The marble statues tell a story of triumph, but the real Christopher Columbus ended his days stripped of titles, shackled in chains, and forgotten by the monarchs who bankrolled his voyages. His life was a collision of towering ambition, brutal governance, and political betrayal that rewrote the map of the world.

This episode traces Columbus from obscure Genoese sailor to Admiral of the Ocean Sea, and from celebrated explorer to disgraced colonial governor arrested by the crown he served.

• How Columbus spent years begging European courts to fund his westward voyage
• The brutal colonial regime he imposed on Hispaniola's indigenous population
• Why the Spanish crown arrested Columbus and sent him home in chains
• The myths and realities behind the voyages that transformed two hemispheres