Christopher Columbus is credited with discovering the Americas in 1492 during his expedition sponsored by the Spanish crown. Although he was not the first European to reach the continent—Vikings, led by Leif Erikson, had arrived much earlier—Columbus’s voyages marked the beginning of expansive European exploration and colonization in the New World. Columbus made four trips across the Atlantic Ocean, ultimately landing on various Caribbean islands, which he initially believed to be part of Asia. His journeys initiated a period of significant cultural exchanges, significant impacts on indigenous populations, and substantial geopolitical changes in the following centuries.