Columbus And Lindbergh Comparison

Columbus and Lindbergh: A Journey Across the Atlantic

Christopher Columbus and Charles Lindbergh are both monumental figures in history who share a common achievement: both crossed the Atlantic Ocean. Some say that because there were 400 years between their journeys, the two are strikingly different. However, there are similarities and differences in what each man hoped to achieve, the challenges they faced, and the skills essential to their success. Therefore, despite the differences between the two and the effect of the 400 years between their achievements, the two are similar. Columbus and Lindbergh both hoped to achieve certain goals in their travel across the Atlantic. Columbus’s main goal involved the improvement of trade routes. He hoped to find a shorter, more direct overseas route to Asia to avoid the journey
This gap resulted in a tremendous difference in available technology. Columbus merely had access to wooden ships and plain metal devices of the time, such as the previously mentioned quadrant and astrolabe. Columbus also had no foreknowledge about what he was heading into, and he had no map to guide him. By Lindbergh’s time, however, advances in technology led to the invention of planes, as well as enhanced navigation instruments. Lindbergh also knew how wide the Atlantic was and knew the direction he needed to travel. Because the only way of getting across the Atlantic in Columbus’s time was sailing, his voyage was much longer than Lindbergh’s. This is also the main reason why Columbus was more in danger of running out of food and water, while Lindbergh was more in danger of falling asleep-- falling asleep while flying an airplane is typically more dangerous than falling asleep at sea with an able-bodied crew. The four hundred year gap was what caused the main differences between the two voyages, but the essence of the two journeys was the