What animals did Columbus bring back from America? Cultivated plants from America to Europe

If potatoes and tobacco did not "take root" well in every part of the Old World, then another "gift" of Columbus, or rather, his sailors, spread throughout Europe and even further without any problems. The long-standing dispute about the origin of syphilis in the Old World seems to have been finally resolved: it was the great sailor who brought the disease to Europe.

When Naples fell under the onslaught of the army of Charles VIII, an epidemic of a disease hitherto unknown to Europeans broke out among the French troops. Shortly after the end of the campaign, the army, which consisted mostly of mercenaries, was disbanded and the brave warriors went home, spreading the disease along the way to the rest of continental Europe.

Already in 1526, 1530, 1539 and 1546, Spanish and French doctors and historians published a number of reports on the disease, mentioning along the way two proofs of the "Columbian" origin of syphilis: firstly, the natives of the New World suffered from a similar disease, and secondly - some of the sailors who visited with Christopher in the New World complained of the same symptoms as visitors to the dermatovenerological dispensaries today.

Over time, defenders of the piety of the Spanish sailors appeared, also citing two main arguments. This discovery in Mediterranean region much more ancient human remains with possible signs of a syphilitic lesion and the inability of doctors of the early 16th century, who did not even know the basics of microbiology, to distinguish syphilis in the modern sense from other diseases - for example, leprosy.

Published in the latest issue of the Public Library of Science Neglected Tropical Diseases Job finally resolved this issue, which is interesting not only to microbiologists and epidemiologists, but also to moralists.

To date, several types of diseases caused by spirochetes (genus Treponema) are already known. Unlike syphilis, the causative agent of which is the pale spirochete (Tr. pallidum subsp. pallidum) discovered in 1905 by Shaudin and Hoffmann, other diseases develop in childhood and are transmitted through the oral mucosa or skin-to-skin contact.

The symptoms and nature of development are very similar in all described treponematoses, but each pathogen has its own distribution area. For the subspecies endemicum, which causes endemic syphilis, or bejel, these are hot and dry countries, for pertenue, infection with which leads to yaws, they are hot and humid.

Such a variety of pathogens only complicated the issue of the spread of syphilis around the planet.

A team of British, Canadian and American scientists led by Christina Harper of Emory University in Georgia analyzed the 1998 sequenced genome of strains of different subspecies of spirochetes obtained from various sources.

The idea of ​​such a study is not new. In the autumn of last year, similar surveys were already carried out for HIV. And comparison of human genes has long been used to describe the migration of our ancestors.

This time, 21 human strains of Tr. pallidum, one strain obtained from a wild baboon, and 3 strains of Tr. paraluiscuniculi isolated from rabbit tissues. These 21 strains included five (ie all available laboratory) pertenue variants and 2 endemicum variants. Samples of pertenue have also been obtained from the inhabitants of Guyana, the only known outbreak of yaws in the western hemisphere. Samples were also received from Ghana, Haiti, Samoa, Bosnia, Iraq, Mexico, North America and South Africa.

As shown by genetic analysis, yaws originated in Central Africa and Southern Oceania. The subspecies endemicum separated from pertenue - the most ancient representative of those studied - later, spreading to the Balkans and the Middle East.

Treponematosis turned out to be so ancient that the distribution of strains coincided with scientists' ideas about human migration over the past several thousand years.
But most importantly, the subspecies pallidum, the causative agent of the disease mentioned even by the classics of literature, appeared later than all. Moreover, he separated from pertenue even before the settlement of Europe and the Middle East.

But this strain did not cause venereal disease. The second generation of the subspecies pallidum, already venereal, appeared in the Old World at the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th centuries.

If we compare this time with the discovery of America, then the role of Columbus in this migration becomes obvious, scientists say. After all, even if Columbus did not bring a spirochete from his first expedition, then his followers coped with this within 10-15 years.

Scientists have also identified a third variant of the pallidum subspecies, which is now the most common throughout the world. It arose from the second one in continental Europe, but its “migration” lies on the conscience of numerous colonists who carry the light of “advanced civilization” around the world.

The discovery of America radically influenced the worldview and life of Europe. Not only tobacco and potatoes entered the life of a European, but also new diseases.

