新GRE写作名人素材：哥伦布_GRE写作

新GRE写作名人素材：哥伦布

　　On August 3, 1492, the fleet of three ships he Ni, the Pinta, and the Santa Maret forth from Palos, on the Tinto River in southern Spain. After spending nearly a month in the Canary Islands, off the mainland of northwest Africa, the ships continued west, following the parallel of Gomera. According to records of the voyage, weather remained fair throughout. The first sighting of land came at dawn on October 12. The place of the first Caribbean landfall was most likely modern San Salvador, or Watling Island, in the Bahamas.

　　Thinking he had reached the East Indies, Columbus referred to the native inhabitants of the island as ndians,?a term that was ultimately applied to all indigenous peoples of the New World. The three ships sailed among other Bahama islands and landed at Cuba, which Columbus convinced himself was the mainland of great Cathay . There was little gold there, and his exploration continued by sea to Ayti on December 6, which Columbus renamed La Isla Espa la, or Hispaniola. He seems to have thought Hispaniola was Cipango ; in any case, the land was rich with gold and other natural resources, and allowed Columbus to return to Spain in the spring of 1493 with riches enough to convince his sovereigns of his success.

　　After a difficult journey back to Europe, Columbus paid a visit to King John II of Portugal, which prompted suspicion that he had collaborated with Spain enemy. He subsequently appeared before Isabella and Ferdinand in Barcelona, displaying gold, exotic birds, herbs and spices, and even human captives that he had brought from the New World. The sovereigns were easily persuaded to fund a second voyagehis time, at least 17 ships and 1,300 men set sail from Ciz on September 25, 1493. En route to Hispaniola and Navidad, the settlement he had founded there, Columbus and his fleet entered the West Indies near Dominica and proceeded past Guadeloupe and other Lesser Antilles before reaching Borinqu .