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Christopher Columbus was born near Genoa, Italy. He was born between August and October.
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Christopher Columbus asked King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to fund his exploration. They didn't have any money because they were fighting to take back southern Spain from North African Muslims, who have ruled the region for 700 years.
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This time they agreed to fund the exploration because Spain had won the Reconquista against the North African Muslims and had taken southern Spain back. They needed to pay for Columbus's journey.
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Christopher Columbus set sail to "India" west with three ships called the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria. Close to 90 men were boarded to all three ships.
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Christopher Columbus reached "India". He landed on preseent-day Bahamas island. Columbus named it San Salvador. He named the islands the West Indies and called the people on the islands, Indians. More than 600,000 Taino lived iin the Caribbean when Columbus reached the the New World. He traded with them and visited two other major islands, Cuba and Hispaniola, before returning back to Spain.
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The Nina and the Pinta returned back to Spain, but there were 40 men left behind on the islands. The Santa Maria was shipwrecked before the Nina and the Pinta started back to Spain. The two ships carried the riches that Columbus found and got.
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This trip to the New World was slightly different than the first. It was a larger exploration. This time, Columbus left with 17 ships and about 1200-1500 men boarded on the ships. He needed the men to find gold and capture the Taino people as slaves. Columbus sailed around Hispaniola and along the length of southern Cuba. He spotted and named the island of Dominica on November 3, 1493. Many Taino died from the dieseases. He returned to Spain on June 11th 1496.
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Christopher Columbus sailed farther down and explored Trinidad and Venezuela (and he explored the mouth of the Orinoco River). Columbus was the first European to set foot on the Americas since Leif Erikson and the Vikings time. Christopher Columbus returned back to Spain in October 1500.
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On Christopher Columbus's last voyage to the New World, he sailed to Mexico, Honduras and Panama (in Central America) and Santiago (Jamaica). It is said that Columbus was buried in eastern Hispaniola, which is now present-day Dominican Republic.