Download Columbus Timeline of Voyages

Timeline: Columbus's Voyages to the
Americas
1295
Italian explorer Marco Polo returns to Europe after traveling
throughout Asia for more than two decades. His epic journey,
which he describes in The Travels of Marco Polo, triggers great
interest in the riches of China and the Indies.
1415
An armada led by the Portuguese prince known as Henry the
Navigator sacks the coastal city of Ceuta, in what is now
Morocco. Valuable spices discovered in that Muslim-occupied
city encourage Henry to infiltrate the trade networks of North
Africa and trace them back to their sources in the Far East.
Under his leadership, Portugal becomes the world's leading
naval power.
1484
A commission appointed by King John II of Portugal rejects
Columbus's scheme to sail west across the Atlantic Ocean to
reach the Far East.
1488
Portuguese navigator Bartolomeu Dias rounds the southern tip
of Africa at what is later named the Cape of Good Hope,
named for the optimism generated by its having opened an
eastern sea route to China and the Indies.
1492
On January 2, the Muslim emir in Granada—the last Moorish
stronghold in Europe—surrenders to Spanish monarchs
Isabella and Ferdinand. That ends the centuries-long
reconquista, or campaign to expel the Moors, North African
Muslims who conquered Spain in the 8th century. With the
financial burden of the war lifted, the Spanish crown is able to
devote funds to overseas exploration. Shortly after the
surrender, Isabella and Ferdinand agree to fund Columbus's
project.
Columbus leaves Spain on August 3 with three ships—the
Niña, the Pinta and the Santa Maria—and a crew of about 90
men.
On October 12, Columbus and his crew reach a north
Caribbean island he names San Salvador. The men are the
first Europeans known to have reached the Americas since Leif
Ericson, an Icelandic explorer who sailed to Newfoundland,
Canada, at the turn of the 11th century.
On December 25, the Santa Maria becomes shipwrecked off
the coast of Hispaniola. With only two small ships remaining,
Columbus orders 39 of his men to remain on the island while
he returns to Spain for reinforcements. They use the wreckage
from the Santa Maria to construct a small settlement, which
Columbus names La Navidad, Spanish for Christmas.
1493
In March, Columbus returns to Spain, where he is greeted as a
hero. Word of his voyage quickly spreads throughout Europe,
and a second fleet of Spanish ships is immediately assembled.
In September, Columbus again sails west in an attempt to
reach Asia. His second voyage is much larger than the first,
consisting of 17 ships and more than 1,200 men.
1495
Before returning to Spain, Columbus and his men capture
hundreds of Indians to be shipped to Spain and sold as slaves.
Two hundred of the Indians die en route to Spain; Isabella, a
harsh critic of slavery, orders the rest of them to be returned to
the New World.
1498
In May, Columbus begins his third voyage to the Americas. He
first lands on the island of Trinidad, and then sails to what is
now Venezuela, where he and his crew become the first
Europeans to set foot in South America. His third tour ends in
1500, when he is arrested on charges of mismanagement as
governor of Hispaniola and brought back to Spain. The
Spanish monarchs set Columbus free upon his return.
1502
After convincing Isabella to fund another voyage, on the
condition that he refrain from capturing slaves or traveling to
Hispaniola, Columbus in May begins his final and most far-
reaching journey to the New World. He travels all over the
Caribbean in a futile search for the cities of East Asia, making it
as far west as the Isthmus of Panama.
1506
On May 20, Columbus dies in Valladolid, Spain, convinced to
the end that he had discovered a western route to Asia.
1521
By rounding the southern tip of South America and reaching
the Philippines, Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan achieves
Columbus's dream of discovering a western route to Asia.
Magellan dies in the Philippines in April, but his crew goes on
to complete its circumnavigation of the Earth the following year.
Citation Information
MLA Chicago Manual of Style
“Columbus's Voyages to the Americas - Timeline.” Issues & Controversies in American History.
Infobase Publishing, 15 Feb. 2007. Web. 25 Oct. 2013