Christopher Columbus, Genoese navigator and explorer, (1901). Sponsored by Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, Columbus (14511506) set out in 1492 to discover a westward route to Asia. He landed on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, claiming it for Spain. Columbus subsequently made three further voyages to the Americas. A print from The Worlds History, A Survey of Mans Record, by Dr HF Helmolt, Volume I, William Heinemann, London, 1901.