120-545: Safelite Group, Inc. is an American provider of automotive glass repair and replacement services, wholesale automotive glass sales, along with insurance claims management, based in Columbus, Ohio . Bud Glassman and Art Lankin started Safelite in a junkyard in Wichita, Kansas in 1947. The company declared bankruptcy in 1997, after which time, the company became owned by its largest creditor, J.P. Morgan & Co. In 2007, Safelite
240-516: A Genoese dialect ( Ligurian ) as his first language, though Columbus probably never wrote in it. His name in 15th-century Genoese was Cristoffa Corombo , in Italian, Cristoforo Colombo , and in Spanish Cristóbal Colón . In one of his writings, he says he went to sea at 14. In 1470, the family moved to Savona , where Domenico took over a tavern. Some modern authors have argued that he
360-518: A Baptist preacher and leader in the city's African-American community until the turn of the century. During the Civil War , Columbus was a major base for the volunteer Union Army . It housed 26,000 troops and held up to 9,000 Confederate prisoners of war at Camp Chase , at what is now the Hilltop neighborhood of west Columbus. Over 2,000 Confederate soldiers remain buried at the site, making it one of
480-554: A degree of longitude along the equator) spanned 56.67 Arabic miles (equivalent to 66.2 nautical miles, 122.6 kilometers or 76.2 mi), but he did not realize that this was expressed in the Arabic mile (about 1,830 meters or 1.14 mi) rather than the shorter Roman mile (about 1,480 m) with which he was familiar. Columbus therefore estimated the size of the Earth to be about 75% of Eratosthenes's calculation. Third, most scholars of
600-532: A five-week voyage across the ocean. On 7 October, the crew spotted "[i]mmense flocks of birds". On 11 October, Columbus changed the fleet's course to due west, and sailed through the night, believing land was soon to be found. At around 02:00 the following morning, a lookout on the Pinta , Rodrigo de Triana , spotted land. The captain of the Pinta , Martín Alonso Pinzón , verified the sight of land and alerted Columbus. Columbus later maintained that he had already seen
720-592: A large glacier that covered most of Ohio during the Wisconsin Ice Age . However, there are sizable differences in elevation through the area, with the high point of Franklin County being 1,132 ft (345 m) above sea level near New Albany , and the low point being 670 ft (200 m) where the Scioto River leaves the county near Lockbourne . Several ravines near the rivers and creeks also add variety to
840-841: A light on the land a few hours earlier, thereby claiming for himself the lifetime pension promised by Ferdinand and Isabella to the first person to sight land. Columbus called this island (in what is now the Bahamas) San Salvador (meaning "Holy Savior"); the natives called it Guanahani . Christopher Columbus's journal entry of 12 October 1492 states: I saw some who had marks of wounds on their bodies and I made signs to them asking what they were; and they showed me how people from other islands nearby came there and tried to take them, and how they defended themselves; and I believed and believe that they come here from tierra firme to take them captive. They should be good and intelligent servants, for I see that they say very quickly everything that
960-435: A male householder with no spouse present, and 33.7% had a female householder with no spouse present. 37.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.7% were someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.26, and the average family size was 3.03. 21.0% of the city's population were under the age of 18, 67.5% were 18 to 64, and 11.5% were 65 years of age or older. The median age
1080-566: A mistress in 1487, a 20-year-old orphan named Beatriz Enríquez de Arana . It is likely that Beatriz met Columbus when he was in Córdoba , a gathering place for Genoese merchants and where the court of the Catholic Monarchs was located at intervals. Beatriz, unmarried at the time, gave birth to Columbus's second son, Fernando Columbus , in July 1488, named for the monarch of Aragon. Columbus recognized
1200-516: A mound that existed by the intersection of Mound and High Streets . The mound's clay was used in bricks for most of the city's initial brick buildings; many were subsequently used in the Ohio Statehouse . The city's Ohio History Center maintains a collection of artifacts from these cultures. The area including present-day Columbus once comprised the Ohio Country , under the nominal control of
1320-473: A nearby smaller island, which he named Mariagalante , now a part of Guadeloupe and called Marie-Galante . Other islands named by Columbus on this voyage were Montserrat , Antigua , Saint Martin , the Virgin Islands , as well as many others. On 17 November, Columbus first sighted the eastern coast of the island of Puerto Rico , known to its native Taino people as Borikén . His fleet sailed along
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#17328590234731440-470: A number of prominent cybersecurity researchers called on the city to drop the lawsuit. On Saturday November 19 2024 about a dozen men dressed in black and masked carried red swastika flags in Columbus making racist slurs and using pepper speech. The group identified themselves as "Hate Club". Oren Segal, ADL vice-president, said that this might related to the hate group Blood Tribe "Blood Tribe views itself as
1560-533: A permanent settlement on the west bank of the forks of the Scioto and Olentangy rivers. An admirer of Benjamin Franklin , Sullivant chose to name his frontier village " Franklinton ." The location was desirable for its proximity to the navigable rivers – but Sullivant was initially foiled when, in 1798, a large flood wiped out the new settlement. He persevered, and the village was rebuilt, though somewhat more inland. After
1680-458: A plan to build a new city in the state's center, near major transportation routes, primarily rivers. As well, Franklinton landowners had donated two 10-acre (4.0 ha) plots in an effort to convince the state to move its capital there. The two spaces were set to become Capitol Square , including for the Ohio Statehouse and the Ohio Penitentiary . Named in honor of Christopher Columbus ,
1800-613: A population boom. A wave of European immigrants led to the creation of two ethnic enclaves on the city's outskirts. A large Irish population settled in the north along Naghten Street (presently Nationwide Boulevard), while the Germans took advantage of the cheap land to the south, creating a community that came to be known as the Das Alte Südende (The Old South End). Columbus's German population constructed numerous breweries, Trinity Lutheran Seminary and Capital University . With
