columbus biography in english

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Christopher Columbus

By: History.com Editors

Updated: August 11, 2023 | Original: November 9, 2009

The explorer Christopher Columbus made four trips across the Atlantic Ocean from Spain: in 1492, 1493, 1498 and 1502. He was determined to find a direct water route west from Europe to Asia, but he never did. Instead, he stumbled upon the Americas. Though he did not “discover” the so-called New World—millions of people already lived there—his journeys marked the beginning of centuries of exploration and colonization of North and South America.

Christopher Columbus and the Age of Discovery

During the 15th and 16th centuries, leaders of several European nations sponsored expeditions abroad in the hope that explorers would find great wealth and vast undiscovered lands. The Portuguese were the earliest participants in this “ Age of Discovery ,” also known as “ Age of Exploration .”

Starting in about 1420, small Portuguese ships known as caravels zipped along the African coast, carrying spices, gold and other goods as well as enslaved people from Asia and Africa to Europe.

Did you know? Christopher Columbus was not the first person to propose that a person could reach Asia by sailing west from Europe. In fact, scholars argue that the idea is almost as old as the idea that the Earth is round. (That is, it dates back to early Rome.)

Other European nations, particularly Spain, were eager to share in the seemingly limitless riches of the “Far East.” By the end of the 15th century, Spain’s “ Reconquista ”—the expulsion of Jews and Muslims out of the kingdom after centuries of war—was complete, and the nation turned its attention to exploration and conquest in other areas of the world.

Early Life and Nationality 

Christopher Columbus, the son of a wool merchant, is believed to have been born in Genoa, Italy, in 1451. When he was still a teenager, he got a job on a merchant ship. He remained at sea until 1476, when pirates attacked his ship as it sailed north along the Portuguese coast.

The boat sank, but the young Columbus floated to shore on a scrap of wood and made his way to Lisbon, where he eventually studied mathematics, astronomy, cartography and navigation. He also began to hatch the plan that would change the world forever.

Christopher Columbus' First Voyage

At the end of the 15th century, it was nearly impossible to reach Asia from Europe by land. The route was long and arduous, and encounters with hostile armies were difficult to avoid. Portuguese explorers solved this problem by taking to the sea: They sailed south along the West African coast and around the Cape of Good Hope.

But Columbus had a different idea: Why not sail west across the Atlantic instead of around the massive African continent? The young navigator’s logic was sound, but his math was faulty. He argued (incorrectly) that the circumference of the Earth was much smaller than his contemporaries believed it was; accordingly, he believed that the journey by boat from Europe to Asia should be not only possible, but comparatively easy via an as-yet undiscovered Northwest Passage . 

He presented his plan to officials in Portugal and England, but it was not until 1492 that he found a sympathetic audience: the Spanish monarchs Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile .

Columbus wanted fame and fortune. Ferdinand and Isabella wanted the same, along with the opportunity to export Catholicism to lands across the globe. (Columbus, a devout Catholic, was equally enthusiastic about this possibility.)

Columbus’ contract with the Spanish rulers promised that he could keep 10 percent of whatever riches he found, along with a noble title and the governorship of any lands he should encounter.

Where Did Columbus' Ships, Niña, Pinta and Santa Maria, Land?

On August 3, 1492, Columbus and his crew set sail from Spain in three ships: the Niña , the Pinta and the Santa Maria . On October 12, the ships made landfall—not in the East Indies, as Columbus assumed, but on one of the Bahamian islands, likely San Salvador.

For months, Columbus sailed from island to island in what we now know as the Caribbean, looking for the “pearls, precious stones, gold, silver, spices, and other objects and merchandise whatsoever” that he had promised to his Spanish patrons, but he did not find much. In January 1493, leaving several dozen men behind in a makeshift settlement on Hispaniola (present-day Haiti and the Dominican Republic), he left for Spain.

He kept a detailed diary during his first voyage. Christopher Columbus’s journal was written between August 3, 1492, and November 6, 1492 and mentions everything from the wildlife he encountered, like dolphins and birds, to the weather to the moods of his crew. More troublingly, it also recorded his initial impressions of the local people and his argument for why they should be enslaved.

“They… brought us parrots and balls of cotton and spears and many other things, which they exchanged for the glass beads and hawks’ bells," he wrote. "They willingly traded everything they owned… They were well-built, with good bodies and handsome features… They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance. They have no iron… They would make fine servants… With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.”