New Horizons

Since the West Indies was recognized as a new continent, European ideas about the geography of the globe have changed greatly. Besides that inhabited world turned out to be immensely huge, Europe learned about the existence of other peoples, whose way of life and mentality were completely different from the usual European values.

Before as indigenous people America turned out to be "cultivated" by Europe, the Old and New Worlds had to endure the conflict of two civilizations that had developed until then in different cultural and temporal dimensions.

Market expansion

By the end of the 15th century, European trade was in serious decline. Dominance in the Mediterranean Sea of ​​Genoese and Venetian merchants, capture by the Turks Central Asia and the Balkans, as well as the restoration of the monopoly of the Egyptian sultans over the Red Sea, deprived Europe of full access to goods from the East.

In addition, Europe experienced a shortage of minted coins, which, through Italian merchants in in large numbers went to the East.

The development of America made it possible to obtain a new source of gold and silver inflow to Europe, and at the same time - a variety of goods that had not been seen before in the Old World. In the future, the American continent became a vast market for manufactured goods from Europe.

Inflation

Already by the middle of the 16th century, an excess of gold and silver imported from overseas to Europe caused a serious depreciation of money. The volume of coins in circulation increased 4 times. The sharp fall in the value of gold and silver led to higher prices for agricultural and industrial products, which by the end of the century had tripled or more.

Inflation also had a downside. It contributed to the strengthening of the position of the emerging bourgeoisie, the growth of its income, as well as an increase in the number of manufacturing workers. This paved the way for the rapid industrial development of the most powerful European countries.

Industrial Revolution

If Portugal and Spain, when developing the American market, primarily benefited from trade, then England, France and the Netherlands increased their production capacity. By exchanging manufactured goods for overseas gold and silver, the bourgeoisie rapidly increased its capital.

England, intensively developing its fleet, pressed its competitors with sea ​​routes, and by the middle of the 17th century it had completely established complete control over the colonies in North America. From the New World, raw materials and agricultural products were imported to England, and English manufactured goods were delivered to America - from metal buttons to fishing boats.

The rapid growth of production eventually served as the basis for the industrial revolution in England.

Change of economic center

The discovery of America seriously affected the redistribution of economic power in Europe. Following the movement of the main trade routes from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, the center of economic life also passes to the countries of the Atlantic coast of Europe.

The Italian city-republics are gradually losing their former power: they are being replaced by new centers of world trade - Lisbon, Seville and Antwerp. The latter, by the middle of the 16th century, occupies a leading position in the trade and financial markets: weaving factories, sugar factories, breweries are built there, diamond processing enterprises appear, exchanges open. The population of Antwerp by 1565 exceeded 100 thousand inhabitants - an impressive figure for Europe of those years.

Colonialism and the slave trade

Quite a bit of time has passed since the caravels of Columbus landed on the shores of the New World, and already the largest maritime powers embarked on a colonial redistribution of the world. The first victim on the long path of European expansion was the island of Hispaniola (now Haiti), declared by the Spaniards as their property.

Along with the development of economic life in America with new force the slave trade emerged. In Europe, the slave trade became a sort of hereditary royal privilege. With the expansion of the geography of the trading companies of Portugal, Spain, France and England, supplies to the slave markets of slaves increased, primarily from the African continent.

New cultures

The lands of America became an agricultural base, from where crops unknown in the Old World were imported to Europe - cocoa, vanilla, beans, pumpkin, cassava, avocado, pineapple. And some exotic crops have successfully taken root in Europe: we can no longer imagine our diet without zucchini, sunflower, corn, potatoes and tomatoes.

However, the real conqueror of Europe was tobacco. It began to grow in Spain, France, Switzerland, Belgium and England. Government very quickly looked into new culture perspective and monopolized the tobacco market.

It is curious that Columbus was the first European to try tobacco, and the first victim of smoking was a member of his team, Rodrigo de Jerez, and a political victim. Catholic Church accused Sherry, who was blowing smoke from his mouth, with a connection with the devil and initiated the first anti-smoking campaign in history.

Pest

When Columbus first brought the wild potato to Europe, its small, watery tubers were of little use for human consumption. Centuries of breeding work have made the potato edible: it was in this form that he returned to America.

But in the New World, not only the colonists liked the potato, but also the Colorado potato beetle. The population of the once harmless insect has grown so much that within the boundaries American continent he got cramped.

