Christopher Columbus

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People Who Most Influenced our World

Occupation:

Maritime explorer for the Crown of Castile

Date of birth:

Between 22 August and 31 October 1451

Place of birth:

Genoa, Republic of Genoa, in present-day Italian Republic

Spouse:

Filipa Moniz Perestrelo (c. 1455-1485)

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Christopher Columbus (c. 31 October 1451 - 20 May 1506) was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northweste... (more)

Christopher Columbus (c. 31 October 1451 - 20 May 1506) was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy.Memorials Of Columbus: Or, A Collection Of Authentic Documents Of That Celebrated Navigator (page 9) Country of origin: USA. Pages: 428. Publisher: BiblioBazaar. Publication Date: 2010-01-01.Native American History for Dummies (page 127) Authors: Dorothy Lippert, Stephen J. Spignesi and Phil Konstantin. Paperback: 364 pages. Publisher: For Dummies. Publication Date: 2007-10-29.The peoples of the Caribbean: an encyclopedia of archeology and traditional culture (page 67) Author: Nicholas J. Saunders. Hardcover: 399 pages. Publisher: ABC-CLIO. Publication Date: 2006-07-15. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the Western Hemisphere. Those voyages, and his efforts to establish permanent settlements in the island of Hispaniola, initiated the process of Spanish colonization, which foreshadowed the general European colonization of the "New World."

In the context of emerging western imperialism and economic competition between European kingdoms seeking wealth though the establishment of trade routes and colonies, Columbus' far-fetched proposal to reach the East Indies by sailing westward received the support of the Spanish crown, which saw in it a promise, however remote, of gaining the upper hand over rival powers in the contest for the lucrative spice trade with Asia. During his first voyage in 1492, instead of reaching Japan as he had intended, Columbus landed in the Bahamas archipelago, at a locale he named San Salvador. Over the course of three more voyages, Columbus visited the Greater and Lesser Antilles, as well as the Caribbean coast of Venezuela and Central America, claiming them for the Spanish Empire.

Though Columbus was not the first European explorer to reach the Americas, having been preceded, five centuries earlier, by the Norse expedition, led by Leif Ericson, that established the short-lived colony of Vinland in what is now Newfoundland, Columbus' voyages led to the first lasting European contact with America and inaugurated a period of European exploration and colonization of foreign lands that lasted for several centuries and had, therefore, an enormous impact in the historical development of the modern Western world. Columbus himself saw his accomplishments primarily in the light of the spreading of the Christian religion.

Never admitting that he had reached a continent previously unknown to Europeans, rather than the East Indies he had set out for, Columbus called the inhabitants of the lands he visited indios (Spanish for "Indians"). Columbus' strained relation with the Spanish crown and its appointed colonial administrators in America led to his arrest and dismissal as governor of the settlements in Hispaniola in 1500, and later to protracted litigation over the benefits which Columbus and his heirs claimed were owed to them by the crown.  (less)

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