1920-474: A population density of 4,109.64 people per square mile (1,586.74/km ). There were 415,456 housing units. The racial makeup of the city was 57.4% White , 29.2% Black or African American , 0.2% Native American or Alaska Native, and 5.9% Asian . Hispanic or Latino of any race made up 6.3% of the population. There were 392,041 households, out of which 25.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 30.8% were married couples living together, 25.1% had
2040-478: A population of 3,500, Columbus was officially chartered as a city on March 3, 1834. On that day, the legislature carried out a special act , which granted legislative authority to the city council and judicial authority to the mayor. Elections were held in April of that year, with voters choosing John Brooks as the first popularly elected mayor. Columbus annexed the then-separate city of Franklinton in 1837. In 1850,
2160-507: A variety of ways. Columbus often wrote about seeking gold in the log books of his voyages and writes about acquiring it "in such quantity that the sovereigns... will undertake and prepare to go conquer the Holy Sepulcher " in a fulfillment of Biblical prophecy . Columbus often wrote about converting all races to Christianity. Abbas Hamandi argues that Columbus was motivated by the hope of "[delivering] Jerusalem from Muslim hands" by "using
2280-525: A wide diversity of neighborhoods with different characters, and is thus sometimes known as a "city of neighborhoods." Some of the most prominent neighborhoods include the Arena District , the Brewery District , Clintonville , Franklinton , German Village , The Short North and Victorian Village . The city's climate is humid continental ( Köppen climate classification Dfa ) transitional with
2400-507: A wool weaver who worked in Genoa and Savona , and owned a cheese stand at which young Christopher worked. His mother was Susanna Fontanarossa . He had three brothers— Bartholomew , Giovanni Pellegrino, and Giacomo (also called Diego) —as well as a sister, Bianchinetta. Bartholomew ran a cartography workshop in Lisbon for at least part of his adulthood. His native language is presumed to have been
2520-529: Is composed of three major business operations: Columbus, Ohio Columbus ( / k ə ˈ l ʌ m b ə s / , kə- LUM -bəs ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio . With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest (after Chicago ), and the third-most populous U.S. state capital (after Phoenix, Arizona and Austin, Texas ). Columbus
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#17328590234732640-738: Is home to the Battelle Memorial Institute , the world's largest private research and development foundation; Chemical Abstracts Service , the world's largest clearinghouse of chemical information; and the Ohio State University , one of the largest universities in the United States . The Greater Columbus area is further home to the headquarters of six Fortune 500 companies, namely Cardinal Health , American Electric Power , Bath & Body Works, Inc. , Nationwide , Bread Financial and Huntington Bancshares . The city of Columbus
2760-603: Is known that in the autumn of 1477, he sailed on a Portuguese ship from Galway to Lisbon, where he found his brother Bartholomew, and they continued trading for the Centurione family. Columbus based himself in Lisbon from 1477 to 1485. In 1478, the Centuriones sent Columbus on a sugar-buying trip to Madeira. He married Felipa Perestrello e Moniz , daughter of Bartolomeu Perestrello , a Portuguese nobleman of Lombard origin, who had been
2880-488: Is land and 5.94 square miles (15.38 km ) is water. Columbus currently has the largest land area of any Ohio city; this is due to Jim Rhodes 's tactic to annex suburbs while serving as mayor. As surrounding communities grew or were constructed, they came to require access to waterlines, which was under the sole control of the municipal water system. Rhodes told these communities that if they wanted water, they would have to submit to assimilation into Columbus. Columbus has
3000-477: Is now Ghana . He married Portuguese noblewoman Filipa Moniz Perestrelo , who bore a son, Diego , and was based in Lisbon for several years. He later took a Castilian mistress, Beatriz Enríquez de Arana , who bore a son, Ferdinand . Largely self-educated, Columbus was knowledgeable in geography, astronomy, and history. He developed a plan to seek a western sea passage to the East Indies , hoping to profit from
3120-536: Is said to them; and I believe they would become Christians very easily, for it seemed to me that they had no religion. Our Lord pleasing, at the time of my departure I will take six of them from here to Your Highnesses in order that they may learn to speak. Columbus called the inhabitants of the lands that he visited Los Indios (Spanish for "Indians"). He initially encountered the Lucayan , Taíno , and Arawak peoples. Noting their gold ear ornaments, Columbus took some of
3240-467: Is the county seat of Franklin County ; it also extends into Delaware and Fairfield counties. It is the core city of the Columbus metropolitan area , which encompasses ten counties in central Ohio. It had a population of 2.139 million in 2020, making it the largest metropolitan area entirely in Ohio and 32nd-largest metro area in the U.S. Columbus originated as numerous Native American settlements on
3360-720: The Reconquista , an expensive war against the Moors in the Iberian Peninsula , were eager to obtain a competitive edge over other European countries in the quest for trade with the Indies. Columbus's project, though far-fetched, held the promise of such an advantage. Though Columbus was wrong about the number of degrees of longitude that separated Europe from the Far East and about the distance that each degree represented, he did take advantage of
3480-895: The Americas , each voyage being sponsored by the Crown of Castile . On his first voyage he reached the Americas, initiating the European exploration and colonization of the continent , as well as the Columbian exchange . His role in history is thus important to the Age of Discovery , Western history , and human history writ large. In Columbus's letter on the first voyage , published following his first return to Spain, he claimed that he had reached Asia, as previously described by Marco Polo and other Europeans. Over his subsequent voyages, Columbus refused to acknowledge that