The pest reached Europe only in the 20th century, but in a matter of decades it firmly established itself in the potato fields of the Old World, and in 1940 it also came to the USSR. Methods of dealing with the Colorado potato beetle were constantly improved, but the insect developed immunity to them with amazing constancy.

Disease

It is known that the Spanish conquistadors awarded the Indians with many diseases that the body of the natives simply could not cope with. But the Indians did not remain in debt. Together with the ships of Columbus, syphilis entered Europe.

The first syphilis epidemic that swept Europe in 1495 reduced the population of the Old World by 5 million people. The further spread of the exotic disease brought disasters to the European peoples comparable to epidemics of smallpox, measles and plague.

Model of a multinational society

After the Europeans set foot on the lands of the New World, they had to learn to live in a multinational society: on the one hand, this is the neighborhood in the new conditions of European peoples - the British, Spaniards, French, and on the other - the relationship of the colonialists with the indigenous people of America and, later, Africa.

The model of a multinational society has undergone major changes in America, largely overcoming the costs of racial and religious intolerance. Europe faced the problems of a multi-ethnic society later, but the countries of both Americas, and, first of all, the United States, acted as a model for the neighborhood of such dissimilar peoples.

At one time Europeans settled New World looking for wealth and a better life, centuries later, Europe will turn into a coveted paradise for millions of migrants.

Columbus was indeed the first European to try tobacco, but he did not become a smoker. Strictly speaking, Columbus is not to blame for importing the addiction from the New World into the Old. Having tasted a kind of cigar - according to contemporaries, these were tightly rolled dried leaves of an unknown plant, set on fire on one side - great traveler did not find anything attractive in smoking.

The first real smoker of the Old World, who set a bad example for the Europeans, was one of the crew members of Columbus - Rodrigo de Jerez, who brought the infection to Europe, from which more than 5 million people a year still die in the world, according to WHO. . Ironically, de Jerez was also the first victim of smoking. And a political victim. The Catholic Church incriminated de Jerez, who was blowing smoke from his mouth, with a connection with Satan and immediately launched the first anti-tobacco campaign in history.

But tobacco won. As powerful as the church was, the anti-tobacco campaign, conducted under its sensitive leadership, failed miserably. Europeans liked to smoke. The Inquisition had to retreat, confining itself to a ban on smoking in places of prayer. And de Heres, who received a real term “for communication with Satan”, was released from prison after 7 years.

From the "tool of the devil" in the mass consciousness of that time, tobacco turned into a "medicine". Catherine de Medici, for example, used it to treat migraines. Tobacco was tried to treat toothache, stomach upsets and aching bones.

Tobacco manufactory. Engraving by an unknown author,
published in Pittoresque magazine. Paris, 1843

A century after the discovery of America, tobacco conquered all of Europe: it was grown in Belgium, Spain, Italy, Switzerland and England. The state power, first in France and Spain, and later in England, monopolized the tobacco market. So the nicotine addiction of their own and other people's subjects turned into an uninterrupted source of profit.

The exchange between the Old and New Worlds went on unceasingly. The conquistadors "rewarded" the Indians with smallpox, plague, influenza and cholera. And those, in turn, "bestowed" on the Spaniards the first venereal disease in their lives - syphilis. Some sources claim that Columbus himself became the first syphilitic in Europe. Others all "laurels" give it to the sailors. The latter in 1494 acted as part of the army of the Spanish king Charles VIII, who led the army to war with the Neapolitan state. The army was huge and moved slowly, so outbreaks of an unprecedented disease arose both in the army itself and among the inhabitants of the occupied territories.

Nikolaus Knupfer. Scene in a brothel. 1630s

The historiographer of that time, Pietro Bembo, described this situation as follows: “Soon, in the city occupied by newcomers, due to contagion and the influence of the luminaries, a severe disease began, which was called “Gallic”. Later, the disease was called "French" and even "Belgian". According to the sources of that time, already a few years after the capture of Naples by Charles VIII, half of Europe was infected with the “French disease”.

The first syphilis epidemic, which occurred in 1495, reduced the population of Europe by 5 million people. Syphilis did not spare anyone - not even ordinary people, no royalty. By 1500, syphilis had crossed the borders of Europe, reaching Turkey and Asia. The devastation that the disease brought to the European peoples was comparable to the consequences of epidemics of smallpox, measles and plague. They learned to treat syphilis only with the discovery of penicillin in the middle of the twentieth century, until that moment they fought the disease with the help of arsenic and mercury.

