4 3/8" Red Christopher Columbus Crushed Stone Chess Pieces
Christopher Columbus was born in the Republic of Genoa, in what is today Northwestern Italy. His father was a middle-class wool merchant. Columbus learned to sail from an early age and later worked as a business agent travelling around Europe to England, Ireland and later, along the West coast of Africa. He was not a scholar but was an enthusiastic, self-educated man who read extensively on astronomy, science and navigation. He also became fluent in Latin, Portuguese and Spanish.
Christopher Columbus was a believer in the spherical nature of the world (some Christians still held the view that the world was flat). An ambitious man, Christopher Columbus hoped to find a Western trade route to the lucrative spice markets in Asia. Rather than sailing East, he hoped that sailing west would lead to countries like Japan and China.
To gain the necessary funding and support for his journeys, he approached the Catholic Monarchs of Spain. As part of his offer, he said that he hoped to be able to spread Christianity to ‘heathen lands’ in the east. The Spanish monarchs agreed to fund Columbus, partly on the missionary efforts, but also hoping to gain an upper hand in the lucrative trade markets.
Sizing and Details:
|2 3/4" Squares
|Chess Set Weight
|5 lb 7 oz
This is a full set of 32 chess pieces. Made In England. Chess board not included.