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Christopher Columbus 4th Voyage

Here is information on forth voyage of Christopher Columbus

Columbus made a fourth voyage, accompanied by his stepbrother Bartolomeo and his son Fernando, of 13 years. Columbus made this voyage from Spain to the Americas in 1502.He left Cádiz, Spain on the 12 of May of 1502, with the ships Capitana, Gallega, Vizcaína, and Santiago de Palos.

Journey Route

He sailed to Arzila on the Moroccan coast to rescue the Portuguese soldiers. On the 15th of June, they landed at Carbet on the island of Martinique (Martinica). A hurricane was brewing, so he continued on, hoping to find shelter on Hispaniola.
At Santo Domingo on June 29, Columbus requested entry into the harbor for his five ships, and he urged the governor to detain a 30-ship fleet ready to sail to Spain. He warned a terrible storm was brewing. The governor and his retinue mocked Columbus as a phony fortune-teller. Not only did the governor order the fleet to sail but denied Columbus entry into the harbor.

Christopher Columbus 4th Voyage

During a brief stopover at Bonacca (then called Guanaja) in the Bay Islands on the Honduran coast (fig.1), the Spaniards met a large seagoing canoe, similar to Antillean pirogues seen in Columbus’ First and Second Voyages and to others now known from murals at Chichén Itzá

Christopher Columbus Facts

Impressed with “the great wealth, civilization, and industry of these people,” Columbus nevertheless continued east in search of “a strait across the mainland that would open a way to the South Sea and the Lands of Spices.” Columbus did retain from the canoe an older man and cacique named Yumbé, “who seemed to be the wisest man among them and of greatest authority,” as an interpreter. Sailing east along the coast.

n Panama, he learned from the natives of gold and a strait to another ocean. After much exploration, he established a garrison at the mouth of Rio Belen in January 1503. On April 6, one of the ships became stranded in the river.

Christopher Columbus 4th Voyage

At the same time, the garrison was attacked, and the other ships were damaged (Shipworms also damaged the ships in tropical waters.). Columbus left for Hispaniola on 16 April heading north. On 10 May he sighted the Cayman Islands, naming them “Las Tortugas” after the numerous sea turtles there.

Columbus always maintained that he had found the true Indies and Cathay in the face of mounting evidence that he had not. Perhaps he genuinely believed that he had been there; in any event, his disallowances of the “New World” hindered his goals of nobility and wealth and dented his later reputation.

It was on November 7, 1504 when Christopher Columbus set foot on Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Castile, and officially finished his last and most memorable voyage.

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