The colonialists from Europe, without knowing it, changed not only the habitat, but also the taste preferences of Leptinotarsa ​​decemlineata (Colorado potato beetle).

Here is how it was. Columbus brought wild potatoes to Europe. Small and watery, its tubers were a pitiful sight and were nothing like what we eat today. At first, Europeans considered the potato poisonous and perceived it solely as an ornamental plant. Several centuries of selection followed, and tasty, edible potatoes returned to their homeland - to America. There it becomes a food product not only for the colonists, but also for the beetle.

02.10.2013 13:21

Cigar Clan 1 2003

History did not know the second such lucky man as Christopher Columbus. History did not know the second such loser as Christopher Columbus.

On the one hand, he managed to make the greatest geographical discovery, on the other hand, he never knew about him, and the mainland he discovered was named after Amerigo Vespucci. Columbus brought Spain the glory of the mistress of the New World, the Spanish crown repaid him with the deprivation of all titles and privileges and delivered him from America to Madrid in shackles. True, among the Spaniards the appearance famous traveler, chained like a criminal, caused such outrage that the government was forced to immediately release him. The shackles were removed, but the mortally offended admiral did not part with them until the end of his days and ordered to put them with him in the coffin.

Man from nowhere

Little is known for certain about the discoverer of the New World - for example, that on August 3, 1492, he left the coast of Spain and headed southwest, to Canary Islands. Seven months later, his squadron of three caravels approached what he took to be the West Indies. If not for these few indisputable facts, one could say that the life of a man known as Christopher Columbus is nothing more than a beautiful legend. There is no exact information about the place and date of his birth, no one knows his exact name, nothing is known about his nationality, family, education and burial place.

Not a single lifetime portrait of Columbus exists. Only verbal descriptions of contemporaries are known: tall, slender, strong. The face is oblong, neither full nor thin, covered with freckles, the nose is aquiline, the eyes are light gray, the cheekbones are slightly protruding. What the discoverer of America really was, we will never know.

Fourteen cities in three countries (Italy, Spain and Portugal) claim that they gave the world the genius of navigation. I remember that only five Greek cities fought for the right to be considered the birthplace of the legendary Homer. The official biographers of Columbus agree that he was born after all in Genoa. A former maritime power, Italy has been exploiting beautiful legend about what to long-distance voyages Columbus became addicted by watching the ships in the Genoese harbor. Genoa also cites more solid evidence than romantic assumptions: in the suburbs of Port Soprano, tourists are shown the “house of Columbus”, where he spent his childhood. The remaining thirteen applicants cannot boast of "material" evidence. So the “house of Columbus” exists in a single copy, which cannot be said about the graves of Columbus - there are exactly five of them. The fact is that the body of the great navigator was repeatedly reburied. At first he was buried in one of the monasteries in Valladolid, but three years later his son Diego ordered the coffin to be moved to the monastery of Santa Maria de Las Cuevas in Seville. Thirty years later, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the discovery of America, they decided to fulfill the will of Columbus himself, and he made his last trip to the New World, where he was buried on the island of Haiti in the crypt of the city's cathedral of Santo Domingo. But even there the ashes of Columbus did not find peace. When the island fell to the French in 1795, the Spanish Admiral Artisabel ordered the coffin to be transported to Havana. However, in Santo Domingo they claim that they mistakenly transported to the capital of Cuba ... the son of Columbus Diego. In 1877, this was confirmed by a special commission, but another commission, the Spanish Academy of Sciences, recognized the Cuban burial as authentic. There is still no clear answer, however latest version, at least it looks beautiful: the development of the New World by Columbus began from Cuba, and the rebellious spirit of the Viceroy of India found peace in Cuba.

Why is there a place of birth and a place of burial, when even the exact name of the pioneer is not known! In Italian (if we recognize the palm of Genoa), his surname would sound like Colombo, he entered the history of Spain as Cristobal Colon, and the navigator's letters that have survived to this day are signed in the Latin manner - "Columbus". Is it any wonder then that we do not know of a single lifetime portrait of Columbus, except perhaps only verbal descriptions of contemporaries. According to them, he was tall, slender and strong. His face was long, neither full nor thin, fresh, slightly reddish and freckled, his nose aquiline, his eyes light grey, his cheekbones slightly protruding. In his youth, Columbus was fair-haired, but by the age of thirty he was completely gray. His whole appearance spoke of the authority and firmness of this man.

