![]() ![]() In 1487, Bartholomew Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope on the southern tip of Africa, and in 1498, Vasco da Gama crossed the Indian Ocean and reached the southern tip of India. By the mid-fifteenth century, the historic barrier of the Sahara had been overcome and a lucrative trade in slaves and gold provided incentive for further explorations. Columbus' voyage, combining audacious confidence, supreme seamanship, and an explicit faith that he was called by God for the task of bringing the Christian religion to remote peoples of the world-his name meant "Christ-bearer"-inaugurated the most profound advances in humankind's awareness of the planet, and formative interchanges among disparate cultures that would lead to the emergence of the modern world.Ĭolumbus' voyage took place during the early decades of the European Age of Exploration, following advances in ship design and navigational instrumentation that enabled Portuguese explorers to venture down the African coastline in search of a sea route to India. ![]() Photo by Manuel RosaĬhristopher Columbus, commonly rendered in Spanish as Cristóbal Colón (1451 - May 20, 1506) was a Genoese-born navigator, explorer, and colonizer whose epochal voyage west across the Atlantic Ocean, in 1492, in search of a direct sea route to the Indies, established permanent European contact with the unknown lands and peoples of North and South America. Christopher Columbus is depicted here in his only state-sponsored, albeit non-authenticated, portrait, painted by Alejo Fernández between 15.
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