What Is The Difference Between Christopher Columbus And Religion

In the year 1492, Christopher Columbus was sent out on an expedition by Spain to find a shorter water route to Asia. Ferdinand and Isabella sent out Columbus for two primary reasons: to spread religion and to secure wealth for Spain. Christopher Columbus’s explorations were more focused on securing wealth rather than spreading religion. His first journey demonstrated that his main goal was focused on economics through his valiant efforts to obtain wealth for himself and Spain, and everything he achieved after followed this pattern. Viewing all explorers’ voyages, and their overall purposes, supports the proposition that economics, and not religion, was the overriding goal.

In the 15th century, trade was very active between Europe, Asia, and

Africa. Asia’s vast market of luxurious goods immediately appealed to Europeans when they first started trading. The only recurring problem for many European nations was the fact that it was nearly impossible to reach Asia from Europe by land. This issue was solved by Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama in 1497 by traveling along a sea route that sailed along the West African coast and around the Cape of Good Hope. However the primary limitation to this route was that it took a very long time to circumnavigate around Africa.
Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer, navigator, and eventually, colonizer who believed he had a different approach to reach Asia.

Columbus’ studies led him to believe that the earth’s circumference was much smaller than it is and the landmass of Asia extends much further than it actually existed. Columbus devised a plan to sail west across the ocean to reach Asia. Columbus’ plan was to not only greatly reduce the travel time from Europe to Asia to improve trade, but to make it less challenging and cheaper. Columbus proposed his plan to Portugal and England, but was rejected, and it was not until 1491 that Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain agreed to fund his expedition. Columbus had intentions to increase trade between Europe and Asia because the current overland route was long and treacherous, making the goods imported scarce and expensive. But he never had the intention to spread religion to Asia when proposing his plan to Ferdinand and

Isabella.
Columbus made a contract that guaranteed him 10 percent of the fortunes and riches he gathered during the journey, along with governorship of any land he claimed. “Item, that all and whatever merchandise, whether it be pearls, precious stones, gold, silver, spices, and other things whatsoever, and merchandise of whatever kind, name, and manner it may be, which may be bought, bartered, discovered, acquired, or obtained within the limits of the said Admiralty, your Highnesses grant henceforth to the said Don Christopher, and will that he may have and take for himself.” Columbus’ contract focused on economics and has no mention of religion whatsoever. Columbus agreed to the contract without making any change and on August 3, 1492 Columbus set sail and later arrived at the Caribbean islands what is now Haiti and the Dominican Republic. While Columbus’ goals were not purely focused on wealth and economics, it was also focused on spreading religion. Although they were just searching for a shorter water route to Asia, “Franciscan and Mercedarian Orders, assumed without question that some priest accompanied Columbus.” But why did Columbus bring a priest to begin with? One would assume he brought a priest to assst in spreading religion, but the real reason Columbus brought a priest was to claim the land. The priest would bless the land to remove demons, and evil spirits. The evil spirits were to have caused famine, death, disease, poverty and also the collapse of any colony that settled there.
The main focus of Columbus’ first journey was wealth, exhibited by the time and attention he devoted to it, compared to religious issues. Columbus spent months trading, bartering, and searching for “pearls, precious stones, gold, silver, spices, and other objects,” instead of spreading religion. Columbus’ original intention of the journey may have been focused evenly on religion and wealth until his contract that gave him 10 percent of the accumulated wealth. This contract may have influenced his focus on the journey and, after returning home with little gain in wealth, Columbus became frustrated. He obtained few advances in his religious focus, but that did not seem to bother him nearly as much as his focus on wealth.
Columbus began bartering with the natives for “pearls, precious stones, gold, silver, spices” in attempts to gain little wealth after failing to find any resources.

He was unfair with his bartering and made unfair trades with the natives. Throughout his other journeys, he continued to barter but made few attempts at spreading religion to the native people through their interactions. Columbus soon implemented the “encomienda,” which allowed the natives to work for him and other colonists in exchange for protection and food. The implementation of the encomienda system later developed into the beginning of slavery in the New

World.
After returning home empty-handed and failing to accomplish his original goal of finding a shorter water route to Asia, Ferdinand and Isabella, along with Columbus, were disappointed. They had not achieved the fortune they were looking for and were close to giving up. Later Columbus decided to convince Ferdinand and Isabella to allow him to return to the island to continue searching for wealth. Columbus had to find wealth in the New World in order for Ferdinand and Isabella to continue funding his journeys. Without their funding, Columbus could not return and not gain the fame and fortune he sought. Although at first Ferdinand and Isabella were reluctant to send Columbus back, they agreed, and over the next decade, Columbus returned three more times. Each voyage was consumed by his focus on a search for wealth and rarely making attempts to spread religion.
After his failed first journey, Columbus decided he needed to devise a new plan for the next journey. When he returned back to the islands, Columbus immediately established a settlement called “Isabella.” He sent a party of men in search of gold while he explored the nearby islands. Columbus became more familiar with the natives, but they were not receptive to him. While interacting with the natives, Columbus traded, bartered, but rarely at all made attempts to teach them religion. After searching nearby islands and interacting with local natives, Columbus returned to the settlement to learn that his men had found very little gold. To add to his problems, he learned that the tension between his men and the natives was escalating quickly.
Columbus became more and more desperate for wealth everyday, so he decided to impose heavy taxes on the natives after their plan to form an army and drive the Spaniards off the island. Columbus became a very harsh and unfair ruler over the native people. After this journey, Columbus “returned to Spain with gold, spices, and ‘Indian’ captives in March 1493 and was received with the highest honors by the Spanish court.” Columbus led two more expeditions discovering islands and the South and Central American mainland. Although Columbus did not achieve his original goal to find a western ocean route to Asia, his discoveries economically benefited Spain for many years to come. Because of his discovery, Spain used the Atlantic for trade and began to exploit the South American continent for mining and sugar cane production. This benefited Spain with new income and it expanded the empire.
Christopher Columbus was not the only Spanish explorer enriched through exploration. Hernán Cortés was a Spanish explorer who was named “Cortes the Captain” for an expedition to Mexico. Cortés went to Mexico to gain wealth for Spain and was very successful, finding riches in Mexico than what was discovered in the Caribbeans. Cortés learned about the Aztecs, the largest and most wealthy tribe in that time, eventually conquering the Aztecs, Cortés became very wealthy, while simultaneously gaining more territory for Spain. Other explorers, such as Juan Ponce de León and Ferdinand Magellan followed the same pattern to secure wealth as Hernán Cortés and Christopher Columbus throughout the Age of Exploration.
Christopher Columbus’s explorations were more focused on securing wealth rather than spreading religion. All four of Columbus’ journeys show strong evidence that the focus was on wealth rather than religion. Each expedition shows accomplishments in pursuit of wealth, but few or none for religious purposes. On each journey, Columbus made improvements and changes to his plan to acquire wealth, but efforts to spread Catholicism had diminished throughout his four expeditions. Columbus’ will to gain fame and fortune overcame his original, more balanced goal, and what he first set out to do. Although Columbus was unable to effectively spread Catholicism in the New World, his efforts and accomplishments in securing wealth initiated a series of westward explorations by Spain and other European nations, an era known as “The Age of Exploration.” During this time, new lands were discovered, new trading routes were established, and new goods were found across the globe. Because of this Spain, sent out many more explorers such as Hernán Cortés to secure wealth and land, and Spain soon became the most powerful and wealthy nation in the world at that time.