COLUMBUS, CHRISTOPHER (c. 1446 or (in Spanish, CRISTOBAL COLON), was the eldest son of Domenico Colombo and Suzanna Fontanarossa, and was probably born at Genoa, the exact date of his birth being uncertain. According to the Life of Columbus by his son Ferdinand (a statement sup ported by Las Casas), young Christopher was sent to the Univer sity of Pavia, where he studied astronomy, geometry and cosmog raphy. Yet, according to the admiral's own statement, he became a sailor at fourteen. Evidently this statement, however, cannot mean the abandonment of all other employment, for in 147o, 1472 and 1473 we find him engaged in trade at Genoa, following the family business of weaving, and (in 1473) residing at the neighbouring Savona. In he appears to have visited Chios, where he may have resided some time, returning to Genoa perhaps early in 1476. Thence he seems to have again set out on a voyage in the summer of 1476, perhaps bound for England; on Aug. 13, 1476, the four Genoese vessels he accompanied were attacked off Cape St. Vincent by a privateer, one Guillaume de Casenove, surnamed Coullon or Colombo ("Columbus") ; two of the four ships escaped, with Christopher, to Lisbon. In Dec. 1476, the latter resumed their voyage to England, probably carrying with them Columbus, who, after a short stay in England, claims to have made a voyage in the northern seas, and even to have visited Iceland about Feb. 1477. This last pretension is disputed, but it is perhaps not to be rejected, and we may also trace the Genoese about this time at Bristol, at Galway, and probably among the islands west and north of Scotland. Soon after this he returned to Portugal, where (probably in 1478) he married Felipa Moniz de Perestrello, daughter of Bartholomew Perestrello, a captain in the service of Prince Henry the Navigator, and one of the early colonists and first governor of Porto Santo.
About 1479 Columbus visited Porto Santo, here as in Portugal probably employing his time in making maps and charts for a livelihood, while he pored over the logs and papers of his deceased father-in-law, and talked with old seamen of their voyages, and of the mystery of the western seas. He seems step by step to have conceived that design of reaching Asia by sailing west which was to result in the discovery of America. In 1474 he is said to have corresponded with Paolo Toscanelli, the Florentine physician and cosmographer, and to have received from him valuable sugges tions, both by map and letter, for such a Western enterprise. (The whole of this incident has been disputed by some recent critics.) He had perhaps already begun his studies in a number of works, especially the Book of Marco Polo and the Imago Mundi of Pierre d'Ailly, by which his cosmographical and geographical concep tions were largely moulded. His views, as finally developed and presented to the courts of Portugal and Spain, were supported by three principal lines of argument, derived from natural reasons, from the theories of geographers, and from the reports and tradi tions of mariners. He believed the world to be a sphere ; he under estimated its size ; he overestimated the size of the Asiatic con tinent. And the farther that continent extended towards the east, the nearer it came towards Spain. Nor were these theories the only supports of his idea. Martin Vicente, a Portuguese pilot, was said to have found, 400 leagues to the westward of Cape St. Vincent, and after a westerly gale of many days' duration, a piece of strange wood, wrought, but not with iron; Pedro Correa, Colum bus's own brother-in-law, was said to have seen another such waif at Porto Santo, with great canes capable of holding four quarts of wine between joint and joint, and to have heard of two men being washed up at Flores "very broad-faced, and differing in aspect from Christians." West of Europe, now and then, men fancied there hove in sight the mysterious islands of St. Brendan, of Brazil, of Antillia or of the Seven Cities. In his northern journey, too, some vague and formless traditions may have reached the explorer's ear of the voyages of Leif Ericson and Thorfinn Karlsefne, and of the coasts of Markland and Vinland. All were hints and rumours to bid the bold mariner sail towards the setting sun, and this he at length determined to do.
For the promotion of the plan the concurrence of some state or sovereign was necessary. Columbus, on the accession of John II. of Portugal, seems to have entered the service of this country, to have accompanied Diego d'Azambuja to the Gold Coast, and to have taken part in the construction of the fort of St. George at El Mina (1481-82). On his return, he submitted to King John his scheme for reaching Asia by a western route across the ocean. The king was interested in the rival scheme (of an eastern or south-eastern route round Africa to India) initiated by the Genoese in 1291, and revived, for Portugal, by Prince Henry the Navigator ; but he listened to the Genoese, and referred him to a committee of council for geographical affairs. The council's report was adverse; but the king, who was inclined to favour the theory of Columbus, assented to the suggestion of the bishop of Ceuta that the plan should be carried out in secret and without its author's knowledge. A caravel was despatched ; but it returned after a brief absence, the sailors having lost heart, and refused to venture further. Upon discovering this treachery, Col umbus left Lisbon for Spain (1484) , taking with him his son Diego, the only issue of his marriage with Felipa Moniz, who was by this time dead. He departed secretly;—according to some writers, to give the slip to King John; according to others, to escape his creditors.
