Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus (1451 - 20 May 1506) was a famous Italian explorer.
== Biography ==
He was born in Genoa, Italy, sometime between 25 August and 31 October 1451. He was once credited with discovering America, even though he never reached the mainland. We now know that others had traveled to the Western Hemisphere before him. The Vikings had settlements in Newfoundland and Greenland, the latter of which was still populated in the 1400s. He had sailed often in his youth, and wanted to find a route to India. In 1477, he sailed to Iceland, where he spent the winter and undoubtedly heard tales of the colonies to the west from people who still remembered them. Beginning in 1492, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain financed his first voyage to this "New World", for which he commissioned three ships: Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria. The three ships set out for India, but ended up on a Bahamian island instead. Because of this navigational error, he called the island's inhabitants Indians, a name that stuck until it was decided to call all tribes of North, Central, and South America and the islands Native Americans. He made three more voyages before multiple health issues led to his death in 1506.
His voyages have been recounted in numerous books, movies, and television shows, and even inspired a rhyme recited by many schoolchildren:
"In fourteen hundred ninety-two Columbus sailed the ocean blue In fourteen hundred ninety-three Columbus sailed the deep blue sea."
== Appearances ==
He appeared in The Flintstones episode "The Time Machine". The Flintstones and Rubbles ended up on one of his ships. When they admitted they had no tickets for the voyage, he saw them as stowaways, and put them to work swabbing the deck. The crew decided to mutiny, since they hadn't seen land since the beginning of the voyage. Just when things looked bad, Wilma spotted land, and took the credit for discovering America. Christopher angrily replied, "No, I discovered America, and don't you forget it!" 
He also appeared in a similar story on the album The Flintstones and Jose Jiminez in The Time Machine. 
He made a cameo in We Think the World Is Round, a special about the "discovery" from the point of view of his anthropomorphic ships. 
He appeared in the Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures episode "When the Going Gets Tough, Bill & Ted Are History".
He had a cameo in The New Adventures of Captain Planet episode "Twelve Angry Animals," when Gi saw him capturing seals for the fur trade.
== Mentions ==
Buzz Conroy of Frankenstein Jr. says, "Holy Christopher Columbus!" about one of the Mad Inventor's discoveries. 
In the Moby Dick episode "The Sinister Sea Saucer", Tub exclaims, "Christopher Columbus!" when he, Tom, Moby Dick, and Scooby witness the hijacking of a space capsule by Manta Menace. 
He is mentioned in The Thing episode "Gone Away Gulch".
== External links ==
* Christopher Columbus at Wikipedia
 
Category:Real People
Category:The Funtastic Index