Christopher Columbus for Kids | Learn about his life and what actually happened on his adventures

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Oh wow! This is Christopher. He lived a long time ago and was a kid just like you. Christopher worked on a cool merchant ship that transported people and cargo, like fish and other goods, from one place to another. The ship traveled all around the coasts of Europe and Africa, delivering goods and travelers to their different destinations.

On one fateful journey, danger was lurking on the water—pirates! The pirates attacked the boy’s ship as it sailed along the Portuguese coast, and the ship sank into the ocean below. Luckily, our young explorer grabbed onto a drifting piece of wood and floated safely to shore.

As Christopher grew, he began to study astronomy, math, map-making, and navigation. Eventually, he used what he learned to come up with a new route across the Atlantic Ocean. He wanted to see if it was possible to sail this new route, but a journey that big would need a lot of money. Christopher told his idea to different wealthy and important people and asked them if they would pay for his trip across the Atlantic Ocean. It took seven years, but finally, the King and Queen of Spain agreed to give him the money. With that money, he bought supplies, hired a crew, and purchased three ships: the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. In the year 1492, our young explorer took off on a journey that changed the course of the world.

Did you figure out who Christopher was from our story? If you said Christopher Columbus, you were right! Have you heard of him before? He lived about 500 years ago. When Columbus lived on Earth, America looked very different. It was the same size but was mostly wilderness with no cities or states like we have today. However, there were people living in the New World—these people are now known as Native Americans. The Native Americans have lived in North and South America for thousands of years, long before any Europeans landed on their shores. They had their own culture, traditions, and way of life. However, those things changed quite a bit after explorers like Christopher Columbus arrived.

Before we continue learning about Christopher Columbus, here’s a question for you: Was Christopher Columbus really the first explorer to visit America? What do you think? The answer is no. Christopher Columbus was not the first explorer to visit America; it was actually a man named Leif Erikson, an explorer from Greenland who came to America over 400 years before Columbus, around the year 1000.

So why do some people say that Christopher Columbus discovered America? Let’s learn more about him and his ocean voyages to find out. Christopher Columbus was born around the year 1451 in an Italian city called Genoa, where he worked for his father and also studied sailing. In addition to studying, he was also a bookseller. While living in Portugal, Columbus married Philippa Moniz Perestrello, and they had two sons together. It was during this time that Christopher Columbus began to make plans for his new route across the Atlantic Ocean.

Back then, traveling from Europe to Asia by land was very difficult and dangerous, so people traveled by sea. They sailed south along the West African coast and around the Cape of Good Hope. But Christopher decided to make and follow a new route that would go west across the Atlantic Ocean. The people in Europe did not know that North and South America even existed, nor did they know how big the Earth really was. Because of that, Columbus thought his trip from Europe to Asia would be a lot shorter than it actually was.

One of the reasons Columbus wanted to sail west was to start trading with Asia. He also wanted to earn fame and fortune for his trip. The people who funded his journey, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, wanted fame and fortune too, but they also hoped to spread their religion, Catholicism, to lands across the Earth. Columbus was promised 10% of the riches he discovered, a noble title, and the opportunity to become the governor of any new lands he would find.

In 1492, Columbus set off on his journey. He left logs and journals of his trip that still survive today, which is one of the reasons we know so much about him and his expeditions. How do you think you would feel if you were setting off on a journey and weren’t sure where you were going or when you’d get there? Do you think you’d feel excited, scared, or a little of both? Christopher probably felt the same way.

After sailing across the Atlantic Ocean for five weeks, his crew of 87 men landed on an island. If you’ve ever wondered why math is important, consider this: Columbus and his crew thought they had landed in Asia, which was where they meant to land, but they miscalculated and actually ended up in the Bahamas, near the bottom of North America. Columbus and his crew traveled from island to island for several months seeking gold, silver, spices, and other valuables, but they weren’t very successful in finding any riches.

During their journeys, they also encountered the native people already living on the islands. Unfortunately, Columbus and his men weren’t very kind to them. Some of what Columbus wrote about the native people in his diaries is very sad and wrong. In one entry, he said that he thought the people would make fine servants. Many of the native people were mistreated and enslaved by Columbus and his crew, and many others got very sick from diseases that the Europeans brought with them on their journeys. Sadly, Columbus and his journeys had mostly negative effects on the people who already lived in the places he visited.

Columbus left some of his crew on one of the islands and told them to settle a place called Hispaniola. This island is now divided into two countries: Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Even though the crew faced many challenges, Columbus was given a hero’s welcome home when he returned to Spain after his first expedition. He brought back some birds and plants from his expedition for people to see what the places he visited were like. From his other journeys, he also brought back different foods like potatoes, cocoa, vanilla, tomatoes, peanuts, and spices.

You may have heard the rhyme, “In the year 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” That’s true; he did! But did you know that he also made three other trips? Interestingly, even though he made four trips to the Americas, Christopher Columbus never actually set foot on the North American continent.

So why do some people say that Christopher Columbus discovered America? Probably because Columbus brought attention to America in a whole new way. His discoveries of other places and his courage to set out on new and sometimes dangerous waters led to more people gaining the courage to do the same thing. More expeditions were sent out west across the Atlantic Ocean, which eventually led to the European discovery and settlement of the first 13 colonies in America.

Now that we’ve learned more about Christopher Columbus, let’s put on our explorer hats! What’s the name of the person who visited America before Christopher Columbus? Did you say Leif Erikson? If you did, you got it right! What were the names of Christopher Columbus’s three ships from his first voyage? The Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. Did you get all three right? Great job! Who gave Columbus the money for his journey? Did you remember that it was King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain? Did Christopher Columbus ever step foot on the North American continent? No, he didn’t. Did you remember that?

Here’s our last question: What year was Columbus’s first voyage west? It was 1492. Great job, everybody! Did you discover things about Christopher Columbus that you didn’t know? Even though Columbus did not actually discover America, explorers like him helped connect parts of the world that hadn’t been connected before and gave people a better idea of just how big our world is. Maybe one day you’ll discover something exciting and new!

Hope you had fun learning with us! Visit us at learnbright.org for thousands of free resources and turnkey solutions for teachers and homeschoolers.

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