Christopher
Columbus (ca 1446 - 1506), Italian explorer who believed that the Earth was round, and that
trade routes with
Asia could be established by
sailing westwards. In August 1492, with eighty-seven men and three ships (Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria) he
set sail for the
west and discovered the Western
Hemisphere. The inhabitants of San Salvador (the first
place that
Columbus landed in the Western
Hemisphere) believed that
Columbus and his men were "men from heaven" and offered them all they had.
—SHSBC Binder 30 Approved Glossary