At about 2 am on October 12, 1492, the Spanish sailor Rodrigo de Triana, who is in the crow's nest of the Pinta caravel, shouts "Earth!" heralded the beginning of a new round of European and world history. The expedition of Christopher Columbus, like nothing else, justified the saying "Luck accompanies the daring." Going into complete obscurity - a trip across the ocean, inhabited, according to the fathers of the Catholic Church and the regulars of sailors' taverns, fierce sea creatures, was akin to a flight into space. The expedition ships, proudly called caravels, were much more modest in size than almost any respectable yacht that made voyages with the wealthy public in its own pond. There is no need to talk about the personnel of the crews that Columbus had at his disposal. Obviously, it would have been easier to recruit volunteers for an expedition to hell - rumors say there was a lot of gold there. "Where is this damned Genoese leading us ?!" - looking at the ocean as empty as the purse of an Andalusian fisherman, the sailors threw evil. Did Columbus know where the bows of the Niña, Pinta and Santa Maria were directed? Did he lead his squadron to the shores of India? Or maybe the future admiral knew about the location of the overseas lands and the fact that they have nothing to do with the legendary "Indies" and "Chipango"?
In times ancient and hidden
For a long time, located behind the so-called Pillars of Hercules, or the Strait of Gibraltar, the ocean space in old Europe was not unreasonably called the "Sea of Darkness". Local navigation was local, that is, coastal navigation.
Of course, there is no doubt that Columbus, who eagerly jumped out of the boat into the surf wave of the future island of San Salvador, was by no means the first immigrant from mainland Europe to set foot on the land of the New World. The voyages of the Normans to Newfoundland and the Canadian coast are archaeologically reliable. There are quite well-reasoned hypotheses about the campaigns to the shores of America by Arabs, Celts, inhabitants of England and Ireland. The most daring guesses involve a visit to the continent lying across the Atlantic, even by the subjects of the pharaohs, the Carthaginians and the Romans.
The question is that, despite numerous (judging by guesses and assumptions) trips to the New World, none of the navigators managed to gain a foothold in the newly discovered lands. In any case, at the courts of European monarchs at the end of the 16th century, information about the continents lying far to the west was absent. Knowledge and information about pre-Columbian contacts, if they existed, were lost at the public level. Those who were in the subject preferred not to advertise their awareness.
In many ways, the ancients' lack of interest in colonizing America was dictated by economic reasons.
The main driving force behind almost any expansion is the expansion of the economic base of the metropolis. This includes not only the confiscation of material values from the local population, but also trade with them, and the trade is profitable. Hypothetically, let us assume that some Greek, Carthaginian or Roman ship, after many months of arduous voyage, finally reaches the shores of America. The trip will be extremely difficult - this is not a coastal dash in the Mediterranean from port to port. And not only because of the important in this case, navigation and technical aspects. The lack of provisions for long-term storage was also a big problem for a long autonomous trip. Exhausted by the Atlantic voyage, travelers step on solid ground and encounter aborigines whose friendliness raises big questions. The difference in the technical equipment of ancient sailors and the autochthonous population of America is not as critical as in the era of the Spanish colonial conquests. On both sides, bows and edged weapons, and the Europeans have them of the best quality. But the outcome of the conflict is decided in hand-to-hand combat, and in it the number is an important factor. And here the advantage of the aborigines will be undeniable. Or let us assume that the landing took place peacefully - both sides were able, with the help of gestures and signs, to establish some semblance of "diplomatic relations." If we take the exchange trade, then the inhabitants of America could not offer anything extraordinary to the newcomers, except perhaps for jewelry. What impression will such a long voyage leave on the survivors if the ship, after many years of hardship, returns to the shores of Europe? It is unlikely that the first contact in a single historical period was the fruit of a specially prepared expedition. Most likely, the next "discovery" of the New World occurred as a result of a long storm that carried the ship (or several ships) to an unknown land. The crew had to endure the whole range of difficulties that accompany a long trip: hunger, scurvy, depressing morale. The set of trophies is not large - these are, rather, souvenirs, exchanged with the locals for ship equipment, which is not enough and it is irreplaceable.