This is how Christopher Columbus imagined the route of the expedition

One chance in a thousand

At the courts of various kings, Columbus was considered either crazy or a swindler, which is not surprising. Despite the general interest in geographical research, Columbus's ideas were too revolutionary: he was going to reach the shores of India western way. He based his assumptions on two premises: first, the Earth is a sphere; second - most of The surface of the Earth is occupied by land, a single array of three continents - Asia, Europe and Africa, and the smaller one - by the sea. So the distance between western shores Europe and the eastern tip of Asia is small, and in a short time, following the western path, one can reach India, Japan and China.

Although the enterprise promised big profits, its implementation, based on the ideas that existed in the 15th century, was drawn as something fantastic. It's like in our time there would be a person who claims that the nearest planet can be reached by hot-air balloon in just a couple of astronomical hours.

Columbus's contemporaries still did not know anything about the Copernican solar system and were convinced that all the planets revolve around the Earth. Even the most enlightened believed that it was impossible to get from the Northern Hemisphere to the Southern because of the unbearable heat at the equator, that only the Northern Hemisphere could be inhabited as the only place on the globe covered by the firmament. The other hemisphere is nothing but chaos, a mixture of life and death, light and darkness. Finally, it was argued that even if the ship had succeeded in reaching the shores of India by the western route, it would never have been able to return back, because the bulge of the ball would have been an insurmountable mountain for it, over which it was impossible to cross even with the most favorable wind.

Navigators were afraid to go on long journeys, a rare captain decided to retire to the sea so far as to lose sight of the land for a long time. Any expedition heading west into the midst of the boundless body of water, was perceived as an expedition to the next world: those who dared would either meet with people with dog heads, or die in the deep ocean. Scientists and experienced sailors studied the maps of Columbus, but only a few agreed with his hypothesis, despite the fact that it was based on accurate calculations, personal experience Columbus and other navigators.

His assumptions took on a clear shape after 1470, when Columbus moved from Genoa to Lisbon. In the capital of Portugal, he met the girl Felipa Moniz da Perestreldo, daughter of the late governor of the island of Santo Porto. By marrying her, Columbus became related to people who were directly involved in the overseas campaigns of Prince Henry the Navigator and his successors. Felipa's mother gave her brother-in-law all the papers, maps and magazines of her late husband. Interest in geography allowed Columbus to communicate with many scientists of his time. Constantly comparing maps and analyzing the routes of navigators known to him, he established himself in the opinion that a huge part of the globe remains unexplored. This led him to seek the funds needed to explore new lands.

Only three maritime powers could realize his plan, and he successively turned to the kings of Portugal, England and Spain. From England, Columbus received no answer, the Portuguese king João II was too keen on the struggle for the Spanish inheritance, and his court scholars considered the Genoese theory delusional. Relations with Spain, the eternal maritime rival of Portugal, developed somewhat differently. Ferdinand and Isabella were haunted by the African discoveries of Henry the Navigator and the dominance of Portugal at sea, therefore, despite the numerous opponents of Columbus and the long war with the Moors, the Spanish monarchs agreed to an expedition to India. However, the great explorer had to wait for his finest hour in Spain for more than six years. When he went on his first "American" trip, he was about sixty years old.

Fight and seek, find and don't give up

Not a single victory was easy for Columbus, everything had to be fought for, but it often happened that, having taken a step forward, he was forced to retreat two steps back. In his first appearance in Spain, Columbus looked more like a beggar than a future Viceroy of India.

Once, at the gates of the monastery of St. Mary of Ravidskaya, a wanderer with a boy stopped on foot and asked the gatekeeper for some bread and water for his son. At this time, the abbot of the monastery Juan Perez de Marchena passed by, who drew attention to the stranger. They started talking, and soon Juan Perez knew many details of Columbus's life. The future discoverer of the New World made an indelible impression on the monk - it was not every day that one could meet a person who was confident in the implementation of such great plans and at the same time asked for bread and water in the monastery. The abbot was highly educated and fond of geography and navigation. He became interested in the idea of ​​Columbus, but, not trusting his own opinion, he turned for advice to his learned friends from the neighboring town of Palos, whose inhabitants were considered the most courageous and experienced sailors in all of Spain.

