Queen Isabella was quite ill when Columbus returned. When she died on November 26, 1504, Columbus lost his friend and benefactor. Even though he was wealthy from his many explorations, he still felt he should be restored as governor of Hispaniola.

Finally in the spring of 1505, Ferdinand called him to court. The king heard the explorer's petition, but did nothing. A year later, Christopher Columbus was ill. He died on May 20 [1506], disappointed that he never found the route to the East and convinced he had set foot in Asia rather than a new world.

Certainly Columbus was not the first European explorer to discover America. The Vikings and the native people of these lands were there before him. What was so significant about his discoveries was that they opened a pathway from the Old World to the New and changed life forever on both sides of the Atlantic.