Cristopher Columbus Discovers America || USA History || EP-3

History of the United States of America S01E02 | Columbus discovers America | Faisal Warraich

Christopher Columbus deceived the Queen of Spain and his crew. For he was not so great a captain and master of sailing... ...as he had claimed. With the help of certain instruments, he knew how to locate the route... ...he also did petty jobs on a few ships and had some sense of books. But overall he was an average shipper. This mediocre captain was on his way to an unseen destination... ...and as time passed, his crew was turning against him. Til a day came, the crew hatched a plan to kill Christopher Columbus. Why did the crew want to kill their captain? How did Columbus escape a certain death... ...and how did this fleet discover the shores of the New World? Before the voyage, the government of Spain made many promises to Columbus. In one promise Columbus was to be included in Spain's aristocracy, the elitists. He would be given the official Spanish title of Caballero, which meant Gentleman. But it had another shade... ...that title holders and their descendants would prefix Don to their names. The same 'don' is used in the sense of master. In the second promise, Columbus was to get the title of Great Admiral of the Ocean. He will get equal rights and privileges as admirals of the Spanish state of Castile. Whatever precious stones will be secured from the Columbus-discovered lands... ... a tenth of that amount will Columbus himself get. And the 1/8th cargo space in the trade ships from these lands will be... ...reserved for Columbus' goods. The government of Spain also made a promise to the crew of Columbus. The promise was that the first member of the ship's crew to see the tip of Asia... ...would get a stipend of 10,000 maravids per year for life. The current value of this amount is around 1500 dollars. The promises made by the government of Spain related to the time to come. Then the Queen of Spain was a bit stingy in giving Columbus what he wanted. You already saw in the last episode the situation in Europe had become very bad. So the Queen gave Columbus only two ships for this important expedition. These ships were also not given by him from the government treasury... ...but got them from the people of the area where Columbus was to start his journey. The Queen ordered those people saying you have committed some acts... ...that amounted to insolent and neglect of our service. So as punishment provide us two ships for one year at your own expense. So now we order you to provide the ships. Columbus found two suitable ships... ...but he was not given much food and weapons to carry them. Only a total of 89 crews were provided for both of his ships. A few small cannons, guns and insufficient food/water supplies were loaded in ships. Given so few supplies and crew, Columbus himself made efforts... ...and borrowed a third ship, the Santa Maria... ...which was his own ship. Now there were three ships and all three had big red crosses on their sails. Columbus embarked on this historic voyage on August 3. He was seen off by the Queen and King under the Cross and amid church bells. He passed through the present Canary Islands off the coast of Africa... ...sailed to Asia or Japan as per his ideas. In his estimates, the journey from the Canary Islands to Japan was 4500 km. These islands had a wind that made it easy for a ship to sail westward. That's why he came here in the first place. So that he could start from here. When Columbus left here on August 3... ...he had an endless sea in front of him and three ships floating on it... ...whose captain had no idea when to have the luck to see the land again. Whether or not he will the land. For the first few days, the journey went smoothly. The wind was favourable, and the crew were also calm and happy. So the ships proceeded with ease. Columbus would have breakfast in his cabin every morning... ...and then come out of the cabin and look up at the sky and pray for good weather. Then he would chat with the crew, give instructions and go to his room. The positions of the sun, moon and stars guided the voyage as per traditions. Columbus was not an expert in this work, but he pretended to be so. He had an instrument in the form of a semi-circular triangle with which... ...he would hang a plumb bob to monitor the position of the sun, moon and stars... ...to determine the direction of the ships accordingly. Thus he somehow continued to advance on the western route. According to the estimate, they should have seen the land in 10 to 15 days. But when 20 days after when no land or any sign of it like birds etc.