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Christopher Columbus was born in 1451 in the Republic of Genoa (now part of Italy).
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Christopher Columbus moved to many different places during his twenties. He moved to Lisbon, then to Portugal, and finally settled in Spain.
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Christopher Columbus's first Atlantic voyage ended in disaster. He was on a commercial fleet off the coast of Portugal when they were attacked by French privateers. Columbus jumped overboard, nearly losing his life and swam to shore.
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After settling in Lisbon, Portugal Christopher Columbus met Filipa Perestrelo. The couple soon married.
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In 1480 Christopher Columbus and his wife had their first child who they named Diego. Soon after his wife Filipa Perestrelo died.
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In 1486 Christopher Columbus went to the Spanish Monarchy of Queen Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon to request funding for his voyage westwards in an attempt to find a safer and faster route to Eastern Asia. Columbus was previously rejected multiple times and was initially rejected by the Spanish Monarchy, but later was given the funds for his journey. -
Columbus had a second child with Beatriz Enriquez de Arana who they named Fernando. Columbus and Beatriz Enriquez de Arana weren't married when they had Fernando. -
In 1492 Christopher Columbus set sail from the port of Palos de la Frontera on the Santa Maria along with the Pinta and the Niña. -
On October 12th, 1492, after sailing for 36 days, Christopher Columbus and his crew finally hit the shores of what they believed to be Asia (Actually America). They then trade with the Natives and continue down through the Bahamas. During this time, the Santa Maria was wrecked and some of the sailors used its wood to build a small settlement. Columbus took the other two ships sailed home with the rest of the crew. -
Christopher Columbus sailed back to the Bahamas only to find the settlement they had left was destroyed with all the sailors massacred. Against the wishes of the queen Columbus basically enslaved the Native population the rebuild the settlement and search for gold. This didn't work well and only made the Natives hate him. Columbus left his brothers in charge of the settlement. -
Christopher Columbus sailed once again to the Bahamas only to find the settlement was almost at the point of mutiny from the terrible treatment and leadership of his brothers. Before the Bahamas though Columbus for the first time actually went to the mainland, but after the settlement was in shambles, a royal officer when and arrested Columbus. The charges were later dropped though. -
Columbus Convinced the king to let him take one more journey to "Asia" and promised great riches. The King agreed and Columbus set sail one last time in an attempt to find the Indian Ocean he was unsuccessful and a storm wreaked one of his ships. Stranding him and his crew on an island. A rescue party later found them and brought them back to Spain. -
Christopher Columbus died in 1506 at the age of 55, likely died of severe arthritis. He died still thinking he had found a new route to Asia and he never found out that he had actually found North America.
