Christopher Columbus (bt. August and October 1451 – May 20, 1506) was a navigator, colonizer, and explorer who was instrumental in Spanish colonization of the Americas. Though not the first to reach the Americas from Europe, Columbus' voyages led to general European awareness of the hemisphere and the successful establishment of European cultures in the New World. Historical consensus claims that he was born in Genoa, although other minor theories exist. The name Christopher Columbus is the Anglicization of the Latin Christophorus Columbus. Also well known are his name's rendering in modern Italian as Cristoforo Colombo, in Portuguese as Cristóvão Colombo (formerly Christovam Colom), and in Spanish as Cristóbal Colón.