Columbine

(-bīn.) (Bot.) See AQUILEGIA. (ko-lum'bit.) [Fr. colombite. ] (Min.) A scarce,darkish-gray, hard, crystalline mineral, in which nitric acid is found in combination with the oxides of manganese and iron., (ko-lum'be-um.) (Chem.) See NIOBIUM., CHRISTOPHER, (ko-lum'būs.) [It. Christoforo Colombo; Sp. Chris to bal Colon.] The discoverer of America, B. abt. 1440 (the exact year being unknown). He went to sea in his boyhood, and first became known to the world at Lisbon in 1470, in which city he married and settled in busine as a maker of maps and charts, having in the interim (1477) performed a voyage to the N. of Iceland. Entertaining the idea of finding a new route to India by the W., he offered his services to John, king of Portugal, to conduct such an expedition and solve the grand problem of discovering a sea-pa age to the Indies. Failing in this, he resorted to Madrid, and there laid his projects before the sovereigns Ferdinand and Isabella. After surmounting many obstacles, his designs were put into execution, and on Aug. 3, 1492, his fleet of three small ve els set sail to the westward from the port of Palos. Land was discovered on Oct. 11th, which proved to be the island of Guanahani, or San Salvador, one of the Bahamas. Cuba and San Domingo (then and afterwards called Hispaniola) were his next discoveries. Deeming all these islands part of Asia, he named their inhabitants Indians, a title which has since adhered to all W. aborigines. After taking po e ion of his discoveries in the name of the Spanish crown, C. returned home and was received with extraordinary honors. In 1493, he set out on a second expedition, discovered Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and the Windward Islands, and colonized Hispaniola, of which islands he made his brother Bartholomew governor. In 1498, he sailed a third time to the W., and met with Trinidad and the coast of the Spanish Main as far S. as Paria. In the meantime, intrigues and di ensions had broken out in Hispaniola. The enemies of C., jealous of his good fortune and merit, prevailed upon the Spanish king to order him to be sent home in irons. The king disclaimed complicity, but C. did not get redre . He was, neverthele , dispatched on a fourth expedition in 1502, in search of the great Indian Sea, from which Vasco di Gama had but lately returned, bringing much treasure. Failing in this, his last undertaking, he never recovered the royal favor, and D. at Seville, 1506. High honors and immense wealth were the portion of his descendants, who became grandees of Spain, and whoso po e ions and titles at last merged into a branch of the house of Braganza in 1608. [s. 208]