Christopher Columbus was an Italian navigator and explorer who made 4 explorations across the Atlantic Ocean, paving the course for European discovery and settlement of the Americas. His journeys were the first European contacts with the Caribbean, Central America, and South America, and were financed by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain.Christopher Columbus is an Anglicization of “Christophorus Columbus,” a Latin name. Columbus was born in the Republic of Genoa and spoke a Ligurian dialect as his mother tongue, according to most intellectuals. He went to sea at an early age and traveled all over the world, as far north as the British Islands and as far south as Ghana. He wed Filipa Moniz Perestrelo, a Portuguese noblewoman, and resided in Lisbon for some years, but later on wed a Castilian girlfriend, with whom he had one child. Columbus, who was primarily self-taught, was skilled in geography, astronomy, and history. He created a technique to find a western sea path to the East Indies, with the objective of benefiting from the wealthy spice trade.Christopher Columbus has had a huge impact on the discovery of the American continent, and is still honored and respected to this day, despite of the controversies around his behavior and interaction with the locals. Let's see what these contradicting opinions are all about.