Columbus, Christopher (c. 1451–1506)

A navigator and cartographer, Christopher Columbus is presumed to have been born in Genoa, Italy, in 1451, son of Giovanni Colombo and Susana Fontanarossa. During his adolescence, he worked in his father's weaving shop. In the busy port of Genoa, Columbus learned the rudiments of navigation and cartography. During his youth, he traveled as a sailor to various countries such as Iceland, Flanders, and Portugal, where he was shipwrecked in 1476. In Lisbon he married Felipa Moniz de Perestrello, a lady of the Portuguese court, whose connections permitted him not only to further his readings about navigation but also to present King Joáo II with his project to travel to India by sailing westward. His project would later be approved, but more important, he received the title of Captain, which would grant him greater prestige and credibility when presenting his project to the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella, in 1486. Undoubtedly a very important figure of modern history, Columbus helped to transform the knowledge and the history of his time.

Columbus set sail from the port of Palos in Frontera, Huelva, Spain, on August 3, 1492, and arrived on the island of Guanani on October 12 of that same year. In all, Columbus embarked on four voyages that circumscribed the Caribbean Sea and the Panamanian Isthmus. Although the Capitulations of Santa Fe stipulated that Columbus would receive the titles of Admiral of the Seas, Viceroy, and Governor, his failed experience in Hispaniola demonstrated that, although an excellent navigator, he was a terrible military officer, a disastrous politician, and a failure as an entrepreneur. Of his Onboard Diary, only the abstract compiled by Fray Bartolomé de las Casas has survived; in this fragment Columbus details the exploits of his four expeditions and makes an inventory of the newly discovered lands in rhetorical flourishes designed to convince the Catholic monarchs of the viability of his enterprise.

Myths and legends have sprung up around Christopher Columbus's name. Elevated to the [Page 205]stature of a Romantic genius by leaders who have wanted to see the mythical origins of their nations in his heroic deeds, Columbus has been represented in multiple novels and movies, exalted to the point of paroxysm in poetry, and lauded in extensive biographies and studies. That which is known for sure is that Columbus's arrival on the American continent heralded the genocide of millions of Indigenous people and the annihilation of important civilizations such as the Aztec and the Incan, as well as opened one of the most shameful chapters of human history: African slavery. Christopher Columbus died in Valladolid, Spain, in 1506. There is a controversy regarding his remains. While some scholars assure that his remains rest in the Cathedral of Seville, others claim that his remains are buried in the Columbus Lighthouse, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.