1492 is a Christopher Columbus biography in the form of a classic work of biographical fiction by Mary Johnson that tells the entire story of that fateful year and the voyage of the great Italian explorer, Christopher Columbus and his fleet across the ocean in search of India and the riches of the orient. Columbus never found those Eastern riches, but the New World was waiting unbeknownst to him or anyone. Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer, navigator, and colonizer. Born in the Republic of Genoa, under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean. Those voyages and his efforts to establish settlements on the island of Hispaniola, initiated the permanent European colonization of the New World. At a time when European kingdoms were beginning to establish new trade routes and colonies, motivated by imperialism and economic competition, Columbus proposed to reach the East Indies
