Although a resounding force behind King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella’s willingness to send Columbus to find a shorter route to Asia, religion was not the driving force behind the approval for Columbus’s journey to the New World; in fact, it was not Columbus’s main objective either, who had many other intentions for the voyage. 1 By his second voyage though, the spread of Christianity became increasingly important for all, and the King and Queen of Spain even enlisted the help of Pope Alexander VI, further expanding their part as true Catholic Monarchs.
According to both the Granada and Santa Fe Capitulations, negotiated prior to Columbus’s first voyage, the spread of Christianity was not as important as establishing a successful trade route to Asia. No acknowledgment of Christianity is even mentioned in these documents negating Columbus’s responsibilities once he reached his destination..2 Columbus also had his own agenda for the voyage, which had little to do with the spreading of Christianity. Some of these requirements of Columbus’s included, as stated in the Santa Fe Capitulations: allowing all titles bestowed upon Columbus to be passed down to his heirs, and giving him a share in profits.3
Prior to Columbus’s second voyage, however, an obvious intent for the spreading of Christianity is clear. The Catholic monarchs recruited Pope Alexander VI, who initiated a program to send clerics to the New World. Under his papal bull, Piis Fidelium, the pope appointed Bishop Bernardo Buil and his ecclesiastics, in the name of the King and Queen, to “preach and sow the word of God…” and to, “lead them [the natives] to that faith and Christian religion.”4 Pope Alexander VI then reaffirmed this with another bull, Eximie Devotionis, where he also refers to the desires of the King and Queen, stating that in a previous petition the monarchs wished, “most of all for the exaltation of the Catholic faith…” in the “…islands or regions of the indies…[that] the Highest may be worshipped and venerated.”5
Initially the desire to spread religion to the Indies was not the top priority of the Spanish monarchs or of Columbus himself, but soon after the discovery, the Catholic monarchs quickly began seeking ways to spread the word of God to the New World. By the end of Columbus’s life, Christianity was well established in the Americas and had taken a strong hold in the lives of the natives.
[1] Geoffrey Symcox and Blair Sullivan. Christopher Columbus and the Enterprise of the Indies: A Brief History with Documents (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2005), 13.
[2} Geoffrey Symcox and Blair Sullivan. Christopher Columbus and the Enterprise of the Indies: A Brief History with Documents. (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2005), 60.
[3] Juan de Caloma, Santa Fe Capitulations (1492), in Christopher Columbus and the Enterprise of the Indies: A Brief History with Documents, ed. Geoffrey Sullivan, Blair Symcox (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2005) 61
[4] Alexander VI, Papal Bull ‘Piis Fidelium’ (1493), in Christopher Columbus and the Enterprise of the Indies: A Brief History with Documents, ed. Geoffrey Sullivan, Blair Symcox (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2005) 145.
[5] Alexander VI, Papal Bull “Dudum Siquidem’’ (1493), in Christopher Columbus and the Enterprise of the Indies: A Brief History with Documents, ed. Geoffrey Sullivan, Blair Symcox (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2005) 148-149.
