Christopher Columbus Facts

Early Life

Christopher Columbus Facts – He was born before 31 October 1451 in the territory of the Republic of Genoa (now part of modern Italy).

His father was Domenico Colombo, a middle-class wool weaver who worked both in Genoa and Savona. He also owned a cheese stand at which young Christopher worked as a helper.

In 1473, Columbus began his apprenticeship as business agent for the important Centurione, Di Negro and Spinola families of Genoa.

Christopher Columbus Facts – Adult Life

Columbus based himself in Lisbon from 1477 to 1485. He married Filipa Moniz Perestrelo, daughter of the Porto Santo governor and Portuguese nobleman of Lombard origin Bartolomeu Perestrello.

In 1479 or 1480, his son Diego Columbus was born. Between 1482 and 1485, Columbus traded along the coasts of West Africa. He reached the Portuguese trading post of Elmina at the Guinea coast (in present-day Ghana).

Filipa died sometime around 1485, while Columbus was away in Castile. He returned to Portugal to settle her estate and take his son Diego with him.

Christopher Columbus Facts – Search for Sea Route to India

Ambitious, Columbus eventually learned Latin, Portuguese, and Castilian. He read widely about astronomy, geography, and history, including the works of Claudius Ptolemy, Cardinal Pierre d’Ailly’s Imago Mundi, the travels of Marco Polo.

In 1485, Columbus presented his plans to King John II of Portugal.

He proposed that the king equip three sturdy ships and grant Columbus one year’s time to sail out into the Atlantic. He search for a western route to the India, and return.

Christopher Columbus Facts – Backing of Spanish Monarch

The king submitted Columbus’s proposal to his experts, who rejected it. It was their considered opinion that Columbus’s estimation of a travel distance of 2,400 miles (3,860 km) was, in fact, far too low.

Columbus had sought an audience from the monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, who had united several kingdoms in the Iberian Peninsula by marrying and were ruling together.

On 1 May 1486, permission having been granted, Columbus presented his plans to Queen Isabella, who, in turn, referred it to a committee.

After the passing of much time, the savants of Spain, like their counterparts in Portugal, replied that Columbus had grossly underestimated the distance to Asia. They pronounced the idea impractical and advised their Royal Highnesses to pass on the proposed venture.

After continually lobbying at the royal court and enduring two years of negotiations, Columbus finally succeeded in January 1492.

The monarchs left it to the royal treasurer to shift funds among various royal accounts on behalf of the enterprise. Columbus was to be made “Admiral of the Seas” and would receive a portion of all profits.

Christopher Columbus Facts – Voyage to West

At 8:00 on the morning of August 3, 1492, Columbus departed from Carolina Palos de la Frontera. Columbus and his crew embarked on a voyage to find a shorter route to India and the Orient with three medium-sized ships.

After twenty-nine days out of sight of land, on 7 October 1492, the crew spotted “immense flocks of birds”. Columbus changed course to follow their flight.

Land was first sighted at 2 a.m. on October 12, 1492, by a sailor named Rodrigo de Triana aboard La Pinta.

Christopher Columbus Facts – Discovery of New World

Columbus called the island San Salvador, in the present-day Bahamas or Turks and Caicos; the indigenous residents had named it Guanahani.

Columbus proceeded to observe the people and their cultural lifestyle. He also explored the northeast coast of Cuba, landing on 28 October 1492,. He also landed the north-western coast of Hispaniola, present day Haiti, by 5 December 1492.

Columbus and his remaining crew came home to a hero’s welcome when they returned to Spain.

He showed off what he had brought back from his voyage to the monarchs. This included a few small samples of gold, pearls, gold jewelry stolen from natives, a few natives he had kidnapped, flowers, and a hammock.

Christopher Columbus Facts – Second voyage

Soon Columbus left the port of Cádiz on 24 September 1493, with a fleet of 17 ships carrying 1,200 men and the supplies to establish permanent colonies in the New World.

The passengers included priests, farmers, and soldiers, who would be the new colonists.

Christopher Columbus Facts – Third voyage

The objective of the third voyage was to verify the existence of a continent that King John II of Portugal suggested was located to the southwest of the Cape Verde Islands.

King John reportedly knew of the existence of such a mainland because “canoes had been found which set out from the coast of Guinea [West Africa] and sailed to the west with merchandise.

Christopher Columbus Facts – End of his Misrule

By the end of his third voyage, Columbus was physically and mentally exhausted. His body wracked by arthritis and his eyes by ophthalmia.

In October 1499, he sent two ships to Spain, asking the Court of Spain to appoint a royal commissioner to help him govern.

By this time, accusations of tyranny and incompetence on the part of Columbus had also reached the Court. Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand responded by removing Columbus from power and replacing him.

Columbus once punished a man found guilty of stealing corn by having his ears and nose cut off and then selling him into slavery.

Once Columbus congratulated his brother Bartolomeo on “defending the family”. As his ordered a woman paraded naked through the streets. Later he cutoff her tongue for suggesting that Columbus was of lowly birth.

Because of their gross misgovernance, Columbus and his brothers were arrested and imprisoned upon their return to Spain from the third voyage.

They lingered in jail for six weeks before King Ferdinand ordered their release. Not long after, the king and queen summoned the Columbus brothers to the Alhambra palace in Granada.

There, the royal couple heard the brothers’ pleas; restored their freedom and wealth; and, after much persuasion, agreed to fund Columbus’s fourth voyage. But the door was firmly shut on Columbus’s role as governor.

Christopher Columbus Facts – Fourth voyage & Last Days

Later Columbus made a fourth voyage nominally in search of the Strait of Malacca to the Indian Ocean.

Accompanied by his brother Bartolomeo and his 13-year-old son Fernando. He left Cádiz on 11 May 1502, with his flagship Santa María and the vessels Gallega, Vizcaína, and Santiago de Palos.

During a violent storm on his first return voyage, Columbus, then 41, suffered an attack of gout.

In subsequent years, he was plagued with what was thought to be influenza and other fevers, bleeding from the eyes, and prolonged attacks of gout.

The suspected attacks increased in duration and severity, sometimes leaving Columbus bedridden for months at a time. This culminated in his death 14 years later.

On 20 May 1506, aged probably 54, Columbus died in Valladolid, Spain.

The anniversary of Columbus’s 1492 landing in the Americas is usually observed on 12 October in Spain and throughout the Americas, except Canada.