Early Years At Sea

We cannot be certain how Columbus came to be a seafarer, but we know he emphasised his seafaring experience, dating back to his youth, when he petitioned the Spanish crown for support for his explorations in later years.

The city-state of Genoa had a busy seaport and it is believed that Columbus worked along the coast as a weaver and merchant, buying wool and selling finished textiles. Columbus probably began his career at sea while working as a merchant. It is likely that, whenever the income from his textile business needed a boost, Columbus would have signed on for short trading voyages. Sometime between 1474 and 1475, he sailed to Chios - a Greek island that had been ruled by Genoa since the early 14th century.

In the summer of 1476, Columbus set sail for England, as part of a flotilla assembled for a Genoese trading expedition, but he never reached his destination. On 12th August, a pirate fleet attacked all five ships in the flotilla, as they rounded the south-western tip of Portugal.

At this time Aragon and Castile were at war with Portugal and France and, although Genoa was not involved in the conflict, the flotilla became embroiled in a sea battle. The merchant fleet lost three vessels and it is thought that Columbus was washed ashore on the Portuguese coast, clinging to a piece of wreckage.

Portugal was then the most powerful of all seafaring nations and this probably influenced Columbus’ decision to stay in the country. He decided to settle in Lisbon where his brother, Bartolomeo, was already working as a cartographer.

Around 1478, Christopher Columbus married Felipa Perestrello e Moniz, the daughter of the Governor of the Atlantic island of Porto Santo, where they set up home. The couple’s only child, Diego, is believed to have been born in 1480.

From 1477, Columbus went on a series of voyages to places including Madeira, Ireland, Iceland and Guinea. On these trips, he learned as much as he could about Atlantic wind systems, but his great ambition was to discover the western sea route to Asia.