Ferdinand Fourth Isabella Letter Regarding Voyage

Fernando gave his surname as Colon, the Spanish variant of Columbus, the explorer himself having variously used Italian, Portuguese and Catalan versions of the name.

Fernando Colon, born in 1488 at Cordoba, Spain to Christopher Columbus and Beatriz Enriquez de Harana, spent his early years with his mother, but traveled to the New World at about age 14 with his father on Columbus’s fourth voyage. He is believed to have spent most of his teen years with his father and, some sources say, was his father’s favorite. His mother was his father’s almost constant companion during Christopher’s last years.

Named for the Spanish king who backed a Columbus determined to find a shorter route to the East Indies, after his father’s first voyage he became a page to Spanish crown prince Don Juan. Following the prince’s unexpected death, Fernando served Queen Isabella.