Why did Christopher Columbus make his voyages to the new world?

In 1453 CE (AD if you prefer), Constantinople (modern day Istanbul) fell to the Muslim Ottoman Turks & cut off the road to the eastern riches (silk road, spices, etc...). So 39 years later in 1492, Christopher Columbus tried to reach India & China by sailing westward to regain access to the eastern riches. He stumbled upon the American continents instead & he had no idea at the time it was a new world. He though he was close to his objective which is why Native Americans were called "Indians".

Antonius is correct, the fall of Constantinople in 1453 (modern day Istanbul) to the Muslim Ottoman Turks cut off the road to the eastern riches (silk road, spices, etc...). The europeans were desperate to discover an alternative route to the East.

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Recent voyages along the African Coast were promising. In 1441 the first of the African slaves was captured and taken to europe. Colombus had studied in Portugal as a boy, and he tried to persuade the Portuguese crown to finance him. His proposal was rejected in 1484 by the Portuguese. The discovery of the "Cape of Good Hope" in 1488 meant that the Portuguese knew that they were on the right track and would eventually reach India and china.They were no longer interested in an Atlantic route.

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The issue was not that people believed the earth was flat. That is a legend developed by the popular writer Washington Irving in the 19th century. Everyone knew that the earth was a globe, and most educated scholars knew how big it was. However, Colombus had developed his own theories. He believed that the globe was much smaller than it actually was, and furthermore that Asia stretched much further around the globe than it actually does. He believed it was about the same distance from Portugal to Tokyo as it was from Portugal to Lebanon at the east end of the Med.

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However, Spain was growing desperate because of Portugal's obvious advantages. It was a few years (1499) before Portugal actually made the entire voyage around Africa and made it to Italy (it took 2 years). King Ferdnand was inclined to take a long shot and finance Colombus. Many concessions were made to Colombus because most of the court did not believe he would survive.

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We know today that Columbus would have starved at sea if there had not been a Western Hemisphere. However, Columbus still believed after four voyages that he was in Asia, he just couldn't figure out where.

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Even the successful voyage from Ireland to Newfoundland (Cabot 1497) which was about half the distance of Columbus's voyage did not dissuade Columbus that there was a new world. He returned from his fourth and final voyage in November of 1504. By this time the Portuguese had discovered Brazil, and Amerigo Vespucci was popularizing the idea that this was not Asia, but a new continent. Perhaps it was the stubborness of Columbus that meant the name of the continent did not go to him, but was named after Amerigo Vespucci instead.

Europe had long enjoyed safe passage to China and India— sources of valued goods such as silk and spices — under the hegemony of the Mongol Empire (the Pax Mongolica, or "Mongol peace"). With the Fall of Constantinople to the Muslims in 1453, the land route to Asia was no longer an easy route. Portuguese sailors took to travelling south around Africa to get to Asia. Columbus had a different idea. By the 1480s, he had developed a plan to travel to the Indies (then construed roughly as all of south and east Asia) by sailing directly west across the "Ocean Sea" (the Atlantic).

The accepted idea that the earth was round suggested to Columbus that Asia might best be reached by sailing west,though he greatly underestimated the distances involved .After a number of setbacks ,he convinced the Spanish court ,of the wisdom of his cause and was granted a contract(capitulacion) (17 April 1492),that granted him the governorship of all lands that he might discover,as well as the title of Admiral of ocean sea.

Though he is considered to be the first modern European to reach America.Asian and Europeans probably reached America long before 1492.,Columbus is usually cited the 'Discoverer'.

When he landed in the Bahamas... he thought it was part of India that is why they are called the West Indies. He had no idea that there was a New World. He set out to circumnavigate the world in truth.

He was looking for a short cut to India. It was a very long voyage to sail around Africa to India. It was also very dangerous. Many ships were lost sailing around the southern tip af Africa.

i'm pretty sure he set out to prove the world wasnt flat.

to rape natives, that horny man columbus