Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus (Genoa?, 1451 – May 20, 1506, Valladolid, Spain) was a navigator and colonialist who is one of several historical figures credited as the first European to discover the Americas. Though likely not the first to reach the Americas from Europe, it was Columbus' voyages that lead to general European awareness of the hemisphere and the successful establishment of European cultures in the New World. It is generally believed that he was born in Genoa, although other theories and possibilities exist. The name Christopher Columbus is the Anglicization of the Latin Christophorus Columbus. Also well known are his name's rendering in modern Italian as Cristoforo Colombo and in Castilian Spanish as Cristóbal Colón.

Columbus' voyages across the Atlantic Ocean began a European effort at exploration and colonization of the Western Hemisphere. While history places great significance on his first voyage of 1492, he did not actually reach the mainland until his third voyage in 1498. Likewise, he was not the earliest European explorer to reach the Americas, as there are accounts of European transatlantic contact prior to 1492. Nevertheless, Columbus's voyage came at a critical time of growing national imperialism and economic competition between developing nation states seeking wealth from the establishment of trade routes and colonies. Therefore, the period before 1492 is known as Pre-Columbian.

The anniversary of the 1492 voyage (vd. Columbus Day) is observed throughout the Americas and in Spain. Columbus had noted that the Indian people were friendly. Controversy came later, since first person accounts depict the genocide of the indigenous people by the Spanish conquistadors.