History of Columbus Day

1583

Columbus Day isn’t just an American holiday, many other countries like Spain, Italy and Costa Rica also celebrate on this day. Columbus Day usually take place between October 10 and October 15. The history of Columbus Day is very simple but confusing at the same time. Christopher Columbus set sail in 1492 in his three ships, The Pinta’, The Nina’ and The Santa Maria. Columbus wasn’t out for the Americas when he set sail he wanted to go after North West Asia where there were thought to be spices and materials of high value. Although Christopher was a wealthy explorer he wasn’t the best person out there, often after he met new islanders he would enslave them and sell them on the Italian market. By the 1500’s it is said that he and his brothers sold over 1,500 slaves!

Although Columbus is said to have three ships he actually had four but one sank on the way to the bahamas when a sailor didn’t spot a sharp, jagged rock fast enough. The Santa Maria also sank in 1492 after hitting a reef in Haiti. The ship had many crew members(see below)

 

  • Cristobal Colon (Christopher Columbus), captain-general[20]
  • Juan de la Cosa, owner and master
  • Pedro Alonso Niño, pilot
  • Diego de Arana, master-at-arms
  • Pedro de Gutierrez, royal steward
  • Rodrigo de Escobedo, secretary of the fleet
  • Rodrigo Sanchez, comptroller
  • Luis de Torres, interpreter
  • Bartolome Garcia, boatswain
  • Chachu, boatswain
  • Cristobal Caro, goldsmith
  • Juan Sanchez, physician
  • Antonio de Cuéllar, carpenter
  • Diego Perez, painter
  • Lope, joiner
  • Maestre Juan
  • Rodrigo de Jerez
  • Alonso Chocero
  • Alonso Clavijo
  • Andres de Yruenes
  • Bartolome Biues
  • Bartolome de Torres
  • Diego Bermudez
  • Domingo de Lequeitio
  • Gonzalo Franco
  • Jacomel Rico
  • Juan (Horacio Crassocius from La Rabida Friary)
  • Juan de Jerez
  • Juan de la Placa
  • Juan Martines de Acoque
  • Juan de Medina
    • Jacomel Rico
    • Juan (Horacio Crassocius from La Rabida Friary)
    • Juan de Jerez
    • Juan de la Placa
    • Juan Martines de Acoque
    • Juan de Medina
    • edro de Salcedo, servant of Columbus and ship’s boy
    • Rodrigo de Gallego
    • Pedro de Terreros, cabin boy

Information from NatGeo.com and wikipedia.com

One comment

  1. G’day Konnor,
    I liked the beginning of your post as it is written in your own words. But by copying and pasting the list from Wikipedia it spoilt the rest of the post. Maybe just choosing a few of the crew members would have been better.

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