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1451
Early life.
Christopher Columbus was the son of a wool merchant that was believed to have been born in Genoa, Italy in 1451. When he was still a teenager he got a job on a merchant ship. He kept sailing until 1476 when pirates attacked his ship as it sailed north along the Portuguese coast. -
1492
Christopher Columbus ships
In 1492 King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain finally give Christopher Columbus the money and ships for his expedition. The names of the 1497 Christopher Columbus Ships were the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria. -
1493
Later Voyages
About six months after Christopher Colombus's first voyage, on September 1493, Columbus returned to the Americas. He found the Hispaniola settlement destroyed and left his brothers Bartolomeo and Diego Columbus behind to rebuild, along with part of his ships’ crew and hundreds of enslaved indigenous people. -
1500
The First voyage
At the end of the 1400's century, it was nearly impossible to reach Asia from Europe by land. The route was long and arduous, and encounters with hostile armies were difficult to avoid. Portuguese explorers solved this problem by taking to the sea: They sailed south along the West African coast and around the Cape of Good Hope.
