The Age Of Exploration: Spain, Christopher Columbus, Spain

The urge to explore has been embedded in human life ever since humans first set foot on Earth. Humans want to push past their boundaries to find new areas with new treasures and adventures. This sense of the unknown, coupled with the desire to seek out trade routes with economic powerhouses in Asia, pushed the age of exploration in the 1450s to 1600s. Through exploration, nations found new lands to colonize, natives to convert, and precious resources to utilize in their home nation. One of the nations that succeeded the most in exploration was Spain. However, Spain was not originally the “king-country” when it came to exploration (that title went to Portugal) but with the ambition of the Italian, Christopher Columbus, Spain gained the knowledge

Portugal made their success by traveling around Africa to get to Asia in order to trade with them. Spain, jealous of the success of their neighbor, wanted to “counter the successful Portuguese ventures of the past half of century” (Cole 410). Isabella and Ferdinand, king and queen of Spain, turned towards Christopher Columbus. Although Columbus was Italian, he only sailed for Italy for a short time. He was a teenager when he started sailing and on his first voyage, his ship was attacked by French sailors. He made it off the ship and swam to the coast of Lisbon, Portugal where he decided to settle down (Biography.com). In Portugal, he remained a sailor and learned many of the Portuguese’s sailing knowledge, such as the “knowledge of the Atlantic currents flowing east and west from the Canary Islands” (Biography.com). Having sailed with the Portuguese, Columbus had gained much experience. Having this experience made him more appealing to Ferdinand and Isabelle over other native sailors in Spain. Isabella and Ferdinand wanted someone that knew was adept at sailing so they could achieve better success. It would do no good to their country if all their funding went to the bottom of the sea. It was better used in finding fame and

Prior to the Reconquista, a large part of the southern Iberian Peninsula was inhabited by Muslims. During the Reconquista, Spain used military tactics to push the Muslims out of Spain. This conflict occupied much of the time of the Spanish sailors as they tried to keep the Muslims from reclaiming the peninsula. However, after the Reconquista reached an end, the monarchs of Spain were eager to find more land to conquer (Walbert). Another reason Spain went with Columbus instead of one of their own sailors is that Columbus had the new ideas of how to find a voyage to Asia. Columbus was the one that approached Ferdinand and Isabelle, not the other way around. It also probably helped that Columbus and the Spanish monarchs shared similar interests. Both being devout Catholics, they came upon to an agreement to not only find their shared interest in fame and fortune but of Spain’s request of “exporting Catholicism to lands across the globe” (History.com). And with not having to fight a war, Columbus was fresh and ready to go at a moment’s notice. Having discussed his new way of getting to Asia by sailing in from the west as opposed to the east, he set out on his voyage in