Biography of Christopher Columbus?

Christopher Columbus was born in 1451 in Genoa, Italy. He always wanted to be a sailor. He became a sailor when he was 15 years old.
Columbus wanted to find a new route to the Far East. He wanted to sail to East Asia. He wanted to sail to India, China, Japan and the Spice Islands so he could get valuable silks and spices.
Columbus knew the world was round. He believed that by sailing west, instead of using the eastern route around the coast of Africa, he would the find the Far East and the Spice Islands. He didn’t know that America was between Europe and Asia.
Columbus moved to Portugal to try to get money to support his journey. He eventually got support from Ferdinand and Isabella, the king and queen of Spain. They gave him money, three ships, and 90 people to help him on his trip.
In 1492 Columbus left from Palos, Spain with three ships: the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria.

Why did Christopher Columbus come to America?
Columbus was not actually looking for America. He was looking for a shorter route to the far east. He wanted to find valuable silks and spices to bring back to Europe.

Where did he land?
Columbus expected his trip to be short. But it was a very long trip. For more than one month Columbus and the other men on the journey were at sea. Finally, one month after they left Spain, Columbus landed on a small island in the Bahamas which he called San Salvador. The island he landed on is now Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
Columbus thought he had landed on the Spice Islands near India. This is why he called the people he met Indians. We now call them Native Americans, or sometimes American Indians. These people were living in North and South America for thousands of years before Columbus came to America from Europe. The Native Americans were the first people to live in North and South America, but Christopher Columbus was the first person to arrive from his area of Europe. Many people soon followed him to North America.

route – noun – line of travel; the road or way you use to travel from one place to another

silks – noun – a valuable type of fabric

spice – noun – seasoning used to make food taste better

journey – noun – a trip

land – verb – to arrive

native – adjective – original; first