History of Christopher Columbus

History of Christopher Columbus

The first European nation to begin actively seeking a sea route to Asia was Portugal. The Portuguese had already begun exploring Africa in the early 1400s, and in 1415 they invaded northern Africa and conquered the Muslim commercial center of Ceuta on the Strait of Gibraltar. It was the Portuguese access to the lucrative African trade, which until then had been dominated by Muslims. Under the tutelage of Prince Henry the Navigator established a school for navigators in southern Portugal shortly after the Ceuta invasion, the Portuguese began exploring the western coast of Africa, hoping to find a way to prosperity in Asia by going around the southern tip of the continent. Other nations do not want to be left behind, began sponsoring missions exploring, too. Into this world full of excitement for exploration and discovery, Christopher Columbus was born. Biographical facts on Columbus vary from author to author. But most researchers generally agree that he was born in the Italian port of Genoa on the Ligurian Sea (an arm of the Mediterranean Sea), between August 25 and October 31 1451st His name in Italian was Cristoforo Colombo, which has been translated into English as Christopher Columbus, into Spanish as Cristóbal Colón, and into Portuguese as Christovão Colom. Columbus used the Portuguese version of his name while in Portugal and the Spanish version, after she moved to Spain in the 1485th Columbus's father was Domenico Colombo, a wool weaver who was also involved in local politics. His mother was Suzanna Fontanarossa, the daughter of a wool weaver. The oldest of five children, Christopher had three brothers, Bartholomew, Giovanni Pellegrino, and Giacomo and a sister, Bianchinetta. The whole family moved to the nearby port city of Savona, west of Genoa in 1470 Although how much formal education Columbus received as a child is not known that schools of Italian craft guilds (which Columbus, would the son of a wool weaver, has participated ), offered a rudimentary level of reading and writing. As a boy, Christopher joined his father in the family business of wool processing and selling. He has worked as a clerk in a Genoese bookshop too. But like many other young men who grew up in a major seaport, Columbus soon began a life of seafaring. Beginning his seagoing career at age 14, Columbus served on various ships in various roles, including messenger, common sailor, and perhaps even as a 21-year-old pirate. Columbus' son Ferdinand stated in History of the Life and Deeds of Christopher Columbus in 1472 Columbus was given command of a ship in a private ring expedition to Tunis in North Africa. In a lost letter, Columbus supposedly related to his son how René I, Duke of the French province of Anjou, had commissioned Columbus to make a surprise attack on a large Spanish ship sailing off the coast of North Africa. Most historians doubt however, that Columbus ever given command of the expedition. Much more credible, though, is a later expedition. In 1474 Columbus was hired as a sailor on a ship bound for the island of Chios in the Aegean Sea, an arm of the eastern Mediterranean Sea. This was his first long voyage and must have proved profitable, because after spending a year on the island, he was able to become financially independent from his family. This trip is also a great irony in the life of Columbus-the trip to this small island in the Aegean brought him the closest he would ever come to Asia. 13. August 1476, a Genoese commercial expedition of five ships bound for England gave Columbus his first opportunity to leave the Mediterranean Sea and sail into the Atlantic. But it was an unfortunate start for Columbus: According to tradition, the entire fleet was attacked by French privateers off Cape St. Vincent on the southwestern tip of Portugal. Both sides lost ships, Columbus, one of the unfortunate those whose ship was burned, had no escape other than to swim for the Portuguese coast. He made it to 10 km (6 mi) to shore by clinging to wreckage. After regaining his strength in the port of Lagos, Columbus made his way to Lisbon and its large community of Genoese merchants and shipbuilders. He was 25 years old. By 1477 Columbus was settled in Lisbon. Since the beginning of Portuguese voyages of exploration in the mid-14th century, Lisbon had become a haven for explorers, adventurers, entrepreneurs, merchants, and all others who saw their fortunes tied to trade winds and ocean currents. Columbus's brother Bartholomew worked in Lisbon as a mapmaker, and for a time the brothers worked together as draftsmen and book collectors. Later that year, Columbus set sail on a convoy loaded with goods to be sold in northern Atlantic ports. In 1478 or 1479 Columbus met and married Felipa Perestrello e Moniz, the daughter of a respected but relatively poor, noble family. Felipa's father, Bartolomeo Perestrello had already died when Columbus met Felipa, had served as governor of Porto Santo in Madeira, a Portuguese possession off the northwest coast of Africa. Shortly after their wedding, the newlyweds together the rest of the family back to Porto Santo, where Felipa's oldest Brot Christopher Columbus Biography.