3600-702: The Anti-Saloon League in neighboring Westerville . In the steel industry , a forward-thinking man named Samuel P. Bush presided over the Buckeye Steel Castings Company. Columbus was also a popular location for labor organizations. In 1886, Samuel Gompers founded the American Federation of Labor in Druid's Hall on South Fourth Street, and in 1890, the United Mine Workers of America
3720-571: The Cape Route around Africa to Asia. Columbus had to wait until 1492 for King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain to support his voyage across the Atlantic to find gold, spices, a safer route to the East, and converts to Christianity. Carol Delaney and other commentators have argued that Columbus was a Christian millennialist and apocalypticist and that these beliefs motivated his quest for Asia in
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3840-628: The Cape of Good Hope ). Columbus sought an audience with the monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile , who had united several kingdoms in the Iberian Peninsula by marrying and now ruled together. On 1 May 1486, permission having been granted, Columbus presented his plans to Queen Isabella, who, in turn, referred it to a committee. The learned men of Spain, like their counterparts in Portugal, replied that Columbus had grossly underestimated
3960-503: The Ciguayos , the only natives who offered violent resistance during this voyage. The Ciguayos refused to trade the amount of bows and arrows that Columbus desired; in the ensuing clash one Ciguayo was stabbed in the buttocks and another wounded with an arrow in his chest. Because of these events, Columbus called the inlet the Golfo de Las Flechas ( Bay of Arrows ). Columbus headed for Spain on
4080-509: The Columbus Public Health department. The outbreak, which remained in the city from July to September 1833, killed 100 people. Columbus was without direct river or trail connections to other Ohio cities, leading to slow initial growth. The National Road reached Columbus from Baltimore in 1831, which complemented the city's new link to the Ohio and Erie Canal , both of which facilitated
4200-529: The Columbus and Xenia Railroad became the first railroad into the city, followed by the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad in 1851. The two railroads built a joint Union Station on the east side of High Street just north of Naghten (then called North Public Lane). Rail traffic into Columbus increased: by 1875, eight railroads served Columbus, and the rail companies built a new, more elaborate station. Another cholera outbreak hit Columbus in 1849, prompting
4320-557: The French colonial empire through the Viceroyalty of New France from 1663 until 1763. In the 18th century, European traders flocked to the area, attracted by the fur trade . The area was often caught between warring factions, including American Indian and European interests. In the 1740s, Pennsylvania traders overran the territory until the French forcibly evicted them. Fighting for control of
4440-515: The Great Flood of 1913 devastated the neighborhood of Franklinton, leaving over 90 people dead and thousands of West Side residents homeless. To prevent flooding, the Army Corps of Engineers recommended widening the Scioto River through downtown, constructing new bridges and building a retaining wall along its banks. With the strength of the post- World War I economy, a construction boom occurred in
4560-503: The Miami , Delaware , Wyandot , Shawnee and Mingo nations, as well as European traders. The tribes resisted expansion by the fledgling United States, leading to years of bitter conflict. The decisive Battle of Fallen Timbers resulted in the Treaty of Greenville in 1795, which finally opened the way for new settlements. By 1797, a young surveyor from Virginia named Lucas Sullivant had founded
4680-470: The Midwestern United States . Severe thunderstorms can bring lightning , large hail and on rare occasions tornadoes , especially during the spring and sometimes through fall. A tornado that occurred on October 11, 2006, caused F2 damage. Floods, blizzards and ice storms can also occur from time to time. In the 2020 United States census, there were 905,748 people living in the city, for
4800-555: The Mound Builders , including the Adena , Hopewell and Fort Ancient peoples. Remaining physical evidence of the cultures are their burial mounds and what they contained. Most of Central Ohio's remaining mounds are located outside of Columbus city boundaries, though the Shrum Mound is maintained, now as part of a public park and historic site. The city's Mound Street derives its name from
4920-611: The National Football League . Nearly a decade later, in 1931, at a convention in the city, the Jehovah's Witnesses took that name by which they are known today. The effects of the Great Depression were less severe in Columbus, as the city's diversified economy helped it fare better than its Rust Belt neighbors. World War II brought many new jobs and another population surge. This time, most new arrivals were migrants from
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5040-572: The Niña , but a storm separated him from the Pinta, and forced the Niña to stop at the island of Santa Maria in the Azores. Half of his crew went ashore to say prayers of thanksgiving in a chapel for having survived the storm. But while praying, they were imprisoned by the governor of the island, ostensibly on suspicion of being pirates. After a two-day standoff, the prisoners were released, and Columbus again set sail for Spain. Another storm forced Columbus into
5160-570: The donatary captain of Porto Santo . In 1479 or 1480, Columbus's son Diego was born. Between 1482 and 1485, Columbus traded along the coasts of West Africa , reaching the Portuguese trading post of Elmina at the Guinea coast in present-day Ghana . Before 1484, Columbus returned to Porto Santo to find that his wife had died. He returned to Portugal to settle her estate and take Diego with him. He left Portugal for Castile in 1485, where he took
5280-487: The dozens of wooden arches that spanned High Street at the turn of the 20th century. The arches illuminated the thoroughfare and eventually became the means by which electric power was provided to the new streetcars . The city tore down the arches and replaced them with cluster lights in 1914 but reconstructed them from metal in the Short North neighborhood in 2002 for their unique historical interest. On March 25, 1913,
5400-623: The fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453, the Silk Road was closed to Christian traders. In 1474, the Florentine astronomer Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli suggested to King Afonso V of Portugal that sailing west across the Atlantic would be a quicker way to reach the Maluku (Spice) Islands, China , Japan and India than the route around Africa, but Afonso rejected his proposal. In
