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1、1 Christopher Columbus father was a businessman, a weaver. His mothers family were also weavers. Maybe they hoped that one day Christopher would go into the weaving business too, but Christopher had ideas of his own. Growing up in the seaport city of Genoa, Italy, he had watched ships coming and goi
2、ng all the time, and he began to dream of sailing out on a great adventure of his own.2 Lots of people dream of adventures when they are children, but Christopher didnt just dream, he did something about it. He worked hard to get what he wanted. One thing that he did early in his life was to get a g
3、ood education. He didnt go to school for long, but he continued his education on his own to be sure that he learned the things that he would need to know. He taught himself Latin and Spanish, so that he could communicate with people from different places. When he was 14 years old, he signed on as a
4、deckhand on sailing ships to learn all about sailing.3 At that time, many ships were sailing off on adventures. Some of them sailed east, around Africa to reach what they called the Indies, which includes the modern countries of India, China, and Japan. Columbus, knowing that the world was round, th
5、ought that he could get there by sailing west. He didnt know that there were whole continents, North and South America, and then the Pacific Ocean in his way!4 The voyage west would be an expensive one, and Columbus first job was to find someone rich to sponsor him. After many tries, Queen Isabella
6、and King Ferdinand of Spain took an interest in his plan. Columbus had asked for a lot, and maybe he was surprised when they agreed to everything he asked for; three ships, honors and titles, and a percent of the profit from the trade.5 His three ships were named the Santa Maria, the Pinta, and the
7、Nina. The Santa Maria was the largest; it was a heavy cargo ship with three masts, two square sails, one triangular sail, and another little topsail. The Pinta was smaller and faster, the kind of ship called a caravel. The Nina was a caravel too, and the smallest of the three. The ships were made of
8、 wood and, of course, had no motors. Some of the officers had bunk beds; some of the other sailors didnt even have that. They used wood to cook their food in fireboxes on the deck.6 Columbus, who called himself Cristobal Colon in Spain, captained the Santa Maria. Two brothers, Martin and Vincente Pi
9、nzon, were the captains of the Pinta and the Nina. Altogether, there were about 90 men on the three ships that set sail in August of 1492.7 Columbus kept a log, or a journal, that gives us information about his voyage. From his log, we know that they sailed by dead reckoning, which was their way of
10、measuring their course. They used only a magnetic compass, and measurements of distance and time, to keep them on track. The ships averaged a speed of about 150 miles per day, but when the wind was good, they could go twice that fast. When the wind stopped, the ships sat still too. 8 The trip turned
11、 out to take much longer than anyone on board expected. After many days and nights at sea, the sailors were ready to return home. On October 10, Columbus talked them into sailing forward for just three more days. On October 12, they sighted land, and the same day they landed, not in the Indies, but in the New World. The rest, as they say, is history.
