Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa,Italy in 1451.T thrill of his first sailing trip made him want to spent his whole life with ships and the sea.He didn't want to be a weaver like his father and grandfathers.In 1476,when he was 25,the ship which he boarded was attacked by pirates.Columbus was wounded but he swam six miles to the shore of Portugal.Columbus was lucky because Portugal was word's best place for learning about the sea.Schorars and sea captains from many countries were in Portugal.Columbus's favorite book was the travels of Marco Polo two hundred years eariler,Marco had traveled from Italy to the Indies.Europeans called India,China,and Japan The Indies.Columbus read Marco Polo's storyies about spices,jewels,and houses covered with gold.He wanted to go to China and bring back these treasures for himself .But by the mid 1400s Turkish warriors blocked the route between Europe and the Indies.Columbus heard about another way that no one had tried.It was sail around the world to the Indies by going west across the Atlantic Ocean.He needed someone to pay for the ships,supplies,and crew.He asked the King John of Portugal for maney but king refused it because he thought it wasted of money.Next Columbus went to Spain. He asked King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella for money.The didn't want to give money to Columbus at first but they had changed their minds.Columbus told ferdinand and Isabella that he would claim all the lands he found for Spain.The more land Spain owned,the richer and more powerful it would become.This idea was the reason the king and queen had changed their minds.Columbus commanded a fleet of three wooden ships:the Nina,Pinta,and SantaMaria.The three ships carried a total of ninety men.On August 3,1492,the ships sailed from Spain.Columbus couldn't find a Land.The day he had decided to turn back if they couldn't reach land,they could found land.It was October 12,1492.Columbus had reached the Indies at last so he would call the islander Indians. He thought they would make good slaves.Columbus turned back to submit a report.He commanded He also gave a lot of treasure to king. In September 1493,Columbus sailed again.He commanded 17 ships and 1,200men,but they couldn't any treaser to give to the king.Untile he died in 1506,Columbus insisted theat he had found a short way across the Ocean to the Indies he explored by Marco Polo. We know the islands he explored are part of the Americans.They are called the West Indies. ( )