5520-556: The high-tech manufacturing sector, with Intel announcing plans to construct a $ 20 billion factory and Honda expanding its presence along with LG Energy Solutions with a $ 4.4 billion battery manufactory facility in Fayette County . The COVID-19 pandemic muted activity in Columbus, especially in its downtown core, from 2020 to 2022. By late 2022, foot traffic in Downtown Columbus began to exceed pre-pandemic rates; one of
5640-556: The humid subtropical ( Köppen climate classification Cfa ) to the south characterized by warm, muggy summers and cold, dry winters. Columbus is within USDA hardiness zone 6b, bordering on 7a. Winter snowfall is relatively light, since the city is not in the typical path of strong winter lows, such as the Nor'easters that strike cities farther east. It is also too far south and west for lake-effect snow from Lake Erie to have much effect, although
5760-553: The trade winds , which would prove to be the key to his successful navigation of the Atlantic Ocean. He planned to first sail to the Canary Islands before continuing west with the northeast trade wind. Part of the return to Spain would require traveling against the wind using an arduous sailing technique called beating , during which progress is made very slowly. To effectively make the return voyage, Columbus would need to follow
5880-553: The "extraordinarily depressed rural areas" of Appalachia , who would soon account for more than a third of Columbus's growing population. In 1948, the Town and Country Shopping Center opened in suburban Whitehall , and it is now regarded as one of the first modern shopping centers in the United States. The construction of the Interstate Highway System signaled the arrival of rapid suburb development in central Ohio. To protect
6000-401: The 1480s, Columbus and his brother proposed a plan to reach the East Indies by sailing west. Columbus supposedly wrote to Toscanelli in 1481 and received encouragement, along with a copy of a map the astronomer had sent Afonso implying that a westward route to Asia was possible. Columbus's plans were complicated by Bartolomeu Dias 's rounding of the Cape of Good Hope in 1488, which suggested
6120-723: The 1920s, resulting in a new civic center , the Ohio Theatre , the American Insurance Union Citadel and to the north, a massive new Ohio Stadium . Although the American Professional Football Association was founded in Canton in 1920, its head offices moved to Columbus in 1921 to the New Hayden Building and remained in the city until 1941. In 1922, the association's name was changed to
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#17328590234736240-420: The Americas. He sailed with nearly 1,500 men, including sailors, soldiers, priests, carpenters, stonemasons, metalworkers, and farmers. Among the expedition members were Alvarez Chanca , a physician who wrote a detailed account of the second voyage; Juan Ponce de León, the first governor of Puerto Rico and Florida; the father of Bartolomé de las Casas; Juan de la Cosa , a cartographer who is credited with making
6360-428: The April 1492 " Capitulations of Santa Fe ", King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella promised Columbus that if he succeeded he would be given the rank of Admiral of the Ocean Sea and appointed Viceroy and Governor of all the new lands he might claim for Spain. He had the right to nominate three persons, from whom the sovereigns would choose one, for any office in the new lands. He would be entitled to 10% ( diezmo ) of all
6480-425: The Arawaks prisoner and insisted that they guide him to the source of the gold. Columbus did not believe he needed to create a fortified outpost, writing, "the people here are simple in war-like matters ... I could conquer the whole of them with fifty men, and govern them as I pleased." The Taínos told Columbus that another indigenous tribe, the Caribs , were fierce warriors and cannibals , who made frequent raids on
6600-457: The Canary Islands west to Japan; the actual distance is 10,600 nmi (19,600 km; 12,200 mi). No ship in the 15th century could have carried enough food and fresh water for such a long voyage, and the dangers involved in navigating through the uncharted ocean would have been formidable. Most European navigators reasonably concluded that a westward voyage from Europe to Asia was unfeasible. The Catholic Monarchs, however, having completed
6720-518: The Castilian crown, known as the pleitos colombinos , alleging that the Crown had illegally reneged on its contractual obligations to Columbus and his heirs. The Columbus family had some success in their first litigation, as a judgment of 1511 confirmed Diego's position as viceroy but reduced his powers. Diego resumed litigation in 1512, which lasted until 1536, and further disputes initiated by heirs continued until 1790. Between 1492 and 1504, Columbus completed four round-trip voyages between Spain and
6840-444: The Catholic Monarchs of Spain. They were replaced by the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494. The two earliest published copies of Columbus's letter on the first voyage aboard the Niña were donated in 2017 by the Jay I. Kislak Foundation to the University of Miami library in Coral Gables, Florida , where they are housed. On 24 September 1493, Columbus sailed from Cádiz with 17 ships, and supplies to establish permanent colonies in
6960-401: The Earth; and the number of miles or leagues in a degree of longitude , which was possible to deduce from the theory of the relationship between the size of the surfaces of water and the land as held by the followers of Aristotle in medieval times. From Pierre d'Ailly 's Imago Mundi (1410), Columbus learned of Alfraganus 's estimate that a degree of latitude (equal to approximately
7080-402: The Far East. As a colonial governor, Columbus was accused by some of his contemporaries of significant brutality and removed from the post. Columbus's strained relationship with the Crown of Castile and its colonial administrators in America led to his arrest and removal from Hispaniola in 1500, and later to protracted litigation over the privileges he and his heirs claimed were owed to them by
7200-441: The Indies implausible. Columbus had left for France when Ferdinand intervened, first sending Talavera and Bishop Diego Deza to appeal to the queen. Isabella was finally convinced by the king's clerk Luis de Santángel , who argued that Columbus would take his ideas elsewhere, and offered to help arrange the funding. Isabella then sent a royal guard to fetch Columbus, who had traveled 2 leagues (over 10 km) toward Córdoba. In
