Christopher Columbus[b] (/kəˈlʌmbəs/;[3] born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was an Italian[c] explorer and navigator who completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean sponsored by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, opening the way for the widespread European exploration and European colonization of the Americas. His expeditions were the first known European contact with the Caribbean and Central and South America.
The name Christopher Columbus is the anglicisation of the Latin Christophorus Columbus. Scholars generally agree that Columbus was born in the Republic of Genoa and spoke a dialect of Ligurian as his first language. He went to sea at a young age and travelled widely, as far north as the British Isles and as far south as what is now Ghana. He married Portuguese noblewoman Filipa Moniz Perestrelo, who bore a son Diego, and was based in Lisbon for several years. He later took a Castilian mistress, Beatriz EnrÃquez de Arana, who bore a son, Ferdinand.[5][6][7]
Largely self-educated, Columbus was knowledgeable in geography, astronomy, and history. He developed a plan to seek a western sea passage to the East Indies, hoping to profit from the lucrative spice trade. After the Granada War, and Columbus's persistent lobbying in multiple kingdoms, the Catholic Monarchs Queen Isabella I and King Ferdinand II agreed to sponsor a journey west. Columbus left Castile in August 1492 with three ships and made landfall in the Americas on 12 October, ending the period of human habitation in the Americas now referred to as the pre-Columbian era. His landing place was an island in the Bahamas, known by its native inhabitants as Guanahani. He then visited the islands now known as Cuba and Hispaniola, establishing a colony in what is now Haiti. Columbus returned to Castile in early 1493, with captured natives. Word of his voyage soon spread throughout Europe.
Columbus made three further voyages to the Americas, exploring the Lesser Antilles in 1493, Trinidad and the northern coast of South America in 1498, and the east coast of Central America in 1502. Many names he gave to geographical features, particularly islands, are still in use. He gave the name indios ("Indians") to the indigenous peoples he encountered. The extent to which he was aware the Americas were a wholly separate landmass is uncertain; he never clearly renounced his belief he had reached the Far East. As a colonial governor, Columbus was accused by his contemporaries of significant brutality and removed from the post. Columbus's strained relationship with the Crown of Castile and its colonial administrators in America led to his arrest and removal from Hispaniola in 1500, and later to protracted litigation over the privileges he and his heirs claimed were owed to them by the crown.
Columbus's expeditions inaugurated a period of exploration, conquest, and colonization that lasted for centuries, thus bringing the Americas into the European sphere of influence. The transfer of commodities, ideas, and people between the Old World and New World that followed his first voyage are known as the Columbian exchange. Columbus was widely celebrated in the centuries after his death, but public perception fractured in the 21st century due to greater attention to the harms committed under his governance, particularly the beginning of the depopulation of Hispaniola's indigenous TaÃnos, caused by Old World diseases and mistreatment, including slavery. Many places in the Western Hemisphere bear his name, including Colombia, British Columbia, the District of Columbia, and Columbus, Ohio.
early life
Columbus's early life is obscure, but scholars believe he was born in the Republic of Genoa between 25 August and 31 October 1451.[10] His father was Domenico Colombo, a wool weaver who worked in Genoa and Savona and owned a cheese stand at which young Christopher worked. His mother was Susanna Fontanarossa.[11] He had three brothers—Bartolomeo, Giovanni Pellegrino, and Giacomo (also called Diego)[2]—as well as a sister, Bianchinetta.[12] His brother Bartolomeo ran a cartography workshop in Lisbon for at least part of his adulthood.[13]
His native language is presumed to have been a Genoese dialect though Columbus probably never wrote in it.[14] His name in the 16th-century Genoese language was Cristoffa Corombo.[15] His name in Italian is Cristoforo Colombo, and in Spanish Cristóbal Colón.[16][17]
In one of his writings, he says he went to sea at 14.[14] In 1470, the Colombo family moved to Savona, where Domenico took over a tavern. Some modern authors have argued that he was not from Genoa, but from the Aragon region of Spain[18] or from Portugal.[19] These competing hypotheses generally have been discounted by mainstream scholars.[20][21]
In 1473, Columbus began his apprenticeship as business agent for the wealthy Spinola, Centurione, and Di Negro families of Genoa.[22] Later, he made a trip to Chios, an Aegean island then ruled by Genoa.[23] In May 1476, he took part in an armed convoy sent by Genoa to carry valuable cargo to northern Europe. He probably visited Bristol, England,[24] and Galway, Ireland,[25] where he may have visited St. Nicholas Collegiate Church.[26] It has been speculated that he had also gone to Iceland in 1477, although many scholars doubt it.[27][28][29][30] It is known that in the autumn of 1477, he sailed on a Portuguese ship from Galway to Lisbon, where he found his brother Bartolomeo, and they continued trading for the Centurione family. Columbus based himself in Lisbon from 1477 to 1485. In 1478, the Centuriones sent Columbus on a sugar-buying trip to Madeira.[31] He married Felipa Perestrello e Moniz, daughter of Bartolomeu Perestrello, a Portuguese nobleman of Lombard origin,[32] who had been the donatary captain of Porto Santo.[33]