Columbus gifted the journal to Isabella upon his return.

Christopher Columbus's Later Voyages

About six months later, in September 1493, Columbus returned to the Americas. He found the Hispaniola settlement destroyed and left his brothers Bartolomeo and Diego Columbus behind to rebuild, along with part of his ships’ crew and hundreds of enslaved indigenous people.

Then he headed west to continue his mostly fruitless search for gold and other goods. His group now included a large number of indigenous people the Europeans had enslaved. In lieu of the material riches he had promised the Spanish monarchs, he sent some 500 enslaved people to Queen Isabella. The queen was horrified—she believed that any people Columbus “discovered” were Spanish subjects who could not be enslaved—and she promptly and sternly returned the explorer’s gift.

In May 1498, Columbus sailed west across the Atlantic for the third time. He visited Trinidad and the South American mainland before returning to the ill-fated Hispaniola settlement, where the colonists had staged a bloody revolt against the Columbus brothers’ mismanagement and brutality. Conditions were so bad that Spanish authorities had to send a new governor to take over.

Meanwhile, the native Taino population, forced to search for gold and to work on plantations, was decimated (within 60 years after Columbus landed, only a few hundred of what may have been 250,000 Taino were left on their island). Christopher Columbus was arrested and returned to Spain in chains.

In 1502, cleared of the most serious charges but stripped of his noble titles, the aging Columbus persuaded the Spanish crown to pay for one last trip across the Atlantic. This time, Columbus made it all the way to Panama—just miles from the Pacific Ocean—where he had to abandon two of his four ships after damage from storms and hostile natives. Empty-handed, the explorer returned to Spain, where he died in 1506.

Legacy of Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus did not “discover” the Americas, nor was he even the first European to visit the “New World.” (Viking explorer Leif Erikson had sailed to Greenland and Newfoundland in the 11th century.)

However, his journey kicked off centuries of exploration and exploitation on the American continents. The Columbian Exchange transferred people, animals, food and disease across cultures. Old World wheat became an American food staple. African coffee and Asian sugar cane became cash crops for Latin America, while American foods like corn, tomatoes and potatoes were introduced into European diets. 

Today, Columbus has a controversial legacy —he is remembered as a daring and path-breaking explorer who transformed the New World, yet his actions also unleashed changes that would eventually devastate the native populations he and his fellow explorers encountered.

HISTORY Vault: Columbus the Lost Voyage

Ten years after his 1492 voyage, Columbus, awaiting the gallows on criminal charges in a Caribbean prison, plotted a treacherous final voyage to restore his reputation.

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Biography Online

Christopher Columbus Biography

“You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.”

– Christopher Columbus

Short bio Christopher Columbus (1451–1506)

Christopher Columbus was a believer in the spherical nature of the world (some Christians still held the view that the world was flat). An ambitious man, Christopher Columbus hoped to find a Western trade route to the lucrative spice markets in Asia. Rather than sailing east, he hoped that sailing west would lead to countries like Japan and China.

To gain the necessary funding and support for his journeys, he approached the Catholic Monarchs of Spain. As part of his offer, he said that he hoped to be able to spread Christianity to ‘heathen lands’ in the east. The Spanish monarchs agreed to fund Columbus, partly on the Christian missionary efforts, but also hoping to gain an upper hand in the lucrative trade markets. One advantage of the westward exploration is that it avoided conflict with the growing power of the Ottomans in the east.

“I should not proceed by land to the East, as is customary, but by a Westerly route, in which direction we have hitherto no certain evidence that any one has gone.” Journal of the First Voyage – 3 August 1492 diary entry

Voyages to the Americas

A map from 1474, with the perceived geography of the world in yellow (superimposed on actual land)

Columbus’ first voyage was completed in 1492. He had intended to sail to Japan but ended up in the Bahamas, which he named San Salvador.

Landing of Columbus (12 October 1492), painting by John Vanderlyn

Columbus made a total of four journeys, where he sailed extensively around the Caribbean islands of Cuba, Jamaica, the Bahamas and also to the mainland, to places such as Panama.

Columbus was not the first person to reach America. Previous successful voyages included a Norse expedition led by Leif Ericson. However, Columbus was the first to travel to America and establish permanent settlements. Columbus’ voyages and reports, over the next 400 years encouraged all the major European powers to seek to colonise parts of America.

