In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue, it was a courageous thing to do. He had three ships and left from Spain; he sailed through sunshine, wind and rain. Columbus knew the world was round so he looked for the east while westward bound, but he didn’t find what he thought he found. Then on Christmas Eve 1492, crunch, oops. Christopher Columbus’ flagship, the Santa María, ran aground off the northern coast of the island of Hispaniola and had to be abandoned. With no room for the stranded sailors, Columbus was forced to found the La Navidad, meaning Christmas, the first European settlement in the New World. He gave them orders to collect gold and wait for his return. Now, this isn’t a real nice Christmas story.
Back in spain, he was given a heroes welcome and incredible financing for a second voyage and blamed the wreck of the Santa Maria on a young boy. On his return to Hispaniola a year later, he found the entire village burned to the ground and all the men killed. Apparently, his men had not only sought out gold, but looked for women, as well and had mistreated the local ladies.
