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Christopher Columbus' true motivations

Everyone already knows that Christopher Columbus was a genocidal maniac, so there's no point in going into detail. What many people don't know is that he was under strict orders from King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to not "bother or upset" the Native Americans, and certainly not to enslave them and force them to mine gold for Columbus to steal. There was a prohibition at that time against enslaving Christians, and the goal was to convert the Natives to Christianity, so oppressing them would have been counterproductive.

What's lesser known is the real purpose of Columbus' voyage. It was not, as commonly thought, merely to find a faster route to China for the space trade. Following the Ottoman's capture of Constantinople in 1453, the Silk Road was closed to Europeans. On top of that, the Mamluks had controlled Jerusalem since defeating the Mongols in 1260, and would not be ousted by the Ottomans until 1516. Marco Polo had described the Great Khan as amenable to Christianity. There was also an old legend of Prester John, a Christian king in the far east. Columbus' dream was to convert the Great Khan to Christianity, find Prester John, and convince them to join the Europeans on a crusade to liberate the Holy Land. His explorations were primarily motivated by religion, although he did negotiate one-tenth of any proceeds from spice or gold for himself. Columbus was eventually recalled to Spain when reports of his brutality toward the Natives reached the crown.

Although the Italian peninsula was known by that name, Columbus wouldn't have thought of himself as "Italian" as the country of Italy did not exist at that time. He was from Genoa and would have considered himself Genoese. His native language was not Italian, but Ligurian, which had significant influence from French.
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dancingtongue · 80-89, M
Although the Italian peninsula was known by that name, Columbus wouldn't have thought of himself as "Italian" as the country of Italy did not exist at that time. He was from Genoa and would have considered himself Genoese. His native language was not Italian, but Ligurian, which had significant influence from French.

And he was trained in seafaring and navigation by the Portuguese. In short, he was a mercenary.

On the West Coast of the U.S. we have a similar phenomenon with Juan Cabrillo, who "discovered" -- more accurately, explored -- the entire coast. There is a major monument to him in San Diego as the Spanish discoverer of San Diego Bay because he was sailing under Spain's flag from Mexico at that time. At the base is a brass plaque from the Portuguese consulate politely pointing out that he was Portuguese, not Spanish. Interestingly, if you Google him today they more accurately identify him as Iberian, for the peninsula of his birth rather than his nationality. But Bing and other sources will still tell you he was the Spanish discoverer.
@dancingtongue Interesting. I grew up in LA and of course Cabrillo was mentioned, but I didn't know he was Portuguese.
DeWayfarer · 61-69, M
@dancingtongue interesting to note Cabrillo started the massacre of the native Americans on Catalina island. Yet wasn't completed until much later.
dancingtongue · 80-89, M
@DeWayfarer There's plenty of blame to go around. Junipero Serra, the Franciscan priest who founded the string of California missions, generally gets most of the blame for the genocide of native tribes in California in order to "save their souls". Here in the Bay Area Cabrilo is most noted for naming the city of Palo Alto, home of Stanford University and the cradle of Silicon Valley and the tech revolution. Leading an exploratory party on land up from Monterey Bay, he came upon the S.F. Bay and split his party with instructions that they would reconvene at that large tree -- Palo Alto -- they saw standing alone.
DeWayfarer · 61-69, M
@dancingtongue was going to do long post about Catalina island never got around to it though. Some very bad things happen on that little island though. 😞
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dancingtongue · 80-89, M
@MarmeeMarch Well, what is Italy today. I never contested that. But he did train at Prince Henry's school of navigation in Portugal as did most of the European seafaring explorers of the era because he had embraced the navigational tools developed in the East and Middle East.
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@MarmeeMarch Nobody is saying Columbus was a dummy. He was an intelligent, learned, and refined genocidal maniac.