Columbus and Early Exploration

Muslim Invasion of Europe

Muslims invaded Europe shortly after establishing their religion on the Arabian Peninsula.
Islamic society was superior to Spanish society in education, literature, agriculture, architecture, and metallurgy.
Rapid expansion of the Muslim religion occurred within about 120 years.

The Spanish society began their reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula.
Christian kingdoms of Spain initiated the Reconquista in the 1700s, leading to 700 years of fighting.
The church was the unifier of various kingdoms in Spain.
Only about 30% of the population of the Iberian Peninsula spoke what is now considered Spanish.
In 1469, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile married and pledged to reunify Spain.
In 1492, the Catholic monarchs succeeded, and Granada, the last Moorish city, fell from Muslim control.

Ferdinand and Isabella decreed that all residents of Spain must be Catholic, leading to the expulsion of Muslims and Jews.
80,000 Jews fled Spain, draining the country of talent and capital.
120,000 Jews converted to Catholicism and were known as conversos, or cerdos (pigs), a derogatory term.
The Inquisition was in full effect, persecuting Muslims and Jews.

Christopher Columbus was a sailor who believed he could reach Asia by sailing west.
Columbus underestimated the size of the earth, believing it was one-quarter of its actual size.
The existence of the American continent at the location he thought Asia would be was a fortunate mistake.
Columbus was a brilliant navigator, though often lost.
Earlier attempts to sail west to Asia, such as by the Genoese brothers, had failed.
Columbus's scheme was initially rejected by the Portuguese and Spanish.
The Spanish monarchy reconsidered after Granada fell and funded Columbus's voyage to spread Christianity and outmaneuver Muslims in the Middle East.
Voyages were financed with property confiscated from Muslims and Jews.
Columbus sailed on caravels, including the Pinta, Santa Maria, and Nina.
The crew of these caravels consisted of former prisoners offered pardons to participate in the voyage.
This established the practice of Spain sending their worst people to colonize the New World.

After one month at sea, on October 11, 1492, campfires were sighted, and the following morning, land was visible.
The landfall site is debated, but it was likely a small island in The Bahamas.
Columbus met the local Taino Arawak, an indigenous group from Brazil and Venezuela.
Columbus abducted some Taino Arawak to take them back to Spain as curiosities.
Gold was found on Hispaniola, where the Santa Maria was wrecked, and a fortress was built from the debris.
Columbus left 40 men in the makeshift fortress and returned to Spain.

Columbus organized several return voyages, including one in 1493-1496, bringing 1,500 settlers to Hispaniola.
The initial group of sailors left behind could not be found.
Sugarcane agriculture was introduced, leading to the sugar industry that fueled the slave trade and mass enslavement of Native Americans.
Widespread rape of Native women by the Spanish occurred, and local Natives were forced to pay tribute.
The Caribs, another indigenous group, resisted more strongly than the Taino Arawak.
The native population of The Caribbean declined rapidly; from an estimated 1,000,000 in 1492 to only 30,000 by 1522.
African slaves were imported due to the demographic collapse of indigenous communities, as Africans had more resilience to tropical diseases like yellow fever and malaria.

During the 1498-1500 voyage, the colony on Hispaniola was in open rebellion against Columbus due to his poor administration.
Columbus executed those opposing him to regain control.
The monarchy investigated, arrested Columbus, and brought him back to Spain in chains.
He was stripped of his title of viceroy of the New World.

From 1502 to 1504, Columbus returned for one last time, reaching the mainland of what is now Mexico while searching for a passage to China.
He believed he had reached Asia until his death.
A major hurricane damaged Columbus's ship, and he was shipwrecked on Jamaica for over a year.
The native Taino Arawak initially provided food and shelter but stopped after the Europeans began to attack them.
Columbus tricked the natives by predicting a lunar eclipse, claiming his god was angry at them and would restore the moon if they provided food.

Columbus died in 1506, still believing he had traveled to Japan.
He lived his final days in a monastery, away from his critics.
Christopher Columbus's actions in The Caribbean are being reassessed and reevaluated.

Monuments to Christopher Columbus were originally erected by Italian Americans to celebrate their heritage.
Native people have proposed Indigenous People's Day as an alternative to Christopher Columbus Day to acknowledge the mistreatment of natives.
In Latin America, the day is celebrated as the day of the race, celebrating the mixed race resulting from contact between natives and Europeans.

Bartolomeo de las Casas was a Franciscan monk who traveled with Columbus and witnessed the mistreatment of natives.
He petitioned the king and queen of Spain to protect the natives, becoming one of the first human rights activists.
He was named protector general of the Indians and published "A Very Brief History of the Destruction of the Indies" in 1540.
The publication raised awareness and led the Catholic monarchs of Spain to declare a law prohibiting the use of natives as slaves, though it did not prohibit the importation of African slaves.

The Treaty of Tordesillas was signed in 1494 by Queen Isabella of Spain and King John II of Portugal, mediated by Emperor Alexander VI.
The pope drew an imaginary line in the Mid Atlantic dividing future discoveries between Spain and Portugal.
Everything west of the line would belong to Spain, and everything east of the line would belong to Portugal.
A Portuguese voyage to India accidentally stumbled on the Brazilian coast in 1500, forming the basis for Brazil.
The treaty granted Portugal exclusive rights to the African slave trade.
In 1507, Amerigo Vespucci, a mapmaker, named the continents of the Western Hemisphere after himself, leading to the replacement of the name Indies with The Americas.