Genoa.

Christopher Columbus spent his childhood in the northern Italian coastal city of Genoa, a commercial power rich in maritime tradition. Columbus's father, Domenico, however, was no sailor. Instead he made a comfortable but by no means wealthy living as a wool weaver. Like his father the young Christopher learned to weave wool, but like many Genoese youth at the time, Columbus dreamed of pursuing glory at sea. Abandoning his father's trade, Columbus in the 1470s ventured out on several Genoese commercial and military expeditions across the Mediterranean Sea. Through the course of his many voyages, Columbus became familiar with the waters of the Mediterranean as well as the practice of navigation. Still in his twenties, Columbus also began to venture out of the Mediterranean on expeditions into the Atlantic Ocean.

Portugal Interlude.

On a 1476 voyage...