The first, the Captain, was a ship, while the other two were caravels. Naos were ships with three masts and square sails, in the Atlantic tradition; They were heavy and strong, and were very suitable for long navigation. For its part, the caravel was lighter and more maneuverable, and had two or three masts that were usually fitted with trailing sails.
Christopher Columbus’s caravans left Cadiz on August 3, 1492
Columbus’s main knowledge of the voyage and the distances they would cover was based on two facts: One of them is correct, the Earth’s sphericity, and the other is wrong, its size. In this way, Christopher Columbus believed that our planet’s circumference was about 30,000 km, about 10,000 km less than it actually was.
And then Stop in the Canary IslandsOn September 6, the fleet headed west. The Admiral calculated that the distance to Sipango (Japan) would be about 700 leagues, so when the 800 were passed without sight of land, he had to face the displeasure of his men, anxious to abandon an adventure that seemed increasingly rash.
“Earth in sight!”
At the beginning of October, flocks of birds were seen, and on the night of October 11 to 12 the long-awaited cry of “Earth in sight!” was raised. Guanahani Island, baptized by Columbus as San Salvador and identified with present-day Watling, was one of the islands of the Bahamas. The navigator continued his journey through the islands of this archipelago – Santa Maria de la Concepcion (Rom Cay), Fernandina (Long Island), Isabela (Crooked Island)… – before arriving at Juana (Cuba) on October 28.
On December 6, he arrived in Hispaniola, today’s Haiti and the Dominican Republic. On the 24th of the same month, the Santa Maria ran aground near what is now known as Cape Haitien, and its remains were used to build a small fort called Fort de Navidad.
Finally, on January 16, 1493, Columbus was ordered to return. After conquering the Azores and after a short stop in Lisbon, The Navy docked again at Palos de la Frontera on 15 March. An adventure that opened the doors of America to the Europeans… and changed the course of history forever.
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