 October 12, Christopher Columbus's expedition day Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer, navigator, and colonist who completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain. He was born in 1451 in the Republic of Genoa, or what is now Italy, then he moved to Portugal, and later Spain, which remained his home for the rest of his life. He led the first European expeditions to the Caribbean, Central America, and South America, initiating the permanent European colonization of the Americas. His first voyage into the Atlantic Ocean nearly cost him his life, as he was sailing, he was attacked by French privateers off the coast of Portugal. Columbus proposed a three-ship voyage of discovery across the Atlantic, first to the Portuguese king, then to Genoa and finally to Venice. There were focus on a war with the Muslims, so they initially rejected Columbus. Columbus continued to lobby the royal court, soon after the Spanish army captured the last Muslim stronghold in Granada in January of 1492. In August of 1492, Columbus left Spain from Palos de la Frontera, with three ships. After 36 days of sailing westward across the Atlantic, Columbus and several crewmen set foot on an island in the present-day Bahamas, claiming it for Spain. Columbus and his men continued their journey, visiting the islands of Cuba, which he thought was mainland China, and his Spaniola, now Haiti, the Dominican Republic which Columbus thought might be Japan, and meeting with the leaders of the native population. In the two remaining years of his life following his last voyage to the Americas, Columbus struggled to recover his lost titles. Although he did regain some of his riches, his titles were never returned. He died May 20, 1506, still believing he had discovered a shorter route to Asia. Even in death, Columbus continued to cross the Atlantic. Following his death in 1506, Columbus was buried in Valada Lid, Spain, and then moved to Seville. At the request of his daughter-in-law, the bodies of Columbus and his son Diego were shipped across the Atlantic to Hispaniola and interred in the Santo Domingo Cathedral. DNA testing in 2006 found evidence that at least some of the remains in Seville are those of Columbus.