Christopher Columbus[a] (/kəˈlʌmbəs/;[4] before 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was

an Italian explorer and colonizer who completed four voyages across the Atlantic
Ocean that opened the New World for conquest and permanent European colonization of
the Americas. Columbus had embarked with intent to find and develop a westward
route to the Far East, but instead discovered a route to the Americas, which were
then unknown to the Old World. Columbus's voyages were the first European
expeditions to the Caribbean, Central America, and South America. His Spanish-based
expeditions and governance of the colonies he founded were sponsored by Queen
Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon, the Catholic Monarchs of the
budding Spanish Empire. Columbus never clearly renounced his belief that he had
reached the Far East.

Columbus's early life is somewhat obscure, but scholars generally agree that he was
born in the Republic of Genoa and spoke a dialect of Ligurian as his first
language. He went to sea at a young age and travelled widely, as far north as the
British Isles (and possibly Iceland) and as far south as what is now Ghana. He
married Portuguese noblewoman Filipa Moniz Perestrelo and was based in Lisbon for
several years, but later took a Castilian mistress; he had one son with each woman.
Though largely self-educated, Columbus was widely read in geography, astronomy, and
history. He formulated a plan to seek a western sea passage to the East Indies,
hoping to profit from the lucrative spice trade. After Columbus lobbied them for
years, Ferdinand and Isabella agreed to sponsor a journey west, in the name of the
Crown of Castile. Columbus left Castile in August 1492 with three ships, and after
a stopover in the Canary Islands made landfall in the Americas on 12 October (later
celebrated as Columbus Day). His landing place was an island in the Bahamas, known
by its native inhabitants as Guanahani; its exact location is uncertain. Columbus
subsequently visited the islands now known as Cuba and Hispaniola, establishing a
colony in what is now Haiti—the first European settlement in the Americas since the
Norse colonies nearly 500 years earlier. He arrived back in Castile in early 1493,
bringing a number of captive natives with him. Word of his discoveries soon spread
throughout Europe.

Columbus made three further voyages to the New World, exploring the Lesser Antilles
in 1493, Trinidad and the northern coast of South America in 1498, and the eastern
coast of Central America in 1502. Many of the names he gave to geographical
features—particularly islands—are still in use. He continued to seek a passage to
the East Indies, and the extent to which he was aware that the Americas were a
wholly separate landmass is uncertain; he gave the name indios ("Indians") to the
indigenous peoples he encountered. Columbus's strained relationship with the
Spanish crown and its appointed colonial administrators in America led to his
arrest and removal from Hispaniola in 1500, and later to protracted litigation over
the benefits that he and his heirs claimed were owed to them by the crown.
Columbus's expeditions inaugurated a period of exploration, conquest, and
colonization that lasted for centuries, helping create the modern Western world.
The transfers between the Old World and New World that followed his first voyage
are known as the Columbian exchange, and the period of human habitation in the
Americas prior to his arrival is referred to as the Pre-Columbian era.