With a wealth of information on the life of Christopher Columbus, including hundreds of photographs and illustrations, this is a definitive and thorough biography of the venerated and occasionally controversial explorer. The book focuses on every stage of Columbus's life: his childhood in Genoa; the years he spent in Lisbon; his quest to find a benefactor and the subsequent four voyages to the New World; the allegations of corruption during his governorship of the island of Hispaniola and his ignominious arrest; and his final years and death. At each stage, his accomplishments and actions are placed within the larger sociopolitical and cultural context of the time period in which he lived; considerable attention is paid to the Catholic Kings and other rulers of the time, as well as on voyages undertaken by other explorers, including Vasco da Gama, Pedro Álvares Cabral, and John Cabot. A final section examines Columbus's legacy, with a specific emphasis on what his voyages implied for the denizens of the New World.