Columbus'+Tripulation

 

 **by Belén García Pascual and Irene Rodríguez Pérez** 

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=The reclution of the final crew =

To Christopher Columbus was very difficult to recruit the final crew, the marines didn’t want to risk their lives in a so dangerous trip. To cross the Atlantic was very difficult because not so much was known about this sea. Many of the sailors didn’t have confidence of Columbus because he was a stranger and nothing was known about him.

Before presenting the project to reach India to Isabel of Castile, Columbus went to King Juan II of Portugal. As he rejected his plan, he went away to present the project to the Crown of Castile. In the village of Palos de Moguer in Huelva, Columbus was established in the Monastery of la Rabida, here he meets Fray Juan Perez and Antonio de Marchena.

=The help of the Franciscans =

Fray Juan Perez was one of the Franciscans of the monastery, he supported Columbus when he thought nobody. Antonio de Marchena was a great Franciscan that lives in the monastery; he knew many things about astronomy.

 These two monks supported and gave advisers to Columbus about his project; thanks to the influence of this monks Columbus meet the Pinzon brothers, especially Martin Alonso Pinzon. The Pinzon brothers were famous navigators that have many honours and they were very rich, these brothers were traders that navigate from the North Sea to Italy and also they participate in the fights against Portugal. Martin Alonso Pinzon has a very important intervention because he reunites the final crew with the help of Los Niños de Moguer and Los Quinteros, they were marines of Palos de Moguer.

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=Members of the crew =

The crew was formed by 90 men, almost a hundred, in three boats, two caravels and one nao. La Pinta was a caravel tripulated by 26 men and La Niña was manned by 20 men. The nao that was the Santa María have 40 men.

The majority of the crew were from the Andalusian coasts, also were three Italian traders, same marines from the Basque Country and Galicia, one Portuguese takes part of the expedition.

Other crew members were: a doctor, a surgeon, a notary public and a interpreter who knew the Arab and the Hebrew.