On August 3rd, 1492, the expedition set sail from palos Port. Columbus led the fleet to sail southwest and headed for the Canary Islands (Columbus chose this route because: First, the Canary Islands are the farthest island of Spain, which extends to the Atlantic Ocean. Crossing from here can reduce the voyage, navigation cycle and difficulties. Secondly, according to the map of Tuscany and Columbus' own calculation, Sipango (Japan), the "Island of Happiness", is located at the same latitude of 28 degrees north latitude just west of the Canary Islands (the center of Japan is actually 38 degrees north latitude), and the distance from here to cross the two places in a straight line is the shortest. Third, at that time, only the latitude could be determined, but not the longitude. From here, the "equal latitude navigation method" can be applied, so as to ensure that the course is accurate and direct to Japan, and the northeast trade winds are basically used along the way, avoiding the common hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean at the end of summer (which is considered to be an important reason for the success of the westbound route).

From September 9, that is, from the first day when he didn't see the land, Columbus began to conceal the true speed and voyage, and underreported the distance he had traveled, in order to prevent the crew from panicking because the voyage was too long and the land was too far away.

1on September 3, 492, the sailors found that the compass needle was offset to the west. Columbus handled this unexpected situation with his usual composure and wisdom. He first said that it was caused by the movement of Polaris, not the failure of the magnetic needle (later he further "verified" it through experiments). He ordered him to go north at dawn and found that the compass was normal. Columbus's explanation and effective disposal calmed everyone's mood and restored everyone's trust in themselves and the compass. So Columbus also initially discovered the magnetic difference and measured the magnetic declination, that is, the deviation between the geomagnetic north and south poles and the geographical north and south poles, and the included angle between the geomagnetic meridian and the geographical meridian. Columbus's discovery and explanation are enlightening and helpful to navigators, humanists, geographers and physicists.

Columbus landed on the new continent.

From1September 492 14 to 10/October 12, the expedition found seabirds continuously, which seems to indicate that it is not far from the land, but it is not. On September 16, they found a lot of green grass in the mountains. At first, they thought it was connected with land, but later they realized that it had entered the the sargasso sea area. Fortunately, it didn't hinder navigation. It was not until someone went to measure that they knew that the the sargasso sea they met was 4.5 million square kilometers, and the fleet crossed the southern part of the algae sea. On September 20, Columbus ordered sounding, but the sounding rope was lowered to 200, and it still could not reach the bottom. From September 23, the crew began to complain, and Columbus ignored it. 10 year 10 6, a meeting was held on the flagship, at which Columbus once again expressed his determination to move forward.

65438+1October 1 1, Columbus was forced to commit to the deadline. But on this day, a reed, some vines, a small tree, a cut stick and a processed board were discovered one after another, which gave us hope of discovering land. At night 10, Columbus found a light ahead, flickering like a candle. Columbus was convinced that the land was nearby, and at two o'clock in the middle of the night, the night watchman on the Pinta finally saw the land clearly. After Captain Martin Song Ping confirmed it, he fired a gun to announce and celebrate. Columbus calmly ordered to lower the sail, anchor and stop the ship and wait for dawn to ensure safety.

1492 65438+1October 12 is an important day in world history. Up to now, more than a dozen countries, such as Honduras, Brazil, Ecuador, Venezuela, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay, Costa Rica, Bahamas and the United States, have designated this day or around it as Columbus Day to commemorate it. Spain celebrates it as a national day. This morning, after more than 30 days of sailing without land or shore, Columbus and his party finally arrived and landed on the first land in the western hemisphere. This is a coral island, about 13 miles long and about 6 miles at its widest point. The local Indians called Guanahani Island, and Columbus named it San Salvador, which means the holy savior. /kloc-in the 0/7th century, the British pirate Watling set up a village here and changed its name to Watling Island. "It is generally believed that it is now San Salvador in the Bahamas (now it has been changed back) and belongs to the Commonwealth of the Bahamas."

After Columbus and his party went ashore by boat, they held a possession ceremony, announced that they would occupy the island in the name of the king and queen, and asked the entourage to notarize and record it. Columbus and his party met the Taino people of Arawak Indian language family on the island, who were still in the Neolithic Age in the late primitive society. Columbus and others fully believed that when they reached the eastern edge of Asia, which he called Pan-India or Great India, they called this area the West Indies and called the local people Indians. "Columbus thinks that San Salvador is the outer island of the Japanese archipelago. They visited the island. After two days of trading break, we set sail to find "Golden Gem" and "Japan Island".

