Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa in 1451. His father was a wool merchant. Originally he seemed destined to follow in his father s footsteps and thus sailed the oceans to countries as far apart as Iceland and Guinea. In 1476 his ship was sunk during a battle off the coast of Portugal. Columbus saved his own life by swimming to shore. In 1484 he conceived the idea of sailing to the Indies via a westward sea route but it was only in 1492 that he was able to realize this plan. On this first voyage he was in command of three ships: the flag-ship called the Santa Maria the Pinta and the Ni a. From Spain Columbus sailed via the Canary Islands to the Bahamas whichhe sighted on October 12th 1492. Without being aware of it Columbus discovered the New World he thought he had landed in the eastern part of Asia. The motif from Dvoøák s 9th Symphony Aus der neuen Welt forms a little counterfeit history at this point in the composition. After this first voyage Columbus was to undertake another three long voyages to America. These voyages were certainly not entirely devoid of misfortune. More than once he was faced with shipwreck mutiny and the destruction of settlements he had founded. After Columbus had left for Spain from Rio Belen in 1503 he beached his ships on the coast of Jamaica. The crew were marooned there and it was only after a year that Columbus succeeded in saving his men and sailing back to Spain with them. In the music the misunderstanding about which continent Columbus discovered in his lifetime resounds for does this part in the composition not contain Asiatic motifs Poor Columbus! In 1506 the famous explorer died in Valladolid.
