How did Columbus describe the landscape around him? How did Columbus try to sell the area to the Spanish Crown?

1.) Columbus describes the people as "honest" and generous, as they share their resources with him and ask for nothing in return. ... The land was described as being lush and abundant in resources, which could also benefit Spain. The island called Juana, as well as the others in its neighborhood, is exceedingly fertile.

2.) Columbus tried to interest the Portuguese in his scheme, but they took a pass. He would have been spurned by Spain, too, had that nation's centuries-long war with the Moors been going badly. Fortunately for Columbus, the Spaniards were winning handily, and victory was in sight.

When the last Moorish stronghold fell at Granada, Spain was feeling expansive. And Columbus, the sailor from Genoa, was ready and waiting.

He never did find that alternate route around the Muslims, but on Oct. 12, 1492 Columbus made landfall in what is today the Bahamas, and the course of history was changed forever.

Although it's long been known that other outsiders reached North America well before Columbus, his landfall remains the most significant, for good and ill. It opened up the sea lanes to the first permanent back-and-forth traffic of Europeans, their armies, their priests and their commerce.

d. islands off the coast of newfoundland