Christopher Columbus
European discoverer of the New World, born in Genoa, Italy. He went to sea at 14, was shipwrecked off Portugal, and settled there c. 1470. His plans to reach India by sailing West were rejected by John II of Portugal, but finally supported by Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. He set sail from the port of Palos in southern Spain on August 3, 1492, with three ships: the Niņa, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. The expedition reached the Bahamas on October 12, then visited Cuba and Hispaniola (Haiti), where Columbus's men left a small colony. He returned to Spain in March 1493 and was received with the highest honours by the court. Columbus's second voyage (1493--6) led to the discovery of several Caribbean islands. On his third voyage (1498--1500), he discovered the South American mainland, but after a revolt against his command, he was sent home in irons by a newly appointed royal governor. Restored to favour in Spain, he went on his last great voyage (1502--4) along the Southern edge of the Gulf of Mexico. He died at Valladolid, in Spain, but in 1536 his remains and those of his son Diego were removed to Santo Domingo, in Hispaniola. They were returned to Spain in 1899, and interred in Seville Cathedral.
