Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus, Italian-Spanish navigator who sailed west across the Atlantic Ocean in search of a route to Asia but achieved fame by making landfall, instead, in the Caribbean Sea. Columbus was born in Genoa, Italy. His father was a weaver, and it is believed that Christopher entered this trade as a young man. Information about the beginning of his seafaring career is uncertain, but the independent city-state of Genoa had a busy port, and he …

…quite wealthy. He died on May 20, 1506, at Valladolid. His remains were later interred in Seville, then transferred to Santo Domingo, moved to Havana, Cuba, and finally returned to Seville in 1899. (Some historians think the bones removed from Santo Domingo were not his, so his remains may still be there.) Wherever Columbus rests, modern research has considerably diminished the heroic reputation he had gained by the 19th century, although his maritime skills continue to be celebrated.