How Did Christopher Columbus Die?

So, how did the world-famous explorer and navigator Christopher Columbus die?

The simple answer is, Christopher Columbus died at age 55 due to ‘Heart failure’.

The year was 1506 on May 20th.

At that time, doctors called his illness ‘Gout’ or ‘Arthritis’.

However, modern-day doctors suspect, it is a bacterial disease, which they scientifically call ‘Reiter syndrome’.

Here are some of the other historical facts associated with Christopher Columbus’s death.

They are such as…

How He Got Infected By The Disease?

There is no surety with proper historical evidence, but many historians suspect that he got infected by the Gout disease while he was arriving back from the first voyage.

On a stormy night arriving back to Spain, for the first time, at age 41, he suffered from a Gout attack.

In later years, he started suffering from other health-related issues like influenza, fever, bleeding from the eyes, temporary blindness, etc.

Suffering after fourteen long years of heavy illness, he died in 1506.

Many historians claim, probably he had to suffer from these health issues due to improper sanitization and food poisoning during his voyages.

How Old Was Christopher Columbus When He Died?

The explorer was only 54 years 6 months 20 days old when he died.

The place was Valladolid, Spain.

Although, due to his date of birth’s inaccuracy, the days and months are still controversial.

It is said that it was probably 25 August or 31 October 1451 (date of birth).

He died on May 20th, 1506.

Did He Die Without Knowing The Truth of The New World?

Yes, he died without knowing the actual truth that the landmass he discovered was not Asia, but completely new continents.

The truth came out after his death when another explorer, named Amerigo Vespucci find out the fact.

After that, when Europeans named the new continents in Amerigo Vespucci’s name ‘America’, many people considered it an injustice to the first explorer.

His Family At The Time of Death

Columbus was living with his family at the time of his death. He left two sons and many grandchildren.

Among his sons, one was Diego Columbus and the other was Ferdinand Columbus.

Diego was the son born to his wife Filipa Moniz Perestrelo.

And Ferdinand, his 2nd son was born from Beatriz Enríquez de Arana. 

Columbus had a physical relationship with Beatriz Enríquez de Arana. However, they never got married.

2 Fun Facts About Christopher Columbus

1. Do you know? Before Columbus traveled to the new world, he made an important agreement with the Spanish authority that 10 percent of what Spain would gain via his exploration would be given to Columbus.

Yes, this fact is true.

But ironically, in later years, the Spanish authority didn’t give much importance to the agreement, even though he kept claiming it till his death.

2. Secondly, will you believe me, if I say Christopher Columbus was a tyrant?

Yes, I am not kidding you.

He was responsible for the deaths of millions of Native American people.

Want to know about it?

Read this article: here.