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Christopher Columbus
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Christopher Columbus is an Anglicized version of his name. He was born Cristoforo Colombo in September 1451 in Genoa, Italy. Young Chris was the oldest son of Domenico Colombo, a wool-worker and small-scale merchant, and Domenico's wife, Susanna Fontanarossa. He ... had two younger brothers, Bartholomew and Diego. Essentially, he grew up in Italy during the early Renaissance in a low-middle class family.
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Prior to 1492 and Christopher Columbus' voyage to the Americas, Spain's only possession of any consequence outside Europe were the Canary Islands. By the mid-sixteenth century... Spain would control much of the Caribbean, large portions of the Americas and parts of Africa. This rapid acquisition of overseas possessions was accompanied and aided by the establishment and consolidation of hegemony in Europe through a series of political marriages. Instead of waging battles to spread its power and influence, the prolific Habsburgs preferred to use the bonds of marriage to link their household to others. This ensured that the number of threats to Habsburg possessions in Europe would remain at a minimum and would free Spanish resources to conquer overseas territory. Spain politically, socially, and economically dominated her large empire and, unlike the Portuguese, who were limited to coastal regions and tenuously held outposts, the Spaniards were able to penetrate inland and establish much more permanent settlements.
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"Christopher Columbus had a mystic belief that God intended him to sail the Atlantic Ocean in order to spread Christianity. He said his prayers several times daily. Columbus wrote what he called a
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Christopher Columbus sailed from Spain across the Atlantic Ocean in 1492, landing in the "new world" of the Americas and gaining lasting fame. Using ships and money provided by Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castille, Columbus sailed west in search of a sea passage to India. His mission was twofold: open trade routes for exploitation and bring the word of Jesus Christ to the uninitiated. He sailed with three ships (the Niña, Pinta and Santa Maria) and made landfall somewhere in the Bahamas. He returned to Europe to spread the word, and was named "Admiral of the Ocean Seas" by Ferdinand and Isabella. He made three more voyages in the following years, always believing that he had reached Asia, and his success opened the door for Spain to conquer the Americas.
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Christopher Columbus wanted to find a new route to Asia, but became the first European to set foot on the New World. Evidence now proves that the Vikings were there long before him, but even in his own time later explorers usurped his glory! BIOGRAPHY® uses period accounts, rare art and artifacts and interviews with world-renowned historians to tell Columbus's often-reinterpreted story. See how he convinced Ferdinand and Isabella to fund his journey and how he never gave up believing that he had reached Asia. Discover how his fortunes and reputation sank so quickly that by the time of his fourth voyage Spanish officials would not let him anchor in their waters.
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Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa, Italy in 1451. His career in exploration started when he was very young. As a teenager he traveled the seas and eventually made Portugal his base. He appealed to the kings of Portugal, France and England to finance a westward trip to the Indies, but all denied his request. After ten years of monumental efforts but fruitless results, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain agreed to finance Columbus in the hopes of acquiring great wealth. On August 3, 1492, Columbus and three ships, the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria, left Palos, Spain and headed westward.
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Christopher Columbus