Convinced that the proposed enterprise could bring glory to his fatherland, Juan Perez promised Columbus to create patronage at the Castilian court - he was once on friendly terms with Fernando Talabera, the confessor of Queen Isabella. He wrote a letter of recommendation to Talabera, and Columbus, inspired by hope, went to Cordoba, where Ferdinand and Isabella were preparing for a campaign against the Granada Moors.

In Cordoba, a cruel disappointment awaited him. Talabera, instead of helping, considered the grandiose plans of a poorly dressed foreigner, whose only recommendations consisted of a single letter from a Franciscan friar, to be nonsense.

Columbus was already accustomed to this attitude of the courtiers, and therefore continued to independently look for a way to get an audience with the monarchs. Finally, Ferdinand and Isabella got word of a stranger offering new way to India, they even met Columbus several times and became interested in his proposal. But the war with the Moors took too much time and all the money of the treasury went to it. Almost six years of expectations and humiliation at the Castilian court ended in 1491 with the consent of the monarchs to the expedition - Ferdinand and Isabella, who had just expelled the Moors from the Iberian Peninsula, also wanted to press Portugal in the maritime spaces. The lack of funds for such a significant enterprise did not stop Spanish crown Isabella was ready to pawn her diamonds. The equipment of the expedition was entrusted small town Palos de la Frontera. When its inhabitants learned about the purpose of the journey, fear and surprise spread throughout the city - people were unhappy with the fact that ships and crews were required of them to certain death. Neither royal decrees, nor the support of the city authorities, nor the harsh punishments of saboteurs could force the most courageous sailors of Spain to do the will of the "madman". In preparation for the journey it was impossible to move a single step without resorting to the most severe measures to overcome universal prejudices and resistance. The grandiose undertaking, for which Columbus was looking for funds for almost twenty years, could have rested in the bose without starting, if not for Martin Alonso Pinson, a wealthy navigator who had his own ships and sailors and was highly respected in the city. He agreed to support the initiative of Columbus, and his example was contagious for the inhabitants of the city. But there were still not enough volunteers, and as a result, most of the sailors were recruited by strength.

At the beginning of August 1492, three caravels - "Santa Maria", "Pinta" and "Nina" - were ready to sail. When the ships set sail, Palos plunged into sadness: almost every inhabitant parted with a relative or friend whom he no longer hoped to see.

As they moved away from land, the sailors lost their fortitude. They were convinced that they had said goodbye to the earth forever. Behind them were the homeland, family and life, ahead of them were waiting for mystery, chaos and death. The stories of the admiral about the Indian riches that awaited them did not make any impression. Any phenomenon is strong wind or, on the contrary, complete calm - plunged them into despair. At any moment, dissatisfied crews could rebel and demand that the ships be turned back. Some even suggested throwing the admiral overboard and returning to Spain, writing off his death as an accident. Columbus was in open confrontation with the team, but stubbornly continued his way to the west. And although the sailors saw signs of the approaching land every day - flocks of sparrows circled over the masts, thorny branches with fresh broken thorns floated in the water, in all these harbingers of land in fear they saw signs of their own death.

Finally, a cannon shot rang out from the Pinta - a prearranged signal indicating the proximity of the earth. The New World appeared before the astonished sailors on the morning of October 12, 1492. The joy of the sailors knew no bounds. Those who had offered to get rid of Columbus the day before crowded around the admiral, hugged him, kissed his hands and asked him not to forget their participation in the expedition. Coming ashore, Columbus fell to his knees, kissed the ground and thanked God - his dream came true: he found his way to India.

A collection of delusions

Once upon a time, Columbus was struck by the book of Marco Polo, which told about the gold-roofed palaces of Sipangu in Japan, about the splendor and splendor of the court of the Great Khan, about the birthplace of spices - India. The stories of Marco Polo pursued Columbus throughout the journey - whatever he met on his way, he found confirmation of everything in the travel notes of the famous Venetian.

