CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS

AT SCHOOL I AM BEGINNING A NEW UNIT ON EXPLORERES. I HAVE BEEN LEARNING ABOUT CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. HERE IS WHAT I HAVE LEARNED. I HOPE YOU ENJOY READING MY REPORT!

Christopher Columbus was born in the year 1451, in Genoa, Italy. His mom and dad were wool weavers. His dad wanted him to run the family business. But Christopher wanted to be a sailor. He loved to watch the ships and listen to the tales of the sailors while at sea.
When he was 14 years old he went to sea. He helped clean and cook for the sailors. He sailed for five years on the Mediterranean Sea. He had a talent for navigational tools.
In 1476, one of the ships Christopher was on was attacked by pirates. The ship was set on fire and he was wounded. To save his life he had to jump into the “Sea of Darkness”. He found an oar floating in the water so he grabbed on to it to help him float and he swam six miles to shore. He found himself in Portugal.
Columbus decided to live Portugal because Portugal had the best sailors and navigational equipment. One reason for this was because Prince Henry the Navigator and developed a school to help in exploration.
Christopher believed that the world was round. He believed that he could sail west to get to the Indies. But many people laughed at him.
One day he went to the King of Portugal and asked him to pay for a voyage to find the Indies. But the King tricked him and stole his maps. Christopher was so mad he moved to Spain.
After a few years he went to the King and Queen of Spain and he told them of his ideas and asked for them to pay for a voyage. At first the king said no because they were at war with another country. Finally, Queen Isabella asked Christopher to come back and talk to her again. She was excited and gave Christopher three ships to sail. Their names were the Nina, Pinta and the Santa Maria.
On August 3, 1492 they left for the Indies travelling west. A few days later the Piñta’s rudder broke so they stopped at the Canary Islands to fix it. It took three weeks to fix the ship. Finally, they were on their way again.
They sailed for weeks but they could not find land. The ship’s crew was just about to mutiny! Christopher Columbus promised the crew, “Give me three more days, if we don’t see land we will turn back!” Two days later, a sailor on the Pinta yelled, “Land! Land!”
On October 12, 1492 Columbus went to shore and said a prayer, he claimed the land for the country of Spain. He named the place San Salvador. He thought they had made it to the Indies.
Soon they saw the natives. Columbus called them “Indians.”
Columbus sailed to the new world four times. In all his voyages he sailed to Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Caribbean, Brazil, Trinidad, and Honduras.
In 1506, Christopher died in Spain. He was 55 years old. He never knew he had really discovered a new continent.