Christopher Columbus, the son of a wool merchant, was born in Genoa around 1451. (History.com, 2013) When he was still a teenager, he found work on a merchant ship. Until 1470 Christopher Columbus remained at sea, when French merchant ships owned and commanded by private individuals using government permission for use in warfare attacked his vessel as it sailed north along the Portuguese coast. The boat sank, but young Columbus, floating on a piece of wood from the sunken ship, headed to Lisbon, where he studied four subjects: mathematics, astronomy, cartography and navigation. During two centuries, the 15th and 16th centuries, several leaders of European nations sponsored foreign expeditions in the hope that explorers would find great riches and vast tracts of unknown lands. In the so-called “Age of Discovery” the Portuguese were the first to participate. Around 1420, small Portuguese ships known as caravels began sailing along the African coast, carrying spices, gold, slaves, and other goods from Asia and Africa to Europe. In the 15th century there was almost no land route to Europe. The only path was long and arduous, and one might encounter hostile armies that were very difficult to avoid. The Portuguese explorers solved their land problems and the problems of the hostile army by taking to the sea and ended up sailing south along the coast of West Africa including around the Cape of Good Hope. A different idea that Columbus had was to sail west across the Atlantic instead of around the African continent which was huge. Young Christopher Columbus' logic was good and intelligent... middle of paper... he had to abandon two of his four ships when he was attacked by hostile natives. Empty-handed, the elderly explorer returned to Spain, where he died in 1506. Columbus gained the title Admiral of the Ocean Sea and further royal patronage from a widely published account of his 1492 voyage that made him famous. Columbus led three more expeditions to the Caribbean and never abandoned the belief that he had reached Asia, but curiosity and the failure of his own leadership brought much disappointment and little political importance in his final years. Works Cited http://www.history.com /topics/christopher-columbushttp://www.enchantedlearning.com/explorers/page/c/columbus.shtmlhttp://geography.about.com/od/christophercolumbus/a/ columbus.htmhttp://www.britannica.com /EBchecked/topic/127070/Christopher Columbus