Being sure that he landed on one of the islands lying off the borders of India, Columbus called the natives by the common name "Indians". The Spaniards soon noticed that they were extremely simple, unsophisticated and hospitable and perceive Columbus' companions as gods descended from heaven: they respectfully approached the white bearded aliens, carefully touched their faces and hands. Columbus gave the Indians colorful hats, beads and rattles, and in return they carried cotton, fine fabrics, and a few gold jewelry. When asked where the natives get their gold from, they answered with signs pointing south. Their stories more and more instilled in Columbus confidence in the proximity of India. He was convinced that he was among the islands which, according to the description of Marco Polo, lie opposite Kafaya (China) in the China Sea. Thus, the enemies that the natives spoke of were subjects of the Great Khan of Tataria, and the country abounding in gold - famous island Sipangu.

Columbus' caravels continued their voyage and went to the country of the king, whose palace, according to Marco Polo, was covered with golden tiles. The search for civilized Asia led the expedition to the shores of Haiti (the Spaniards called the island Hispaniola). The caravel "Santa Maria" was wrecked here, but the kindness of the local ruler and residents, a lot of gold seemed to the Spaniards a magical dream, and many gladly agreed to stay in the newly built fort La Navidad (Christmas). "Pinta" and "Nina" returned to Spain. The second arrival of Columbus in the New World dispelled the myth of the friendliness and kindness of the Indians: on the way to Hispaniola, the expedition experienced several serious skirmishes with the Caribs, and upon arrival, Columbus found the ruined fort and the killed Spaniards.

But, perhaps, the biggest delusion of Columbus was the belief in the boundless mercy of the Spanish monarchs. The second voyage to the shores of America was not as successful as the first: the discoveries were insignificant, little gold was found, and diseases raged in the newly built colony of Isabella. On March 10, 1496, Columbus set sail for Spain, and on June 11, 1496, his ships entered the harbor of Cadiz. The admiral was received very coldly and deprived of many privileges. Only after long and humiliating troubles did he manage in the summer of 1498 to equip the ships for the third voyage.

The intrigues that had long been waged against Columbus at the Spanish court finally had their effect: in August 1500, a new government commissioner arrived on the island of Hispaniola. He demoted the governor and, having chained him and his brother Bartolomeo, sent him to Spain. Almost all privileges were taken away from Columbus, and expeditions to America began to be equipped without his participation.

Before his death, Columbus still considered himself Viceroy of India and gave advice on how best to rule overseas lands... Thanks to Columbus, the Spaniards were the first Europeans to enjoy the pleasure of smoking tobacco. But they were also the first to suffer for their newfound habit. Rodrigo de Jerez, one of Christopher Columbus' associates and associates, fell the first tobacco victim. He was considered possessed by the devil and was betrayed into the hands of the Inquisition for public smoking of tobacco.

What did Columbus bring back from America?

Tobacco, red capsicum and rubber were among the American trophies of Columbus, which the Europeans immediately found use for. Other finds were less fortunate.

The first tomatoes were yellow-orange in color and the Europeans called them "golden apples". They thought it was a fruit, like an apricot or a raspberry. But, having tried it, they abandoned the idea of ​​serving it for dessert. As a result, tomatoes have long been bred in gardens as an ornamental plant.

Approximately the same story happened with potatoes. Columbus delivered its seeds from the first trip, but the Spaniards did not immediately guess that the most important thing in potatoes was tubers, and therefore they sent the "second bread" to the garden, to the tomatoes.

Columbus brought corn on the cob as a gift to Ferdinand and Isabella. At the royal court, everyone marveled at large grains, which no one had seen before. The conquest of the Old World by maize took place only a few decades later.

Cocoa beans appeared in Europe after the fourth expedition to the New World, but no one paid attention to them special attention: Compared to gold, they seemed like a mere trifle. It took a hundred years for cocoa beans to become equal in price with a priceless metal - for a hundred seeds of cocoa beans you could buy a good slave.

The Incas used peanuts during religious ceremonies as a sacred tribute to the gods, they prepared drinks and dishes from it. Peanuts also grew in Spain, but until Columbus introduced everyone to Indian recipes, no one paid attention to the nondescript peanut. Parrots appeared in Europe also thanks to Columbus. The Indians, who have tamed these birds since ancient times, willingly gave them to the admiral.

