Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) was an Italian trader, explorer, and navigator. He was born in Genoa, Italy, in the year 1451. "Christopher Columbus" is the English version of Columbus's name. His real name in Italian was Cristoforo Colombo. He was the son of a weaver named Domenico Colombo and a seamstress named Susanna Fontanarossa.

In 1492 Columbus landed on an island of the Bahamas, the first European to do so. His initial goal was to find a quicker route to Asia from Europe. He is known as the person who discovered the New World because his voyage started the era of European colonialism in the Americas. This was an important moment in European history. While Leif Erikson was the first European to land on the soils of America it was not well documented and did not lead to the later contact between Europe and the New World. The effects was the bringing over of livestock, disease, crops and slaves.

When the Spanish learned that Columbus had found a New World, many other people, called conquistadors, went there too. This led to the Spanish colonization of the Americas.

Columbus died on 20 May 1506, in Valladolid, Spain.