Christopher Columbus
in Columbus Circle.

Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa in 1451. Although an Italian, he won fame as a navigator in the service of Spain.

He was born to a master weaver who also owned a wine shop. While working for his father, Columbus began to follow the sea at a young age. He was required to go on occasional coastal voyages to collect supplies of wool or wine.

As he grew older, his voyages became longer, until on one voyage he ended up penniless in Portugal. This was the turning point of his life. Though not a professional seaman, Columbus acquired during his Portuguese years comprehensive seagoing experience in precisely those areas which would be useful for ocean exploration.

Columbus came up with  a project he called Enterprise to the Indies, for which he gained the financial support of Spain for an expedition not to "find a new land", but to initiate trade with India and China.

Columbus sailed due West in the hope of reaching India, but what he "discovered" instead were the Americas. In fact, although Columbus voyaged all around the Carribean and landed on many islands, he never fully understood that he had come upon a hitherto unknown (to most Europeans) continent.

Hs exploration to India may have failed, but Christopher Columbus made the initial discovery from which the entire European exploration and settlement of the Americas began.

Joan of Arc was French peasant girl who was born in 1412. Her family were poor farmers who raised five children, including Joan.

Joan was more religious than most girls of her village, and at the age of thirteen she began to hear voices that told her to free the city of Orleans from the English who were besieging it. The voices she heard were those of Saint Michael, Saint Catherine, and Saint Margaret, who would guide her for the rest of her life.

In 1429 she persuaded Robert Baudricourt, captain of the nearby town of Vaucouleurs, to provide her with a small military escort for a dangerous journey to take the dauphin to Reims where he would be crowned king of France. Joan also convinced Charles VII of her divine mission to help drive the English from France. In convincing Charles VII Joan was granted a commanding role in a sizable force to lift the English siege, in which she succeeded.

The English wanted possession of Joan for she had become an impediment to their conquest of France. She was delivered to the Inquisition, where she was tried for heresy and for not submitting to the authority of the church by dressing in men's clothes.

Joan was improperly held in a secular prison, guarded by male jailers, and denied counsel. She conducted a heroic yet hopeless self-defense in the face of aggressive questioning. She was sentenced to life in prison for her crimes.

While in jail, Joan continued to dress in men's clothes to protect herself from the male jailers. She was eventually found to be a "relapsed heretic" and was burned at the stake in Rouen's Old Market in front of a large crowd.

Although Joan of Arc died a dishonorable death, she was canonized in 1920 and the charges against her were found null and invalid. Because of her courage and beliefs, Joan of Arc is known to be one of the greatest women in history.

Joan of Arc
Riverside Park.

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Saint Patrick
Picture was taken of a statue of Saint Patrick located in Front of Old Saint Patrick's Cathedral in lower Manhattan.