Cigar Clan 1 "2003. Julia Zorina

In December 1586, potatoes were first brought to England from Colombia. The potato was first adopted in Europe as an ornamental plant. For a long time it was considered a poisonous plant. Antoine-Auguste Parmentier is the agronomist who discovered that the potato has high taste and nutritional qualities, and is not poisonous at all.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

TOMATOES

After the world-famous expedition Spanish navigator Christopher Columbus, who discovered the New World, brought various things to Europe, mainly various vegetables, grains and plants. One of the vegetables brought from America to Europe was the tomato. At first, when the Spaniards still did not know the properties of the tomato at all, tomatoes were considered poisonous. Only much later it turned out that they are not only edible, but also have many useful properties. Generally, in different countries Europe treated tomatoes differently: the French called them the apple of love for their scarlet color and shape, the Italians - the golden apple. The Spaniards were attracted by the appearance of the plant: dark green carved leaves, delicate flowers and bright fruits, so they decided to bring them to Europe.

POTATO

To this day, potatoes are considered one of the most useful and unusual vegetables in the world, especially positively affecting the human body. For the first time, potatoes began to be cultivated by the Indians 12 thousand years ago. The Spaniards were the first Europeans to see the potato. The first biographer of Columbus even made notes about potatoes: “Colon discovered one island of Hispaniola, whose inhabitants eat a special root bread. On a small bush grow tubers the size of a pear or a small pumpkin; when they ripen, they dig them out of the ground in the same way as we do it with turnips or radishes, dry them in the sun, chop them, grind them into flour and bake bread from it ... "

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TOBACCO

Tobacco became a great discovery for Europe when the Spaniards, led by Columbus, brought it from the lands of the New World to Europe. The Indians who lived on the land of America were familiar with tobacco for a very long time. There is a version that Native Americans grew tobacco as far back as the 6th millennium BC. e. However, the Indians did not use tobacco for smoking, but for their religious rituals and for the treatment of dental disease, in which the Indians chewed tobacco leaves. The first European who tried smoking tobacco was Rodrigo de Jerez, a Spaniard from the Columbus team, for which he later went to prison at the behest of the Inquisition. But soon the new product began to rapidly win the sympathy of the Old World, and since tobacco was quickly used to it, there was a serious demand for it.

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COCOA

Christopher Columbus brought cocoa beans from his fourth voyage, however, against the background of too much attention to the brought gold from the lands of the New World, cocoa was not paid much attention. But later in Europe, a recipe for making chocolate using cocoa beans was discovered. And after that, sweet chocolate became the second dependence of Europe after tobacco. Cocoa beans can be considered one of the most valuable gifts brought by the Spaniards to Europe from the land of the New World. When cocoa beans learned to cook properly, an unprecedented boom arose around them, and soon chocolate became one of Europe's favorite sweets.

CORN

Corn or maize is also considered one of the healthiest foods for humans. The original homeland of corn is America. It was from there that Christopher Columbus was the first to bring corn to Europe. At that time, the Spaniards called corn maize, because that was the name of the cereal in the language of the American Indians. Corn was also called Indian wheat. When the seeds of corn arrived in Spain, they began to cultivate it in garden yards as an outlandish plant. And only later it was discovered that corn can not only be eaten, but also cooked in a variety of ways. Like other healthy foods, corn quickly became popular in Europe.

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PEPPER

Capsicum has become a new discovery for Spanish and European cuisine. The fact is that having learned the properties of capsicum, Columbus brought it from the lands of the New World to Europe as a substitute for black pepper. Immediately after that, in Italy and Spain, it began to be called Spanish pepper. Through countries Balkan Peninsula he got into Eastern Europe, and then in East Asia. Capsicum, thanks to its useful properties and taste, has become very popular among Europeans in the preparation of various dishes.

SUNFLOWER

In America, the sunflower was not just a plant, but a sacred flower, which was called the sunflower by the Indians. Sunflower inflorescence was cast from gold and worn at celebrations, and also decorated religious places. The Spanish sailors from the expedition of Columbus were very interested in an unusual and beautiful flower and brought it to Europe, where it was planted in botanical garden in Madrid. In Europe, sunflower has long been bred as an ornamental plant. But later other properties of this beautiful plant became known, which began to be used in other areas - for the manufacture of oil, seeds and other things.