Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) was an Italian explorer who proposed reaching Asia by means of a westward route across the Atlantic Ocean, and instead discovered and explored the Caribbean, as well as parts of Central and South America. Initially sponsored by King Ferdinand (1452-1516) and Queen Isabella (1451-1504) of Spain in 1492, Columbus is popularly believed to have been the first European to land and therefore discover the "New World" of the Americas. He is also credited with opening the Americas to European imperial colonialism, mercantilism, and slavery, as well as critiqued for the eventual cultural destruction of Incan, Aztec, and Amerindian peoples. Given the influence of his achievements, Columbus ' voyages are among the fundamental turning points in European and world history, both for their assertion that the world was round, and for changing the way the distance between continents in the Atlantic was
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Regardless, Columbus ' "discovery" of the Americas, his influence upon the regions visited, as well as his contributions to exploration during the period are frequently the subject of scholarly
Regardless, Columbus ' "discovery" of the Americas, his influence upon the regions visited, as well as his contributions to exploration during the period are frequently the subject of scholarly