Admiral of the Sea: Columbus and the Search for a New Route to Asia

In 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed west for the Spanish Crown to reach Asia’s spice markets without going through the Muslim pirates who made existing trade routes more difficult. Merchants and states were also influential– Muslim powers were only part of the picture.

Pepper, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg came from India and Southeast Asia. Arab, Persian, Gujarati and other merchants, many of them Muslim, carried them across the Indian Ocean. The goods then passed through Mamluk Egypt or the Levant to Mediterranean ports.

At the European end, Venice dominated the trade, especially through Alexandria. Every stage added tolls and profit, so spices reached Western Europe at very high prices.

The Ottoman capture of Constantinople in 1453 is often said to have “closed” the eastern routes. Ottoman expansion added to the sense that the eastern trade lay in rival hands.

The first people Columbus encountered were the Taíno (specifically the Lucayan branch). The initial interaction began peacefully with an exchange of trade goods.

• The Exchange: The Taíno swam out to the European ships and traded parrots, bundles of cotton yarn, and javelins. In return, Columbus and his crew gave them red caps, glass beads, and hawk’s bells.
• Columbus’s Observations: Columbus noted in his journal that the natives were physically well-built, handsome, and famously observed that they were entirely unfamiliar with iron weapons, writing that when he showed them a sword, they innocently grabbed it by the blade and cut themselves.

Muslim Pirates

Piracy was common in the Mediterranean; Columbus viewed his western voyage across the Atlantic not just as an economic expedition to Asia, but as a religious mission. He hoped to find allies (like the Grand Khan) and accumulate wealth to fund a future Christian crusade to reclaim Jerusalem from Muslim control. Just six months before setting sail for the Americas, Columbus participated in the final stages of the Spanish Reconquista with the fall of Granada in 1492, aligning his mindset directly with Ferdinand and Isabella’s anti-Muslim policies.

The race with Portugal

Portugal had spent decades working down the coast of Africa, and Bartolomeu Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1488. Portugal turned down Columbus’s proposal because it was already close to its own sea route to India.

Spain needed another way in.

In January 1492, Ferdinand and Isabella completed the conquest of Granada, the last Muslim kingdom in Iberia. That freed attention and money for new ventures. In April they signed the Capitulations of Santa Fe, naming Columbus admiral and governor of any lands he found, with a share of the profits.

The goals were mixed: spices and gold, a trade route Spain controlled, the spread of Christianity, and, in Columbus’s own writings, wealth to fund a crusade to retake Jerusalem. Religious rivalry with Islam was part of the mindset of the age, but the main driver was commercial.

Columbus reached the Caribbean on October 12, 1492. While the Admiral of the Seas did not discover a new trade route to Asia, he discovered something much more valuabel.

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Wayne Creed

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