus' father had a little house there.
"Some say he was born in the city of Genoa and others say it was the province of Genoa. Even Columbus says in his diary that he was born in the city itself and even today there is a house with an iron tablet placed on it which says in Latin “no house is more to be honored than this, in Christopher Columbus spent his boyhood and his early youth.”"
Herein author discourses on how life was then miserable - until Black Death came and ravaged Europe.
"Where once there were more than enough people to do a job, now there were very few. This meant better opportunities for everyone. Skilled crafts flourished while now there was an abundance to eat and harvest. Suddenly, people had money in their pockets. In order to spend that money, they needed new goods and services to be created.
***
"Thus was born the Renaissance, or re-birth. This period in history, which began in Italy and spread to all of Europe, was marked by a desire everywhere to make life better for everyone. Slowly, a middle class was emerging, one that was different from peasant life and which became vital in the new ways that towns and cities were organized.
"During the 14th to the 16th centuries, many new inventions and discoveries would be created. Not only was life being made easier, but now man's quest for greater things outside his scope was beginning to emerge like never before. New ways of doing things were being introduced into everyday life; paper, printing, painting, learning, music, and literature were all being transformed by masters who had the vision and fore-thought to create new realities."
Here author fails to acknowledge debt to the traders of silk route who had brought a number of manuscripts from India, and Arab and Jewish scribes who had copied manuscripts and preserved them.
***
"This was the new world that Columbus was born into. Italy, being a seafaring land because of its many ports all along the Mediterranean Sea, meant that sailing and the quest for new adventures was always on someone's mind.
"Columbus' father, Domenico Columbo, was a middle-class wool weaver. He also owned a cheese stand where Christopher helped out when he was growing up. His mother was Susanna Fontanarossa. Almost nothing is known of her life aside from the fact that she bore her husband five children: Cristoforo, Bartolomeo, Giovanni, Giacomo, and Bianchinetta."
What else is known of most women of the time?
January 29, 2017
It is commonly known by everyone that Christopher Columbus discovered the New World in 1492. This, however, isn’t exactly accurate as it has since been proved that the Vikings of Scandinavia visited Greenland, Newfoundland, and Labrador five hundred years earlier. This doesn’t detract from Columbus’s vision, courage, and accomplishments. Although he wasn’t the first to believe that the earth was round and that by traveling west you would eventually find the east. He was the first to make this first daring step into the unknown. In my opinion, Columbus’s greatest contribution to the Renaissance (the Age of Enlightenment), is making his discoveries known to the world as a whole.
His dreams and expectations fell far short of their goal, as did his promise of immediate wealth to the Spanish crown. His lone triumph is in pointing the way, so that others may follow. The book relates his many shortcomings and mistakes. His initial success went to his head and he ended up paying the price.
Like all of the books in this series, the reader is given an abridged version of an event or life and is encouraged to dig deeper in other publications. This one didn’t appeal to me as much as others. It seems to be directed for children consumption and seems to carry a slightly condescending note. Nevertheless, it did succeed in leaving me with a hunger to know more. One could say that it mirrors Columbus’s life in succeeding where it counts.
His dreams and expectations fell far short of their goal, as did his promise of immediate wealth to the Spanish crown. His lone triumph is in pointing the way, so that others may follow. The book relates his many shortcomings and mistakes. His initial success went to his head and he ended up paying the price.
Like all of the books in this series, the reader is given an abridged version of an event or life and is encouraged to dig deeper in other publications. This one didn’t appeal to me as much as others. It seems to be directed for children consumption and seems to carry a slightly condescending note. Nevertheless, it did succeed in leaving me with a hunger to know more. One could say that it mirrors Columbus’s life in succeeding where it counts.
July 20, 2020
Learn More About This Explorer
I decided to read this book after seeing protesters gear down statues of Christopher Columbus during the Black Lives Matter demonstrations in Summer 2020. I was mystified as to why this hated toward Columbus. Some protesters noted that Columbus wasn't the first explorer to discover the New World, the Vikings did many years earlier. True but no great changes happened as of the Vikings voyages while those of Columbus changed history. What I learned from this biography was that Columbus had the courage to sail into the unknown at a time when many believed the earth was flat and ships could call off the end of it. He didn't share that belief and courageously sailed off into the unknown and returned to tell about it. At this time the most that mariners did was sail close to land down the coast of Africa and around the Cape. Without Columbus it's unclear how many decades would have passed before North and South America would have been discovered. But this was a brutal time in history and Columbus was a part of it. The Caribbean islands he visited were already settled by natives but he took these islands over in the name of Spain. He brought back natives to Spain to show off to his sponsors, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. His governance of Spanish settlements on the Islands was uninspired and he was removed from office. Not intentionally he introduced European diseases to the native populations and many died as a result. Born in Genoa, Italy but spending his adult life in Portugal and Spain, Christopher Columbus is best remembered as a fearless explorer who changed history.
