Italy. The son of Susanna and Domenico Columbus.
Christopher’s father was a weaver, and Christopher used to help his father and comb sheep’s. He had three brothers and one sister. Bartolomeo, Giovanni, Giacomo, and a sister Bianchinetta. Christopher was the oldest. All siblings were being educated in school, but Christopher usually took lots of days off school and worked at the docks. His interest of traveling then started when he saw lots of ships come in from other countries/cities. Lots of sailors told him stories about their adventures that got him interested too.
His first adventure at sea began when he was only 14 years old. He became a sailor, and quickly learnt all about the oceans and seas such as; the vessels, the winds, tides, currents, etc. He has made maps himself. He learnt navigation and became an expert at it. He sailed all around the Mediterranean along the coast of Africa. He could predict oncoming storms very easily. He knew how read charts and calculate the time, distance and speed.
He was getting stronger at studying stars and the patterns of the sun to know the time. August 1476 was the day that
he almost died in. His was shipwrecked. He swam all the way to shore. He did not know the language to speak with other sailors on land to he leant Portuguese and Spanish.
He learnt the story of Marco and Polo and wanted to prove the theory of Polo. People thought that the Earth was flat and if you walk too far you could fall of the edge, so
Christopher helped his brother to make a marine chart. He knew that the northern winds will carry him out and the westerly winds will bring him home. As he continues his great journey, he falls in love with a noble woman called Felipa Perestrello Moniz. Their first baby was born in 1480 named Diego. Christopher and his wife lived on an island of Madeira, where he became wealthy by trading gold by sailing up and down the North
Africa coast.
Altho he had a busy life he had not forgotten his goal of explaining his belief. In 1481, he asked King John if he could lend him ships including some men to help him with his journey across the Atlantic ocean. He was searching
for Cipangu. The king was not really impressed with
Christophers idea, he asked his astronomers if it was a good idea. The astronomers told the king that the Atlantic ocean was not as Christopher described. The king did not give him men and ships. Cristopher had his mind set on getting a sponsor so he went to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella in Spain.
Unfortunately the committee rejected Christophers plan.
King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella were doing a crusade to get rid of all the Muslims out of Spain, but needed lot of money, because the Muslims had blocked the trade route. A monk named Fray Juan Perez was interested in Christophers idea so he invested in it. Perez was the a friend of the queens brother’s so he persuaded the queen to give Christopher a chance after the crusade was over. In 1492, all the crusades were over. In April 1492
King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella announced that
Christopher can have three hip with men to prove his theory. After all the ships were equipped, August 1492,
Christopher left shore to prove his theory. Each ship had around ninety men, carrying a silversmith, an Arabic interpreter, Carpenter, envoys of the Spanish court, one doctor, and many volunteer sailors. The brothers of the
Palos family were captain for two ship.
After a long time the crew started to become restless.