Christopher Columbus, a Genoan-born sailor and navigator, appeared before the royal court of the Byzantine Empire in 1492, asking for support for an expedition to find a new route to India through the west. The Byzantines had shown interest in this idea, after building a canal had proven too costly an idea for this to work. The expedition was approved, and he was given three ships to make his voyage, the Theodora, Priostemi, and the Hegemon, all carracks of the Byzantine Navy. On October they reached what they though was the West East Indies, but turned out to be Cuba, and after a few months of exploring, they returned to the Byzantine Empire, and were praised as heroes, having brought back many new resources such as tobacco, pineapples, turkeys, and the hammock. He still believed he had m