Why did Spain give Christopher Columbus a ship to sail?

Answer 1

He convinced Spain he could get to Asia faster, (and the very valuable spices that were there), by sailing West, around the world, than the time it would take to get to Asia by traveling to the East. Unfortunately for Christopher Columbus, the Earth was bigger than he thought it was and he reached the Americas, instead of Asia, by sailing West. It was one of the greatest failures in the history of the human race. Columbus failed to reach Asia, but, he got to the Americas, and other explorers who might have gotten to the Americas (Leif Erickson, Viking for example) had no impact on the world as a result of their discovery.