Columbus, Christopher

Columbus, Christopher (c.1446–1506), whose name in Italian is Cristoforo Colombo, and in Spanish Cristóbal Colón, was probably born in Genoa, to whose authorities he is said to have first proposed his expedition of discovery. He is supposed to have been influenced toward exploration by his older brother Bartholomew, an expert chart maker, and by his marriage (1477) to the daughter of a Portuguese navigator. After repeated rebuffs at the Portuguese and Spanish courts, he received the aid of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, and set sail (Aug. 3, 1492) with three small ships, the Santa Maria under his own command, the Niña under Vicente Pinzón, and the Pinta under Martin Pinzón. He landed in the Bahamas (Oct. 12) at an island that he named San Salvador, now generally identified with Watling Island. After discovering Cuba and Hispaniola (Haiti), he returned to Spain. For these discoveries he was made “admiral of the ocean” and governor‐general of all new lands. On his second voyage (1493) his discoveries included the Leeward Islands, St. Christopher, and Puerto Rico. On the third expedition (1498), he discovered Trinidad and the mouth of the Orinoco. His poor administration caused his popularity to wane, and greater attention was given to Vespucci and other navigators. In 1502 he left Spain for a fourth time, in the hope of sailing past his discovered islands to Marco Polo's Cathay, for which he had constantly searched. This expedition suffered terrible hardships, and he was forced to abandon his plans and return to Spain, where he was discredited. As the founder of American history, he is the subject of many biographies, notably Irving's Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus (3 vols., 1828) and Samuel Eliot Morison's Admiral of the Ocean Sea (1942). Inevitably he has been the subject of a great deal of creative writing, of which perhaps the best known is the declamatory poem Columbus by Joaquin Miller.