I decided to read this book after seeing protesters gear down statues of Christopher Columbus during the Black Lives Matter demonstrations in Summer 2020. I was mystified as to why this hated toward Columbus. Some protesters noted that Columbus wasn't the first explorer to discover the New World, the Vikings did many years earlier. True but no great changes happened as of the Vikings voyages while those of Columbus changed history. What I learned from this biography was that Columbus had the courage to sail into the unknown at a time when many believed the earth was flat and ships could call off the end of it. He didn't share that belief and courageously sailed off into the unknown and returned to tell about it. At this time the most that mariners did was sail close to land down the coast of Africa and around the Cape. Without Columbus it's unclear how many decades would have passed before North and South America would have been discovered. But this was a brutal time in history and Columbus was a part of it. The Caribbean islands he visited were already settled by natives but he took these islands over in the name of Spain. He brought back natives to Spain to show off to his sponsors, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. His governance of Spanish settlements on the Islands was uninspired and he was removed from office. Not intentionally he introduced European diseases to the native populations and many died as a result. Born in Genoa, Italy but spending his adult life in Portugal and Spain, Christopher Columbus is best remembered as a fearless explorer who changed history.
October 2, 2017
Informative quick read
Hourly History eBooks seem to aim to give you as much useful information as they can in an hour, and this Christopher Columbus edition meets that goal nicely. It touches on his childhood, early influences, and experiences prior to the infamous sailing, and continues on to his return visits, discusses his biting off more than he could chew with both exploring and wanting to be governor of each island he claims, and follows his life to its end.
This quick read is full of interesting tidbits, and reminders that there is more to the story than just a childhood rhyme.
"During this second voyage, Columbus believed that Cuba was Asia, and was going to write to the king and queen saying so. It was the natives who finally wised him up to the fact that Cuba was an island. He was again greatly disappointed."
Hourly History eBooks seem to aim to give you as much useful information as they can in an hour, and this Christopher Columbus edition meets that goal nicely. It touches on his childhood, early influences, and experiences prior to the infamous sailing, and continues on to his return visits, discusses his biting off more than he could chew with both exploring and wanting to be governor of each island he claims, and follows his life to its end.
This quick read is full of interesting tidbits, and reminders that there is more to the story than just a childhood rhyme.
"During this second voyage, Columbus believed that Cuba was Asia, and was going to write to the king and queen saying so. It was the natives who finally wised him up to the fact that Cuba was an island. He was again greatly disappointed."
May 3, 2020
Little is known of Christopher Columbus…
This hourly history gives us some insight into Columbus’ life. I personally cannot think of a time in my childhood and my adulthood when we didn’t, in some way, celebrate Columbus Day on October 12th every year.
The Columbus did not actually achieve what he really wanted to accomplish, he did bring to Europe until later generations whole new world. Actually, many worlds with many different cultures and many different natural resources.
Hero or villain? This little reading will assure you that he was neither of these. Just a man, wanting to explore, looking for riches and things out of the ordinary. And, to experience as much as he possibly could through his lifetime.
This hourly history gives us some insight into Columbus’ life. I personally cannot think of a time in my childhood and my adulthood when we didn’t, in some way, celebrate Columbus Day on October 12th every year.
The Columbus did not actually achieve what he really wanted to accomplish, he did bring to Europe until later generations whole new world. Actually, many worlds with many different cultures and many different natural resources.
Hero or villain? This little reading will assure you that he was neither of these. Just a man, wanting to explore, looking for riches and things out of the ordinary. And, to experience as much as he possibly could through his lifetime.
March 3, 2018
Crappy
Out of all the Hourly History volumes that I have read, and I have read over 70 of them, this one was the worst. It had to have been written by a 16 year old for extra credit in his or her history course. It oozed cockiness. There were grammar issues. Sentence structure problems. Instead of enjoying the book all I wanted to do was slap the author. Hourly History please don't let teenagers write these books. Thank you.
Out of all the Hourly History volumes that I have read, and I have read over 70 of them, this one was the worst. It had to have been written by a 16 year old for extra credit in his or her history course. It oozed cockiness. There were grammar issues. Sentence structure problems. Instead of enjoying the book all I wanted to do was slap the author. Hourly History please don't let teenagers write these books. Thank you.
June 9, 2019
Did Columbus Discover America?
Although we celebrate Christopher Columbus as having discovered America, he really only discovered some of the islands in the Caribbean, Central America and the tip of South America. He had a huge ego and promised far more than he was able to deliver or control. But he was the first brave soul to sail west into unknown waters and find new land. His legacy is is a mixed bag but he blazed the trail for those who later followed.
Although we celebrate Christopher Columbus as having discovered America, he really only discovered some of the islands in the Caribbean, Central America and the tip of South America. He had a huge ego and promised far more than he was able to deliver or control. But he was the first brave soul to sail west into unknown waters and find new land. His legacy is is a mixed bag but he blazed the trail for those who later followed.
