Ep 156: Columbus, Part 1 — Dogged Determination to Head West to the Indies

Harry and Rafe start tackling the story of Columbus and his travels to the New World. A Genoese sailor, Columbus, while operating out of Portugal, becomes intrigued with the idea of sailing west to reach the spices of the Far East.  At a time when a route to Asia had just been determined to be possible (but also impractical) around the Cape of Good Hope at the Southern tip of Africa, Columbus is a man with a flawed idea that simply needs to be tried.  Stubborn determination, some bad calculations, and a little good fortune lands Columbus in 1492 with three ships and a blessing from Spanish royalty.  In September of 1492, Columbus and his men sail into an unknown sea and into the greatest discovery in the history of the West...This episode is kindly sponsored by BlendJet.Use our special link ("bufnagle") to save 12% at blendjet.com. The discount will be applied at checkout!*****As always, you can reach the Buf at [email protected]*****As you know, this is an independent podcast so your hosts also carry all the expenses of running this podcast.  As such, some of you have asked how you can help out.  Well, here's the answer: support us on Buy Me a Coffee:https://buymeacoffee.com/bufnagleOn this page, you can do a really nice thing like send us a couple dollars to help cover the cost of recording and hosting and microphones and research and all that.  Any little bit really helps!  Thank you in advance!!!