Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean under the sponsorship of the Spanish Catholic Monarchs, initiating widespread European exploration and colonization of the Americas. He is best known for his 1492 expedition, during which he landed in the Caribbean, mistakenly believing he had reached Asia.

Early Life and Background

Christopher Columbus, born Cristoforo Colombo around 1451 in Genoa (now part of Italy), came from a family of wool weavers and began his maritime career at a young age. He studied navigation, mapmaking, and geography, eventually moving to Lisbon, Portugal, where he gained further experience in seafaring and married a Portuguese noblewoman, Filipa Moniz Perestrelo, with whom he had a son, Diego. Later, he established a base in Spain, where he secured royal patronage for his transatlantic ambitions.

Voyages and Discoveries

In 1492, Columbus set sail with three ships—the Santa Maria , Pinta , and Niña —aiming to find a westward route to Asia to access valuable spices and gold. Instead, he landed on an island in the Bahamas, which he named San Salvador, claiming it for Spain. He subsequently explored parts of present-day Cuba and Hispaniola, where he established a colony in what is now Haiti. Over the next decade, he completed three additional voyages, exploring the Caribbean, Central America, and northern South America, though he maintained until his death that he had reached the East Indies.

Legacy and Impact

Columbus’s expeditions marked the beginning of sustained European contact with the Americas, leading to the Columbian Exchange—a widespread transfer of plants, animals, culture, technology, and diseases between the Old and New Worlds. However, his arrival also initiated centuries of colonization, exploitation, and devastating consequences for Indigenous populations, including forced labor, violence, and the spread of diseases that decimated native communities. While often credited as the “discoverer” of America, this view is historically inaccurate, as the continents were already inhabited by diverse Indigenous civilizations long before his arrival.

Columbus died on May 20, 1506, in Valladolid, Spain, without realizing the full geographical significance of his journeys. His legacy remains complex and controversial, symbolizing both the dawn of global exploration and the onset of colonial oppression.