Of course, information about the successful return and the lands discovered overseas will become known in the relevant environment, but it is unlikely to arouse excitement. The lands are very far away. By the standards of the ancient world, it is simply monstrously far away. There is not much to take there - slaves and valuables can also be mined in the Mediterranean basin. A long journey - big risks. The news is discussed for some time, then gradually it is forgotten. There is no regular communication with new territories. It is simply unprofitable to trade and develop expansion in that direction.
Perhaps the scheme outlined here is too typical for those atypical cases that history is so rich in. There is a possibility that the lands of America could become a haven for emigrants who decided to leave their homeland for religious (for example, the expulsion of adherents of some cults from Carthage) or political reasons. More or less regular cruises across the Atlantic are quite probable in a certain historical period. In any case, for such, to put it mildly, a venerable ancient scientist like Aristotle, the existence of the islands located behind the Pillars of Hercules was not a secret. Probably, there could have been other documentary information: maps, reports of expeditions - but the largest repository of antique documentation was in the irretrievably lost Alexandria Library.
On the technical side, the very possibility of sailing across the ocean was proven by the brilliant reenactor scientists Thor Heyerdahl and Tim Severin. But, obviously, such long journeys were not of great expediency for the inhabitants of ancient Europe. And those who had an interest kept the information secret. One of the best sailors of antiquity, the Carthaginians, were famous for their ability to hide information from strangers. The main specialization of Carthage - trade - greatly contributed to this. Together with the collapse and death of the Carthaginian state as a result of the III Punic War, much knowledge and information about the campaigns and wanderings were lost.
Fortunately, not all ancient heritage perished in the fires of barbarians preparing their own dinner, monasteries became a refuge, sheltering knowledge from the onslaught of ignorance in the Dark Ages. Despite the public struggle against the remnants of paganism, many documents from the pre-Christian period have survived thanks to the efforts of the monks. They were not only kept, but also read. For example, from the book of the Irish monk Dikuil (VII-IX centuries) it was known that there is information about the lands located far to the west - the Islands of Happiness. On later medieval maps, the island of St. Brandan wanders to different places. Did Columbus know, peering from the deck of his "Santa Maria" into the horizon, what was hidden behind him? There is reason to believe that the answer is yes.
Viking trail
Despite the fact that the volume of literature written about Columbus has long exceeded the total displacement of all three of his caravels, the biography of the great navigator is not as simple as it seems. The accuracy of his date of birth is being questioned. Until recently, several Italian cities challenged each other for the right to be called the birthplace of the discoverer of America. There are some unexplored blind spots in Columbus's early life. There is some evidence that the Genoese supposedly traveled north in 1477. Visited the English port of Bristol, at the crossroads of many sea routes. According to some researchers, Columbus made a study trip to the shores of Iceland. Its results remain behind the scenes. Could the future admiral, having climbed so far into the northern waters, learn something about the Viking campaigns to Vinland, the legends about which could still live in the form of oral folklore?
Vinland map
The Norman phenomenon - the campaigns of northern sea nomads - suddenly began with a raider attack in 789 on the coast of England and ended with the Battle of Hastings in 1066 on the same British Isles. The expansion of the Vikings is a large and separate topic. The passionate impulse of the northern peoples was significant. They were not alien to the risk and calm attitude to the distance lying behind the drakkar. What is the expedition of Ingvar the Traveler to the Caspian Sea in 1010 worth? Europe owes the Vikings the discovery and development of Iceland and Greenland. But this was not enough for the restless bearded men, and they go even further west. In 986, the Icelandic Viking Leif Eriksson reaches an unknown land overgrown with forest, among which grows densely "a bush with berries, from which you can make wine." In any case, a certain member of Leif's crew, a native of the south, whom everyone called Turk, gave just such a characteristic to this plant. And, according to one version, it was the "wine berries" that gave the name to the open land - Vinland. These areas, rich in forests, attracted the interest of immigrants from Iceland, where the rocky landscape was poor in vegetation suitable for shipbuilding. Viking expeditions to the shores of North America were not a secret. Firstly, they are reflected in the oral epic - sagas, for example, in the "Saga of Eric the Red". Secondly, these campaigns were, in modern terms, documented in the work of the famous chronicler Adam of Bremen "Geography of the Northern Lands", which appeared in 1079. This was the first description of the discovery of unknown lands in the west at the level of a solid source for those times, and not a banal retelling of port tales about the "hungry kraken". Of course, the cheerful batch of subsequent skeptics with an ironic smile pointed out that the work of Adam of Bremen was released almost 250 years after Leif Eriksson's campaign and was again based on the Scandinavian sagas, which made it possible to refer this information also to the category of "epic creativity." For a long time, official historiography held a similar opinion, until finally in 1960 the remains of a Norman settlement in L'Ans aux Meadows on the island of Newfoundland were discovered by the Norwegian enthusiast Helge Markus Ingstad. Thus, the Viking campaigns in America were proved, but whether this settlement was the very Vinland or not is still unknown. According to the sagas, the campaigns stopped due to conflicts with the local population.
