Christopher Columbus, Explorer for Spain

This stamp shows a portrait to honor Christopher Columbus.

Note: I do not own this stamp yet. It is here courtesy of the Wikimedia Commons.

Christopher Columbus is sometimes credited with the discovery of the Americas, even though this is technically not true. What makes his four voyages (generally to islands in the Caribbean) significant is what other Europeans did with his information. They continued to send expeditions to this New World to build trade networks, to colonize, and to Christianize.

Sadly, it seems Columbus himself was often more interested in enslaving native peoples. For his behavior, he was arrested, removed as governor of the new lands, and taken back to Spain in 1500, bringing his third trip to the Americas to an end.

Columbus was eventually restored to favor with the Crown and completed a fourth voyage in 1502-03. He died a few years later in 1506.