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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