7320-406: The North's largest Confederate cemeteries. North of Columbus, along the Delaware Road, the Regular Army established Camp Thomas , where the 18th U.S. Infantry organized and trained. By virtue of the Morrill Act of 1862 , the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College – which eventually became the Ohio State University – was founded in 1870 on the former estate of William and Hannah Neil. By
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#17328590234737440-421: The Revolution, land comprising parts of Franklin and adjacent counties was set aside by the United States Congress for settlement by Canadians and Nova Scotians who were sympathetic to the colonial cause and had their land and possessions seized by the British government. The Refugee Tract , consisting of 103,000 acres (42,000 ha), was 42 miles (68 km) long and 3–4.5 miles (4.8–7.2 km) wide, and
7560-403: The Spanish crown sent him 20,000 maravedis to buy new clothes and instructions to return to the Spanish court for renewed discussions. Columbus waited at King Ferdinand's camp until Ferdinand and Isabella conquered Granada , the last Muslim stronghold on the Iberian Peninsula, in January 1492. A council led by Isabella's confessor, Hernando de Talavera , found Columbus's proposal to reach
7680-403: The Taínos, often capturing their women, although this may have been a belief perpetuated by the Spaniards to justify enslaving them. Columbus also explored the northeast coast of Cuba, where he landed on 28 October. On the night of 26 November, Martín Alonso Pinzón took the Pinta on an unauthorized expedition in search of an island called "Babeque" or "Baneque", which the natives had told him
7800-402: The Western Hemisphere bear his name , including the South American country of Colombia , the Canadian province of British Columbia , the American city Columbus, Ohio , and the United States capital, the District of Columbia . Columbus's early life is obscure, but scholars believe he was born in the Republic of Genoa between 25 August and 31 October 1451. His father was Domenico Colombo ,
7920-450: The banks of the Scioto River . Franklinton , now a city neighborhood, was the first European settlement, laid out in 1797. The city was founded in 1812 at the confluence of the Scioto and Olentangy rivers, and laid out to become the state capital. The city was named for Italian explorer Christopher Columbus . The city assumed the function of state capital in 1816 and county seat in 1824. Amid steady years of growth and industrialization,
8040-572: The boy as his offspring. Columbus entrusted his older, legitimate son Diego to take care of Beatriz and pay the pension set aside for her following his death, but Diego was negligent in his duties. Columbus learned Latin , Portuguese, and Castilian. He read widely about astronomy, geography, and history, including the works of Ptolemy , Pierre d'Ailly 's Imago Mundi , the travels of Marco Polo and Sir John Mandeville , Pliny 's Natural History , and Pope Pius II 's Historia rerum ubique gestarum . According to historian Edmund Morgan , Columbus
8160-488: The city added 164,000 jobs, which ranked second in the United States. In February and March 2020, Columbus reported its first official cases of COVID-19 and declared a state of emergency, with all nonessential businesses closed statewide. There were 69,244 cases of the disease across the city, as of March 11, 2021 . Later in 2020, protests over the murder of George Floyd took place in the city from May 28 into August. Columbus and its metro area have experienced growth in
8280-423: The city has experienced numerous floods and recessions. Beginning in the 1950s, Columbus began to experience significant growth; it became the largest city in Ohio in land and population by the early 1990s. Growth has continued in the 21st century, with redevelopment occurring in numerous city neighborhoods, including Downtown . The city has a diverse economy without reliance on any one sector. The metropolitan area
8400-444: The city was founded on February 14, 1812, on the "High Banks opposite Franklinton at the Forks of the Scioto most known as Wolf's Ridge." At the time, this area was a dense forestland, used only as a hunting ground. The city was incorporated as a borough on February 10, 1816. Nine people were elected to fill the municipality's various positions of mayor, treasurer and several others. Between 1816 and 1817, Jarvis W. Pike served as
8520-404: The city's tax base from this suburbanization, Columbus adopted a policy of linking sewer and water hookups to annexation to the city. By the early 1990s, Columbus had grown to become Ohio's largest city in land area and in population. Efforts to revitalize downtown Columbus have had some success in recent decades, though like most major American cities, some architectural heritage was lost in
8640-594: The city. The Scioto Mile began development along the riverfront, an area that already had the Miranova Corporate Center and The Condominiums at North Bank Park . The 2010 United States foreclosure crisis forced the city to purchase numerous foreclosed, vacant properties to renovate or demolish them – at a cost of tens of millions of dollars. In February 2011, Columbus had 6,117 vacant properties, according to city officials. Since 2010, Columbus has been growing in population and economy; from 2010 to 2017,
8760-497: The crown. Columbus's expeditions inaugurated a period of exploration, conquest, and colonization that lasted for centuries, thus bringing the Americas into the European sphere of influence. The transfer of plants, animals, precious metals, culture, human populations, technology, diseases, and ideas between the Old World and New World that followed his first voyage are known as the Columbian exchange , named after him. These events and
8880-503: The curving trade winds northeastward to the middle latitudes of the North Atlantic, where he would be able to catch the " westerlies " that blow eastward to the coast of Western Europe. The navigational technique for travel in the Atlantic appears to have been exploited first by the Portuguese, who referred to it as the volta do mar ('turn of the sea'). Through his marriage to his first wife, Felipa Perestrello, Columbus had access to
9000-468: The distance to Asia. They pronounced the idea impractical and advised the Catholic Monarchs to pass on the proposed venture. To keep Columbus from taking his ideas elsewhere, and perhaps to keep their options open, the sovereigns gave him an allowance, totaling about 14,000 maravedis for the year, or about the annual salary of a sailor. In May 1489, the queen sent him another 10,000 maravedis , and
