1451-1506
Explorer

Crossing the Atlantic. Christopher Columbus, a Genoese merchant mariner sailing for the Spanish government, departed from Palos in Southern Spain on 3 August 1492. He sailed south along the coast of Africa to the Canary Islands and then turned west until he reached an uncharted island (present-day San Salvador). Columbus believed that he was somewhere to the east of Cathay (China) and the west of Japan. He mistakenly believed that he was close to his originally projected destination of India, and thus he called these islands the Indies.

Enterprise of the Indies. He had planned his Enterprise of the Indies for several years and had made pleas to the kings of Portugal and Spain. Both turned him down, but Isabella, the queen of Spain, had sufficient confidence in Columbus to underwrite a three-ship fleet: two caravels of seventy feet each, the Nina and Pinta, and a...