| Christopher Columbus - Another video clip from the Drive Thru History series and my friends at www.ColdWaterMedia.com Christopher Columbus was born in 1451 in beautiful Genoa, Italy. He was raised in the shadows of medieval gates behind him and the open sea in front of him -- the perfect backdrop for a boy looking for adventure. Christopher's father was a respectable middle-class man who made a career of weaving wool. But Columbus had bigger plans than spending his life working with sheep fur. He had heard the call of the ocean, the lure of the sea. Christopher Columbus set about learning his trade as a teenager, traveling the trade routes across Europe and becoming an expert in navigation. He may have also helped with a bit of "privateering" in the war against the Moors. Although Christopher Columbus reached his goal of becoming a sea captain, he was not content to simply follow the traditional trade routes and make a nice living. No, he had big plans, and he was willing to risk everything to make them a reality. During this period, land trade between India, China, and Europe dwindled, because the Muslims had effectively created a blockade of the trade routes, including the famous Silk Road. Many Europeans were wondering, "How do we solve this trade problem?" Along comes a mathematician named Paolo Toscanelli, toiling away quietly at a cathedral in Florence, Italy, who proposes a new theory of reaching the East by sailing west. Then along comes Christopher Columbus, who ... |
