This introductory study assesses Columbus' life and achievements in the context of the great era of European overseas exploration. A Genoese cartographer, Columbus was convinced that the existence of a Western route to Asia would prove that the world was round. The book traces his attempts to persuade Ferdinand and Isabella to fund his expedition, the events of his momentous 1492 voyage and the reaction to his discovery of the New World. It also considers his disappointing subsequent career as explorer and colonial administrator, his religious obsessions and his death as a forgotten pauper.