The New International Encyclopædia/Columbus, Ferdinand

COLUMBUS, Ferdinand (Fernando) (1488-1539). A natural son of Christopher Columbus by Beatriz Henriquez, of Cordova. In 1498 he became page to Queen Isabella. He accompanied his father on his last voyage to the New World, and in 1509 he sailed for Española with his brother Diego, who had been made Governor of the Indies. Returning to Spain, he settled down as a cosmographer and writer on navigation. He traveled extensively in Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, and France, and in 1522 visited England. Two years later he was a member of the board of arbitration selected to decide on the conflicting claims of Spain and Portugal to the Molucca Islands. His political career was an active one, and mainly in line with his profession as geographer. Two years before his death he founded a school of mathematics and education at Seville. His library of more than 12,000 volumes he left to the chapter of the cathedral at Seville. Ferdinand is best known as the probable author of a life of his father, upon which all subsequent biographies of Christopher Columbus have been based. We possess this work only in the form of the Italian translation published at Venice in 1571, the original having been lost. Ferdinand's claim to the authorship of this biography has been denied by eminent authorities and just as warmly defended; the question is still a mooted one.