Christopher Columbus
"Following the light of the sun, we left the Old World."
About The Explorer
Christopher Columbus was an explorer and navigator born in 1451 in the Republic of Genoa, Italy. He's credited for discovering the New World of the Americas while sponsored by King Ferdinand of Spain in 1492.
Oddly enough, his first naval voyage nearly cost him his life in 1476.
Columbus first went to sea as a teenager, participating in several trading voyages in the Mediterranean and Aegean seas. One such voyage, to the island of Khios, in modern day Greece, brought him the closest he would come to Asia.
Profile
Artist's depiction of Columbus.
The Voyage
Columbus on the Santa Maria with the crew.
The Sponsor
King Ferdinand II.