Columbus was born into a world a. controlled by muslim clerics. b. flooded with cheap imports from china. c. influenced by european investors seeking low-risk investments. d. unimpressed and uninfluenced by europe.

d. Unimpressed and uninfluenced by Europe.

Explanation:

Christopher Columbus was born in the mid-15th century AD. During that time, European kingdoms did not expand too far beyond the European borders, being still confined to the region around the Mediterranean and competing with other non-European powers, like the emerging Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire was a Turkish and Islamic empire that conquered Constantinople in 1453, the last remnant of the Byzantine empire. After the Ottomans cut off all connections that European markets had with the Silk Road and, therefore, with the spices and exotic products coming from Eastern markets, European powers like Spain and Portugal started searching for alternative routes in order to get to the East. Here is where Christopher Columbus showed up, offering the Spanish crown the chance to get to Asia by sailing West. In the midst of his expedition, Columbus and his men got to the Americas. This was the beginning of the cultural, economic, and political expansion of Europe throughout the world, which characterized the Modern era.

b) that he was not a free man