Person:Christopher Columbus (1)

Cristoforo Colombo
b.Abt 1451 Genoa, Italy
d.20 May 1506 Valladolid, Spain
m. Abt 1445
  1. Giovanni ColomboAbt 1447 - Bef 1477
  2. Cristoforo ColomboAbt 1451 - 1506
  3. Giovanni Pelegrino ColumboEst 1455 - Est 1473
  4. Bartholomew ColumbusAbt 1461 - 1515
  5. Bianchinetta ColomboAbt 1464 - Abt 1516
  6. Giacomo ColomboAbt 1466 - 1515
  • HCristoforo ColomboAbt 1451 - 1506
  • WFelipa MoñizEst 1455 - Bet 1478 & 1484
m. Abt 1470
  1. Diego Colon1479/80 - 1526
m.
  1. Fernando Colon1488 - 1539
Facts and Events
Name[2] Cristoforo Colombo
Alt Name Christopher Columbus
Alt Name[2] Cristóbal Colón
Gender Male
Alt Birth[2] Abt 1446 Genoa, Italy
Birth[1] Abt 1451 Genoa, Italy
Marriage Abt 1470 Lisbon, Portugalto Felipa Moñiz
Marriage Cohabitation?
to Beatriz Enríquez de Arana
Death[1][2] 20 May 1506 Valladolid, Spain
Burial[2] Santo Domingo Cathedral, Santo Domingo, Hispaniola(and is probably still there, the lengthy international controversy notwithstanding)
Reference Number? Q7322?


the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Christopher Columbus (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was an Italian explorer and navigator who completed four Spanish-based voyages across the Atlantic Ocean sponsored by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, opening the way for the widespread European exploration and colonization of the Americas. His expeditions were the first known European contact with the Caribbean, Central America, and South America.

The name Christopher Columbus is the anglicisation of the Latin . Scholars generally agree that Columbus 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 as far south as what is now Ghana. He married Portuguese noblewoman Filipa Moniz Perestrelo, who bore his son Diego, and was based in Lisbon for several years. He later took a Castilian mistress, Beatriz Enríquez de Arana, who bore his son, Fernando (also given as Hernando).

Largely self-educated, Columbus was widely read in geography, astronomy, and history. He developed a plan to seek a western sea passage to the East Indies, hoping to profit from the lucrative spice trade. After the Granada War, and following Columbus's persistent lobbying in multiple kingdoms, the Catholic Monarchs Queen Isabella I and King Ferdinand II agreed to sponsor a journey west. Columbus left Castile in August 1492 with three ships and made landfall in the Americas on 12 October, ending the period of human habitation in the Americas now referred to as the pre-Columbian era. His landing place was an island in the Bahamas, known by its native inhabitants as Guanahani. He subsequently visited the islands now known as Cuba and Hispaniola, establishing a colony in what is now Haiti. Columbus returned to Castile in early 1493, bringing a number of captured natives with him. Word of his voyage soon spread throughout Europe.

Columbus made three further voyages to the Americas, 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 also gave the name indios ("Indians") to the indigenous peoples he encountered. The extent to which he was aware that the Americas were a wholly separate landmass is uncertain; he never clearly renounced his belief that he had reached the Far East. As a colonial governor, Columbus was accused by his contemporaries of significant brutality and was soon removed from the post. Columbus's strained relationship with the Crown of Castile and its appointed colonial administrators in America led to his arrest and removal from Hispaniola in 1500, and later to protracted litigation over the perquisites 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. Columbus was widely celebrated in the centuries after his death, but public perception has fractured in the 21st century as scholars have given greater attention to the harms committed under his governance, particularly the beginning of the depopulation of Hispaniola's indigenous Taínos caused by mistreatment and Old World diseases, as well as by that people's enslavement. Proponents of the Black Legend theory of historiography claim that Columbus has been unfairly maligned as part of a wider anti-Catholic sentiment. Many places in the Western Hemisphere bear his name, including the country of Colombia, the District of Columbia, and British Columbia.

This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Christopher Columbus. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

NOTE: He was born "Cristoforo Colombo" in Genoa. In Spain, he was known as Cristóbal Colón. Most scholars outside of Iberia use the neutral Latin "Christopher Columbus," which is also his standard name in the U.S. and the U.K.

References
  1. 1.0 1.1 Christopher Columbus, in Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Schoenrich, Otto. The Legacy of Christopher Columbus: Three Centuries of Disputes, Lawsuits, Struggles for Rewards and Inheritances, Brands by the Admiral of Aragón and Others, Spoliations by Sir Frances Drake and Others, Claims of Ilegitimates and Black Sheep, Resulting from the Discovery of America. (Glendale, California: A.H. Clark Co., 1949-50).