The wife of Columbus had died and he was without a home.  He left Lisbon with his only son, Diego, in or near the end of the year 1484.

CHAPTER II. —­ HIS PLANS FOR DISCOVERY.

COLUMBUS LEAVES LISBON, AND VISITS GENOA—­VISITS GREAT SPANISH DUKES—­FOR SIX YEARS IS AT THE COURT OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA—­THE COUNCIL OF SALAMANCA—­HIS PETITION IS AT LAST GRANTED—­SQUADRON MADE READY.

It has been supposed that when Columbus left Lisbon he was oppressed by debts.  At a subsequent period, when King John wanted to recall him, he offered to protect him against any creditors.  But on the other hand, it is thought that at this time he visited Genoa, and made some provision for the comfort of his father, who was now an old man.  Christopher Columbus, himself, according to the usual opinion regarding his birth, was now almost fifty years old.

It is probable that at this time he urged on his countrymen, the Genoese, the importance of his great plan; and tried to interest them to make the great endeavor, for the purpose of reaching the Indies by a western route.  As it proved, the discovery of the route by the Cape of Good Hope was, commercially, a great injury to Genoa and the other maritime cities of Italy.  Before this time, the eastern trade of Europe came by the ports of the eastern Mediterranean, and the Italian cities.  Columbus’s offer to Genoa was therefore one which, if her statesmen could have foreseen the future, they would have considered eagerly.

But Genoa was greatly depressed at this period.  In her wars with the Turks she had been, on the whole, not successful.  She had lost Caffa, her station in the Crimea, and her possessions in the Archipelago were threatened.  The government did not accept Columbus’s proposals, and he was obliged to return with them to Spain.  He went first to distinguished noblemen, in the South of Spain, who were of liberal and adventurous disposition.  One was the Duke of Medina Celi, and one the Duke of Medina Sidonia.  Each of these grandees entertained him at their courts, and heard his proposals.

The Duke of Medina Celi was so much interested in them, that at one time he proposed to give Columbus the direction of four vessels which he had in the harbor of Cadiz.  But, of a sudden, he changed his mind.  The enterprise was so vast, he said, that it should be under the direction of the crown.  And, without losing confidence in it, he gave to Columbus an introduction to the king and queen, in which he cordially recommended him to their patronage.

This king and queen were King Ferdinand of Aragon, and Queen Isabella of Castile.  The marriage of these two had united Spain.  Their affection for each other made the union real, and the energy, courage and wisdom of both made their reign successful and glorious.  Of all its glories the greatest, as it has proved, was connected with the life and discoveries of the sailor who was now to approach them.  He had been disloyally treated by Portugal, he had been dismissed by Genoa.  He had not succeeded with the great dukes.  Now he was to press his adventure upon a king and queen who were engaged in a difficult war with the Moors, who still held a considerable part of the peninsula of Spain.