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One October several years ago while I was driving to work I listened to a radio show about Christopher Columbus. It said he sent his teams of sailors and navigators on repeated trips to the northwest hemisphere years before the 1492 expedition. On those trips the team members mapped out the terrain, observed the inhabitants, looked for gold and other precious metals, and noted water sources, plants, animals, and minerals. Each time they sailed back home, they went to Columbus' house and reported their findings. Columbus had a large estate where he easily accommodated his employees as well as his family and household staff. On the third return home, one of his sailors had become so ill he stayed at the estate for weeks and received medical care but he did not survive.
After all information was put into a report and presented to the officials of Spain, Columbus got the backing to set up the 1492 voyage on Spain's behalf and for their profit. There's more to the story and it's in a book supposedly written by "the first American Indian author ever published", back in the 1500's?, 1600's? I wonder if anyone recognizes the book or the author. Both were named in the broadcast but I don't recall them now. Does any of this sound familiar? Would be a big help.
Something doesn't add up. Is the suggestion that there were expeditions to the Americas organized by Columbus prior to 1492?
Right. That's exactly what the person was asserting. I'd never heard of any of this and don't know if it's true, false, or a mix. Just wish I'd thought to jot down the sources he cited.
It said he sent his teams of sailors and navigators on repeated trips to the northwest hemisphere years before the 1492 expedition. On those trips the team members mapped out the terrain, observed the inhabitants, looked for gold and other precious metals, and noted water sources, plants, animals, and minerals. Each time they sailed back home, they went to Columbus' house and reported their findings. Columbus had a large estate where he easily accommodated his employees as well as his family and household staff.
I don't think he could have afforded to send out expeditions at that point in his life, nor did he have an estate. He was married to a wealthy woman when he was younger, but she died in the 1480s, and after that he was flat broke and in debt. In fact, I believe that for some years prior to his famous voyage, he had to stay at a monastery so that his son would have a roof over his head. I may be misremembering that, though.
Sorry if that's not much help, but I'm just not sure how that would all reconcile.
Based on all of the mainstream reserach that is out there, these claims are false and rather fanciful. Columbus was rather poor and mainly living off of the good graces of others before his expeditions. His own personal sailing knowledge was rather limited (compared to others), but he was rather well read on the main topics that mattered for his expeditions. There is simply no way for Columbus to have financed anything on his own or he would have financed his own expeditions and not relied on the King and Queen of Spain who didn't exactly give him all that much help to begin with (three ships, a crew and supplies; whose cost were forced on the port from which he departed, wasn't exactly a major investment).
Now, we do have some nuggets here that seem to have some basis in reality. Henry the Navigator did send out a ton of expeditions. These voyages discovered the "Volta do Mar" or the "Turn of the Sea". This is the wind pattern that became known as the "westerlies" and "easterlies" that played a huge role in Columbus' voyage. There also appears to be tie-ins from the work of Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli. Toscanelli compiled writings and maps from many sources, including Chinese sources per his claim, and developed his own map of the world. This map showed that a western route to Asia was not only possible, but more efficient. He pitched his ideas to Alfonso V and John II to no avail. He eventually ended up corresponding with Columbus. Toscanelli's work became the basis for Columbus' idea/proposal.
There are only a handful of authors they could have been referring to. Here are the links to the wikipedia sites on them. None of them, as far as I know, contain in their works any claims about earlier expeditions:
All responses appreciated, thanks. NJGOAT - very interesting information and links. That's the kind of stuff I'm looking for.
Trying to get to the bottom of this is becoming a bit of a hobby for me, however frustrating. One example: it's a mystery to me how a scruffy, down and out guy with no demonstrable excellence in his field was able to get not just an audience with a Queen but secure her money too. To go on some nebulous lark in search of a faster way to the abundant east? And then he goes west. I've felt since elementary school that something's a little off there. There's got to be more to Columbus than is currently published. If I'm wrong, ok. But will keep digging for a while.
very interesting information..
Trying to get to the bottom of this is becoming a bit of a hobby for me:.. it's a mystery to me how a scruffy, down and out guy with no demonstrable excellence in his field was able to get not just an audience with a Queen but secure her money too..To go on some nebulous lark..
Lia, Appreciate this thread; I'm also a fan of historical mysteries. I've never heard an account of Columbus' scouting missions. Agree with earlier posters that it's dubious. Columbus' first crew was borderline mutinous bcuz they got anxious (as the trip dragged on) that Columbus didn't know what he was doing. If they had successful experiences on long scouting journeys, I doubt they would've experienced such serious anxieties..
As far as Columbus securing financial backing, it took years of persistent sales work. I think it's a testament to Columbus' determination & self-confidence, more than an unknown backstory (?) But I do think there's a lot left to be learned about the mariners who influenced Columbus.. Columbus' contemporaries whose names have been somewhat lost to history, who may have given him invaluable, yet unrecognized, tutelage (?) Also interested in the theories that Columbus may have been a Jewish converso descendant. From his writings, it's apparent he was a highly motivated Christian evangelist, but did a Jewish background make Columbus sympathetic to finding new escape-route for displaced Spanish Jews..
All responses appreciated, thanks. NJGOAT - very interesting information and links. That's the kind of stuff I'm looking for.
Trying to get to the bottom of this is becoming a bit of a hobby for me, however frustrating. One example: it's a mystery to me how a scruffy, down and out guy with no demonstrable excellence in his field was able to get not just an audience with a Queen but secure her money too. To go on some nebulous lark in search of a faster way to the abundant east? And then he goes west. I've felt since elementary school that something's a little off there. There's got to be more to Columbus than is currently published. If I'm wrong, ok. But will keep digging for a while.
I did some googling and stumbled across this book which seems to tie-in strongly to what you are talking about. The relevant part is Chapter 10 - Was Christopher Columbus Catalan?
Thankfully the full text is on google books and then you can search from there. Essentially the theory is that Columbus was actually a man named Joan Colom who was a Catalan nobleman with claims to the throne of Catalan. He was also much older than previously assumed and had been a very well established sea-farer before the trip.
It is an interesting theory and has a lof of research behind it:
The DNA testing seems to have resulted at a bit of a deadend as the Colom's of Catalan and the Colombo's of Genoa are genetically very similar.
Suffice to say the idea of Colombus being no one and then becoming someone and getting access to the royal courts is hard to believe. However, there is a possible explanation...
According to the official story Columbus and his brother (who was based in Portugal) were both employed as agents by the Centurione, a powerful Genoese merchant family. This family had noble origins and royal ties. This group placed Columbus on an armed trading expedition to Northern Europe that included stops in England, Ireland and maybe even Iceland. This gave him his early sailing experience. They also could have provided him the necessary connections to get an audience to have his ideas heard, especially via his brother he was based in Portugal. All it takes is the friend of a friend...
When it comes to the actual cost of financing the trip, there really wasn't much involved. The ships were leased as was the custom of the time. The port of Pals provided the supplies. The crew was hired and mainly from Pals and the surrounding area. I have seen estimates online that the cost of the voyage was rather nominal with most of the cost going to purchase insurance against the possible loss of the ships. Columbus himself through various financial backers paid about a quarter of the cost. The royal treasury floated about half and the remainder was paid for by the port of Pals under order from the king and queen. Heck, it's almost like Columbus was going on a 15th century version of Shark Tank.
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