Columbus next betook himself to the south of Spain, and while meditating an appeal to the king of France, opened his plans to the count (from 1491, duke) of Medina Celi. The latter gave him great encouragement, entertained him for two years, and even determined to furnish him with three or four caravels, to carry out his great design. Finally, however, being deterred by the con sideration that the enterprise was too vast for a subject, he turned his guest from the determination he had come to of making application at the court of France, by writing on his behalf to Queen Isabella; and Columbus repaired to the court at Cordova at her bidding (1486). It was an ill moment for the navigator's fortune. Castile and Leon were in the thick of that struggle which resulted in the final conquest of the Granada Moors; and neither Ferdinand nor Isabella had time as yet to give due consideration to Columbus's proposals. The adventurer was indeed kindly re ceived; he was handed over to the care of Alonso de Quintanilla, whom he speedily converted into an enthusiastic supporter of his theory. He made many other friends, and among them Beatriz Enriquez, the mother of his second son Fernando. But the com mittee, presided over by the queen's confessor, Fray Hernando de Talavera, which had been appointed to consider the new project, reported that it was vain and impracticable.
From Cordova Columbus followed the court to Salamanca, having already been introduced by Quintanilla to the notice of the grand cardinal, Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza, "the third king of Spain" ; the latter had befriended and supported the Genoese, and apparently arranged the first interview between him and Queen Isabella. At Salamanca prolonged discussions took place upon the questions now raised ; the Dominicans of San Esteban entertained Columbus during the conferences (1486-87). In 1487 Columbus, who had been following the court from place to place (billeted in towns as an officer of the sovereigns, and gratified from time to time with sums of money towards his expenses), was present at the siege of Malaga. In 1488 he was invited by the king of Portugal, his "especial friend," to return to that country, and was assured of protection against arrest or proceedings of any kind (March 20) : he had probably made fresh overtures to King John shortly before ; and in the autumn of /488 we find him in Lisbon, conferring with his brother Bartholomew and laying plans for the future. We have no record of the final negotiations of Columbus with the Portuguese Government, but they clearly did not issue in anything definite, for Christopher now returned to Spain (though not till he had witnessed the return of Bartholo mew Diaz from the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope and his reception by King John), while Bartholomew proceeded to Eng land with a mission to interest King Henry VII. in the Columbian schemes. If the London enterprise was unsuccessful (as indeed it proved), it was settled that Bartholomew should carry the same invitation to the French court. He did so; and here he remained till summoned to spain in 1493. Meantime Christopher, unable throughout 1490 to get a hearing at the Spanish court, was in 1491 again referred to a junta, presided over by Cardinal Mendoza ; but this junta, to Columbus' dismay, once more rejected his proposals; the Spanish sovereigns merely promised him that when the Gra nada war was over, they would reconsider what he had laid before them.
Columbus was now in despair. He at once betook himself to Huelva, a little maritime town in Andalusia, north-west of Cadiz, with the intention of taking ship for France. He halted, however, at the monastery of La Rabida, near Huelva, and still nearer Palos, where he seems to have made lasting friendships on his first arrival in Spain in Jan. 1485, where he especially enlisted the support of Juan Perez, the guardian who invited him to take up his quarters in the monastery, and introduced him to Garcia Fernan dez, a physician and student of geography. Juan Perez had been the queen's confessor; he now wrote to her in urgent terms, and was summoned to her presence; and money was sent to Columbus to bring him once more to court. He reached Granada in time to witness the surrender of the city (Jan. 2, 1492), and negotiations were resumed. Columbus believed in his mission, and stood out for high terms; he asked for the rank of admiral at once ("Ad miral of the Ocean" in all those islands, seas, and continents that he might discover), the vice-royalty of all he should discover, and a tenth of the precious metals discovered within his admiralty. These conditions were rejected, and the negotiations were again interrupted. An interview with Mendoza appears to have fol lowed; but nothing came of it, and before the close of Jan. 1492, Columbus actually set out for France. At length, however, on the entreaty of the queen's confidante, the Marquesa de Moya, of Luis de Santangel, receiver of the ecclesiastical revenues of the crown of Aragon, and of other courtiers, Isabella was induced to determine on the expedition. A messenger was sent after Colum bus, and overtook him near a bridge called "Pinos," 6 m. from Granada, He returned to the camp at Santa Fe, and on April 17, 1492, the agreement between him and their Catholic majesties was signed and sealed.
As his aims included not only the discovery of Cipangu or Japan, but also the opening up of intercourse with the grand khan of Cathay, he received a royal letter of introduction to the latter. The town of Palos was ordered to find him two ships, and these were soon placed at his disposal. But no crews could be got to gether, in spite of the indemnity offered to criminals and "broken men" who would serve on the expedition; and had not Juan Perez succeeded in interesting in the cause the Palos "magnates" Martin Alonso Pinzon and Vicente Yanez Pinzon, Columbus' departure had been long delayed. At last, however, men, ships and stores were ready. The expedition consisted of the "Santa Maria," a decked ship of ioo tons with a crew of 52 men, commanded by the admiral in person; and of two caravels; the "Pinta" of so tons, with 18 men, under Martin Pinzon; and the "Nina," of 4o tons, with 18 men, under his brother Vicente Yanez, afterwards (1499) the first to cross the line in the American Atlantic.