Bartholomew Columbus (Genoese: Bertomê Corombo;[1] Spanish: Bartolomé Colón; Italian: Bartolomeo Colombo) (c. 1461 – 1515) was an explorer and the younger brother of Christopher Columbus.
In the 1470s Bartholomew was a mapmaker in Lisbon, the principal center of cartography of the time, and conceived with his brother the "Enterprise of the Indies", a scheme to reach the Orient and its lucrative spice trade by a western rather than an eastern route. In the late 1480s Bartholomew took up residence in France and his brother in Spain, to persuade their respective monarchs—Charles VIII of France, and Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon—to back the scheme.
When word arrived in 1493 that his brother had succeeded, Bartholomew returned to Spain, where he missed Christopher, who had already left on the second voyage. Funded by the crown, Bartholomew traveled to Hispaniola in 1494 to meet his brother. He remained on the island for six and a half years (1494–1500) serving as captain on one of the ships or as governor with the title of Adelantado during the absence of his brother. He founded the city of Santo Domingo on Hispaniola between 1496 and 1498, which is now the capital of the Dominican Republic. He was imprisoned together with Christopher and another brother, Giacomo (also called Diego), by Francisco de Bobadilla and returned to Spain in December 1500. After the royal pardon of Christopher, Bartholomew accompanied him on the last of his four voyages.
Following Christopher's death, in 1506, Bartholomew returned to the Antilles, accompanying his nephew Diego, but Bartholemew soon returned to Spain: the king confirmed his concession involving the Island of Mona near to Puerto Rico, though the king would reclaim the island from his heirs after Bartholomew's death which took place on 12 August 1514. By this time he had returned to Hispaniola.
Bartholomew Columbus is known to have fathered an illegitimate daughter, named Maria and born in 1508.