9120-505: The east than Japan, including the mythical Antillia , which he thought might lie not much farther to the west than the Azores , and the distance westward from the Canary Islands to the Indies as only 68 degrees, equivalent to 3,080 nmi (5,700 km; 3,540 mi) (a 58% error). Based on his sources, Columbus estimated a distance of 2,400 nmi (4,400 km; 2,800 mi) from
9240-462: The effects which persist to the present are often cited as the beginning of the modern era . Columbus was widely celebrated in the centuries after his death, but public perception fractured in the 21st century due to greater attention to the harms committed under his governance, particularly the beginning of the depopulation of Hispaniola's indigenous Taíno people, caused by Old World diseases and mistreatment, including slavery . Many places in
9360-606: The end of the 19th century, Columbus was home to several major manufacturing businesses. The Jeffrey Manufacturing Company was a major supplier of coal mining equipment. The city became known as the "Buggy Capital of the World," thanks to the two dozen buggy factories – notably the Columbus Buggy Company , founded in 1875 by C.D. Firestone. The Columbus Consolidated Brewing Company also rose to prominence during this time and might have achieved even greater success were it not for
9480-571: The explorer in the city date to the 1990s. Amid the George Floyd protests in 2020, several petitions pushed for the city to be renamed. Nicknames for the city have included "the Discovery City", " Arch City ", "Cap City", " Cowtown ", "The Biggest Small Town in America" and "Cbus." Between 1000 B.C. and 1700 A.D., the Columbus metropolitan area was a center to indigenous cultures known as
9600-546: The first world map depicting the New World ; and Columbus's youngest brother Diego. The fleet stopped at the Canary Islands to take on more supplies, and set sail again on 7 October, deliberately taking a more southerly course than on the first voyage. On 3 November, they arrived in the Windward Islands ; the first island they encountered was named Dominica by Columbus, but not finding a good harbor there, they anchored off
9720-448: The first appointed mayor. Although the recent War of 1812 had brought prosperity to the area, the subsequent recession and conflicting claims to the land threatened the new town's success. Early conditions were abysmal, with frequent bouts of fevers, attributed to malaria from the flooding rivers, and an outbreak of cholera in 1833. It led Columbus to create the Board of Health, now part of
9840-576: The first voyage , probably dispatched to the Spanish court upon arrival in Lisbon, was instrumental in spreading the news throughout Europe about his voyage. Almost immediately after his arrival in Spain, printed versions began to appear, and word of his voyage spread rapidly. Most people initially believed that he had reached Asia. The Bulls of Donation , three papal bulls of Pope Alexander VI delivered in 1493, purported to grant overseas territories to Portugal and
9960-405: The grounds that Columbus's estimate for a voyage of 2,400 nmi was only a quarter of what it should have been. In 1488, Columbus again appealed to the court of Portugal, and John II again granted him an audience. That meeting also proved unsuccessful, in part because not long afterwards Bartolomeu Dias returned to Portugal with news of his successful rounding of the southern tip of Africa (near
10080-503: The interpreter Luis de Torres , and founded the settlement of La Navidad , in present-day Haiti . Columbus took more natives prisoner and continued his exploration. He kept sailing along the northern coast of Hispaniola with a single ship until he encountered Pinzón and the Pinta on 6 January. On 13 January 1493, Columbus made his last stop of this voyage in the Americas, in the Bay of Rincón in northeast Hispaniola. There he encountered
10200-580: The island's southern coast for a whole day, before making landfall on its northwestern coast at the Bay of Añasco , early on 19 November. Upon landing, Columbus christened the island San Juan Bautista after John the Baptist , and remained anchored there for two days from 20 to 21 November, filling the water casks of the ships in his fleet. On 22 November, Columbus returned to Hispaniola to visit La Navidad in modern-day Haiti , where 39 Spaniards had been left during
10320-466: The lakes to the north contribute to long stretches of cloudy spells in winter. The highest temperature recorded in Columbus is 106 °F (41 °C), which occurred twice during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s: once on July 21, 1934, and again on July 14, 1936. The lowest recorded temperature was −22 °F (−30 °C), occurring on January 19, 1994 . Columbus is subject to severe weather typical to
10440-531: The lands he visited and claimed for Spain were not part of Asia, in the face of mounting evidence to the contrary. This might explain, in part, why the American continent was named after the Florentine explorer Amerigo Vespucci —who received credit for recognizing it as a " New World "—and not after Columbus. On the evening of 3 August 1492, Columbus departed from Palos de la Frontera with three ships. The largest
10560-567: The landscape. Tributaries to Alum Creek and the Olentangy River cut through shale, while tributaries to the Scioto River cut through limestone. The numerous rivers and streams beside low-lying areas in Central Ohio contribute to a history of flooding in the region; the most significant was the Great Flood of 1913 in Columbus, Ohio . The city has a total area of 223.11 square miles (577.85 km ), of which 217.17 square miles (562.47 km )
10680-532: The lucrative spice trade . After the Granada War , and Columbus's persistent lobbying in multiple kingdoms, the Catholic Monarchs, Queen Isabella I and King Ferdinand II , agreed to sponsor a journey west. Columbus left Castile in August 1492 with three ships and made landfall in the Americas on 12 October, ending the period of human habitation in the Americas now referred to as the pre-Columbian era . His landing place
10800-491: The main white supremacist group in Ohio, so … (the) ‘Hate Club’ march appears to have been an intentional effort to antagonize them." The confluence of the Scioto and Olentangy rivers is just northwest of Downtown Columbus . Several smaller tributaries course through the Columbus metropolitan area , including Alum Creek , Big Walnut Creek and Darby Creek . Columbus is considered to have relatively flat topography thanks to
