c
married Queen Isabella of Castile in the year 1469, only Granada was
left in the hands of the Moors. Their last king lived in his splendid
palace, the Alhambra in Granada. In 1491 the Spanish army besieged the
Moorish city. Barely forty years earlier the Mohammedans had taken
Constantinople. Now other Mohammedans were to be turned out of western
Europe. New Year's Day 1492 came and Granada fell. The Moorish king had
to bend humbly on his knees before the victor ere he went on his way,
and the Castilian flag waved from the towers and pinnacles of the
Alhambra.

This remarkable incident was witnessed by a mariner from Genoa,
forty-six years old. His name was Christopher Columbus.

At the time of the fall of Granada there was no one among the learned
men of Europe who had any suspicion of the existence of a continent in
the western ocean, and the Portuguese sought only a sea route to
India--the rich land of spices, gold, pearls, and coral. But there was a
learned mathematician, Toscanelli of Florence, who perceived that, as
the world was round, a mariner must necessarily reach Japan, China, and
India by sailing westwards from Europe, and as early as 1474 he produced
maps and other proofs of the correctness of his theory. It was Columbus,
by his boldness and ability, who converted this theory into fact.

Christopher Columbus was the eldest of five children of a weaver in
Genoa. He and his brothers also engaged in the weaving industry, but as
their father's affairs were anything but flourishing, the sons decided
to seek a living in foreign countries. Christopher became a sailor, and
acquired all the qualifications necessary to handle a ship. He gained
great experience and a thorough knowledge of his new profession. He once
sailed on an English vessel to Thule or Iceland, the longest voyage
which mariners of that time dared attempt. Then he tried his fortune in
Portugal, earning a living by drawing sea-charts and serving as skipper
on Portuguese vessels sailing to the eastern shores of the Mediterranean
and to Guinea. In the Portuguese school he learned much which was to be
of great importance in his future career. He made his home in Lisbon,
where he married a lady of rank.

It was at this time that he entered into correspondence with Toscanelli,
who sent him a map of the route over the Atlantic to Japan, and gave him
much information drawn from Marco Polo's descriptions. These letters
made a deep impression on Columbu