Who's Who in Medieval History
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Christopher Columbus was also known as:
Christopher Columbus was noted for:
Occupations and Role in Society:
Places of Residence and Influence:
Important Dates:
About Christopher Columbus:
It would be a decade before Europeans realized that the lands Columbus had reached were not part of Asia but an entirely different continent. This was due to astronomical observations made by Amerigo Vespucci off the coast of South America.
In light of Vespucci's calculations, Columbus' own denials, and the earlier voyage of Leif Ericsson, the achievement of the 1492 expedition is sometimes erroneously dismissed as insignificant. But it is important to remember that without the voyages of Christopher Columbus, Vespucci would have had no opportunity to conclude a "new continent" had been discovered, and the Americas would not have been opened to European incursion -- for good or for ill -- at that time in history. The development of American civilization, and perhaps even world civilization, could therefore have proceeded along entirely different lines.
