In the 1480s Columbus and his brother heard of Toscanelli’s suggestion and started proposing westerly voyages across the Ocean Sea in order to reach the Indies. Filipa may also have been pregnant at the time of her marriage, yet another reason why Columbus was able to make such a good marriage.įilipa died sometime between 14 of unknown causes. Columbus's son, Diego, was born in 1479 or 1480. The marriage took place in the Vila Baleira and the couple lived in what is now the Columbus museum on Porto Santo. The likely reason is that Filipa's mother, a widow (Bartolomeu died in 1457), with a 25 year old daughter who had to be supported financially in the convent at the Monastery of All Saints in which she resided, was pleased to pass on her daughter to a man that asked for no dowry.
How an impoverished merchant married into such a prestigious family has been the subject of controversy. Always with an eye to the future and his own status, Columbus married Filipa. Filipa was herself one of the twelve elite Comendadoras of the Monastery of All Saints in Lisbon of the Military Order of St. There he met Filipa Moniz Perestrelo, the daughter of the Governor of Madeira, Bartolomeu Perestrelo, a Portuguese Knight of Santiago, member of the household of Prince John, Lord of Reguengos de Monsaraz (Master of Santiago,) and of Prince Henry the Navigator's householdand. In 1477, Columbus found himself in Lisbon and by 1479, on the small island of Porto Santo island in the Madeira archipelago. Meanwhile, in 1470, a Florentine astronomer, Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli suggested to King Alfonso V of Portugal that sailing west might be a quicker way to reach the Spice Islands.
It was Portuguese sailors that set out to find a route that would take them by sea around the Cape of Good Hope from the Atlantic into the Indian Ocean, a task finally achieved by Bartolomeu Dias in 1488. This journey became very hazardous following the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. West is Bestįor over a thousand of years the European nations had been trading for silk and spices with the Indies and China via the Silk Road, an overland route safeguarded for the last two hundred years by the Mongol Empire. Many people still just call it Columbus Day. In 1987, its name was changed to La Fiesta Nacional (Spain’s National Day), removing any reference to Spanish colonialism. The holiday was originally called El Día de la Hispanidad and was first celebrated in Madrid in 1935 and was made an official public holiday in 1981. Every year, on the 12th October, Spain declares a National Holiday to commemorate Columbus's first sighting of the West Indies. His date of birth is unclear, no writings in his native language have ever been discovered, there are no authentic portraits and even his final place of rest is disputed. Login to add to YOUR Favourites or Read Later This article has been visited 11,929 timesįor such a famous man there is surprisingly little detail known about Christopher Columbus. It symbolizes Spain's vast, common heritage with today's American countries, which made up the Spanish Empire, the first global power in world history.īy Nick Nutter | Updated | Andalucia | Events |
The date is a key point for Spain's overseas influence and legacy to the world and to the Americas in particular. National Day of Spain commemorates the discovery of the Americas by Christopher Columbus on October 12, 1492.
0 kommentar(er)
