2-710-071 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

'The Landing of Columbus', (1877). Christopher Columbus arriving in America, 1492. Sponsored by Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, Italian navigator and colonist Columbus set out to discover a westward route to Asia. He landed on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, claiming it for Spain. The priests who accompanied him forcibly converted large numbers of the indigenous population to Christianity. From "Our Country: a Household History for All Readers, from the Discovery of America to the Present Time", Volume 1, by Benson J. Lossing. [Johnson & Miles, New York, 1877]