Did Columbus know where Leif Ericsson's drakkars went? How much information did he have? On the one hand, in the north, they could still remember the Vikings not only as the destroyers of monasteries, dashing people, but also as travelers. On the other hand, the information flows of Europe at that time were far from dynamic, and the stories about Vinland could be considered fiction. But in any case, there is a possibility that Columbus could contact the captains of the ships that went to Iceland and know a lot about the local situation.
From the cramped habitual to the unknown
It should be noted that Europe at the end of the 15th century was at a crossroads. A number of key events took place, which in one way or another influenced the entire course of not only European, but also world history. In 1453, the Ottoman Turks took Constantinople by storm, finally deciding the existence of the last fragment of the once vast Byzantine Empire. Between the Christian world and the mysterious and so attractive countries of the East stood an indestructible, as it seemed then, a bastion of the Ottoman Empire. Trade with the East, already difficult, has become even more problematic. The number of intermediaries who got in the way of any pinch of pepper, a piece of silk, and other scarce goods - on the way from India, Central Asia and the Far East - increased by an order of magnitude. Accordingly, prices have increased significantly. Oriental exoticism is finally moving into the category of VIP-goods for the corresponding categories of consumers. Trading in overseas wonders was both extremely profitable and extremely risky. The passability of the traditional routes for the flow of goods from the east through Constantinople and Egypt was increasingly questioned due to the frequent wars between Christians and Muslims. There was an acute need for new routes, which were an alternative to those that passed through the territories controlled by the Turks.
Simultaneously with the ever-growing onslaught from the East on the Iberian Peninsula, a whole era was drawing to a close - the Reconquista, which had lasted for more than 700 years. The Christian kingdoms gradually, step by step, managing to painfully bite and kick each other at the opportunity, drove the Arabs out of the territory of modern Spain. By the end of the 15th century, only more and more plunged into a crisis, gripped by strife and turmoil, the Granada Emirate remained the last Arab state in Europe.
On the Iberian Peninsula, there was another inconspicuous state, which suddenly burst out of the provincial European backwater into leaders. It was Portugal. At the beginning of the 15th century, the Portuguese gained a foothold in Madeira, in the 30s they took control of the Azores. Through the efforts of the active Infant Heinrich the Navigator, who provided the theoretical and practical basis for the development of maritime affairs in the country, Portugal in a matter of decades was able to reach the "major league". Having founded a navigation school in Sagres and with access to the treasury, this statesman equipped one expedition after another. The Portuguese reached the Cape Verde Islands, explored the estuaries of the Senegal and Gambia rivers. Portuguese ships began to bring gold and ivory to the metropolis. Portugal was the first to actively engage in the slave trade from Africa. Although the glory of the Mediterranean seafarers has not yet faded, the inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula took over from them the primacy in maritime affairs. Humanity has become cramped in the cradle of Western civilization, the Mediterranean Sea. The Portuguese already had few of their outposts in Africa - they set the task of reaching the countries of the East by sea.
