(1451-1506), the great spanish explorer of italian origin, who led four transatlantic expeditions to america. early years in genoa and portugal. columbus was born in the italian republic of genoa, in the port city or in its vicinity. despite the presence of a significant number of documents, many of the facts of the biography of columbus, it is difficult to determine precisely. columbus used the portuguese version of his name, cristoval colon, living in portugal, and spanish is cristobal colon, after moving to spain in 1485. grandfather navigator, giovanni colombo, moved to genoa from mountain village, located to the east of this city. father columba, domenico, born about 1418, he married susanna fontanarossa and to support his family, worked as a weaver, a wool-dealer, an innkeeper, and even acted as a political figure. if christopher had three younger brothers (bartolomeo, giovanni pellegrino and giacomo) and younger sister (beninatto). bartolomeo and giacomo participated in the expeditions of columbus after 1492 in the new world and was called in spanish style bartolomé and diego. judging from the letters, columbus became a sailor at an unusually early age and sailed across the mediterranean sea on merchant ships to the east up to the island of chios, which then belonged to genoa. perhaps he was a merchant and at least one time commanded the ship. in the mid-1470-ies columbus donkey in portugal and joined a small colony of italian merchants in lisbon. under the portuguese flag, commercial or navy, he sailed north to england and ireland, and possibly in iceland. he also visited madeira and the canary islands and went along the west coast of africa before the portuguese trade point san jorge da mina (sovr. ghana). in portugal, columbus married, becoming a member of a mixed italian-portuguese family, italian ancestors who had settled in this country in the late 14th century and reached a high position there. the youngest member of this family, bartolomeu perestrelo, was taken to the royal palace as a friend of the princes juan and henry (henry the navigator). bartolomeu he was widowed and had inherited the rank of captain in island of porto santo near madeira. this gave him a good income, but the wealth he amassed. second wife bartolomeu, isabel moniz, belonged to the noble family of landowners, their estates were located in the south of portugal and madeira. they had a daughter felipa moniz (full name felipa perestrello e moniz), on which married columbus in 1478 or 1479. isabel moniz gave the son-in-law cards and documents kept from her husband, who died in 1457. perhaps one of them columbus and gathered extensive information on the geography.
