Christopher Columbus (Cristoforo Colombo in Italian; Christoffa in Ligurian dialect) was born in Genoa in 1451. He had little education as a boy, and only learned to read and write as an adult. So he went to sea, as did many Genovese boys, and voyaged in the Mediterranean. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 1476 he was shipwrecked off Portugal, found his way ashore, and went to Lisbon. He also traveled to Ireland and England and later claimed to have gone as far as Iceland. He was in Genoa in 1479, returned to Portugal, and married. His wife, Dona Felipa, died soon after his son, Diego, was born.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By this time, Columbus had become interested in westward voyages. He had learned of the legendary Atlantic voyages and sailors’ reports of land to the west of Madeira and the Azores.<\/p>\n\n\n