Ship Model, <I>Santa Maria</I>
date: label: Date made
content: 1965
notes: label: Description
content: In 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed a small fleet of three small ships west from Spain across the Atlantic Ocean, hoping to find a shorter route to the riches of Asia. Before his voyages, Chinese and Indian luxuries for European markets were transported over the long and hazardous overland route through Arabia.
label: Description
content: The three-masted vessel <I>Santa Maria</I> was the largest of Columbus’s expeditionary vessels and his flagship. Measuring around 70 feet in length, it carried a crew of 40 men. The <I>Santa Maria</I> and Columbus’s other fleet members the <I>Niña</I> and the <I>Pinta</I> were older ships used for coastal trading rather than vessels designed for ocean crossings. Nine weeks after the little fleet left Spain, land was sighted in the Caribbean on 12 October 1492, but exactly which island Columbus’s crew first spotted remains disputed.
label: Description
content: The fleet went on to explore the north coasts of the islands of Cuba and Hispaniola (now Haiti). On Christmas Day 1492, the <I>Santa Maria</I> ran aground on a reef off Hispaniola and was declared a total loss. The ship’s timbers were salvaged and used to build a small fort on shore. Fortunately for Columbus, he was able to return to Spain on the <I>Niña</I>.
label: Description
content: Instead of Asia, Columbus had landed in the Caribbean islands on his first voyage. Although they were already inhabited, he claimed them for Spain. Columbus made three more voyages to the western hemisphere between 1493 and 1504.
label: Description
content: Waves of conquerors and colonists—both free and enslaved—followed. What was a triumph for Spain became a catastrophe for native peoples. New livestock, plants, diseases, and beliefs unsettled centuries-old communities and ecosystems, changing and destroying the lives of millions.
label: Description
content: This model was built at the Museo Maritimo de Barcelona, Spain, under the supervision of museum director Jose Maria Martinez-Hidalgo y Teran, who published a book on the <I>Santa Maria</I> in 1964.
topic: label: Subject
content: Fishing
label: related event
content: Colonization and Settlement
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Maritime
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content: Government, Politics, and Reform
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content: Communications
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content: Transportation
label: Exhibition
content: On the Water
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: National Museum of American History. On the Water exhibition website
label: Related Web Publication
content: http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Lawrence H. M. Vineburgh
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: TR.325800
label: catalog number
content: 325800
label: accession number
content: 260040
objectType: label: Object Name
content: ship
label: Object Name
content: ship model
label: Object Name
content: model, ship
label: Other Terms
content: ship; Maritime; Sailing
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: textile (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metals (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 30 1/2 in x 29 in x 16 1/2 in; 77.47 cm x 73.66 cm x 41.91 cm