Christopher
Columbus
Columbus was born in 1451 in Genoa,
Italy. Columbus wanted to test his theory that you could
get to the Far East by sailing west, instead of going the
usual route around Africa to get to the Far East. Finally
in 1492, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain
agreed to give him money and three ships (the Nina,
Pinta, and Santa Maria) for his journey. Although he did
not find the Far East, he did find the island of
Hispaniola, which he named San Salvador. Of course since
he and others thought they were off the coast of Asia in
the Indian Ocean, they called the islands "the Indies."
The Santa Maria actually was wrecked off of San Salvador
and Columbus had to return to Spain without many of his
men (since they all couldn't fit on the other two ships).
Columbus returned to San Salvador the following year, but
found out that the men he had left there had all been
killed. He was appointed governor of the island, but
ruled it poorly and eventually the Spanish king and queen
had him sent back to Spain in chains.
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