Biography Of Christopher Columbus
Columbus, Christopher (Italian Cristoforo Colombo, Spanish Cristó
bal Colón) (1451-1506), Italian-Spanish navigator who sailed west across
the Atlantic Ocean in search of a route to Asia but achieved fame by making
landfall, instead, in the Caribbean Sea. Columbus was born in Genoa, Italy.
His father was a weaver, and it is believed that Christopher entered this
trade as a young man. Information about the beginning of his seafaring
career is uncertain, but the independent city-state of Genoa had a busy
port, and he may have sailed as a commercial agent in his youth. In the
mid-1470s he made his first trading voyage to the island of Khíos (or
Chios), in the Aegean Sea. In 1476 he sailed ...
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studying charts and maps, Christopher concluded that the earth was 25
percent smaller than was previously thought, and composed mostly of land.
On the basis of these faulty beliefs, he decided that Asia could be reached
quickly by sailing west. In 1484 he submitted his theories to John II, king
of Portugal, petitioning him to finance a westward crossing of the Atlantic
Ocean. His proposal was rejected by a royal maritime commission because of
his miscalculations and because Portuguese ships were already rounding
Africa.
Soon after, Columbus moved to Spain, where his plans won the
support of several influential persons, and he secured an introduction, in
1486, to Isabella I, queen of Castile. About this time, Columbus, then a
widower, met Beatriz Enriquez, who became his mistress and the mother of
his second son, Ferdinand Columbus. In Spain, as in Portugal, a royal
commission rejected his plan. Columbus continued to seek support, however,
and in April 1492 his ...
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Biography Of Christopher Columbus. (2008, June 13). Retrieved November 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Biography-Of-Christopher-Columbus/85203
"Biography Of Christopher Columbus." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 13 Jun. 2008. Web. 23 Nov. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Biography-Of-Christopher-Columbus/85203>
"Biography Of Christopher Columbus." Essayworld.com. June 13, 2008. Accessed November 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Biography-Of-Christopher-Columbus/85203.
"Biography Of Christopher Columbus." Essayworld.com. June 13, 2008. Accessed November 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Biography-Of-Christopher-Columbus/85203.
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