Introduction
Christopher Columbus is remembered as a person who opened America. People in the USA even celebrate the Columbus Day, the day when Columbus shipped on the coasts of America. However, what were the reasons for the voyage? There were a lot of them. Did Christopher Columbus want to reach the coats of America? No, he had absolutely different purposes. Was he interested in this country? Absolutely not as Christopher Columbus was interested in different purposes and was motivated by strong reasons for searching for another country.
The main idea of this paper is to consider the motivating reasons for Christopher Columbus’ first voyage in 1492 and dwell upon the real necessity and validity of those reasons. Additionally, the problem of wrong destination and the importance of that destination are going to be dwelt upon in this paper.
Reasons for Voyages
The time when Christopher Columbus lived is considered to be the greatest time of the geographic discoveries. A lot of people after Christopher Columbus made trips to different countries of the world opening them and making them familiar all over the world. Spain is considered to be the country which gave birth to the best discoverers who were interested in searching for new lands.
The main reasons of the voyages aimed at searching for new lands are numerous. Curiosity is one of them, however, ocean voyages were too expensive and such reason as simple voyage might not be considered as the convincing. Christopher Columbus as well as other shipmen who wanted to sail to other lands had to work hard and make the queen and the king to believe that the voyage was going to be useful not only for the discoverer, but it was going to benefit the whole country.
The discoverers’ desire to benefit the science and geography in general were not appropriate reasons, that is why the search for new lands with the purpose to open new trading ways was one of the best variants. Each country was famous for its particular products and searching for the new way to the East with the purpose to make increase the delivery of goods might be the reason for financing the voyage.
Reasons for Columbus First Voyage in 1492
Christopher Columbus was interested in searching for a new way to the East, especially to India, with the purpose to improve the trade between the countries. India is the country of spices and having found a fast and short way to the East, Spain could create the new trading ways with India. The profit of such journey and its successful outcome could not be questioned, that is why the voyage took place.
Additionally, it is important to remember that Columbus created the geographical maps and he wanted to be the first who could show the new way to the East, the shorter one. Thus, it may be concluded that there were two main reasons which motivated Columbus for his first voyages. The belief that the planet has the round shape encouraged Christopher Columbus for searching the shorter ways to the East.
The interest in East may be explained from the geographical point of view and economical. The geographical interest is obvious, while the economical one could be explained by means of the trading interest with India and other Eastern countries. The spices which were delivered from those places were great, but the time spent on the delivery was too big.
Columbus’ Voyage
Columbus did not have any privileges and he had also to work hard to convince the queen and the king of Spain that the search for the new ways to the East may be beneficial for the whole country. Many years Columbus tried to find the supporters in financial aspects and those who had impact on the country rulers.
Columbus wanted to prove that there was the shorter way to the East and the reason for trading spices with India was one of the main motivating reasons for the queen and the king to allow the expedition. Thus, on August 3, 1492 Columbus left the coasts of Spain on three ships: the Nica, the Pinta and the Santa Maria. Even though Columbus did not reach his initial purposes and could not find the way to India, he made a great discovery even without being aware of that fact. During the first voyage in 1492 Columbus opened America which contributed to the geographical knowledge of those times.
Conclusion
Therefore, it may be concluded that the desire to geographical discoveries was the main motivating reason for the voyage in 1492. However, to make sure that the voyage would be allowed by the queen and the king, and to increase the profit from the voyage, Columbus also wanted to find the shorter way to India for trading purposes.
Thus, if India was found, Spain could arrange the trading ways with India and have the great variety of spices. Even though, the initial purposes were not reached, the first voyage encouraged Columbus and other discoverers for further consideration of the surrounding world.