Christopher Columbus, a Genoese captain in the service of the Crown of Castile, set out on his first voyage in August 1492 with the objective of reaching the East Indies by sailing west across the Atlantic Ocean. During the return journey, while aboard the ship, Columbus wrote a letter reporting the results of his voyage and announcing his discovery of the "islands of the Indies". In a postscript added while he was idling in Lisbon, Columbus reports sending at copies of the letter to the Spanish court—one copy to the Catholic monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, and a second copy to Luis de Santángel, the principal supporter and financial backer of Columbus's expedition.
