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Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer. He discovered America in 1492. He made several voyages to America.

Early Life
Columbus was born in Genoa in 1451. Genoa was a busy town by the sea in northern Italy. His father sold wool. Columbus went to sea when he was 10 years old. Life at sea was exciting, but dangerous. He hoped to become a rich man. He made many voyages, and travelled to England, Ireland and Greece. In 1482 he went to West Africa. Columbus learned how to sail wooden ships. He learned about the winds and tides. He also learned Latin and Portuguese, and he read lots of books. In 1479, Columbus went to live in Portugal. In Portugal, he and his brother sold maps. People in Europe wanted to find a new way to reach Asia. They wanted to send ships to India, China and Indonesia. The Portuguese tried sailing south, around Africa. It was a long way. Columbus wanted to sail west. Columbus thought that the Earth was much smaller than it really is. He also thought Asia was much bigger than it really is. So he thought he could reach Asia in a few weeks. He decided to sail west, but he needed money to pay for the ships.

Columbus sets sail

In 1485, Columbus asked the king of Portugal for money, but the king would not help him. Then he went to the leaders of Venice and Genoa, but they would not help him. But in 1492, the king and queen of Spain decided to help Columbus. Columbus told them they would make a lot of money from spices, cloth and new land. Columbus left Spain on 3rd August 1492. He had three ships: the Nia, the Pinta and the Santa Maria. They were wooden ships with sails. There were about 90 men in the ships. They took dry fish, cheese, wine, water, pigs and chickens. The voyage took much longer than Columbus had thought. His men got scared. They had very little food and water. After 5 weeks, a sailor on the Pinta saw an island. On 12th October 1492 Columbus explored the island. Columbus called the island San Salvador. He thought he had found China. But he had really found the Bahamas.

The New World

Columbus sailed to Cuba and Hispaniola. He found some people on these islands. He called them Indians because he thought he had found Indonesia. He became friends with the natives and gave them presents. On 25th December 1492, the Santa Maria hit some rocks. He left 39 of his men on Hispaniola and sailed back to Spain. He arrived in Spain on 15th March 1493. Stories about his discovery spread quickly across Europe. Columbus returned to America 8 months later with 17 ships. Priests, farmers and soldiers were on the ships. But when he returned to Hispaniola, he found out that all the men he left there were dead. Columbus made two more voyages. Other people also made voyages there. One of them, Amerigo Vespucci, said that Columbus had found a new world. Columbus died in 1506. He still believed he had found Asia. People named the new world, America, because of Amerigo Vespucci.!

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