A named leader on a voyage during the age of exploration

Christopher Columbus
While the Portuguese sailed around Africa to reach India and the
Spice Islands, the Spanish sailed westwards across the Atlantic
Ocean. This inspiration came from Christopher Columbus.
Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa in Italy.
On his voyages he heard stories that lead him to believe
that there was land to the west. He studied the writings of Ptolemy,
a Greek geographer, and Marco Polo. He believed that this land was
Asia or islands off Asia. He believed that the world was round, and
he thought that if he sailed west, he would reach Cathay (China) or
Cipango (Japan).
Columbus tried to persuade the kings of Portugal and England
to support him in a voyage of discovery. But he failed. Instead he
won the support of King Ferdinand and queen Isabella of Spain.
On 3 August 1492 Columbus set sail with three caravels, the
Santa Maria, the Nina and the Pinta, from the port of Palos in Spain
half an hour before sunrise. The Santa Maria was the flagship. The
ships carried about ninety sailors, including a surgeon, cooks and
servants.
Columbus first stopped at the Canary Islands for repairs
and fresh supplies of water and food. Then, in September, he
headed out into the unknown waters of the Atlantic Ocean. He
sailed along a latitude of 28 degrees north of the equator because
Marco Polo said this was the latitude of Cipango. Columbus needed
to calm his crew, who feared that if they travelled too far they would
not be able to find their way back. So he kept two logbooks – one
recorded the true distance he had travelled, while the other
recorded a shorter version of the distance covered.
On the morning of 12 October 1492, the Pinta fired a cannon
shot – this was the pre-arranged signal that land was in sight.
Columbus and his crew landed on San Salvador in the Bahamas
Islands. He later explored Cuba and Hispaniola.
Columbus left around forty men behind to man the fort he built in
Hispaniola, La Navidad, and he set sail for Spain in January 1493.
After a stormy voyage, he returned to Palos and later to the court of
Ferdinand and Isabella in Barcelona. He and his sailors brought back
gold, pineapples, parrots and six of the men whom Columbus now
called Indians.
Columbus made three more voyages to the Indies, as he called
them. On his second voyage, he found that the men he had left in
the fort in Hispaniola had all been killed in clashed with the
islanders. He explored Jamaica, Puerto Rico and the coast of South
America, but he still thought that he had found Asia. The new
continent that he found is now named after another Italian explorer,
Amerigo Vespucci, who stated that this was not Asia.
The discoveries of Columbus led to conflict with the
Portuguese. To prevent a war, the pope persuaded the Spanish and
Portuguese monarchs to sign the treaty of Tordesillas in 1494. This
drew a line on the globe from north to south.