![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() This enabled him to better educate himself about naval tactics, navigation, geography, history, and astronomy. As a Portuguese trader, Columbus learned to speak, read, and write many languages, including Latin, Castilian, and Portuguese. In the early 1480s, Christopher Columbus traded extensively between Portugal and the western coast of Africa, managing to visit all major Portuguese ports up to distant Elmina at the Guinea Coast. By 1477, 26-year-old Christopher Columbus already had a lot of naval experience, has established connections with many trading families across Europe, and has decided to settle down in Lisbon where he married Filipa Moniz Perestrelo, daughter of the Portuguese nobleman and Porto Santo governor Bartolomeu Perestrello (who also claimed to have discovered this island off the coast of Africa in North Atlantic archipelago of Madeira). This includes a trip to the Aegean islands (now a part of Greece, but then in part controlled by the Republic of Genoa), armed protection of the treasure fleets that traveled all the way to England and Ireland, and more. Still, the first confirmed record of him being a part of the crew is dated 1470 when he was hired to serve on the Genoese warship of René of Anjou, who sighted conquering the Kingdom of Naples.ĭuring the 1470s, records speak of several naval jobs Christopher Columbus undertook, mostly with Genoa ships, which traveled across the Mediterranean. In the later writings made by Christopher Columbus, he said that he first went to the sea at 10. Historians agree that Christopher Columbus never did learn to write in his native Genoese variety of Ligurian, and in 1470 it was confirmed that he and his family moved to Savona, where his father Domenico bought a local tavern. His mother was Susanna Fontanarossa (born in Corsica), who had five children – Cristoforo, Bartolomeo, Giovanni, Giacomo, and a daughter named Bianchinetta.Įven though he was born in Italy, Christopher Columbus became a seasoned navigator only after he settled in Portugal. His name was also frequently used in historical records in languages such as Ligurian (Cristòffa Cónbo) and Spanish (Cristóbal Colón).Ĭhristopher Columbus was a son of middle-class wool weaver and shop owner Domenico Colombo who worked and lived in the cities of Genoa and Savona. While he was known in Italy under that name, he became better known around Europe with the Anglicisation of the Latin version of his name Christophorus Columbus. The exact date of his birth is unknown, but the exact location of his birth is still a thing of a dispute between various historians. Early Lifeīorn as Cristoforo Colombo in the territory of the Republic of Genoa (modern-day northwest Italy) before 31 October 1451. Because his discovery has led to the development of what is today called modern Western word, Christopher Columbus has remained remembered as one of the most important and influential explorers of all time, rivaled perhaps only by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan (1480–1521) who was the first who successfully sailed around the world just three decades after the discovery of the Americas. ![]() The discovery of the Americas shifted the balance of power, economy, and warfare in Europe, leading to the several-century-long period of aggressive exploration, conquest, and colonization. Still, because those discoveries did not lead to the full-scale colonization of new lands, modern history credits Christopher Columbus as the man who discovered and established travel routes across the Atlantic. Historical records have confirmed that the Norse explorers managed to establish short-lived colonies in North America. It is important to note that Christopher Columbus and his exploratory fleets were not the first Europeans who have landed on the shores of the American continents. Throughout the next three journeys across the Atlantic, claimed several more lands to the Crown of Castille, including islands in Greater and the Lesser Antilles and Caribbean coast of Venezuela.Ĭhristopher Columbus is remembered today as one of the greatest explorers of all time. In fact, when he landed on the shores of San Salvador during his first journey to the New World, a small island in the Bahamas archipelago, he believed he has landed in Japan. Taking advantage of the newly developed naval technologies for extended sailing outside the view from the shore, and under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, who represented one of the many European kingdoms who desperately wanted to discover a sea route to the distant and rich lands of India and China, he managed to complete four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean between 14, believing that he has, in fact, found the eastern shores of Asia. Christopher Columbus (1451 - 1506) was a celebrated Italian explorer and navigator who discovered continents of the Americas and held a key role in its initial colonization. ![]()
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