Columbus's Funding Campaign.

Hello, everyone. Today, I'm going to talk about Columbus's funding campaign. First, I'm going to talk about why Columbus had so much trouble finding someone who would help pay for his voyage. Next, I'll talk about why Isabella and Ferdinand finally agreed to sponsor him.
 Well, Columbus had much trouble finding someone who would help pay for his voyage mostly because of geographical considerations.
 Washington Irving's 1828 biography of Columbus popularized the idea that Columbus had difficulty obtaining support for his plan because Christian theologians insisted that the Earth was flat. That might be one of the reasons but most educated westerners had understood that the Earth was spherical at least since the time of Aristotle, who lived in the 4th century B.C. The sphericity of the Earth is also accounted for in the work of Ptolemy, on which ancient astronomy was largely based. In Columbus's day, celestial nevigation, which use the position of the Sun and the starsin the sky, together with the understanding that the Earth is a sphere, were beginning to be widely used by mariners.
 Where Columbus did differ from the view accepted by scholors in his day was in his estimate of the westward distance from Europe to Asia.Columbus's ideas in this regard were based on three factors; his low estimate of the size of the Earth, his high estimate of the size of the Eurasian landmass, and his belief that Japan and other inhabited islands lay far to the east of the coast of China. In all three of his issues, Columbus was both wrong and at odds with the scholarly consensus of his day.
 Columbus estimated the distance from the Canary Islands to Japan to be about 3000 Italian miles while the correct figure is 19600km. No ship in the 15th century could carry enough food and fresh water for such a long voyage and the dangers invovled in navigating through the uncharted ocean would have been formidable. Most European navigators reasonably concluded that a westward voyage from Europe to Asia was unfeasable.
 So when Columbus went to John the second, King of Portugal and presented his plans to him, John the second's experts rejected Columbus's plans. It was their considered opoinion that Clumbus's estimation of a travel distance of 2400 miles was, in fact, far too short.
 Now, I'll tell you why Isabella and Ferdinand finally agreed to sponsor Columbus. Columbus had sought an audience form the monarchs Ferdinand the second of Aragon-which is the place he is from-and Isabella the first of Castile-where she was from-who had united many kingdoms in the Iberian Peninsula by marrying, and were ruling together. On May 1 1486, permisson having been granted, Columbus presented his plans to Queen Isabella, who, in turn, referred it to a committee. After the passing of much time, the savants of the Spain, reported back that Columbus had judged the distance to Asia much too short. They pronounced the idea impractical and advised their Royal Highnesses to pass on the proposed venture. So you see, Columbus was rejected in Spain too. However, to keep Columbus from taking his ideas elsewhere, and perhaps to keep their options open, the Catholic Monarchs gave him an annual allowance of 12 maravedis-they are what the old Spain coins were called, and in 1489 furnished him with a letter ordering all cities and town under their domain to provide Columbus food and lodging at no cost.
 After two years of negotiations, he finally had success in 1492. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella had just conquered Granada, the last Muslim sttronghold on the Iberian Peninsula. The reason why they finally agreed to sponsor Columbus was that the monarchs needed money after having an expensive war, they needed gold and money. Columbus promised them that, so they agreed to sponsor Columbus.
 I admire Columbus for his persistancy and tenaciousness. He really was one tough man. Thank you for listening.