Christopher Columbus, the "Admiral of the Ocean Sea" was born in 1451 and died 20 May 1506. He was an Italian explorer and navigator, from Genoa, who completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean, opening the way for the widespread European exploration and colonization of the Americas. His expeditions, sponsored by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, were the first European contact with the Caribbean, Central America, and South America.
Columbus left Castile in August 1492 with three ships and made landfall in the Americas on 12 October of the same year, a voyage of over 5,500 miles.