Columbus was a skilled navigator with tremendous faith in the possibilities of exploration. He claimed in his diary entries, his steely will held the crew together when they feared they would never reach land.

“Here the men lost all patience, and complained of the length of the voyage, but the Admiral encouraged them in the best manner he could, representing the profits they were about to acquire, and adding that it was to no purpose to complain, having come so far, they had nothing to do but continue on to the Indies, till with the help of our Lord, they should arrive there.” Diary entry, 10 October 1492

However, his autocratic style created friction on the boats that he guided. Columbus was deeply religious and his tendency to be sanctimonious and judgemental of personal failings was not popular with sailors who took a more earthy and realistic approach to life. Yet, whilst he was pious in some regards, he also shared the view, common at the time, that European Christians had a moral superiority due to their following the one true faith. Although Columbus held back some of the worst excesses of his sailors, he took back human slaves and looted property from the indigenous people.

As part of the deal, the Spanish monarchy appointed Columbus Viceroy and Governor of the Indies in the island of Hispaniola. He also delegated the governorship to his brothers. However, in 1500, on the orders of the Spanish monarchy, Columbus was arrested and placed in chains. There were allegations of incompetence, misrule and barbaric practices in the governorship of the new colonies. After several weeks in jail, Columbus and his brothers were released, but Columbus was not allowed to be governor of Hispaniola anymore.

Towards the end of his life, Columbus became increasingly religious. In particular, he became fascinated with Biblical prophecies and wrote his own ‘Book of Prophecies’ (1505). He was also frustrated with his lack of public recognition and seeming demotion in the eyes of the Spanish monarchs. In 1503, he wrote a letter to the monarchs laying out his sense of unappreciated sacrifice

“I came to serve you at the age of 28 and now I have not a hair on me that is not white, and my body is infirm and exhausted. All that was left to me and my brothers has been taken away and sold, even to the cloak that I wore, without hearing or trial, to my great dishonor.” – Lettera Rarissima to the Sovereigns, Fourth Voyage (7 July 1503)

Columbus died in 1506, aged 54 from a heart attack related to reactive arthritis. Undoubtedly, the rigours of travelling across the seas weighed upon Columbus’ health. Towards the end of his life, he was frequently in physical pain from his journeys.

Columbus is venerated by many European Americans as the man who helped put America on the map. Columbus Day is observed on 12 October in Spain and across the Americas. Others take a more critical view of Columbus, arguing that his “discovery” was not really a discovery – because the land was already populated and that through his actions the ensuing European colonisations led to the mistreatment and genocide of the Native American people who already lived there.

Citation: Pettinger, Tejvan . “Biography of Christopher Columbus”, Oxford, UK.  www.biographyonline.net , 13th May. 2009. Updated 22 January 2020.

Who was Christopher Columbus?

Who was Christopher Columbus? at Amazon

The Ages of Exploration

Christopher columbus, age of discovery.

Quick Facts:

He is credited for discovering the Americas in 1492, although we know today people were there long before him; his real achievement was that he opened the door for more exploration to a New World.

Name : Christopher Columbus [Kri-stə-fər] [Kə-luhm-bəs]

Birth/Death : 1451 - 1506

Nationality : Italian

Birthplace : Genoa, Italy

Christopher Columbus leaving Palos, Spain

Christopher Columbus aboard the "Santa Maria" leaving Palos, Spain on his first voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. The Mariners' Museum 1933.0746.000001

Introduction We know that In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. But what did he actually discover? Christopher Columbus (also known as (Cristoforo Colombo [Italian]; Cristóbal Colón [Spanish]) was an Italian explorer credited with the “discovery” of the America’s. The purpose for his voyages was to find a passage to Asia by sailing west. Never actually accomplishing this mission, his explorations mostly included the Caribbean and parts of Central and South America, all of which were already inhabited by Native groups.

Biography Early Life Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa, part of present-day Italy, in 1451. His parents’ names were Dominico Colombo and Susanna Fontanarossa. He had three brothers: Bartholomew, Giovanni, and Giacomo; and a sister named Bianchinetta. Christopher became an apprentice in his father’s wool weaving business, but he also studied mapmaking and sailing as well. He eventually left his father’s business to join the Genoese fleet and sail on the Mediterranean Sea. 1 After one of his ships wrecked off the coast of Portugal, he decided to remain there with his younger brother Bartholomew where he worked as a cartographer (mapmaker) and bookseller. Here, he married Doña Felipa Perestrello e Moniz and had two sons Diego and Fernando.

