Biography exemplary and instructive Author:William Chambers Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: COLUMBUS. Christopher Colon—better known by his Latinised surname, Columbus—was born at Genoa in 1436. He was the eldest son of a poor wool-carder, and in his... more » early years may himself, with his brothers, have worked at the trade of his father. His means of education were of course limited ; but it is known that, at an early age, he had made some progress in the study of mathematics and the Latin language. While a youth, he was very fond of reading all works upon geography, and directed his attention entirely to those branches of learning which would be of use to him in the pursuits to which he had already determined to devote his life. He spent a short time at the college of Padua, where he acquired a knowledge of astronomy and other sciences most necessary to seamen, and particularly useful at a time when so little progress had been made in the art of navigation. Columbus left the university of Padua when he was about fourteen years of age. Of the events which immediately followed, we have no accurate information. It is only known that he began life in the humble capacity of a sailor-boy, on board one of the Genoese vessels which sailed in the Mediterranean, and from which station he rose by his ability to be commander of a vessel. Subsequently, about the year 1470, he visited Lisbon, and there married a young lady of the name of Pale- strello, the daughter of an Italian who had been onseveral voyages of discovery under Prince Henry of Portugal. From her Columbus obtained the journals and charts which had been drawn up by her father on his various voyages. He made inquiries about the voyages of the Portuguese along the coast of Guinea, in Africa, and delighted to converse with the sailors who had been there. At this period there was no knowledge of any land farther westward ...« less