<h2>Answer: Spain
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The first trip of Christopher Columbus, was sponsored by the Catholic Kings of Spain, Isabella and Ferdinand of Castile and Aragon. In this way, he set sail on August 3rd, 1492, from the Port of Palos de la Frontera (Huelva) and arrived to America on October 12th of the same year.
However, <u>achieving this sponsorship was not so easy</u>. Columbus first went in 1484 before the king of Portugal John II, who after consulting his mathematicians and experts refused, becuase they considered the idea absurd and Columbus' requirements very high (<u>he wanted to be named Admiral of the expedition, Viceroy of the discovered lands and have 10% of what would be found and harvested in the New World</u>).
Due to this negative answer, Columbus went the following year to the kingdom of Castile (Spain), which had just merged with the kingdom of Aragon with the marriage of the Catholic kings Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon. The kings listened to Columbus and also consulted their experts and rejected the project, considering it as a fantasy and excessively demanding related to the economic help.
Columbus returned to speak again with the King of Portugal, but by that time a Portuguese sailor, Bartolomé Dias, had managed to pass through the Cape of Good Hope (Africa), giving birth to the hope of reaching India by this route, so that John II was more interested in this project and rejected Columbus again.
Already in 1491, frustrated, Columbus returned to Huelva, Spain, but <u>this time he had the help of the friar Juan Pérez, who helped him to have another interview with the Catholic kings</u>, who this time did grant him the sponsorship, and accepted his requirements.