Christopher Columbus owned a copy of Marco Polo’s famous book, and it gave him a love for exploration. In the mid 15th century, Portugal was desperately trying to find a faster trade route to Asia. Exotic goods such as spices, ivory, silk, and gems were popular items of trade. However, Europeans often had to travel through the Middle East to reach Asia. At this time, Muslim nations imposed high taxes on European travels crossing through. 2 This made it both difficult and expensive to reach Asia. There were rumors from other sailors that Asia could be reached by sailing west. Hearing this, Christopher Columbus decided to try and make this revolutionary journey himself. First, he needed ships and supplies, which required money that he did not have. He went to King John of Portugal who turned him down. He then went to the rulers of England, and France. Each declined his request for funding. After seven years of trying, he was finally sponsored by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain.

Voyages Principal Voyage Columbus’ voyage departed in August of 1492 with 87 men sailing on three ships: the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa María. Columbus commanded the Santa María, while the Niña was led by Vicente Yanez Pinzon and the Pinta by Martin Pinzon. 3 This was the first of his four trips. He headed west from Spain across the Atlantic Ocean. On October 12 land was sighted. He gave the first island he landed on the name San Salvador, although the native population called it Guanahani. 4 Columbus believed that he was in Asia, but was actually in the Caribbean. He even proposed that the island of Cuba was a part of China. Since he thought he was in the Indies, he called the native people “Indians.” In several letters he wrote back to Spain, he described the landscape and his encounters with the natives. He continued sailing throughout the Caribbean and named many islands he encountered after his ship, king, and queen: La Isla de Santa María de Concepción, Fernandina, and Isabella.

It is hard to determine specifically which islands Columbus visited on this voyage. His descriptions of the native peoples, geography, and plant life do give us some clues though. One place we do know he stopped was in present-day Haiti. He named the island Hispaniola. Hispaniola today includes both Haiti and the Dominican Republic. In January of 1493, Columbus sailed back to Europe to report what he found. Due to rough seas, he was forced to land in Portugal, an unfortunate event for Columbus. With relations between Spain and Portugal strained during this time, Ferdinand and Isabella suspected that Columbus was taking valuable information or maybe goods to Portugal, the country he had lived in for several years. Those who stood against Columbus would later use this as an argument against him. Eventually, Columbus was allowed to return to Spain bringing with him tobacco, turkey, and some new spices. He also brought with him several natives of the islands, of whom Queen Isabella grew very fond.

Subsequent Voyages Columbus took three other similar trips to this region. His second voyage in 1493 carried a large fleet with the intention of conquering the native populations and establishing colonies. At one point, the natives attacked and killed the settlers left at Fort Navidad. Over time the colonists enslaved many of the natives, sending some to Europe and using many to mine gold for the Spanish settlers in the Caribbean. The third trip was to explore more of the islands and mainland South America further. Columbus was appointed the governor of Hispaniola, but the colonists, upset with Columbus’ leadership appealed to the rulers of Spain, who sent a new governor: Francisco de Bobadilla. Columbus was taken prisoner on board a ship and sent back to Spain.

On his fourth and final journey west in 1502 Columbus’s goal was to find the “Strait of Malacca,” to try to find India. But a hurricane, then being denied entrance to Hispaniola, and then another storm made this an unfortunate trip. His ship was so badly damaged that he and his crew were stranded on Jamaica for two years until help from Hispaniola finally arrived. In 1504, Columbus and his men were taken back to Spain .

Later Years and Death Columbus reached Spain in November 1504. He was not in good health. He spent much of the last of his life writing letters to obtain the percentage of wealth overdue to be paid to him, and trying to re-attain his governorship status, but was continually denied both. Columbus died at Valladolid on May 20, 1506, due to illness and old age. Even until death, he still firmly believing that he had traveled to the eastern part of Asia.

Legacy Columbus never made it to Asia, nor did he truly discover America. His “re-discovery,” however, inspired a new era of exploration of the American continents by Europeans. Perhaps his greatest contribution was that his voyages opened an exchange of goods between Europe and the Americas both during and long after his journeys. 5 Despite modern criticism of his treatment of the native peoples there is no denying that his expeditions changed both Europe and America. Columbus day was made a federal holiday in 1971. It is recognized on the second Monday of October.