It is not at all surprising that Christopher Columbus, armed with projects of expeditions to "India", first of all began to seek support for his ideas in Portugal. In 1479, Don Philip Perestrelo, the daughter of the governor of the islet of Porto Santo (near Madeira), becomes the wife of Columbus. This same governor was an ally of Prince Enrique himself - Heinrich the Navigator. Columbus manages to visit the expedition of Diogo de Azambush to Guinea to build a Portuguese fortress there. In addition, the Genoese was in correspondence with the famous scientist and cartographer of the time, Paolo Toscanelli, who had a great influence on the ideas of Columbus. In one of his letters, Toscanelli approves of the idea of the Genoese to go to China by the western route and speaks of a certain map on which this route is indicated. What kind of map it is, whether it was a copy taken from some ancient documents, or it was drawn by Toscanelli himself, remains a mystery. Perhaps the Italian cartographer had access to some sources not available to the general public. In any case, Columbus clearly forms his concept of going to India by the western route, and not trying to reach it by rounding Africa. By the way, the Dark Period of the Middle Ages with the accompanying savagery and ignorance led to the loss of many common knowledge in ancient times: for example, Herodotus reported about the Phoenician fleet sailing around Africa as early as 600 BC. The expedition was carried out by order of Pharaoh Necho II. It is likely that later, in the heyday of the Carthaginian state (founded, by the way, by the Phoenicians), this route was known.
In Columbus Europe, this knowledge was lost. In any case, many Portuguese navigators seriously believed that an ocean inhabited by monsters lies to the south of Guinea, known to them, and there "you can burn out from the bright sun."
Long way to the ocean
Sebastiano del Piombo. "Portrait of a Man (Christopher Columbus)"
Having arranged everything accordingly on paper, Columbus turned to the Portuguese king João II. Senor Toscanelli also added fuel to the fire, supporting his correspondent with letters of recommendation and explanatory letters to the court. In one of these letters to the same Joao II, Toscanelli says that "there is nothing at all to sail from the well-known island of Antilia to another island of Sipang." The whole interest of the situation lies in the fact that officially the Antilles became known in Europe only after the voyage of Columbus. It turns out that they knew something in Lisbon, but were silent. While Columbus and Toscanelli, each for their part, worked on the king, the expedition of Bartolomeu Dias returned to the metropolis, opening (or rediscovering) the Cape of Good Hope for Europe and reached the Indian Ocean. Columbus himself was present at the report of Dias to Juan and was hurt.
The position of the Genoese at the Portuguese court became more and more precarious. The future admiral, rushing about with his ideas of the western route to India, was not taken seriously against the background of Diash's triumph. Say, we are just a stone's throw from Africa to India. It is likely that the Portuguese were cunning. After all, Prince Enrique was known not only as the patron saint of seafarers, but also as a collector of antiquities, in particular, ancient maps and documents. Who knows if some documentary evidence of the existence of lands overseas came into his hands from the same Arabs, who, in contrast to not yet enlightened Europeans, were much more careful about the heritage of the ancient period. One way or another, but Columbus was given to understand that his ideas did not find understanding. It is likely that the path around Africa in Lisbon was considered more acceptable, shorter and safer. But at the same time, just in case, they confidently insisted that there was nothing in the west.
Having spent a lot of money during his stay at the court of João II, Columbus moved to neighboring Spain. There he finds refuge in the monastery of Santa Maria de Rabida. Local abbot Juan Perez di Marchena, whom the indefatigable Genoese dedicated to the essence of his concept, to what benefit it would bring to the state and the church, expressed interest. The monk turned out to be surprisingly “the right person” who knew how, to whom and with what “you need to approach”. He is developing a strategy for the correct penetration into the high society of Spain. Di Marchena helps to compose letters to important people who have access to the very top. One of them was the aristocrat Duke of Medinaceli, imbued with the ideas of Columbus and realizing that the Genoese was not just another primitive search engine who wholesale the philosopher's stone. The Duke introduced him to his uncle Cardinal Mendoza, Archbishop of Toledo. It was a very advantageous acquaintance - the duke had direct contacts with the Spanish "business elite": bankers, merchants and shipowners. The uncle was close to Queen Isabella of Castile. Columbus' efforts to gradually "screw" into the near-royal circles have yielded results. He was granted audience by King Ferdinand of Aragon and his wife Isabella of Castile.
