Co‧lum‧bus, Chris‧to‧pher /kəˈlʌmbəs, ˈkrɪstəfəʳ/
(1451–1506) an Italian sailor and explorer who is traditionally thought of as the first European to discover America, in 1492. He arrived in America by accident when he was trying to find a new way to Asia by sailing west from Spain, having received money for this journey from the Spanish king and queen, Ferdinand and Isabella. Many US and British people know the rhyme In fourteen hundred and ninety two,/Columbus sailed the ocean blue. Most people now think that the first discovery of America by Europeans was about 500 years earlier, by the Norwegian Leif Ericsson.

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