HRISTOPHER COLOMBO or COLON, better known by his Latinised name of Columbus, was born at Genoa about the year 1436. His father was a woolcomber, in not very affluent circumstances; although connected, according to some accounts, with persons of superior rank. Columbus was the eldest of a family of four. His two brothers, Bartholomew and Diego, will afterwards be mentioned in connexion with his discoveries; his sister married an obscure person of the name of

Bavarello.

Of the early life of Columbus very little is known. Considering the habits of the age, and the condition of his parents, he appears to have received a good education. While yet a mere child, he learned reading, writing, and arithmetic; he was also such a profi

cient in drawing and painting, that, according to one of his biographers, he could have earned a livelihood by them. At an early age he went to the university of Padua, in Lombardy, then a celebrated school of learning. Here he acquired the Latin language, and devoted himself with zeal to the study of mathematics in all its branches, especially those connected with geography and navigation, towards which he seems to have been drawn from the first by an irresistible propensity. His stay at Padua cannot have been long; for in his fourteenth year he returned to his father's house in Genoa, where he is said to have pursued for some time the occupation of woolcombing. This, however, was far from his taste; and he made choice of the seafaring profession. Genoa being at that time one of the greatest commercial cities in the world, the enthusiasm for maritime enterprise was universal amongst its inhabitants. A historian of the period speaks of the proneness of the Genoese youth to wander through the world in quest of riches, which they intended to return and spend in their native city: few, however, he says, were able to carry their intention into effect-not one in ten of those who left Genoa ever revisiting it. Of these adventurous youths, whose ambition to be sailors was nursed by the sight of the merchant-vessels landing their rich freights on the quays of Genoa, Columbus was one; and, as we have already seen, his education was suitable for the mode of life he had chosen.

At fourteen years of age Columbus left Genoa in the humble capacity of a sailor boy on board a Mediterranean trader; and for many years, at first as a common sailor, and latterly as master of a vessel, he appears to have sailed along the Mediterranean from the Levant to Gibraltar, possibly also undertaking an occasional voyage to some of the northern countries of Europe, with which the Genoese merchants may have had dealings. In this undistinguished course of life he passed his youth; and he does not come prominently into notice till he settled in Lisbon in 1470, when he was thirty-four years of age. At this period he is described as being above the middle size, and of strong muscular frame. His visage was long; his nose aquiline; his eyes of a bluish gray; his complexion fair, but somewhat inflamed. His hair in youth was reddish, but before he was thirty years of age it had turned quite white. His habits were simple; his manners grave and affable; his temper, which was naturally irritable, he had subdued by the force of his will; and in his attention to the observances of religion, he was devout and enthusiastic. His acquirements were far beyond what might have been expected in one whose life had been spent at sea. Besides being a skilful navigator, he was well-informed in astronomy, geography, and all the general science of the age; and while on shore, his leisure appears to have been spent in studying such scientific works as were within his reach. A marriage which he contracted about this period seems to have had some effect in determining his sub

sequent career. The lady to whom he became attached was Felipa de Palestrello, the daughter of Bartolemeo de Palestrello, an Italian, who had distinguished himself as a navigator in the Portuguese service. Marrying this young lady, Columbus obtained from her mother all the charts, journals, and memorandums of her late husband, the possession of which was a treasure to him. After his marriage he lived for many years as a humble citizen of Lisbon, earning a livelihood for himself and family by constructing maps and charts, or by making an Occasional voyage in a Portuguese vessel to the Guinea coast, then the ultimate limit of African navigation.

Columbus seems to have acted from deliberate choice in making Lisbon his place of residence. In no city in the world would the demand be so great at that time for maps and charts, or for persons skilled in any of the arts connected with navigation. Portugal had taken the lead of all the nations of Europe in maritime enterprise; and for upwards of twenty years all the great discoveries which had been made by navigators of new coasts or islands had been effected under the auspices of the Portuguese government. The moving spirit in this career of enterprise was Prince Henry of Portugal, a man of large views and studious habits, who was still alive when Columbus took up his residence in Lisbon. The ruling idea of Prince Henry's mind was to find out a new route to the East Indies by sailing round Africa. Proceeding upon some vague traditions, that in ancient times one navigator sailing from the Red Sea had arrived at Gibraltar, and another sailing from Gibraltar had arrived at the shores of Arabia, Prince Henry had instituted inquiries with a view to ascertain whether Africa were really circumnavigable; and having convinced himself that such was the case, he had resolutely persevered in making the experiment. Allured by the encouragements which he held out, able geographers and navigators had flocked to Lisbon from all parts of the world; and such was the success of their efforts, that although the great feat of circumnavigating Africa still remained unaccomplished, vessels had at length entered the tropics, long regarded as impassable to man; the Atlantic had been explored as far as the Gulf of Guinea and the Canary and Cape Verd islands. The most important effects, however, of Prince Henry's labours, were the training up of a school of hardy navigators, the improvement of the art of seamanship, and the enthusiasm which was instantly awakened in all the governments of Europe for the discovery of new lands. Columbus, in removing to Lisbon, may possibly have hoped for some employment from Prince Henry; but in this he was disappointed, as the prince died not long after, in the year 1473. He left it as his dying charge to his countrymen, to persevere in the attempt to reach India by the southern extremity of Africa. Circumstances conspired to develop Columbus's natural taste for nautical enterprise. His occupation as a drawer of maps and

charts brought him into communication with many eminent persons of that time; among others, Paulo Toscanelli of Florence, a celebrated geographer. This occupation, too, was a lucrative and most respectable one, as we may learn from the fact, that a sum of one hundred and thirty ducats, equal to about as many pounds of our money, was paid for a map of sea and land made at Mallorca in 1439; and that an Italian friar, named Mauro, having constructed a universal map, esteemed particularly accurate, had a medal struck in his honour by the Venetians. The best result, however, of Columbus's labours in drawing maps was, that he thereby became acquainted with the small extent of that part of the earth's surface known to geographers and navigators, as compared with the conjectural extent of the whole. This fact appears to have made a deep impression on his mind, and to have been the germ of his future speculations. It was not long, however, before the idea began to assume a more definite shape. Like all the navigators of the time, he was full of the notion of discovering a new route to India, Cathay, or Cipango-the land of gold, and diamonds, and spices-which was supposed to lie in the east of Asia, and respecting which the most gorgeous fancies were entertained. There was this difference, however, between the speculations of Columbus and other navigators as to this imaginary route to India, that while they universally followed Prince Henry in supposing that it was to be sought by sailing round Africa, he was employed in considering the possibility of effecting the same object by sailing due west across the Atlantic. This most original idea was fully formed in Columbus's mind before the year 1474.

The globular form of the earth had been for a considerable time known to all scientific men, and various calculations had been made as to its probable size. On this latter point all were at fault, the general supposition being, that the globe was much smaller than it is. Columbus, in pondering on its imaginary magnitude, arrived at the conviction that the Atlantic was a comparatively narrow sea, and that if any one were to push boldly across it, he would inevitably reach the shores of India. These ideas were confirmed by the various rumours which prevailed of lands existing in the Atlantic to the west of Africa. Plato's fabled island of Atalantis was supposed to be a real country lying in that quarter. There were many traditionary recollections of mariners having been cast upon unknown shores when driven far out to sea by the violence of a storm. There were legends also of adventurers who had embarked in ships in the northern countries of Europe, and gone to seek homes across the Atlantic; and of fugitive bishops and priests, who, to escape persecution in their own country, had committed themselves to the waves, and been conducted by the hand of Providence to fertile and happy islands to the west of the Azores. Moreover, certain circumstances had come within Columbus's own knowledge,

which