by David Wilcox

Created on: January 29, 2009   Last Updated: October 12, 2009

Christopher Columbus lived an adventurous and historically important life. Although he was not the first to discover America, he was the first to bring back news of America to the Europeans, and make this news wide spread knowledge. His efforts to colonize America foreshadowed the permanent European colonization of America, which has lead to the building of the greatest nation on earth, the United States of America. Christopher was a God fearing man, and led his expeditions in the name of Christianity. And after he had made his amazing discoveries, he often referred to them as part of God's plan for him, which indeed they were.

The birth date of Christopher Columbus is not exactly known, but it is believed that he was born sometime between, Aug 25th- Oct 31st of 1451, in Genoa Italy. His family consisted of three brothers, his mother, and his father who was a middle-class wool weaver. In his early years, Christopher worked in a cartography workshop in Lisbon, where his desire for discovery of new lands was most probably sparked. At age 14, he attended Prince Henry's Navigation School. Then at 19, he accompanied a naval ship to help conquer Naples. When he was 22 he became the apprentice of the Centurion, Di Negro of Genoa, serving as a business agent. While in his service, he made trips to Chios, a Genoese colony in the Aegean Sea. He also went to Bristol, Galway, Ireland and possibly even Iceland. In 1479 his trading for the Centurion brought him to Lisbon, where he married Filipa Moniz Perestrello, a nobleman's daughter. Together they had two sons, Diego and Fernando.

The situation in Europe at the time was hectic. Wars were raging, while at the same time the kingdoms fighting the battles were running out of funds. Due to this the European countries were scrambling to get rich through trade with Asian nations. Italy and the Arabs had managed to grow rich from their trade with India using a land route, likewise, other counties in Europe were seeking ways to trade with India as well.

In the midst of all these events, Christopher Columbus decided that he wanted to lead a voyage due west across the ocean and straight to Japan, and then around China and swerve into India. He felt it his religious duty to make the expedition and bring Christianity with him. So he began by calculating the distance from the Canary Islands (a place where sailors from Mallorca, Portugal and Genoa often stopped, located southwest of Spain) to Japan. The actual distance was 12,200 miles,

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