But whatever credit is to be given to the Asiatic, Norse, or other early discoverers of America, or whatever knowledge of this hemisphere may have been possessed by Europeans in classic times, to Christopher Columbus must be ascribed the honor of opening the Western World to actual settlement by civilized man. This illustrious man was born in 1436, in all but the lowest rank of life. His father was a woolcomber of Genoa. But the education of the lad was made as complete as the scanty means of his parents and the limited knowledge of that day would permit. At an early age he learned to read and write, and obtained some knowledge of arithmetic, drawing, and painting. Then he was sent to the college at Pavia, one of the best institutions of learning of those times. Here he studied grammar and the Latin language; but his attention, fortunately for the world, was directed principally to studies bearing upon the maritime profession, which he intended to follow. He was instructed in geometry, astronomy, and navigation. Like many of the young men of Genoa, he had an irresistible inclination toward the sea. This was but natural, as that city was one of the chief ports of the world. Later in life, Columbus ascribed this inclination to a direct impulse from God, but this was only after his career had been crowned with such brilliant success. Geography was at this time the fashionable fad of the day. The world was just beginning to recover the lost geographical knowledge, limited as it was, of the Greeks and Romans. Monks and churchmen were still splitting hairs over absurdly unimportant problems: How many angels could stand on the point of a needle? whether a lie, under certain circumstances, was not truth? whether black might not, in certain cases, be truly called white? and other questions of equal vitality. But Arabian philosophers, at the same time, were measuring degrees of latitude and calculating the circumference of the earth. Their studies and achievements inevitably found their way to the minds of many Christians in Europe, who, although detesting the religious creed of the Mohammedans, were able to see that their science was not to be despised. The works of Ptolemy and Strabo had also just come into popular circulation, and created as much of a sensation as any realistic novel of the present day. Prince Henry of Portugal had made voyages of important discovery along the African coast, and thus had inspired all the nations of Western Europe with the hope of lighting upon some yet unknown region of fabulous wealth.