Die Irrtümer des Kolumbus - ganz schön verrechnet | Terra X

When Christopher Columbus set out in 1492 in search of a sea route to Asia, he did not land in India, as he himself believed, but rather discovered America. At least from a European perspective. Of course, at that time many people already lived there, in the United States. His discovery would change the world forever. What other mistakes did he make on his journey? There were quite a few of them. These are Columbus's biggest mistakes for you. “Land…land in sight!” That a small fleet could set sail from the Andalusian port of Palos de la Frontera on August 3, 1492 to find a western route to Asia is not a fact.

This plan almost failed due to Columbus's first mistake. He thought that the people of his time would be enthusiastic about his project and support him immediately. However, that was not the case. At first neither the rulers nor the crew of his ship supported him. Columbus became interested in reports of distant lands from an early age. The son of a Genoa wool weaver delves into ancient writings and nautical charts, studying texts on navigation and astronomy. And he lets an idea well up inside him: the vision of an adventure that will take him to the supposed treasures of Asia.

His objective: to find a sea route to Asia from the west. The Portuguese were already looking for a way to encircle Africa. Bartolomeu Dias sails around the Cape of Good Hope in 1488. At that time, Europeans traded a lot with India and China. But trade routes are hindered by the Ottoman Empire. So whoever finds a shipping route to India has an economic advantage over other nations. And Columbus is lucky. He lives in a phase of change in which, for the first time, opportunities that were previously denied to them arise for middle-class men. Especially for those who were brave and brave enough to risk their lives and undertake long journeys, and Columbus was one of them.

But for his project, Colón needs the support - especially financial - of those in power. “Mr. Columbus! I bring you a message from Queen Elizabeth.” Isabel is Queen of Castile and Aragon. In fact, she rejected Columbus's plans. His plans are utopian and unviable. But before Columbus can leave for France, Isabel changes her mind and agrees to the expedition after all. Spain cannot accept that France controls a western sea route. At the same time, Isabella hopes for riches from distant lands. And she: as a strict Catholic, she wants to convert pagans from other countries to Christianity.

After years of cleaning the door, we can finally start. But as difficult as it may be to get official approval, it will now be difficult for Columbus to form a crew. The dangers of such a journey into the unknown are high and sailors are skeptical. Many people only board because they trust the boat owner. Others are forced to do so. "Mister. What should I do with them now? Remove the shackles? —You won't be stupid enough to run away. There is nothing better than this". Columbus needs several dozen sailors for his fleet. Were prisoners given to you in case of emergency to complete the team?

There is a persistent rumor that Columbus carried mainly serious criminals on board during his voyage. However, that is not entirely true. On the one hand, they weren't really tough guys, and on the other hand, there were exactly four of them. This guy got into a drunk fight and the other guy died. And these three tried to free their friend from prison, got caught and ended up in the dungeon themselves for it. But there is a grain of truth in all this: on his last voyages, Columbus actually had mostly criminals among his sailors. And Isabel had offered amnesty for Columbus's first voyage to offenders.

However, only these four here accepted this. No one yet knows if the expedition will ever reach its destination. And that was actually written in the stars. Because: Columbus miscalculated. August 3, 1492. Columbus sets sail with a total of almost 90 men on the Santa María and the ships that accompanied it, the Pinta and the Niña. His idea: if the Earth is a sphere, something Columbus already knew at the time, then it would be enough to sail west long enough to finally reach India. The reasoning is correct, and Columbus also knows how to use the trade winds to move quickly.

However, he has the wrong idea about distances. Columbus calculated that he would reach the Asian continent after 4,500 kilometers. In fact, there are almost 20,000 kilometers between the western coast of Europe and the eastern coast of Asia. To sell the plan for a westward voyage to the monarchs of Portugal and later Spain, Columbus sought data that would make his proposal seem feasible. He searched various texts for information about the circumference of the earth. He finally chose the number, that is, the smallest number, that was most favorable to his proposal. But this meant that he completely underestimated the duration of his journey across the ocean.

Another problem: then navigation did not work with GPS, but with simple means: it was more of an art than a science. In particular, the length could only be imprecisely determined until the 18th century. But the stars still remain. Without knowledge of astronomy, the sailors of that time were lost, at least when it came to greater distances. Today we no longer know exactly what instruments Columbus had on board. We don't even know if he carried an astrolabe with him. This allows us to determine the rising and setting of the stars. Because, it must be said, although sailing back then obviously did not meet today's standards, sailors did not travel completely without a plan.

They combined different measurement techniques with each other, which was called dead reckoning. And on this basis they determined the position and, ultimately, the course. The compass shows the direction, but for the position you need information about the speed and therefore the distance you have already traveled. "Are you ready?" A log is used to measure speed, hence the term logbook. You really don't need many ingredients for such a measure. A piece of wood, a lead weight and an hourglass that marks exactly 14 seconds. The weight falls on the wood so that it is somewhat vertical in the water and does not hang crooked in any way.

