While acquiring a maritime practice, Columbus simultaneously educated himself by reading the writings of ancient and classical writers Strabo, Seneca, and Aristotle, as well as his humanist contemporaries.

Imago Mundi  by Pierre d'Ailly's and famous map of the Florentine astronomer Toscanelli had a great influence on shaping Columbus' view of the world. He was impressed by the stories of the distant sea voyages of Portuguese and Basque sailors who reached the fishing grounds of Newfoundland and even the shores of North America.