columbusarms, Coat of Arms of Christopher Columbus T-Shirt

Christopher Columbus was a native of Genoa, Italy. He began a seafaring life at the age of 14, and in the intervals between voyages, made maps and globes. His father had been one of the King of Portugal's famous navigators, and had left behind him at his death a quantity of charts and notes. As a reward for his successful voyage of discovery, the Spanish sovereigns granted Columbus the right to bear arms. According to the blazon specified in letters patent dated May 20, 1493, Columbus was to bear in the first and the second quarters the royal charges of Castile and Leon -- the castle and the lion -- but with different tinctures or colors. In the third quarter would be islands in a wavy sea, and in the fourth, the customary arms of his family. Source: School History of the United States by John Bach McMaster, 1897 and others