why did colombus sail to the west indies?
92249
Columbus was challenged by the Spanish government, specifically the Queen, to disprove the commonly accepted  notion that the world was flat.  Conceptually, the formulation of his proof that the world was indeed "round" (spherical, or possible cylindrical - it's not specified in history texts what "round" meant to Columbus) was that if he could set some starting point and then sail around the world in a constant direction, should he return to his starting point then his theory would be proved.\n\nHe ended up in the Indies, which has ever since been named the "West Indies", but thought he was elsewhere.  As far as Columbus was concerned, he was sure that he had found some one of the outermost islands of Cipango or Japan. So he dropped his anchors, ordered out his rowboat, and prepared to take possession of the land in the name of the queen of Spain, who had helped him in his enterprise.\n\nOf course, he wasn't in Japan or Cipango...if you want a full text detail of the story, follow the link in references...this was the short version.\n\nI hope this helps you!!
985049
You might learn a lot from this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonization\nI think the borders were more a part of the monarchy's decision to allow for different parties to control different areas as they gradually made their way on to the continent
965028
I will only help if I can be cited in the essay.  \n\nThere was a triangle of trade.  Manufactured goods would be sent to Africa.  From Africa, slaves were sent to the Caribbean or North America.  Then from the Caribbean or North America goods such as Rice, Sugar, Tobacco, Rum, and Cotton were shipped back to England.\nThat is what I learned in history but for a detailed explanation check out the site below:
109043
*Pondering that* Actually his goals were the Indies and further into the east, not japan itself.\n\nn the 15th and 16th centuries, the Europeans wanted to find sea routes to the East. Columbus wanted to find a new route to the Far East, to India, China, Japan and the Spice Islands. If he could reach these lands, he would be able to bring back rich cargoes of silks and spices. Columbus knew that the world was round and realised that by sailing west, instead of east around the coast of Africa, as other explorers at the time were doing, he would still reach the East and the rich Spice Islands.\n\nWhy is because the know caravan routes through the middle east were both long via land and even longer via the sea going around africa. A new route there would not only be easier, but lest costly in the terms of time and money (bribes, tolls, tarrifs ect).\n\nFor more see the links...
792283
Take a cruise out of Miami or Fort Lauderdale to the Western Caribbean
501515
Because of the politics. From my understanding, Haiti was/is war torn. People who want to travel who are not from there do not want to go to a country that has a lot of fightings and political warfare. not only that but D.R. has a lot of resorts predominately for tourists and great rates for them as well. I also heard that the D.R. accommodates the Carribean Cruise lines as well. my friend came back from one; they went to Haiti even though they thought they were going to go to the D.R. Not happy at all. People want to go where they have a feeling they are not going to be in the crossfire (and, if you have watch the world news, Haiti, back then, was not a place even for the Haitian people to be safe.) To my knowledge, the D.R. does not have a problem with that.
781509
None.  It was enacted as a response to the searches carried out by England which were the primary reason for the revolutionary wat.  England was issuing "writs of assistance" to customs officers to combat the growing problem of smuggling to avoid taxes paid to England.
5280
Christopher Colombus was born in Genoa, Italy between August 26 and October 31 in 1451.
23030
Well he sure is recognised now.  \nBut he didnt get much recognition back then because he never actually completed the voyage around the planet.  He was killed by natives when they stopped in the Philippines Islands and never returned to Spain.  Eighteen of his approximate 250 crew members and one of the 5 ships in his fleet did return to Spain in 1522, and were the first to circumnavigated the globe.
79167
Columbus didn't "discover" America. However, he first arrived in the Carribean islands (Cuba is not where he 1st landed though) in 1492. He didn't set foot onto what would become mainland American until around 1500.
211272
English...the Bahamas were once a british colony.
899746
They were looking for a cheap commercial sea route north and west around North America, in order to facilitate trade between Europe and India, China and Southeast Asia.
279053
Same reason they settled in other colonies: opportunity!!  Opportunity to worship, to self-governance, to create something, to start over, for an adventure!
122279
Christopher Columbus did not go anywhere to try and be free. He got lost.
195557
It came from Captain George Vancouver of the British navy who surveyed the area in the early 1790's. He had earlier been a midshipman on board HMS Endeavour when Captain James Cook sailed up the West Coast of Canada.
375300
Asian peoples who later formed the native american tribes were the first.  hundreds of years later the vikings (anglo saxons) also arrived to explore the Americas.  Hundreds of years after that in 1492, A spanish Explorer Christopher Columbus, was paid by the Queen of Portugal to find a new route to India.  He choose to sail west rather than east and landed in what is now South America.  He then went on to India.  After Columbus returned to Portugal, he reported what he found to the Queen.  After the news of his adventures spread Spain and Portugal both began sending expiditions to the Americas and formed a few colonies in South and Central America.  \n\nIn the late 16th Century, France and Britain were exploring North America and Britain formed the James town settlement.  The first British Colony in the Americas.  France was also sending convicts to work the land in eastern Canada.  \n\nDuring the 17th century, many British and a few Dutch groups came to the New World for religious freedom.  By the early 18th century young British men were braving the new world in hopes of making their fortunes and some adventurous intellectuals also made the journey.  \n\nIt was not until the 19th century that significant numbers of non-Brits (Eastern Europeans, Italians, Germans, etc.) came to the United States.
604567
First, the Europeans had known right along about Africa (which was a short hop across the Mediterranean) and about Asia, though their dealings with the Far East (India to China) came rather late, and were a result of contact with Muslims, esp. after the Crusades.\n\nAs for America, the discovers knew NOTHING about America (leaving aside for now the brief settlement from an earlier discovery by people from Iceland --by way of Greenland) when Columbus stumbled into it when trying to get to the Far East more quickly by crossing the Atlantic (rather than trekking by land or sailing around Africa).  This is, of course, why they were "discoverers"!  (Actually, he would have been a discoverer if he had found the route he was looking for rather than a new continent he wasn't looking for.)\n\nIronically, Columbus's critics --who said it was too far and too dangerous-- had a much more accurate estimate of the earth's circumference than he did!   \n\nFurther irony, Columbus never knew that he HAD discovered a new continent.  He died believing he had reached the edge of the "Indies" [hence they are called the West Indies to this day].   It was Amerigo Vespucci who first concluded, while exploring the coast and part of the interior of South America in a 1501-02 voyage, that this was not part of the Far East at all, but a new continent. (The widespread circulation of his letter on this point explains how he became associated with the discovery itself and why mapmakers put a version of HIS name on a map of the "new world" in 1507.)\n\nOne other consideration -- why didn't they sail out to attempt such things earlier?   Because it was only in the 15th century that Europeans (beginning with the Portugese) developed the navigational tools and skills to undertake such voyages.\n\n**Note to mon l -- none of this had ANYTHING to do with "falling off the edge of the earth".  All these folks knew (and the educated had known for many centuries) that the world was round (contra later anti-Catholic propaganda and a blunder in a popular 19th century biography of Columbus that has influenced the popular understanding ever since).  The obstacle the experts --including some fine navigators-- saw was the great DISTANCE to Asia -- and on that point, they were correct!