Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Why 1492? Fully discuss the economic, political and scientific factors that made Christopher Columbus' voyage possible.
This is my reason : The Muslims were increasingly blocking the overland routes from China, the Portuguese controlled the route around the horn of Africa, to India, etc. *Others were looking for alternatives. *Like Portugal, Spain was a seafaring nation. *Columbus, an Italian, wanting to sail around the world to China, underestimated the size of world, he was lucky that there was something in the way, else he might have fallen off the edge or at least never come back.
Pretty much. The rise of the hostile Ottoman Empire had closed many of Europe's key trade routes to the far east. So to cut out the middle man, some bright sparks figured that they could simply sail directly to India and China, and cut out the middle man. Portugal and Spain benefited from their geographic position that allowed them easy access to the Atlantic Ocean. In Queen Isabella of Castille, Columbus found somebody who was willing to take a risk in financing his voyage. As you said, Columbus underestimated the size of the world, initially he thought he had arrived on the coast of India, but soon discovered that was not the case, he had uncovered a new world that was previously unknown to Europeans (except the Vikings).
In case anybody is wondering, yes Columbus knew that the world was round. Contrary to the popular stereotype, the fact that the world is round has been common knowledge in Europe since the days of Ancient Greece.
I suspect the Majorcan cartographers and the growing inventory of geographic and nautical information compiled there and in Portugal also helped make a the voyages more plausible. The Portuguese were already around the Cape of Good Hope by 1488. We sometimes think they were just coasting southward but were often sailing well out in open water away from the coast of Africa. They were sailing to Madeira and the Canaries and Cabral was at the coast of Brazil in 1500. Columbus (originally from Genoa) lived on Porto Santo, a Portuguese island near Madeira, until c. 1485. He apparently held sufficient status to marry the sister of the local Governor. While there he became acquainted with Portuguese sea captains and probably their charts and voyages. The Genoese had their own sailing tradition and had ventured out into the Atlantic in search of the Canary Islands generations before Columbus. All of this contributed to the knowledge base for extended voyages to the west. Ship building and rigging technology had also progressed over the years to allow longer voyages.
If I didn’t remember wrong, there was abook written by a Portuguese government minister. It said Portugal was overpopulated at those times. And the expansions from the land routes were pretty much impossible. So they had to expand by the seas. The overpopulace in the country was so bad, they could move all their armed forces onto their ships without any regards. But the history telling, they rather be crowding with one and another in their homesthan coming to dwell in the “hot” paradises. This was the Portugal political historybackground making the Discovery age.
Location: New Albany, Indiana (Greater Louisville)
11,974 posts, read 25,473,841 times
Reputation: 12187
Europe was very divided and competitive, each viewed their nation as the new Israel and everyone else as Samaria or Babylon. Ottoman Empire was very strong and blocked any route in that direction. The first nation to find a new route to the East would have a major advantage.
Why 1492? Fully discuss the economic, political and scientific factors that made Christopher Columbus' voyage possible.
This is my reason : The Muslims were increasingly blocking the overland routes from China, the Portuguese controlled the route around the horn of Africa, to India, etc. *Others were looking for alternatives. *Like Portugal, Spain was a seafaring nation. *Columbus, an Italian, wanting to sail around the world to China, underestimated the size of world, he was lucky that there was something in the way, else he might have fallen off the edge or at least never come back.
There is word "please", you know?
Also, he was not Italian. There was really not much of Italy then either.
He was emissary of Genoa moneybags. They said - it's time to undust old maps and make more money from across Atlantic. Word is - he knew very well where he is going. Plenty of old maps of Americas BEFORE his trip.
You're entering into the realms of conspiracy theories here. I don't think it's unfeasible that earlier contact was made, but as for actually mapping the entire continent, I'm not too sure. But assuming that it did happen, what's the likelihood that Columbus did have hold of any of these maps?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
or at least never come back.