• Fergus Fleming, Off the Map: Tales of Endurance and Exploration (New York: Grove Press, 2004), 30.
• Fleming, Off the Map , 30
• William D. Phillips and Carla Rahn Phillips, The Worlds of Christopher Columbus (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993), 142-143.
• Phillips and Phillips, The Worlds of Christopher Columbus , 155.
• Robin S. Doak, Christopher Columbus: Explorer of the New World (Minneapolis: Compass Point Books, 2005), 92.

Bibliography

Doak, Robin. Christopher Columbus: Explorer of the New World . Minneapolis: Compass Point Books, 2005.

Fleming, Fergus. Off the Map: Tales of Endurance and Exploration . New York: Grove Press, 2004.

Phillips, William D., and Carla Rahn Phillips. The Worlds of Christopher Columbus . New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993.

Map of Voyages

Click below to view an example of the explorer’s voyages. Use the tabs on the left to view either 1 or multiple journeys at a time, and click on the icons to learn more about the stops, sites, and activities along the way.

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Who was Christopher Columbus?

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Christopher Columbus

He's famous for 'discovering the new world', but did Columbus actually set foot in North America?

Explorer Christopher Columbus (1451–1506) is known for his 1492 ‘discovery’ of the 'new world' of the Americas on board his ship Santa Maria .

In actual fact, Columbus did not discover North America. He was the first European to sight the Bahamas archipelago and then the island later named Hispaniola, now split into Haiti and the Dominican Republic. On his subsequent voyages he went farther south, to Central and South America. He never got close to what is now called the United States.

Where was Christopher Columbus born?

Columbus was born in the Italian seaport of Genoa in 1451, to a family of wool weavers. He went to sea from an early age, and was an experienced sailor by his twenties.

In 1476 Columbus moved to Lisbon, Portugal, and for many years attempted to gain support for a journey he was planning to find new trade routes to the Far East. Eventually Ferdinand and Isabella, the King and Queen of Spain, agreed to finance him.

What did Columbus aim to do?

In the 15th and 16th centuries, Europeans wanted to find sea routes to the Far East. Columbus wanted to find a new route to India, China, Japan and the Spice Islands. If he could reach these lands, he would be able to bring back rich cargoes of silks and spices. Columbus knew that the world was round and realised that by sailing west – instead of east around the coast of Africa, as other explorers at the time were doing – he would still reach his destination.

What ships did he use?

In 1492 Columbus set sail from Palos in Spain with three ships. Two, the Nina and the Pinta, were caravels – small ships with triangular sails. The third, the Santa Maria , was a nao – a larger square-rigged ship. The ships were small, between 15 and 36 metres long. Between them they carried about 90 men.

What did he discover?

After sailing across the Atlantic Ocean for 10 weeks, land was sighted by a sailor called Rodrigo Bernajo (although Columbus himself took the credit for this). He landed on a small island in the Bahamas, which he named San Salvador. He claimed the island for the King and Queen of Spain, although it was already populated.

Columbus called all the people he met in the islands ‘Indians’, because he was sure that he had reached the Indies. This initial encounter opened up the 'New World' to European colonisation, which would come to have a devastating impact on indigenous populations.

What was the return journey like?

On Christmas Day 1492, the Santa Maria hit a rock and was wrecked. Columbus transferred to the Nina and left behind the 39 crewmembers of the Santa Maria on the island of Hispaniola. He wanted them to start a new settlement. Columbus reached Spain in March 1493, and claimed his reward in riches. He was also given new titles. He was made Admiral of the Ocean Sea and Governor of the Indies.

What other journeys did Columbus make?

Columbus made three more journeys across the Atlantic to the Caribbean. He was sure that he had found Cipangu (Japan), but it was actually Cuba. He visited Trinidad and the South American mainland before returning to the ill-fated Hispaniola settlement, where the ‘Indian’ inhabitants had staged a revolt against the Europeans.

Conditions were so bad that Spanish authorities had to send a new governor to take over. Columbus was arrested, returned to Spain and stripped of his titles. He did make one last voyage to the Americas, however, this time to Panama – just miles from the Pacific Ocean.

What is Columbus’s legacy?

Columbus died in 1506, still believing that he had found a new route to the East Indies. Today his historic legacy as a daring explorer who discovered the New World has been challenged. His voyages launched centuries of European exploration and colonisation of the American continents. His encounters also triggered centuries of exploitation of Indigenous Peoples.

