The statue of Columbus in front of the Coit Tower

Cristoforo Colombo was born in 1451 in Genoa which is part of the present-day Italy. Although he wasn't the first explorer to reach the Americas, his four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean led to the first lasting European contact with the "New World". It was not the only difficulty for him to find support and patrons for his trips, that he finally got from the Spanish crown: King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. Even not the money or the ships (Pinta, Nina and Santa Maria) were the hardest problem. In his time people still believed so much that the earth was flat and a ship would fall off of a waterfall at the side of the earth, that even though a royal decree offered freedom to criminals who joined Columbus's crew, allegedly only four prisoners took advantage of this! :)

2011/12/san-francisco-christmas

Coit Tower, San Francisco, California, USA

statue (usa, usa california, san francisco, coit tower, art, artifact, north america, california)