Christopher Columbus’ journey, as described in his journal, was largely unexpected for me.  Perhaps I simply didn’t know enough about Columbus, or I had been told more legend than history regarding his expedition; but as I was reading, I realized just how little I know about the true history of Christopher Columbus.

First of all, I had always assumed the purpose of Columbus’ journey to be a search for new lands and a new route to India – and, sure, this was a large aspect of it.  What I never considered before was that his quest for India also had a motive – to teach the Great Khan of India about Christianity.  This gives Columbus’ journal more complexity, as his tasks are not only to navigate to India and claim uncharted lands on the way, but also to have a religious agenda in mind.

Since I had never been aware of the religious elements of Columbus’ journey, it surprised me how focused Columbus was on converting indigenous peoples to Christianity.  Perhaps Columbus simply documented his religious and political actions and thoughts in attempts to please the Crown; however his preoccupation with converting native people seemed genuine.  For example, even when describing these people, he continually notes that he believed they would be good Christians.

This concept of religious conversion is interesting because it always seems to be a primary purpose for Europeans when they reach the Americas and meet indigenous peoples.  In Canada, the French went to great lengths to convert aboriginals to Catholicism; and when the English came, they too worked to convert native peoples to Anglican sects of Christianity.  Down in Brazil, Portuguese missionaries traveled throughout the Amazon and other areas to convert the indigenous to Christianity.  Thus, the spread of religion (especially Christianity) appears to have a huge impact on the discovery and exploration of the Americas.  I must have been fairly naive, then, not to consider that Columbus’ journey followed the same template as the others in terms of religious motives.

A couple questions I have regarding Columbus’ journal are:

• Why doesn’t Columbus tell his (usually downhearted and unmotivated) men the truth about how far they have traveled each day?
• Upon discussing how uncivilized the indigenous people are (for example, that they lack clothing and weapons), what made Columbus note that he believes they are intelligent?
• Did Columbus’ attempts to please the indigenous people succeed?  Were the Spanish welcomed upon returning?

That’s it for today!  Thanks for reading!

Nicole