No true portrait of Christopher Columbus exists, with all known likenesses created from written descriptions. Other myths include Columbus being the first European to discover America and the names of his ships being nicknames.
Christopher Columbus may have discovered a “new world” in America, but no one has been able to discover a true portrait of the man. Every known likeness of Columbus was created from written descriptions of the explorer, including information provided by his second son, Ferdinand. At the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, 71 purported portraits of Columbus were exhibited, but a jury found no evidence that any of them were genuine. Three early portraits – by artists Paulus Jovius, Sebastiano Luciano and Lorenzo Lotto – have been repeatedly published and passed off as accurate, but none of these were painted from real life. There is no evidence that any of the artists ever met Christopher Columbus.
Other myths and truths about Columbus:
Columbus was not the first European to “find” the so-called New World. Norwegian explorer Leif Erikson landed in present-day Newfoundland around AD 1000, nearly five centuries before Columbus set sail.
Seeking financial backing, Columbus said he would find a western route to Asia. Monarchs in Portugal, England and France said that his calculations were wrong and that the journey would take much longer than his itinerary indicated. They were right.
La Niña and La Pinta were not the real names of his ships. La Pinta was a nickname (Spanish for “painted lady”), bestowed by the ship’s crew. La Niña – actually the Santa Clara – was also a nickname (for the owner Juan Niño) adopted by sailors.
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