Columbus, Christopher 1451-1506
Genoese explorer, and discoverer of the New World

Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa, the son of a woolcomber. He went to sea at the age of 14, fought with Tunisian galleys, and in about 1470, shipwrecked in a fight off Cape St Vincent, reached the shores of Portugal on a plank. In Lisbon he married Filippa Moniz. As early as 1474 he had conceived the design of reaching India by sailing westward, a design in which he was encouraged by a Florentine astronomer Paolo Toscanelli; in 1477 he 'sailed 100 leagues beyond Thule', probably to or beyond Iceland; and, having also visited the Cape Verde Islands and Sierra Leone, he began to seek a patron for his intended expedition. Finally, after seven years of alternate encouragement and repulse, his plans were accepted by Ferdinand and Isabella of Castile in April 1492.

On Friday 3 August Columbus set sail in command of 50 men on the small Santa Maria; they were attended by two little caravels, the Pinta and the Ni�a, the whole squadron comprising only 120 adventurers. He first made the Canary Islands; and though he found it hard to keep up the courage of his crews, new land was descried on Friday 12 October, probably Watling's Island in the Bahamas. He then visited Cuba and Hispaniola (Haiti), planted a small colony, and set sail with his two caravels (for the flagship had been wrecked). After a difficult and stormy voyage, he re-entered the port of Palos on 15 March 1493, and was received with the highest honours by the court.

He set out on his second voyage on 25 September, with three carracks and 17 small caravels, and on 3 November sighted Dominica in the West Indies. After a succession of wretched quarrels with his associates, and a long illness in Hispaniola, he returned to Spain much dejected in 1496. His third voyage, begun in 1498, resulted in the discovery of the South American mainland. In 1500 Columbus and his brother were sent home in irons by a newly appointed royal governor, but the king and queen repudiated this action, and restored Columbus to favour. His last great voyage (1502-04), along the south side of the Gulf of Mexico, was accomplished in the midst of great hardships. He died at Valladolid in Spain, and was buried in a monastery near Seville. In 1536 his remains were taken to Santo Domingo in Hispaniola; they were brought back to Spain in 1899 and deposited in Seville Cathedral in 1902.

Bibliography: James Axtell, Beyond 1492 (1992); F Fern�ndezArmesto, Columbus on Himself (1992) and Columbus (1991).