10920-412: The name for the city, the book Columbus: The Story of a City indicates a state lawmaker and local resident admired the explorer enough to persuade other lawmakers to name the settlement Columbus. Since the late 20th century, historians have criticized Columbus for initiating the European conquest of America and for abuse, enslavement, and subjugation of natives. Efforts to remove symbols related to
11040-463: The nautical charts and logs that had belonged to her deceased father, Bartolomeu Perestrello , who had served as a captain in the Portuguese navy under Prince Henry the Navigator . In the mapmaking shop where he worked with his brother Bartholomew, Columbus also had ample opportunity to hear the stories of old seamen about their voyages to the western seas, but his knowledge of the Atlantic wind patterns
11160-403: The northern coast of South America in 1498, and the east coast of Central America in 1502. Many names he gave to geographical features, particularly islands, are still in use. He gave the name indios ("Indians") to the indigenous peoples he encountered. The extent to which he was aware the Americas were a wholly separate landmass is uncertain; he never clearly renounced his belief he had reached
11280-541: The opening of the city's Green Lawn Cemetery . On January 7, 1857, the Ohio Statehouse finally opened after 18 years of construction. Site construction continued until 1861. Before the abolition of slavery in the Southern United States in 1863, the Underground Railroad was active in Columbus and was led, in part, by James Preston Poindexter . Poindexter arrived in Columbus in the 1830s and became
11400-459: The population were employed, and 38.5% had a bachelor's degree or higher. Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus ( / k ə ˈ l ʌ m b ə s / ; between 25 August and 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed four Spanish-based voyages across the Atlantic Ocean sponsored by the Catholic Monarchs , opening
11520-583: The port at Lisbon. From there he went to Vale do Paraíso north of Lisbon to meet King John II of Portugal, who told Columbus that he believed the voyage to be in violation of the 1479 Treaty of Alcáçovas . After spending more than a week in Portugal, Columbus set sail for Spain. Returning to Palos on 15 March 1493, he was given a hero's welcome and soon afterward received by Isabella and Ferdinand in Barcelona. To them he presented kidnapped Taínos and various plants and items he had collected. Columbus's letter on
11640-591: The process. In the 1970s, landmarks such as Union Station and the Neil House hotel were razed to construct high-rise offices and big retail space. The PNC Bank building was constructed in 1977, as well as the Nationwide Plaza buildings and other towers that sprouted during this period. The construction of the Greater Columbus Convention Center has brought major conventions and trade shows to
11760-472: The quickest downtown areas to recover in the United States. On June 23, 2023, ten people were injured in a mass shooting in the city's Short North district. In July 2024, Columbus was subject to a ransomware attack, for which the hacker group Rhysidia took credit. In August 2024, Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther claimed that the files obtained by Rhysidia were "unusable" to the thieves due to being either encrypted or corrupted . Ginther's assertion
11880-574: The resources of newly discovered lands". Despite a popular misconception to the contrary, nearly all educated Westerners of Columbus's time knew that the Earth is spherical , a concept that had been understood since antiquity . The techniques of celestial navigation , which uses the position of the Sun and the stars in the sky, had long been in use by astronomers and were beginning to be implemented by mariners. However Columbus made several errors in calculating
12000-399: The revenues from the new lands in perpetuity. He also would have the option of buying one-eighth interest in any commercial venture in the new lands, and receive one-eighth ( ochavo ) of the profits. In 1500, during his third voyage to the Americas, Columbus was arrested and dismissed from his posts. He and his sons, Diego and Fernando, then conducted a lengthy series of court cases against
12120-499: The same year the monarchs furnished him with a letter ordering all cities and towns under their dominion to provide him food and lodging at no cost. Columbus also dispatched his brother Bartholomew to the court of Henry VII of England to inquire whether the English crown might sponsor his expedition, but he was captured by pirates en route, and only arrived in early 1491. By that time, Columbus had retreated to La Rábida Friary , where
12240-539: The size of the Earth, the distance the continent extended to the east, and therefore the distance to the west to reach his goal. First, as far back as the 3rd century BC, Eratosthenes had correctly computed the circumference of the Earth by using simple geometry and studying the shadows cast by objects at two remote locations. In the 1st century BC, Posidonius confirmed Eratosthenes's results by comparing stellar observations at two separate locations. These measurements were widely known among scholars, but Ptolemy's use of
12360-457: The smaller, old-fashioned units of distance led Columbus to underestimate the size of the Earth by about a third. Second, three cosmographical parameters determined the bounds of Columbus's enterprise: the distance across the ocean between Europe and Asia, which depended on the extent of the oikumene , i.e., the Eurasian land-mass stretching east–west between Spain and China; the circumference of
12480-423: The statement in the apocryphal book 2 Esdras ( 6:42 ) that "six parts [of the globe] are habitable and the seventh is covered with water." He was also aware of Marco Polo's claim that Japan (which he called "Cipangu") was some 2,414 km (1,500 mi) to the east of China ("Cathay"), and closer to the equator than it is. He was influenced by Toscanelli's idea that there were inhabited islands even farther to
12600-583: The territory in the French and Indian War (1754–1763) became part of the international Seven Years' War (1756–1763). During this period, the region routinely suffered turmoil, massacres and battles. The 1763 Treaty of Paris ceded the Ohio Country to the British Empire . Up until the American Revolution , Central Ohio had continuously been the home of numerous indigenous villages. A Mingo village