Before we continue, we first need to get the ship moving. Yes, it looks good, let's get started. Yes. There is also a guide line on this rope, which comes first and then there are knots at a distance of 7 meters. And the knots thing is crucial, because now we measure how many knots are traveled in a given time, hence this unit of knots. And using a formula, knots are eventually converted to nautical miles. And that is the crucial piece of the puzzle in determining position. “And how much are we doing today?” "Let's see. 10 knots.” "More than yesterday". "Yeah".

Good". Keeping an overview here is vital. If the ships fail to reach land before supplies run out, it would mean death at sea for all involved. After weeks at sea, sailors feel dissatisfied. Not even a trick can prevent it: Columbus gives the crew false information about the nautical miles they have traveled to make them believe they are not that far from home. In a second logbook, next to the first, the officer writes down the actual distances that the fleet travels each day. What Columbus didn't know at the time, and he certainly didn't expect: there was another continent between Europe and Asia.

India, China, Mongolia and Japan: these countries were barely known back then. It never occurred to Columbus or his captain Juan de la Cosa that they might stumble upon something completely new. Today we know that the Vikings were also in America. However, they did not give it much importance, the knowledge was lost. But there were Portuguese fishermen and sailors who reported colorful wood that had been hauled and worked. Probably tropical forests. Strange-looking corpses continued to appear in the Azores, and in Madeira there was talk of strange plants that no one knew where they really came from. It can be assumed that he knew these stories.

What he didn't know was that there was a land mass out there that didn't appear on any map. But why did Columbus think he would reach Asia? Map historian Chet Van Duzer is sure: Columbus knew the world map of the German cartographer Henricus Martellus and probably had it on board. The most important proof of this is the representation of Japan. Columbus's son relates that his father was convinced that the main axis of the island ran from north to south. At the time, Marco Polo was really the only source of information about Japan, but Marco Polo never says anything about the orientation of the island.

So how did Columbus come up with this idea? He probably knew the maps of Henricus Martellus, as they are the only ones that depict Japan in this way. “Land…land in sight!” 76 00:11:54,000 - 00:12:02,000 Then Columbus lands in America and believes that he is in Asia. His small fleet landed in the Bahamas. And the people who live there are not “Indians”, but Taínos. In his language, the island where Columbus arrived is called Guanahani. Here another driving force of the expedition would turn out to be a mistake: the hope of obtaining gold. The riches of Asia (gold and spices in abundance) were legendary.

Queen Elizabeth approved the expedition and secured funding mainly because she wanted to win the race between nations to discover distant lands, but also because she hoped to become rich from it. Columbus himself promises one thing above all: GOLD. He's almost obsessed with it. Columbus repeats repeatedly that he is looking for gold. He constantly asks where the gold comes from and follows the path he believes the Tainos have shown him. He sails for weeks through the archipelago in search of gold. He was obsessed with that, more than anything else. Gold was the driving force behind his expedition.

His belief that he will find this gold in large quantities is further fueled by his mistake of having landed in rich Asia. He probably got the idea from the sailor Marco Polo books. What he read in Marco Polo fueled his expectations of what he expected to find: a highly developed culture with a powerful emperor, a militarily strong empire, and a very wealthy society. Just the opposite happens. The Tainos cannot satisfy Columbus's thirst for gold. And it happens that Columbus, more repentant than proud, presents to the court the somewhat meager loot upon his return: some fruits, parrots, some gold and some kidnapped Taínos.

He attempts to use his triumph to disguise the fact that the trip was not a great success by his own standards. Of course, the voyage was a success because completely unknown lands were discovered, but Columbus was not aware of this. It was a disappointment for him not to return with fully loaded ships, spices and gold. Today we know: from the European perspective, the mission was a success. Columbus managed to cross the vast Atlantic with a small crew of reluctant and convicts. And he unexpectedly arrived on the American continent. He finds a “new” world and opens the way to America.

But he himself doesn't want to admit it. Until his death, Columbus clung to the biggest mistake of his life: he had found the sea route to India. A voyage across the Atlantic was more than audacious in the time of Columbus. He dared and achieved it. For this he was celebrated and revered by many as a hero. But others condemned him as a bloodthirsty conqueror. In any case, the fact is that Columbus dared to do something that no one else had dared to do at that time. And it is also a fact that his mission was followed by a bloody campaign of conquest.

So the question for you is: How do you see it? Is he some kind of hero to you, someone who should be celebrated? Or do you say no, he was simply driven by his lust, his desire for gold and he has many lives on his conscience? Feel free to write it in the comments below and here with me you will find two other interesting videos, here from Terra.