The Desire For Power
Robert Royal’s article, “Columbus and the Beginning of the World” is greatly influenced by the motivations of the first discoveries of the Western Hemisphere. There has been debate over whether greed or religious purposes were most responsible. The desire for power was probably the main spark that ignited the first voyage to the Indies.
Christopher Columbus’ intent in the sea voyage was to find a direct ocean trade route that led Europe to Asia for valuable goods like silk and spices. Unfortunately, although Columbus had previous sea experience and knew that the world was not flat, he had a lot of convincing to do to prove it to King Ferdinand. He needed the King’s financial support to pursue this quest. Europe “did not regard themselves as the bearers of the highest culture” (Royal). Europe was another nation fighting for religious and economical power and this was one way that Ferdinand could achieve that power. Ferdinand eventually agreed and Columbus knew that he needed to show that he was capable of such a task. He was driven by the mere fact that he did not want to let the King down and he wanted to be remembered for such a wonderful find. As proof of Columbus’s own greed, Royal includes: “He drove hard bargains with Ferdinand and Isabella to secure the financial benefits of the discoveries for himself and his descendants” (Royal).
Once Columbus landed in the New World, he discovered the native Indians, people he was very unfamiliar with. Columbus told his men to not harm the Indians when he returned to Spain. The men disregarded Columbus’ authority and violently abused the “savages”. The Christian men used religion as an excuse to harm those innocent people because they were Non-Christians. Royal explains that the idea of the Christian expansion was just a “cover up” for greed and ambition. Columbus said that “For the execution of the journey to the Indies, I was not aided by intelligence, by mathematics, or by maps. It was simply the fulfillment of...
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