During his four voyages westward--between 1492 and 1504--Columbus explored what are now the West Indies and the coasts of Central and South America. Columbus was the eldest son of Domenico Colombo, a wool-worker and small-scale merchant, and his wife, Susanna Fontanarossa; he had two younger brothers, Bartholomew and Diego. He received little formal education and was a largely self-taught man, later learning to read Latin and write Castilian. He was born to a family of wool weavers. At the age of 14 he went to the sea. He visited a lot of courts of kings and queens of Europe to gain their support asking for help and money. Finally, Ferdinand and Isabella, the king and queen of Spain agreed to support Columbus. In the 15th and 16th centuries most Europeans were looking for sea routes to the East. Columbus also wanted to find a new sea route to the Far East, to India, China, Japan and the Spice Islands. If he achieves his goals by reaching these lands he would be bringing back rich cargoes of silks and spices. .
Since Columbus knew that the world was round and he realized that by sailing west, instead of east around the coast of Africa, as other explorers of that time were doing, he would still reach the East and the rich Spice Islands. Columbus wanted to sail west because he thought that by sailing west he would find a quicker and easier route to the East. The also thought that the earth was smaller than it is, and like all other Europeans at that time, he did not know about the existence of America. In 1492, Columbus set sail from Palos in Spain with three ships. Two were Portuguese caravels, the Nina and the Pinta, small ships with triangular sails. The third, the Santa Maria, was a nao, a larger square-rigged ship. Ships were about 15 and 36 meters long and between them 90 men were carried. He was also given titles and he was made Admiral of the Ocean Sea and Governor of the Indies.
