![]() ![]() While Columbus was studying in Lisbon, the Kingdom of Spain - under King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella - was completing the Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula. Wikimedia Commons The Catholic Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula ended with the conquest of Grenada in 1492. Taking a break from the sailor's life, he began studying cartography, navigation, mathematics, and astronomy - and began developing the idea for the voyage that would eventually make him famous. However, his life as a young sailor came to a violent end in 1476, when pirates attacked the fleet of merchant ships he was sailing with, sinking the boat he was on just off the Portuguese coast.Ĭlinging to a plank of wood, Columbus was able to swim to shore, where he eventually settled in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon. ![]() One notable voyage to the Greek island of Khios marked the closest Columbus would ever actually get to Asia. Traveling around the Mediterranean, young Columbus led a life that was probably typical for sailors of the time. Historians know few facts about Christopher Columbus' early life beyond him being born in Genoa around 1451 to a wool merchant and his wife, and that he joined the crew of a merchant ship when he was a teenager. Wikimedia Commons A portrait of Christopher Columbus as a young man. ![]()
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