Christopher Columbus - Age of Discovery

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Question 1 Who the Explorer was (his background as a seafarer) and when and where he was born? Christopher Columbus was a famous Italian Seafarer, Navigator and Sailor who was born on Tuesday the 31st of October, 1451 in the Republic of Genoa, Italy to Domenico Colombo and Susanna Fontanarossa. He is famous for journeying across the Atlantic to the Americas. His voyages led to the Spanish colonization/rule over South American powers. All together over the years 1492-1504 he made a total of four voyages across the Atlantic to the Caribbean. Oddly enough, even though he was an Italian he was funded by and worked for the Spanish Sovereigns. Columbus first went to sea as a teenager. He participated in many trading expeditions across the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas. He travelled extensively across the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas and became an expert in his craft by learning of others. He also became a brilliant navigator by travelling on the water all the time. He started himself off as a Cabin Boy and then progressed to becoming a sailor. On his travels as a teenager he learnt much about sailing, astronomy and geography. He started captaining ships in his early twenties when he settled in Lisbon, Portugal alongside his brother Bartholomew, whom he helped with his cartography business. During this time he captained Italian merchant ships. Question 2 Why he wanted to make the Voyages and why he worked for whom he did? Christopher Columbus, like everyone else of his time wanted wealth and fame. He believed that this was achievable by creating a direct water route to the East. He believed that if he created a direct water route to the east that would establish trade routes to the rich countries of India, China, Japan and the Spice Islands (modern day Indonesia). In the past Europeans as well as people from the East had to travel for ages to
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