Chromolithograph by Vaclav Brozik titled "Christopher Columbus at the Royal Court of Spain". Christopher Columbus (October 30 or 31, 1451 - May 20, 1506) was an Italian explorer, colonizer, and navigator credited with the discovery of America. Under the support of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean. During his first voyage in 1492, instead of reaching Japan as he had intended, he landed in the Bahamas archipelago, which he named San Salvador. Over the course of three more voyages, Columbus visited the Greater and Lesser Antilles, the Caribbean coast of Colombia and Venezuela claiming them for the Spanish Empire. Those voyages, and his efforts to establish permanent settlements in the island of Hispaniola, started Spanish colonization of the "New World", inaugurating a period of European exploration, conquest, and colonization that lasted for several centuries. During a violent storm on his first return voyage, Columbus was plagued with what was thought to be influenza and other fevers, bleeding from the eyes, and prolonged attacks of gout, leaving him bedridden for months at a time. He died in 1506 at the age of 54.