Late Middle Ages · Europe · Exploration
1451
Christopher Columbus Born in Genoa
October 30, 1451
A wool weaver's son was born in a narrow house on the Vico dell'Olivella. He would go to sea as a boy, learn Portuguese and Latin the hard way, read Marco Polo until the pages frayed, and convince a skeptical Spanish queen that the Indies lay closer west than east. He was wrong and right.
In context
Also in 1451 (3 other events on record)
- Mehmed II Becomes Sultan · Middle East · Politics
- Bahlul Lodi Founds Lodi Dynasty · South Asia · Politics
- Jami Born in Herat · Central Asia · Culture
Before and after in Europe
Before and after in Exploration
Era
Late Middle Ages (1301–1500), one of 874 events from that era on Saeculum.