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Biography of Christopher Columbus, Italian Explorer

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Christopher Columbus (c. October 31, 1451–May 20, 1506) was an Italian explorer who led voyages to the Caribbean, Central America, and South America. His exploration of these areas paved the way for European colonization. Since his death, Columbus has been criticized for the crimes he committed against Indigenous peoples in the New World.

Fast Facts: Christopher Columbus

• Known For : Columbus completed four voyages to the New World on behalf of Spain, preparing the way for European colonization.
• Born : October 31, 1451 in Genoa, Italy
• Died : May 20, 1506 in Castile, Spain

Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa (now Italy) in 1451 to Domenico Colombo, a middle-class wool weaver, and Susanna Fontanarossa. Though little is known about his childhood, it is assumed that he was well-educated because he was able to speak several languages as an adult and had considerable knowledge of classical literature. He is known to have studied the works of Ptolemy and Marinus, among others.

Columbus first took to the sea when he was 14 years old, and he continued to sail throughout the rest of his youth. During the 1470s, he went on numerous trading trips that took him to the Aegean Sea, Northern Europe, and possibly Iceland. In 1479, he met his brother Bartolomeo, a mapmaker, in Lisbon. He later married Filipa Moniz Perestrello, and in 1480 his son Diego was born.

The family stayed in Lisbon until 1485, when Columbus' wife Filipa died. From there, Columbus and Diego moved to Spain, where Columbus began trying to obtain a grant to explore western trade routes. He believed that because the earth was a sphere, a ship could reach the Far East and set up trading routes in Asia by sailing west.

For years, Columbus proposed his plans to the Portuguese and Spanish kings, but he was turned down each time. Finally, after the Moors were expelled from Spain in 1492, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella reconsidered his requests. Columbus promised to bring back gold, spices, and silk from Asia, to spread Christianity, and to explore China. In return, he asked to be made admiral of the seas and governor of discovered lands.

First Voyage

After receiving significant funding from the Spanish monarchs, Columbus set sail on August 3, 1492, with three ships—the Pinta, Nina, and Santa Maria—and 104 men. After a short stop at the Canary Islands to resupply and make minor repairs, the ships set out across the Atlantic. This voyage took five weeks—longer than Columbus had expected, as he believed the world was much smaller than it is. During this time, many of the crew members became ill and some died from diseases, hunger, and thirst.

Finally, at 2 a.m. on October 12, 1492, sailor Rodrigo de Triana sighted land in the area of what is now the Bahamas. When Columbus reached the land, he believed it was an Asian island and named it San Salvador. Because he did not find any riches here, Columbus decided to continue sailing in search of China. Instead, he ended up visiting Cuba and Hispaniola.

On November 21, 1492, the Pinta and its crew left to explore on its own. On Christmas Day, the Santa Maria wrecked off the coast of Hispaniola. Because there was limited space on the lone Nina, Columbus had to leave about 40 men behind at a fort they named Navidad. Soon after, Columbus set sail for Spain, where he arrived on March 15, 1493, completing his first voyage west.

Second Voyage

After the success of finding this new land, Columbus set sail west again on September 23, 1493, with 17 ships and 1,200 men. The purpose of this second journey was to establish colonies in the name of Spain, check on the crew at Navidad, and continue the search for riches in what Columbus still thought was the Far East.

On November 3, the crew members sighted land and found three more islands: Dominica, Guadeloupe, and Jamaica, which Columbus thought were islands off of Japan. Because there were still no riches to be found, the crew went on to Hispaniola, only to discover that the fort of Navidad had been destroyed and the crew killed after they mistreated the Indigenous population.

At the site of the fort, Columbus established the colony of Santo Domingo, and after a battle in 1495 he conquered the entire island of Hispaniola. He then set sail for Spain in March 1496 and arrived in Cadiz on July 31.

Third Voyage

Columbus’s third voyage began on May 30, 1498, and took a more southern route than the previous two. Still searching for China, Columbus found Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, and Margarita on July 31. He also reached the mainland of South America. On August 31, he returned to Hispaniola and found the colony of Santo Domingo there in shambles. After a government representative was sent to investigate the problems in 1500, Columbus was arrested and sent back to Spain. He arrived in October and was able to successfully defend himself against the charges of treating both the locals and the Spaniards poorly.

