Christopher Columbus

:For information about the film director, see the article on Chris Columbus.

Early life

There are various versions of Columbus's origins and life before 1476. (See .) The account that has traditionally been supported by most historians is as follows:

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Columbus was born between August 26 and October 31 in the year 1451, in the Italian port city of Genoa. His father was Domenico Colombo, a woollens merchant, and his mother was Susanna Fontanarossa, the daughter of a woollens merchant. Christopher had three younger brothers, Bartolomeo, Giovanni Pellegrino, and Giacomo, and a sister, Bianchinetta.

Related Topics:
August 26 - October 31 - 1451 - Genoa - Bartolomeo

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In 1470, the family moved to Savona, where Christopher worked for his father in wool processing. During this period he studied cartography with his brother Bartolomeo. Christopher received almost no formal education; a voracious reader, he was largely self-taught.

Related Topics:
1470 - Savona - Cartography

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In 1474, Columbus joined a ship of the Spinola Financiers, who were Genoese patrons of his father. He spent a year on a ship bound towards Khios (an island in the Aegean Sea) and, after a brief visit home, spent a year in Khios. It is believed that this is where he recruited some of his sailors.

Related Topics:
1474 - Spinola Financiers - Khios - Aegean Sea

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A 1476, commercial expedition gave Columbus his first opportunity to sail into the Atlantic Ocean. The fleet came under attack by French privateers off the Cape of St. Vincent, Portugal. Columbus's ship was burned and he swam six miles to shore.

Related Topics:
1476 - French privateers - Cape of St. Vincent

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By 1477, Columbus was living in Lisbon. Portugal had become a center for maritime activity with ships sailing for England, Ireland, Iceland, Madeira, the Azores, and Africa. Columbus's brother Bartolomeo worked as a mapmaker in Lisbon. At times, the brothers worked together as draftsmen and book collectors.

Related Topics:
1477 - Lisbon - Portugal - England - Ireland - Iceland - Madeira - The Azores - Africa - Draftsmen

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He became a merchant sailor with the Portuguese fleet, and sailed to Iceland via Ireland in 1477. He sailed to Madeira in 1478 to purchase sugar, and along the coasts of West Africa between 1482 and 1485, reaching the Portuguese trade post of Elmina Castle in the Gulf of Guinea coast.

Related Topics:
Iceland - Ireland - 1477 - Madeira - 1478 - 1482 - 1485 - Elmina Castle - Gulf of Guinea

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Columbus married Felipa Perestrello Moniz, a daughter from a noble Portuguese family with some Italian ancestry, in 1479. Felipa's father, Bartolomeu Perestrelo, had partaken in finding the Madeira Islands and owned one of them (Porto Santo Island), but died when Felipa was a baby, leaving his second wife a wealthy widow. As part of his dowry, the mariner received all of Perestello's charts of the winds and currents of the Portuguese possessions of the Atlantic. Columbus and Felipa had a son, Diego Colón in 1480. Felipa died in January of 1485. Columbus later found a lifelong partner in Spain, an orphan named Beatriz Enriquez. She was living with a cousin in the weaving industry of Córdoba. They never married, but Columbus left Beatriz a rich woman and directed Diego to treat her as his own mother. The two had a son, Ferdinand in 1488. Both boys served as pages to Prince Juan, son of Ferdinand and Isabella, and each later contributed, with fabulous success, to the rehabilitation of their father's reputation.

Related Topics:
Felipa Perestrello Moniz - 1479 - Bartolomeu Perestrelo - Madeira Islands - Porto Santo Island - Portuguese possessions - Diego Colón - 1480 - 1485 - Beatriz Enriquez - Córdoba - 1488 - Prince Juan - Ferdinand

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