April 6, 2017
Hourly History publications cover a broad span of historical topics. The condensed books are easily radable, with flowing prose. Editing is superior to other condensed history Kindle books, for example those available from Charles River Editors. I found this book provided broad-based context of Columbus voyages, not just historical facts.
March 12, 2019
While the content is appropriate for the life and achievements of Christopher Columbus within constrained limits, the writing seemed poorer than other Hourly History installments. Too much informal exposition. The tone was distracting at times and there were several grammatical errors throughout. Like the others in this series, it's readable and covers the basics.
April 30, 2020
Christopher Who?
A quick synopsis of Columbus and his life, voyages and tragedies. The book maintains the reader’s interest. It is short on details, but enough is offered to leave the reader better informed if he were a typical American who only knew Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492.
A quick synopsis of Columbus and his life, voyages and tragedies. The book maintains the reader’s interest. It is short on details, but enough is offered to leave the reader better informed if he were a typical American who only knew Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492.
January 17, 2021
Sitting on the fence
Tried to give a balanced view of the legacy of Columbus rather than leaving the facts to speak. Also repeats the myth, but later seems to discard it, that everyone in the 15th century thought the earth was flat. This was a view spread by Washington Irving of Rio van Winkle fame.
Tried to give a balanced view of the legacy of Columbus rather than leaving the facts to speak. Also repeats the myth, but later seems to discard it, that everyone in the 15th century thought the earth was flat. This was a view spread by Washington Irving of Rio van Winkle fame.
April 30, 2021
Another great book by Hourly History
I loved learning more about Columbus' life and voyages, I never realized he had so many. Another great book by Hourly History and I can't wait to read the next one. I would recommend this to anyone who likes quick, informative, and easy to read historical books.
I loved learning more about Columbus' life and voyages, I never realized he had so many. Another great book by Hourly History and I can't wait to read the next one. I would recommend this to anyone who likes quick, informative, and easy to read historical books.
June 20, 2019
A life in denial
If Columbus were alive today he would be charged with crimes against humanity.
It’s interesting in how far persistent will take you no matter your level of ineptitude.
If Columbus were alive today he would be charged with crimes against humanity.
It’s interesting in how far persistent will take you no matter your level of ineptitude.
February 17, 2020
1492, Columbus sailed west for Asia. Wow !
Ofcourse you need courage to look beyond the horizon. And that is precisely what Columbus was able to achieve. He discovered the great continents if Americas.
Ofcourse you need courage to look beyond the horizon. And that is precisely what Columbus was able to achieve. He discovered the great continents if Americas.
April 23, 2020
A quick & easy biography.
This was interesting and a quick summary of the life of Christopher Columbus. Not overly scholarly but informative and a starting point if you want to learn more.
This was interesting and a quick summary of the life of Christopher Columbus. Not overly scholarly but informative and a starting point if you want to learn more.
June 14, 2018
Christopher Columbus was a courageous and persistent man, but he was also very disappointing.
July 27, 2020
Very good
Interesting account of an early explorer. He was a mixture of traits which are common to Christians of this time.
Interesting account of an early explorer. He was a mixture of traits which are common to Christians of this time.
October 12, 2020
A brief history of an important person in world history.
April 21, 2022
Opinion changed
My knowledge about this man changed after reading this. Silly errors / typos should have been avoided. Ok. Still recommended.
My knowledge about this man changed after reading this. Silly errors / typos should have been avoided. Ok. Still recommended.
May 1, 2022
Christopher Columbus
This book on Christopher Columbus is short, sweet, and thorough. It was fun to read and I finished it quickly.
This book on Christopher Columbus is short, sweet, and thorough. It was fun to read and I finished it quickly.
July 11, 2024
One of my favorite historical figures of all time, yet this book was very poorly written. It reads like a first draft.
Read
September 14, 2020Having not been born in the USA, I did not learn about Christopher Columbus as a child. After travelling to East Coast USA, Spain and Portugal I heard many different stories about the man who supposedly discovered the Americas, not all told a nice story about him. I saw this book for free on Kindle Unlimited and as it was a ‘One Hour Read’ book, I thought, why not start here?
I am not sure if this book is meant for young people, but I really enjoyed it and felt like I learned a lot about what Christopher Columbus actually did, and what he was like. It has spurred me to want to read more now, as this was an intriguing point in time. I would highly recommend this to anyone who would like to know something about Christopher Columbus, especially if travelling to the Americas or to Western Europe, as there are lots of stories about him, not all of them true!
I am not sure if this book is meant for young people, but I really enjoyed it and felt like I learned a lot about what Christopher Columbus actually did, and what he was like. It has spurred me to want to read more now, as this was an intriguing point in time. I would highly recommend this to anyone who would like to know something about Christopher Columbus, especially if travelling to the Americas or to Western Europe, as there are lots of stories about him, not all of them true!
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