Born in Genoa in 1461, Bartholomew became a mapmaker in
Lisbon, the principal centre of
cartography of the time, and conceived with his brother the "Enterprise of the Indies", a planned expedition to reach the Orient and its lucrative
spice trade by a western rather than an eastern route. In 1489, he went to
England to seek assistance from
Henry VII for the execution of the expedition. He was taken by pirates and landed in England in a destitute condition, and on presenting himself at Court was unfavourably received. He then sought help at the court of
Charles VIII in France, again without success. Meanwhile, his brother Christopher was in
Castile trying to persuade
Isabella I of Castile and
Ferdinand II of Aragon to back the expedition. When word arrived in 1493 that his brother had succeeded, Bartholomew returned to Spain, where he missed Christopher, who had already left on the
second voyage of his four to the "
New World". Funded by
the Crown, Bartholomew Columbus travelled to
Hispaniola in 1494 to meet his brother, where he was appointed as an
adelantado, a senior-ranking governor, during his brother's absences. He founded the city of
Santo Domingo on Hispaniola between 1496 and 1498, which is now the capital of the
Dominican Republic. He was imprisoned together with Christopher and another brother, Giacomo (also called Diego), by
Francisco de Bobadilla and returned to Spain in December 1500. After the Court acquitted Christopher Columbus of all of the charges, the Crown funded Christopher Columbus's
fourth and last voyage to the
West Indies. Bartholomew accompanied his brother on this final
New World voyage and was to be left with a garrison near the
Belén River. Bartholomew's men were attacked by the local
Ngäbe leader,
El Quibían. In 1495, Bartholomew Columbus participated in the
Battle of Vega Real, a significant conflict between Spanish forces and a group of Taíno chiefdoms at Hispaniola. He served as a commander alongside his brother, as well as the Spanish officer
Alonso de Ojeda. On 30 July 1502, Bartholomew and Christopher arrived at
Guanaja, one of the
Bay Islands off the coast of
Honduras. Christopher sent his brother to scout the island. As Bartholomew explored, a large trading canoe approached. Bartholomew Columbus boarded the canoe and found it was a
Maya trading vessel from
Yucatán, carrying well-dressed Maya and a rich cargo. The Europeans looted whatever took their interest from amongst the cargo and seized the elderly captain to serve as an interpreter; the canoe was then allowed to continue on its way. This was the first recorded contact between Europeans and the Maya. It is likely that news of the piratical strangers in the Caribbean passed along the
Maya trade routes – the first prophecies of bearded invaders sent by
Kukulkan, the northern Maya
feathered serpent god, were probably recorded around this time, and in due course passed into the books of
Chilam Balam. Following Christopher Columbus's death in Spain in 1506, Bartholomew returned to the
Antilles in 1509, accompanying his nephew
Diego, from Bartholomew's heirs after Bartholomew's death on 12 August 1514 (by which time Bartholomew had returned to
Hispaniola). Bartholomew Columbus had a natural daughter named Maria, born in 1508 as the result of a relationship with Catalina Marrón. Nothing is known of them beyond a brief mention in Columbus's will dated 1511. ==Legacy==