ddsfdsfdfsasasddfssdfasdasdsdsdsfsdfsfdChristopher 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 natshdsdhsdive inhabitants as Guanlaimed 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
Amersdfsdfsdfsdficas prior to his arrival is referred to as the Pre-Columbian era.
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