Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus (bt. August and October 1451 – May 20, 1506) was a navigator, colonizer, and explorer whose voyages across the Atlantic Ocean led to general Europe awareness of the Western Hemisphere and of the American continents within. Though not the first to reach the Americas from Afro-Eurasiapreceded some five-hundred years by Leif Ericson, and perhaps othersColumbus initiated widespread contact between Europeans and indigenous Americans. With his several hapless attempts at establishing a settlement on the island of Hispaniola, he personally initiated the process of Spanish colonization which foreshadowed general European colonization of the "New World". The term Pre-Columbian is sometimes used to refer to the people and cultures of the Americas before the arrival of Columbus and his European successors. His voyage came at a critical time of growing national imperialism and economic competition between developing nation states seeking wealth from the establishment of... full article at wikipedia