Christopher Columbus , an italian navigator, was important to exploration because he sailed across the uncharted Atlantic Ocean, which no one had done yet, and reached the Bahamas. He found the islands of Cuba and the Caribbean. Columbus explored land that no one had yet touched from the other explorers. Other explorers had sailed to Africa's west coast but not westward from Africa. Columbus was able to present more information about the world and what is out there.
Columbus returned from the Bahamas with gold, parrots, spices and captured Native Americans. The parrots and spices brought, were new to king Ferdinand and queen Isabella of Spain. He sailed back across the Atlantic with 17 more ships and mapped out the coastline of South America