Then on June 1492, 10, 14, they discovered the island of rum in the southwest of San Salvador, which Columbus called Santa Maria. The crew also bartered with the islanders. Since then, they have been to Ferdinand Island (Long Island), Isabella Island (Crook Island) and Columbus Shoal (Humentos Islands), but they have not found gold, but have seen corn, potatoes and sweet potatoes, which are important crops unique to America. The sailors learned from the guide that there was a big island in the southwest called Corba (Cuba), which Columbus thought was the main island of Japan. So, on October 28th, 10/kloc-0, the fleet arrived at the port of barea, located in the present-day Aotelian province in the northeast of Cuba. Columbus and others found neither gold nor jewels here, nor Japanese, China and Indian signs of civilization and wealth. However, they found golden tobacco here. After that, the Spanish quickly learned to smoke. Just 40 years later, Las Casas said, "On the island of Hispaniola, the Spaniards we know are used to it, … I don't know what flavor and benefits they have learned from it." Tobacco and smoking hobbies quickly swept the world.

After arriving in Cuba, Columbus thought that Cuba was the most barren area in China, and perhaps the rich Japanese archipelago was just to the east of China. They learned from the aborigines that there is a gold-rich babic Island not far from the east, and a big island called Bossio near the southeast, which is rich in spices, pearls and gold. So they walked east along the Cuban coast. 165438+1At the beginning of October, Columbus carried out the first robbery since sailing and kidnapped more than a dozen Indians. 165438+1On October 20th, Martin Pinta left the formation without authorization and went to babic Island to look for gold. On February 6, 65438, Columbus's fleet docked at the westernmost port of St. Nicholas on the island of Haiti. On February 2, 65438+Kloc-0/,Columbus and his party came to Turtle Island (now Torti Island) in the northwest of Haiti, and the local chief gave Columbus some gifts. On February 25, 65438, due to the negligence of the sailor on duty, the Santa Maria ran aground on the coast east of Cap Haitien, and the rescue was invalid. The crew removed the materials from the ship with the help of Indians. At this time, there was only one small boat "Nina" under the command of Columbus, and it could not hold all the crew. Columbus decided to leave some people on the island of Spain. 39 people volunteered to stay and look for more gold.

1493 65438+1On October 4th, the Ninja left Navidad and went east to look for the Pinta. In northern Haiti, I met Pinta, and two ships formed a team and sailed eastward to Cape samana in the northeast of Dominica. So far, the entire northern coast of Haiti has been inspected. On June 16, the two ships finally left samana Bay, a Haitian island, and began to return and re-cross the Atlantic Ocean. They still use the "equal latitude navigation method" and sail to the northeast first. At about 65438+1October 22, they crossed the latitude of their route, 28 degrees north latitude. On February 3rd or so, the fleet reached about 500 miles east of Bermuda and 30 degrees north latitude. Here they met a downwind, so they turned around and headed east, even though the Spanish coast they were going to reach was about 39 degrees north latitude. On February 12, there was a storm at sea, which lasted for 4 days. According to the research, the wind force reaches 8. This means that the waves are as high as 5.5-7.5 meters and the wind speed reaches 17.2-20.7 meters per second. Peace tower, Nina, with a load of only 60 tons, is like two leaves in a storm, which is in danger of overturning at any time. 13 night, peace tower, Nina, separated in the stormy waves and never met again. At the worst moment, Columbus left a drifting bucket with letters he found in West India and a copy of the same letter on board. On February 15, the crew of the Ninja saw the southernmost land of the Azores. On February 18, the Ninia docked at St. Marion Island in Azores. Although we have returned to the westernmost island of the old continent, the rest of the voyage is still full of dangers. On February 24th, the Ninja set sail again. Unexpectedly, hurricanes followed, and the crew fought for life and death with the wind and waves for six consecutive days. They were forced to sail to Portugal and landed in Lisbon Bay on March 4th. Columbus met Diaz, who is already famous, outside Lisbon, and then visited King Joao II of Portugal. At this time, Joao II regretted that he had rejected Columbus's suggestions and conditions. On March 13, the Ninja set sail from Lisbon and returned to palos at noon on March 15. In the afternoon, Martin Song Ping narrowly escaped the second storm, and the Pinta returned to palos. At this point, the unprecedented 224-day voyage exploration in human history has finally ended. Columbus brought back to Europe the amazing news of finding land and people on the other side of the western Atlantic. The first important news of geographical discovery, through the translation of dozens of languages, quickly spread throughout Europe.