Let’s go back to the days of Columbus (and before). When explorers set sail from Europe looking for the “New World” - did they assume they would find land - just keep sailing and hoping provisions didn’t run out (and even if they found land - would they find fresh water and edible food)? Or - if their on-board provisions were half used, did they turn around and try again with more provisions? Sure - they could catch birds and fish from their ships - but would that have been enough to keep the crew alive as provisions ran low?
As I recall the Vikings pretty much island hopped their way to Newfoundland. Learning about new lands over the horizon from the locals. Still dangerous, but not as much as going from Spain to the Caribbean.
You could also catch rainwater, but I don’t believe that would supplement your supply much.
I think Columbus’s crew was close to mutiny because supplies were so low.
Then he landed in Japan, just where he predicted!
As far as we know, there were no explorations into the Atlantic to find a New World before Columbus. And even he wasn’t looking for a New World, but rather trying to get to Asia.
Actually, he thought he found an island near India, which is why he immediately started calling the people there Indios (Spanish for “Indians”).
He was also the originator of the term “West Indies”.
That’s odd. Oxford Reference, which appears on top if you google the term “west indies” agrees.
The islands of the Caribbean. Columbus, who in 1492 was the first European to reach the islands, called them the West Indies because he believed he had arrived near India by travelling westward.
But that makes no sense. Columbus thought to his dying day that he had reached the “East Indies,” his announced destination.
Nor is there any evidence he used the term. The OED states that the first known use is from long after he died.
The earliest known use of the noun West Indies is in the mid 1500s.
OED’s earliest evidence for West Indies is from 1555, in the writing of Richard Eden, translator.
Columbus used a conveniently short distance for his expected trip. He took sufficient supplies to get there, and certainly expected to get provisions when he landed because he was going to a place that everybody knew about. It was coincidental that he happened to bump into an unknown island at the very last minute.
After Columbus, explorers knew about new lands because Columbus took loads of slaves to Spain who could talk about local islands. Somebody somewhere could have sailed off into nowhere with hope, but early expeditions required huge amounts of spending that required kings to finance. Kings wanted assurances that they would get a good return on their money. People sailed where they thought they could survive and make their fortunes.
Wasn’t scurvy a limitation on the ability of early explorers to travel for long distances? If you couldn’t get fresh provisions (and needed Vitamin C), people would succumb after a few months.
It’s my understanding that a cure (citrus) wasn’t discovered until the 1700s.
While citrus fruits have the highest amount of Vitamin C, it can also be found in other foods such as peppers, strawberries, blackcurrants, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and potatoes. Potatoes and peppers would have been common crew fare on long voyages during that time period. Of course, once you run out of those provisions, scurvy would eventually become a problem if they had no access to citrus.
Symptoms of scurvy are: feeling very tired and weak all the time, feeling irritable and sad all the time, joint, muscle or leg pain, swollen and bleeding gums (sometimes teeth can fall out), developing red or blue spots on the skin, usually on the legs and feet, skin that bruises easily, a high temperature (fever) or feel hot or shivery.
Potatoes? Before 1492?
There are hints that the Basque knew about the Grand Banks rich in fish, and would land in Labrador and Newfoundland before it was newly found land. I recall some mention of a charge for trade violations in Bristol in the 1480’s. Some fishermen who were allegedly drying their fish in another foreign country, and apparently the charges were dropped after a bit of quiet discussion - the implication that some Bristol fishermen also knew about rich codfish grounds across the ocean. They hadn’t stopped in a rival kingdom to dry their fish, but in some wild terra incognito. Also a logical explanation why John Cabot and other explorers had a good idea where they were going once the race was on.
The topic has been beaten to death in threads before, but Columbus was the first to try an Atlantic crossing because educated people of the time knew that the Greeks had established the diameter of the earth - 8000 miles - so the trip to Marco Polo’s China was 12,000 to 15,000 miles, well beyond the capabilities of the time. Columbus took a different Greek, fudged the measurements used by Arab translators of that Greek, and decided the earth was less than 5,000 miles diameter, exaggerated Polo’s travel distance eastward, to conclude that the Spice Islands of Indonesia (the “Indies”) were only about 3,000 miles west from Spain.
So basically, nobody went west because as far as they knew, there was nothing within reach.
Point taken. Columbus preceded the introduction of potatoes into Europe by at least 50 years.
Scurvy requires a severe lack of vitamin C for at least three months. Columbus’ voyage lasted a little over two months.
It’s unlikely that many voyages in the 15th century resulted in scurvy because they weren’t trying to cross oceans. Scurvy became a major issue later when long ocean voyages, especially across the Pacific, were attempted.
Peppers? Before 1492? Etc…
By the way, pepers have a higher content of vitamin C per unit of weight than citrus fruits. Cite.
And don’t get me started with tomatos, tobaco, corn, and peyote before 1492.