Fact 2: When was Christopher Columbus born? He was born in 1451 and died in 1506

Fact 3: What was his country of origin and where was Christopher Columbus born? He was born in Genoa, Italy but he lived in Portugal and Spain

Fact 4: Christopher Columbus came from a respected family, but they were not rich

Fact 5: In 1467 Christopher Columbus travelled to Iceland when he was sixteen years old

Fact 6: Christopher Columbus spent some of his early life as a pirate, or Privateer, attacking ships belonging to the Moors

Fact 7: His brother, Bartholomew, worked as a cartographer

Fact 8: Christopher Columbus married wealthy Felipa Perestrello Moniz, a daughter from a noble Portuguese family who had been involved with the discovery of the Madeira Islands

Fact 9: He obtained valuable charts of the winds and currents of the Portuguese possessions in the Atlantic from his father-in-law, Bartolomeu Perestrello, who was also an explorer

Fact 10: In 1484 he failed to get the King of Portugal to finance his plan to search for a fast trade route to the Indies

Fact 11: His wife died in 1485

Fact 12: In 1486 he moved to Spain and married his second wife, Dona Beatriz Enriquez, and they also had a son in 1488 called Fernando (1488 - 1539)

Fact 13: He was unable to get the Queen of Spainterested in his plans to expolre new trade routes but in 1491 a priest called Father Perez interceded on behalf of Columbus and pleaded with Queen Isabella to fund Columbus who, if he succeed would be able to convert indigenous people to Christianity

Fact 14: In 1492 King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain finally give Christopher Columbus the money and ships

Fact 15: Both the sons of Christopher Columbus served as pages to Prince Juan, the son of the King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella

Fact 16: In 1492 Christopher Columbus undertook the voyage that would take him to the New World

Fact 17: The name of the ship that Christopher Columbus sailed in was the Santa Maria

Fact 18: The names of the other two ships that undertook the voyage were the Pinta, and the Nina

Fact 19: The Voyage of Christopher Columbus began on September 8, 1492 September

Fact 20: The journey was long and difficult. His crew became extremely disgruntled and were near mutiny when land was sighted on October 12, 1492

Fact 21: Christopher Columbus landed on Watling's Island in the Bahamas, West Indies which he called San Salvador.

Fact 22: Christopher Columbus took possession of the new land for Ferdinand and Isabella, King and Queen of Aragon and Castile

Fact 23: He believed that he has reached the passage to India and China

Fact 24: Christopher Columbus established the first Spanish settlement in the New World - Refer to Spanish in America

Fact 25: He returned to Spain and arrived at Palos in Spain on 15 March, 1493

Fact 26: He undertook three more voyages to the New World and discovered Hispaniola (Jamaica) and went on to become the first European to land in South America

Fact 27: Christopher Columbus died on May 20, 1506 at the Spanish court at Valladolid