Columbus Day in USA
Monday, October 9
On a trip to Spain
we stayed in Cadiz at
the Parador Cadiz and walked the same Calles (streets) that Columbus and his
men took when they left the port of Cadiz. It was an amazing experience to know
that we were walking through the
oldest continuously inhabited city in Spain and one of the oldest in Western
Europe. be
Columbus
left the port of Cádiz on 24
September 1493, with a fleet of 17 ships carrying
1,200 men and the supplies to establish permanent colonies in the New World.
The passengers included priests, farmers, and soldiers, who would be the new
colonists. This reflected the new policy of creating not just "colonies of
exploitation", but also "colonies of settlement" from which to
launch missions dedicated to converting the natives to Christianity.[60] Modern
studies suggest that, as reported by the Washington Post, "crew members may have included free black Africans
who arrived in the New World about a decade before the slave trade began."[61]
Between 1492 and 1503, Columbus completed four round-trip
voyages between Spain and the Americas, each voyage being sponsored by the Crown of Castile. These voyages marked the beginning of the European exploration and colonization of the American continents, and are thus of enormous significance in Western history.[11]