12720-539: The time accepted Ptolemy's estimate that Eurasia spanned 180° longitude, rather than the actual 130° (to the Chinese mainland) or 150° (to Japan at the latitude of Spain). Columbus believed an even higher estimate, leaving a smaller percentage for water. In d'Ailly's Imago Mundi , Columbus read Marinus of Tyre 's estimate that the longitudinal span of Eurasia was 225° at the latitude of Rhodes . Some historians, such as Samuel Eliot Morison , have suggested that he followed
12840-616: The way for the widespread European exploration and colonization of the Americas . His expeditions were the first known European contact with the Caribbean and Central and South America. The name Christopher Columbus is the anglicization of the Latin Christophorus Columbus . Growing up on the coast of Liguria , he went to sea at a young age and traveled widely, as far north as the British Isles and as far south as what
12960-421: Was 33.3. For every 100 females, there were 97.3 males. According to the U.S. Census American Community Survey , for the period 2016-2020 the estimated median annual income for a household in the city was $ 61,727, and the median income for a family was $ 76,383. About 18.1% of the population were living below the poverty line , including 26.1% of those under age 18 and 12.0% of those age 65 or over. About 67.2% of
13080-598: Was a carrack , the Santa María , owned and captained by Juan de la Cosa , and under Columbus's direct command. The other two were smaller caravels , the Pinta and the Niña , piloted by the Pinzón brothers . Columbus first sailed to the Canary Islands. There he restocked provisions and made repairs then departed from San Sebastián de La Gomera on 6 September, for what turned out to be
13200-471: Was acquired by Luxembourg based Belron , which is in turn owned by the D'Ieteren group, Belron is the world's largest vehicle glass company, providing service in over 32 countries. Thomas Feeney became the president and CEO in 2008. In late 2021, Renee Cachillo became the President and CEO as Thomas Feeney moved into a leadership role for Belron North America. Safelite operates in all 50 states. The company
13320-528: Was an island in the Bahamas , known by its native inhabitants as Guanahani . He then visited the islands now known as Cuba and Hispaniola , establishing a colony in what is now Haiti . Columbus returned to Castile in early 1493, with captured natives. Word of his voyage soon spread throughout Europe. Columbus made three further voyages to the Americas, exploring the Lesser Antilles in 1493, Trinidad and
13440-478: Was claimed by 67 eligible men. The Ohio Statehouse sits on land once contained in the Refugee Tract. After Ohio achieved statehood in 1803, political infighting among prominent Ohio leaders led to the state capital moving from Chillicothe to Zanesville and back again. Desiring to settle on a location, the state legislature considered Franklinton , Dublin , Worthington and Delaware before compromising on
13560-673: Was founded at the old City Hall . In 1894, James Thurber , who would go on to an illustrious literary career in Paris and New York City, was born in the city. Today, Ohio State's theater department has a performance center named in his honor, and his childhood home, the Thurber House , is located in the Discovery District and is on the National Register of Historic Places . Columbus earned one of its nicknames, "The Arch City," because of
13680-686: Was located at the forks of the Scioto and Olentangy rivers, with Shawnee villages to the south and Wyandot and Delaware villages to the north. Colonial militiamen burned down the Mingo village in 1774 during a raid. After the American Revolution, the Virginia Military District became part of the Ohio Country as a territory of Virginia. Colonists from the East Coast moved in, but rather than finding an empty frontier , they encountered people of
13800-407: Was named after 15th-century Italian explorer Christopher Columbus at the city's founding in 1812. It is the largest city in the world named for the explorer, who sailed to and settled parts of the Americas on behalf of Isabella I of Castile and Spain. Although no reliable history exists as to why Columbus, who had no connection to the city or state of Ohio before the city's founding, was chosen as
13920-642: Was not a scholarly man. Yet he studied these books, made hundreds of marginal notations in them and came out with ideas about the world that were characteristically simple and strong and sometimes wrong ... Under the Mongol Empire 's hegemony over Asia and the Pax Mongolica , Europeans had long enjoyed a safe land passage on the Silk Road to India , parts of East Asia , including China and Maritime Southeast Asia , which were sources of valuable goods. With
14040-844: Was not from Genoa, but from the Aragon region of Spain or from Portugal. These competing hypotheses have been discounted by most scholars. In 1473, Columbus began his apprenticeship as business agent for the wealthy Spinola , Centurione, and Di Negro families of Genoa. Later, he made a trip to the Greek island Chios in the Aegean Sea , then ruled by Genoa. In May 1476, he took part in an armed convoy sent by Genoa to carry valuable cargo to northern Europe. He probably visited Bristol , England, and Galway , Ireland, where he may have visited St. Nicholas' Collegiate Church . It has been speculated he went to Iceland in 1477, though many scholars doubt this. It
14160-489: Was rich in gold. Columbus, for his part, continued to the northern coast of Hispaniola , where he landed on 6 December. There, the Santa María ran aground on 25 December 1492 and had to be abandoned. The wreck was used as a target for cannon fire to impress the native peoples. Columbus was received by the native cacique Guacanagari , who gave him permission to leave some of his men behind. Columbus left 39 men, including
14280-459: Was still imperfect at the time of his first voyage. By sailing due west from the Canary Islands during hurricane season , skirting the so-called horse latitudes of the mid-Atlantic, he risked being becalmed and running into a tropical cyclone , both of which he avoided by chance. By about 1484, Columbus proposed his planned voyage to King John II of Portugal . The king submitted Columbus's proposal to his advisors, who rejected it, correctly, on
14400-498: Was subsequently shown to be false by security researcher David Leroy Ross (who goes by the alias Connor Goodwolf), who revealed that the files were intact and contained data including names from domestic violence cases and Social Security numbers of crime victims. Columbus then sued Ross for alleged criminal acts, negligence, and civil conversion, as well as taking out a restraining order against Ross, both of which actions were later defended by City Attorney Zach Klein. In response,
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