Christopher Columbus (October 30 or 31, 1451 - May 20, 1506) Italian explorer, colonizer, and navigator credited with the discovery of America. Under the support of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain (King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella), he completed four voya
Christopher Columbus (October 30 or 31, 1451 - May 20, 1506) Italian explorer, colonizer, and navigator credited with the discovery of America. Under the support of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain (King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella), he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to European awareness of the American continents. During his first voyage in 1492, instead of reaching Japan as he had intended, Columbus landed in the Bahamas archipelago, which he named San Salvador. Over the course of three more voyages, Columbus visited the Greater and Lesser Antilles, the Caribbean coast of Colombia and Venezuela claiming them for the Spanish Empire. Those voyages, and his efforts to establish permanent settlements in the island of Hispaniola, started Spanish colonization, which foreshadowed the general European colonization of the "New World". Though Columbus was not the first European explorer to reach the Americas (having been preceded by the Norse expedition led by Leif Ericson in the 11th century), his voyages led to the first lasting European contact with the Americas, inaugurating a period of European exploration, conquest, and colonization that lasted for several centuries. During a violent storm on his first return voyage, Columbus, then approximately 41, suffered an attack of what was believed at the time to be gout. In subsequent years, he was plagued with what was thought to be influenza and other fevers, bleeding from the eyes, and prolonged attacks of gout. The suspected attacks increased in duration and severity, sometimes leaving Columbus bedridden for months at a time, and culminated in his death fourteen years later at the age of 54.
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