Fourth and Final Voyage

Columbus' final voyage began on May 9, 1502, and he arrived in Hispaniola in June. He was forbidden from entering the colony, so he continued to explore areas nearby. On July 4, he set sail again and later found Central America. In January 1503, he reached Panama and found a small amount of gold but was forced out of the area by those who lived there. After encountering numerous problems, Columbus set sail for Spain on November 7, 1504. After he arrived there, he settled with his son in Seville.

After Queen Isabella died on November 26, 1504, Columbus tried to regain his governorship of Hispaniola. In 1505, the king allowed him to petition but did nothing. One year later, Columbus became ill, and he died on May 20, 1506.

Because of his discoveries, Columbus is often venerated, notably in the Americas where places such as the District of Columbia bear his name and where many people celebrate Columbus Day . Despite this fame, however, Columbus was not the first to visit the Americas. Long before Columbus, various Indigenous peoples had settled and explored different areas of the Americas. In addition, Norse explorers had already visited portions of North America. Leif Ericson is believed to have been the first European to visit the area and set up a settlement in the northern portion of Canada's Newfoundland some 500 years before the arrival of Columbus.

Columbus's major contribution to geography is that he was the first to visit and settle in these new lands, effectively bringing a new area of the world to the forefront of the popular imagination.

• Morison, Samuel Eliot. "The Great Explorers: the European Discovery of America." Oxford University Press, 1986.
• Phillips, William D., and Carla Rahn Phillips. "The Worlds of Christopher Columbus." Cambridge University Press, 2002.
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• The First New World Voyage of Christopher Columbus (1492)
• Where Are the Remains of Christopher Columbus?
• The Truth About Christopher Columbus
• La Navidad: First European Settlement in the Americas
• The History of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
• The Controversy Over Columbus Day Celebrations
• Biography of Bartolomé de Las Casas, Spanish Colonist
• Biography of Juan Ponce de León, Conquistador
• Biography of Antonio de Montesinos, Defender of Indigenous Rights
• A Timeline of North American Exploration: 1492–1585

What Was Christopher Columbus’ Heritage?

The famed explorer was always searching for new places, but his lasting legacy has people searching for his true nationality.

Spain’s role in Columbus’ story has, perhaps unsurprisingly, led some people to believe that the explorer was of Spanish origin. But those of Italian descent, particularly Italian-Americans, have laid claim to Columbus, despite the modern-day controversies surrounding his mistreatment of the Indigenous populations he encountered in the “New World.”

It turns out that determining Columbus’ true origins is just as complicated, with theories and supposed evidence linking him to any number of regions, countries and even religions, and unanswered questions that linger more than 500 years after his voyages.

Many think Columbus was Italian

Conventional wisdom has long held that Columbus was born Cristoforo Colombo around 1451, in the region of Liguria, in what is now Northwest Italy. In Columbus’ time, Liguria’s capital was Genoa, a rich, influential and independent city-state (Italy as a unified nation-state did not exist until 1861). He may have been the son of Susanna Fontanarossa and Domenico Colombo, a wool merchant.

Genoa had close trading ties with other regions, including several Spanish kingdoms, and Columbus likely learned multiple languages before adulthood. According to later accounts, including those by his son Ferdinand (or Hernando), Columbus left Genoa as a teenager, serving in the Portuguese merchant marines and gaining valuable seafaring experience on explorations that took him as far afield as Ireland, Iceland, and West Africa. While in Portugal, he married a woman from a noble, but somewhat poor, family and began seeking support from the Portuguese court for his cross-Atlantic expedition. When they refused, he moved to Spain in 1485, where years of lobbying monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella finally paid off in 1492, when they agreed to fund his first voyage.

Supporters of the “Italian” origin point to Columbus’ own writings from late in his life, including his will, in which he purportedly claimed to be from Genoa. However, relatively few surviving, contemporary accounts support this. Despite Columbus’ successes, Genoese ambassadors in Spain did not claim him as their own in their correspondence, and unlike other explorers who sailed under Spain’s flag, official government documents make no reference to Columbus as a foreigner.

And, most intriguingly, even Ferdinand Columbus seemingly admitted that his father wished, for unknown reasons, to obscure his true origins. However, many historians point to the fact that documents, letters and even early maps produced in the decades immediately following Columbus’ death identify him as hailing from Genoa as proof of his origins.

