Oct 12 (THAINDIAN NEWS) The accidental discoverer of America, Christopher Columbus set foot on 12th October centuries ago. So in honor of him, the second Monday of every October is celebrated as ‘Columbus Day’.

Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa, Italy in 1451 to Domenico Columbo, a wool weaver and he had two other siblings. 
He helped his Father in his trade until he was 22, but he always longed for the life of a sailor. Many of his peers had prospered in Lisbon as Sea Captains of sailing ships and he longed to be one too.

Christopher was hardly educated at school. He was largely a self made man. He learnt to read and write Portuguese, Castilian and Latin. He read many geography books, and studied the bible and the writings of Marco Polo, gathering all the geographical information he could about the world. He particularly studied, Pierre d’ Ailly’s “Imago Mundi,” or picture of the world. He became an expert chart maker himself and because of his observant studies he became convinced that the world was spherical instead of the general perception that it was flat. This belief later became the basis for his quest of finding a shorter route to Asia.

Christopher Columbus tried to get backing and funding for his voyages to the West, but no King or Queen worth their salt was ready to invest in his so called wild belief. Later he managed to convince the King and Queen of Spain who funded his discovery voyage. He set on his voyage and after around 10 weeks spotted land. He set foot on the Bahamas Island and named their natives as Indians.

He died in Vallodid on May 20, 1506, due to various ailments.