Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer and navigator who is widely credited with leading the first European expedition to the Americas in 1492. He was born in Genoa, Italy around 1451 and died in Valladolid, Spain in 1506. Columbus made four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean, sponsored by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, and established the first European settlements in the Caribbean. He is often credited with the discovery of the Americas, although indigenous peoples had inhabited the continent for thousands of years before his arrival.