Others believe Columbus was Portuguese

Columbus’ strong ties to Portugal have led many to believe he was born there, not in Genoa. Some historians have argued that his marriage into a noble Portuguese family would have been unlikely had he been an unknown (and yet-unproven) foreigner. In 2012, Fernando Branco, an engineering professor at the University of Lisbon, published a book that argued that Columbus was actually Portuguese-born and his real name was Pedro Ataíde. Ataíde, the illegitimate child of a Portuguese lord, was presumed to have died in a naval battle in 1476. But Branco and a number of Portuguese historians believe that he actually survived, and to avoid persecution for his family’s possible treasonous opposition to the Portuguese crown, changed his name to Culon, after a French sailor he served with, embarking on a new life with a new identity.

In early 2018, researchers began to put this theory to the test. Using the previously authenticated and sequenced DNA of Columbus’ son, Fernando, they hope to find a genetic match with DNA extracted from the remains of Ataíde’s cousin, Antonio, a Portuguese count and diplomat.

People assume Columbus was Spanish

Supporters of the idea that Columbus was from Spain after all have also gotten a boost in recent years. In 2009, Georgetown University linguistic professor Estelle Irizarry published her book, "Christopher Columbus: The DNA of His Writings," based on close examination of hundreds of documents written by Columbus. According to her research, he was born in the kingdom of Aragon, in Northern Spain, and his primary language was Castilian (there are no existing documents in which Columbus used Ligurian, the common language of Genoa).

But if he was Spanish all along, why go to great lengths to disguise his identity? Because, Irizarry and a number of other historians argue, Columbus was actually Jewish. Linguistic traits in his writings led them to believe Columbus was raised learning Ladino, a hybrid form of Castilian Spanish, comparable to Yiddish, which was spoken by Spain’s Sephardic Jewish community. They believe there is ample evidence to support their conclusions, including the existence of a Hebrew blessing, “with God’s help,” on all but one of Columbus’ letters to another son, Diego (but which do not appear on letters to anyone outside his family).

They also point to Columbus’ links to the wealthy Sephardic businessmen who helped fund his expeditions, bequests he made to other Jews and even the triangular symbol that Columbus used as a family signature of sorts, which is similar to inscriptions on gravestones of Sephardim. And they believe that Columbus’ one-day delay in leaving Spain in August 1492 was to ensure he did not set sail on the Jewish holiday of Tisha B’Av, which commemorates the destruction of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

If Columbus was, in fact, Jewish, he would have had every reason to obscure his true origins. For decades, Ferdinand and Isabella had been pursuing the fabled “Reconquista” of Spain, which saw the forced conversion and harsh persecution of tens of thousands of Spanish Jews and Muslims. Those Sephardim who converted and remained became known as Marranos. Those who refused to convert were forced to sell their possessions and leave the country entirely — the very same year that Columbus first set sail for the New World.

There is a far-fetched theory that he was Scottish

While the evidence linking Columbus to Genoa, Spain and Portugal seems credible, other theories seem more far-fetched, including those that claim he was the son of a Polish king, who also survived his supposed death before fleeing to the Portuguese island of Madeira, where Columbus was born in secrecy. Or that he was born in Genoa as the son of a Scottish family living in the city, and his real name was Pedro Scotto, which he changed to Columbus after the pirate he worked for in his youth.

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• Christopher Columbus

• Occupation: Explorer
• Born: 1451 in Genoa, Italy
• Died: May 20, 1506
• Best known for: Discovering America

• Columbus was first buried in Spain, however his remains were later moved to Santo Domingo in the new world and then back, again, to Spain.
• Columbus brought horses to the new world on his second voyage.
• In his original calculations, he thought that Asia would be 2,400 miles from Portugal. He was way off. It is actually 10,000 miles away! Not to mention the huge continent in between.
• You can remember the date Columbus discovered America by using this rhyme "In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue".
• The sailor who was first to spot land on the voyage would receive a reward. The winner was Rodrigo de Triana who spotted land from the crow's nest of the Pinta.
• Listen to a recorded reading of this page:
• Roald Amundsen
• Neil Armstrong
• Daniel Boone
• Captain James Cook
• Hernan Cortes
• Vasco da Gama
• Sir Francis Drake
• Edmund Hillary
• Henry Hudson
• Lewis and Clark
• Ferdinand Magellan
• Francisco Pizarro
• Juan Ponce de Leon
• Spanish Conquistadores