Monday, January 16, 2012

Christopher Columbus

Although Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castille are most commonly known as Catholic monarchs, the original motive for financing Christopher Columbus’s first voyage across the Atlantic was competition and the promise of wealth.   Portugal long held dominance in sea exploration and with the reclamation of Grenada from the Moors settled the King and Queen of Spain could turn their focus outward towards exploration.1  Immeasurable wealth lying in wait in the east offered Spain promise in fortifying the newly unified country and establish a reputation for exploration and growth.  The lack of any mention of religion, conversion or evangelical witnessing in the Santa Fe Capitulations of 1492 and the Grenada Capitulations of 1492 prove religion was not a primary motive for the voyage.2  Christopher Columbus, however, did believe it was his divine calling to fulfill a religious prophecy.  3   Columbus’s devotion to Catholicism fueled his drive to complete these voyages and return to Spain triumphant in fulfilling a call from God.  He would even eventually call the discovery of what he named the Indies, “a marvelous event fashioned by God”. 4   The initial excitement upon Columbus’s return from the successful voyage of 1492 urged the Catholic monarchs to assert control and power over the new lands in the New World and sought validation through the Pope.5    Indeed, the lands discovered by Columbus would be referenced as “added to the assembly of Christians” by a Columbus’s contemporary in 1516.6  Catholicism brought Ferdinand and Isabella together in their aim to unify a Catholic Spain and through subsequent exploration by Columbus and future sailors, God would be the name under who all discoveries were credited and celebrated. 



1 Santa Fe Capitulations. (April 17, 1492), in Christopher Columbus and the Enterprise of the Indies: A Brief History with Documents, ed. Geoffrey Symcox and Blair Sullivan (Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2005), 60-62.
2Granada Capitulations. (April 30, 1492), in Christopher Columbus and the Enterprise of the Indies: A Brief History with Documents, ed. Geoffrey Symcox and Blair Sullivan (Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2005), 62-65.

3 Christopher Columbus, Undated Letter to Fernando and Isabel, in Christopher Columbus and the Enterprise of the Indies: A Brief History with Documents, ed. Geoffrey Symcox and Blair Sullivan (Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2005), 54.

4Gonzalo Fernandez De Oviedo, On Columbus as “First Discoverer”, in Christopher Columbus and the Enterprise of the Indies: A Brief History with Documents, ed. Geoffrey Symcox and Blair Sullivan (Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2005), 57.

5Geoffrey Symcox and Blair Sullivan, introduction to Christopher Columbus and the Enterprise of the Indies: A Brief History with Documents (Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2005), 19.

6Agostino Giustiniani, On Columbus the Evangelist, in Christopher Columbus and the Enterprise of
the Indies: A Brief History with Documents (Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2005), 58.

5 comments:

  1. Good essay, but it would have been stronger if you had used the Catholic monarchs’s Instructions to Columbus for Colonization of the Indies. (Symcox p. 102.) This puts God first, although 90% of it is secular. I also think use of the papal bull Piis Fidelium (Symcox p. 144-147), which redefined Ferdinand and Isabella’s claim to the New World as a mission of evangelization, would have strengthened your case.

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  2. Hi Amy. I like your essay but I thought it could of been improved by using Symcox p. 13 to show the competition between Spain and Portugal as a driving factor of Ferdinand and Isabel's financial backing of Columbus. I also think you could of improved it by using using Document 3 to show Columbus's religious attitudes.

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  3. I thought your essay could have been stronger if could have explain more about how the Reconquista (Sullivan and Symcox pg.11) affected Spain's unification under the Catholic Church and prompting of the beginnings of the explorations. And the "The fall of Grananda in January 1492 gave Columbus the opportunity for which he has waited and planned so long" (Sullivan and Symcox 12).

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  4. Good posting. I agree with you completely that this expedition was not set out for the purpose of religion, but rather as an economic means to a more bountiful Spanish end. I think, being that they lived in 15th Century Spain, all parties involved were religious, and probably used God for internal motivation, such as Columbus wrote in document 6. But the reason the voyage was first financed was so Spain could take the lead over Portugal in finding a shorter route to Asia to reap all of its spoils, hence, the Book of Privelages issued to Columbus by the King and Queen prior to his departure.

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  5. Sorry for such a late comment but i think this was a well written post. As a few stated above it would have been more helpful to your argument if you would have used more Symcox in your structure of your post but it was overall pretty good. The Fall of Grananda played a huge role in the overall completion and progress of Columbus and it would have been nice to see but it was still a pretty good piece.

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