Appendix B, Chapter I: Christopher Columbus

The man known as Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa, Italy, in 1451. Under permission and funding from the Catholic monarchy of Spain, he undertook several expeditions in order to discover an alternate route to Asia by traveling west across the Atlantic. However, in 1492, he instead discovered Hispaniola, and the resulting voyages and published works surrounding his three subsequent voyages to the New World ultimately lead to European colonization of North and South America. Ultimately, these colonies eventually (or through force, quickly) became independent and sovereign nations. The British colony in North America known as the "Thirteen Colonies" and later known as the "United States of America" were indirect byproducts of Columbus' expeditions. Many citizens of the United States later explored the regions of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa, lands of which would later become the North Star Republic, and both the "Columbian Exchange" and the rapid colonization of the New World by white settlers typically owe their "genesis" to Columbus.