columbus, christopher italian cristoforo colombo, spanish cristbal coln 1451-1506, italian-spanish navigator who sailed west across the atlantic ocean in search of a route to asia but achieved fame by making landfall, instead, in the caribbean sea. columbus was born in genoa, italy. his father was a weaver, and it is believed that christopher entered this trade as a young man. information about the beginning of his seafaring career is uncertain, but the independent city-state of genoa had a busy port, and he may have sailed as a commercial agent in his youth. in the mid-1470s he made his first trading voyage to the island of khos or chios, in the aegean sea. in 1476 he sailed with a convoy bound for england. legend has it that the fleet was attacked by pirates off the coast of portugal, where columbuss ship was sunk, but he swam to shore and took refuge in lisbon. settling there, where his brother bartholomew columbus was working as a cartographer, he was married in 1479...