Today is Columbus Day, which is the anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s 1492 landing on the American continent. According to history.com, Columbus was born sometime between August and October 1451 in Genoa, Italy.
Christopher started working at sea quite early on, and apparently made his first considerable voyage to the Aegean island of Chios, in the year 1475. In 1477, he was said to have sailed to Ireland, England and maybe Iceland.
By the time Columbus had reached the age of 31 or 32, he had become a master mariner, in the Portuguese merchant service. And it was at that time, that he among many others believed you could reach land by sailing west.
In 1484, he apparently asked King John II of Portugal, to back his voyage west, but he had reportedly been refused. Columbus finally got the support he wanted, from Queen Isabella of Castile and King Ferdinand of Aragon, in 1492.
You can read the full story here.
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