(1451-1506) Columbus was an Italian-born explorer who is credited with discovering America. With the financial backing of the Spanish King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, he sailed west across the Atlantic, convinced he would find a shorter route to the precious spices of the East Indies. But instead of reaching the East Indies, he discovered the Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and Hispaniola (which he believed to be Japan), San Salvador, Honduras and Panama. Columbus called the native inhabitants he encountered "Indians" because he believed he had reached the Indies. He died unaware that he had found the New World of the Americas.