They listened favorably to Columbus (the cardinal made the necessary preparations), but, just in case, a commission of scientists, cartographers and theologians was created with a view to the possibility of carrying out the expedition. It is quite obvious that the Spanish monarchs preparing for a war against the Emirate of Granada were constrained in funds in order to pay a large sum for a great life on an expedition with vague prospects. The commission itself sat for almost four years, bogged down like an elephant in a swamp in disputes and discussions. Columbus ardently defended his opinion, referring to some sources that are evidence of his innocence. He claimed that while in Madeira, he repeatedly heard from local sailors about strange finds: hand-processed trees, abandoned boats and other objects west of the Azores. In a narrower circle, the Genoese allegedly claimed that in Bristol he met with a certain skipper who showed him a map with the lands marked on it far to the west. The secretive Columbus sparingly shared the information he had. And this is understandable. At a time when many around were talking about expeditions, about distant Indies and other new lands, every enterprising character could use and turn to profit for himself someone else's information of a navigational nature. And Columbus was ambitious and did not intend to share his future glory. The commission did not come to an unambiguous conclusion and limited itself to a very streamlined conclusion: there is something in this. In 1491, the monarchs officially refuse to provide funds - a military operation against Granada was inevitable. Finding himself in a quandary, Columbus enlisted as a soldier and took part in the siege and storming of Granada, which fell in early 1492. In the wake of the general euphoria of victory and joy caused by the end of the Reconquista and the expulsion of the Moors, the Genoese decided to try his luck again.
Ambition and hidden leverage
Departure of the expedition from Palos. Fragment of a fresco from the monastery of La Rabida
Columbus hits the most vulnerable spot: after the end of the war, Spain finds itself in a difficult financial situation, and the Genoese promised and even guaranteed huge profits. A multitude of warlike hidalgos, all those Don Pedro and Juan, whose whole meaning of life, like their ancestors, was in the reconquista, were left without work. The energy of the poor service nobility had to be directed in the right direction - the fight against the Berbers was an honorable, but unprofitable venture. But sending the owners of hacked shields and torn camisoles to the development of new territories would be the best way out. The emboldened Columbus demands titles and titles for himself, but Ferdinand, irritated by the insolence of the Genoese, again refuses. Columbus publicly threatens to leave for France, where he will be understood. But Isabella, who favored the Genoese, intervenes in the protracted discussion. The hidden flywheels of power began to spin, and, it would seem, unexpectedly, the project gets the go-ahead. Already on April 30, 1492, the royal couple bestowed upon the rootless Genoese the address “don”, that is, makes him a nobleman. It is argued that if the enterprise succeeds, Columbus receives the title of Admiral of the Sea-Ocean and becomes Viceroy of all open lands. What made him change the original decision of the Spanish monarch, what evidence was provided, remains behind the scenes. Queen Isabella pawns some of her own jewelry, Columbus finds the rest of the funds from the Pinson brothers, shipowners from Palos. Other influential friends are also helping. But in general, the equipment of the expedition leaves much to be desired. Some of the personnel have to be removed from local prisons - there are not many who want to sail across the Sea of Fear. But there are no envious people, due to skepticism and lack of prospects, so the fate of the captain of the Caverin Tatarinov Columbus was not threatened. On August 3, 1492, the Pinta, Niña, and the flagship Santa Maria roll away from Palos's dock and, accompanied by sympathetic gazes, recede into the horizon.
Secrets know how to wait
Piri Reis Map
It is unlikely that, before the possible invention of the time machine, it will be clear whether Columbus knew that the lands approached by his squadron had nothing to do with either China or India? As a result, the inhabitants of the two continents received the name of the inhabitants of a country located in the other part of the world. Did he continue to be delusional or did he play a well-adjusted and rehearsed performance, claiming to the end of his days that he had reached the countries of the East? What conclusions did the Genoese draw when he saw the sheets of parchment with an unknown coastline inscribed on them in the hands of a mysterious stranger? And was he really? Secrets know how to wait. As the map of the Barbary Admiral Piri Reis is waiting for their explorers with the land plotted on it, surprisingly similar to Antarctica, "Erebus" and "Terror", whose rest is kept by the icy waters of Baffin Bay, the airship "Italia", somewhere frozen into the Greenland ice. The story often laughs in response to the questions she is asked. And not always in her voice you can hear only good-natured intonation.
