Christopher Columbus

Lore & Background

Columbus was born in Genoa, the son of Domenico Colombo, a wool weaver, and Susanna Fontanarossa. His early life at sea is uncertain and often exaggerated; there is no solid evidence he visited the British and Irish Isles or present-day Ghana before his voyages. He married Portuguese noblewoman Filipa Moniz Perestrelo, who bore his son Diego, and later took a Castilian mistress, Beatriz Enríquez de Arana, who bore his son Ferdinand. Largely self-educated, Columbus studied geography, astronomy, and history, and developed a plan to seek a western sea passage to the East Indies. After persistent lobbying, the Catholic Monarchs sponsored his journey west. He departed Palos de la Frontera on 3 August 1492 and made landfall in the Bahamas on 12 October, ending the pre-Columbian era. He visited Cuba and Hispaniola, establishing a colony in present-day Haiti, and returned to Castile in early 1493 with captured natives.

Reader's Guide

Columbus's expeditions inaugurated a period of exploration, conquest, and colonization that lasted for centuries, bringing the Americas into the European sphere of influence. The transfer of plants, animals, precious metals, culture, human populations, technology, diseases, and ideas between the Old World and New World following his first voyage is known as the Columbian exchange. These events and their persistent effects are often cited as the beginning of the modern era. Diseases introduced from the Old World contributed to the genocide of Hispaniola's Indigenous peoples, who were also subject to enslavement and other mistreatments by Columbus's government. Increased public awareness of these interactions has led to Columbus being less celebrated in Western culture, which historically idealized him as a heroic discoverer. Numerous places have been named for him. Columbus's strained relationship with the Crown of Castile led to his arrest and removal from Hispaniola in 1500, and later to protracted litigation over privileges he and his heirs claimed.

Did You Know?

• Columbus gave the name 'indios' (Indians) to the Indigenous peoples he encountered.
• His landing place in the Bahamas was known by its native inhabitants as Guanahani.
• He never clearly renounced his belief that he had reached the Far East.
• Columbus's father owned a cheese stand at which young Christopher worked.

Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)

"These quotations are translations derived from a summary made by Bartolomé de Las Casas, the original having been lost." — Christopher Columbus "I should not proceed by land to the East, as is custom, but by a Westerly route, in which direction we have hitherto no certain evidence that any one has gone." — Christopher Columbus "Thanks be to God," says the Admiral; "the air is soft as in April in Seville, and it is a pleasure to be in it, so fragrant it is." — Christopher Columbus "The two Christians met on the way many people who were going to their towns, women and men, with a firebrand in the hand, herbs to drink the smoke thereof, as they are accustomed." — Christopher Columbus