Christopher Columbus statue

Christopher Columbus statue, looking West, in Municipal Public Gardens, Santa Catarina Park, Funchal. Cristovao Colombo, navigator, discover of America; Columbus spent time before his journey across the ocean, with his wife Filipa, on nearby Porto Santo island; born 1450 or 1451, died 20 May 1506; Italian explorer, navigator, and colonizer, born in the Republic of Genoa. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents. Those voyages, and his efforts to establish permanent settlements on the island of Hispaniola, initiated the Spanish colonization of the New World.