Christopher Columbus

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Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

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1451 – 1506 · 55 years · Hispaniola · Americas

Genoese navigator in Spanish service who reached the Americas in 1492, opening them to Europe.

Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 15th century

Portrait: Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Contemporaries around the world

Europe

Leonardo da Vinci — painter, scientist and inventor, 1 year younger
Nicolaus Copernicus — astronomer, 22 years younger
Michelangelo — sculptor, painter and architect, 24 years younger
Martin Luther — church reformer, 32 years younger
Johannes Gutenberg — inventor of the printing press, 51 years older
Isabella I of Castile — Queen of Castile, born the same year

Eastern Europe & Russia

Ivan III — Grand Prince of Moscow, 11 years older
Vasily III — grand prince who completed the unification of the Russian lands, 28 years younger
Sophia Palaiologina — Grand Princess of Moscow, 4 years younger
Vasily II the Blind — grand prince blinded in a dynastic civil war, 36 years older

Middle East

Mehmed II — Ottoman sultan, 19 years older
Selim I the Grim — sultan who took Cairo and Mecca, 19 years younger
Suleiman the Magnificent — Ottoman sultan, 43 years younger
Bayezid II — sultan who took in the Jews expelled from Spain, 4 years older

Africa

Askia Muhammad I — Emperor of Songhai, 8 years older

Asia

Ashikaga Yoshimasa — shogun of the Ōnin War and the Silver Pavilion, 15 years older
Guru Nanak — founder of Sikhism, 18 years younger
Vasco da Gama — navigator, 18 years younger
Babur — founder of the Mughal Empire, 32 years younger
Ashikaga Yoshitane — shogun who held office twice and was driven out twice, 15 years younger
Ashikaga Yoshizumi — puppet shogun of the Hosokawa clan, 30 years younger

Americas

Moctezuma II — Aztec emperor, 15 years younger
Ferdinand Magellan — navigator, 29 years younger
Bartolomé de las Casas — friar and defender of Native Americans, 33 years younger
Hernán Cortés — conquistador, 34 years younger
Pachacuti — Sapa Inca, 33 years older
Huayna Capac — Sapa Inca, 13 years younger

The world in their lifetime

1453 Fall of Constantinople — aged 2, Middle East
1478 Annexation of Novgorod by Moscow — aged 27, Eastern Europe & Russia
1480 Great Stand on the Ugra River — aged 29, Eastern Europe & Russia
1488 Dias rounds the Cape of Good Hope — aged 37, Africa
1492 Columbus reaches the Americas — aged 41, Americas
1492 Fall of Granada — aged 41, Europe
1494 Treaty of Tordesillas — aged 43, Europe
1498 Vasco da Gama reaches India — aged 47, Asia
1501 Founding of Safavid Iran — aged 50, Middle East