Who is Columbus????  

Christopher Columbus was a navigator and maritime explorer credited as the discover of the Americas.He had noted in his lifetime that he was born in Genoa, Italy.His birth name was Cristoforo Colombo.He eventually became an admiral for the Crown of Castile.The name Christopher Columbus is the anglicization of the Latin Christophorus Columbus.Also well known are his name's rendering in modern Italian as Cristoforo Colombo and in Castillian Spanish as Cristobal Colon.
Columbus' voyages across the Atlantic Ocean began a European effort at exploration and colonization of the Western Hemisphere.While history places great significance on his first voyage in 1498.Likewise, he was not the earliest European explorer to reach the Americas, as there are accounts of European transatlantic contact prior to 1492.Nevertheless, Columbus's voyage came at a critical time of growing national imperialism and economic competition between developing nation states seeking wealth from the establishment of trade routes and colonies.Therefore, the period before 1492 is known as Pre-Columbian.
The anniversary of the 1492 voyage is observed throughout the Americas and in Spain.Columbus has always been a divisive figure contemporary perceptions of him at various royal courts, among the people living in the lands that he claimed for Spain, and even among his own followers and colleagues evidenced ectreme disagreements about his actions and intentions.
Competing historical interpretations of his life and legacy continue this tradition of discord.