Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) was an outstanding navigator and organizer of expeditions. He achieved fame by sailing west across the Atlantic Ocean in search of a sea route to Asia. But he did not accomplish this goal. Instead, he encountered islands in the Caribbean Sea. At that time, the people of Europe and the Americas did not know of each other's existence. During his four voyages westward--between 1492 and 1504--Columbus explored what are now the West Indies and the coasts of Central and South America.
Christopher Columbus had a strong will and stuck with his beliefs. His single-minded search for a westward route to Asia changed Europeans' commonly accepted views of the world and led to the establishment of contact between Europe and the Americas.
Recent research into the life and times of Christopher Columbus has somewhat diminished his heroic image as an isolated visionary by placing him in the context of a broad wave of exploration. Historians continue to praise his persistence, courage, and maritime ability. Critics point to his cruelty to the Indians, his poor administration of Hispaniola, and his role in beginning the heedless exploitation of the natural resources of the Americas. Columbus' explorations ended centuries of mutual ignorance about what lay on either side of the Atlantic Ocean. To him belong both the glory of the encounter and a share of the blame for what followed.
Excerpt adapted from the "Christopher Columbus" article, The World Book Encyclopedia © 1999