Christopher Columbus realizes the project
The following year (1486) he secretly passed through Spain to try to interest those sovereigns in the great journey. Meanwhile, his wife Felipa dies.
He settled first in Huelva, then in Cordoba, then in Seville. Here he manages to submit his project to the court: to reach by sea the Catai (China) and the Cipango (Japan). The project was rejected because of the perplexity of King Ferdinand, Isabella and their advisors.
In 1488 Columbus had an illegitimate son, Fernando, from Beatrice de Harana.
During a trip to Lisbon he has news of a project similar to his, sent to the King of Portugal by the Florentine cosmographer Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli. He then resumes negotiations with the sovereigns of Spain. She succeeds in concluding them with the intervention of her father Juan Perez, the queen's confessor. In fact, it seems that Isabella herself decided in favor of Columbus.
On 17 April 1492 Columbus signed the Convention of Santa Fe. It authorized him to set up a fleet of three ships; to bear the title of admiral, as well as viceroy and governor of any land discovered.
First voyage
The first expedition, which was also financed by a number of Florentine bankers, included a carrack, the Santa Maria, of 200 tons, commanded by Columbus, and two caravels, the Pinta of 140, and the Niña of 100. The last two are commanded by two Spaniards, the brothers Alonso and Yañez Pinzón. The purpose of the company is exclusively commercial and aims at the very rich markets of China and Japan, of which Marco Polo spoke.
It leaves on August 3, 1492 from the port of Palos; it repeatedly defies the discontent of the crew, exasperated by a journey so much longer than expected. But, after many difficulties, Columbus, on October 12, 1492, finally saw the land. It was neither the Catai (China) nor the Cipango (Japan). The small island discovered is called San Salvador and is identified with Guanahani in Bahama, now also called Watling Island.
He continued his navigation and discovered first Cuba and then Haiti, which he called Hispaniola. On the coasts of Haiti, the Santa Maria shipwrecked and the admiral moved to Niña. In mid-January 1493 he began his return journey and, passing through the Azores, on March 15, 1493 he arrived in Palos, which he welcomed triumphantly.
Second journey
On September 25, 1493 he sailed from Cadiz for a second voyage, with 17 ships (including the Niña) and over 1500 men. He followed a route further south than the first voyage and discovered Dominica, Guadeloupe, Antigua and Puerto Rico. He returned to Haiti, where he found the small colony of La Navidad, left with 43 men the previous year, destroyed and abandoned. He then founded another not far away and called it Isabela.
Then, after having touched Jamaica, he explored the southwestern coast of Cuba almost to its extremity. On June 12, 1494, he made all the members of the crew swear, in the presence of a notary, that Cuba was a mainland and an eastern offshoot of Asia.
In Haiti, he had to face the hostility of the natives and the discontent among his expedition companions, due to the failure to find precious metals: he decided to leave his brother Bartolomeo on the spot and returned to Spain (June 1496) to prepare a third trip.
Third trip
The third trip takes place between June 1498 and November 1500. He discovers the island of Trinidad and enters the delta of the Orinoco (5 August 1498).
Once back on the road to Tahiti, Columbus found the island in full revolt. He tried to defend the natives against the bad treatment of the Spaniards, while at court his adversaries obtained the sending overseas, with full power, of Francisco de Bobadilla. He had the admiral arrested and sent to Spain. Isabella had Columbus freed, but he had to renounce the title of viceroy.
Fourth and final journey
Colombo left Cadiz on 9 May 1502 for his fourth and final expedition, with four small ships and 140 men; he was forbidden to land in Haiti.
The voyage first went to the Antilles (Martinique, Saint Lucia), then south of Haiti and Cuba, to complete the discovery of the coasts of Central America, with the intention of finding a passage to the Indies.
Between July and October, she sailed along the coast of Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. In October it reaches the city of Panama.
The journey then becomes dramatic; winds and currents lead Columbus through the Caribbean Sea to Jamaica. Here he loses all his ships and falls ill. It was only after ten months that the admiral was rescued and brought back to Spain with his surviving companions (November 7, 1504).
Death at Valladolid
Columbus was in financial difficulties; physically and morally distressed also by the cold reception he received in May 1505 from King Ferdinand (his protector Isabella had already died).
Colombo moved to Valladolid to keep up the practices relating to his disputed rights. He died there on 20 May 1506 from a heart attack.
He was first buried in Seville; then (around 1540) in the cathedral of San Domingo; then (since 1796) in that of Havana; finally, in 1899, after the Spanish-American war, his remains were solemnly buried in the cathedral of Seville, where they are still found.