Santa Maria 1:87

Santa Maria Paper Model Kit

The Santa Maria, Christopher Columbus' flagship, is one of the most famous ships in the world. The elaborate and detailed kit requires some experience, but rewards the modeller with an extraordinary model.

Santa Maria

The Santa Maria was the main ship of Christopher Columbus' first expedition. In the process, he reached the American continent. America had been discovered earlier by European navigators, but before Columbus this continent was still largely unknown. Only assumptions can be made about the construction and dimensions of his ship. It is assumed that the ship was about 25 m long and 8 m wide. The Santa Maria was probably a carack, a widespread type of sailing ship from the end of the Middle Ages. This was a three-master whose shape was very similar to the Hanseatic cog, which was widely used at the time, but was much larger. The Santa Maria was the most famous representative of this type of ship. However, Columbus is said to have noted in his logbooks that the ship was completely unsuitable for this expedition.
Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa in 1451. He first worked as a cartographer from 1480 and therefore studied sea charts and logbooks. In the process, he developed a plan for his first expedition. His goal was to discover a sea route to India and East Asia in a westerly direction. He asked various states for support for his project, but was turned down. It was not until 1486 that the Spanish king showed interest in the plan. The first negotiations took place at the beginning of 1492. In the meantime, Columbus was financially supported by the Spanish king so that no other state could poach him. The negotiations turned out to be difficult, for Columbus was by no means unambitious. In return, he claimed the title of admiral and viceroy over the discovered territories. In April 1492, the negotiations were finally concluded successfully.
Accompanied by two other ships, Columbus set sail with the Santa Maria in August 1492. Due to repair work on one of the accompanying ships, he had to take a one-month break on the Canary Islands. On the onward journey, the expedition was threatened by mutinies among the sailors. In October 1492, Columbus and his crew reached the Bahamas, and on their onward journey they discovered Cuba and "La Isla Espanola", today's Dominican Republic. On this island, the Santa Maria beached in December 1492. Houses were built from the remains of the ship, and Columbus named the resulting settlement "La Navidad" (Spanish for: Christmas). La Isla Espanola became Spain's first colony. Columbus was appointed as its governor. In January 1493, Columbus sailed back to Spain with the remaining ships. Some of the crew stayed behind as settlers.
Shortly after his return from the first voyage, he was already preparing his second voyage. He did not lose sight of his goal of discovering a sea route to India and a country with large gold deposits. Columbus made four voyages, during which he lost a total of nine ships.