Columbus’ own writings reveal how tightly religion and conquest were intertwined from the start

A historian examining Columbus's own writings, including the previously overlooked 'Book of Prophecies,' traces how thoroughly the admiral fused the spread of Christianity with the pursuit of territory and wealth from his very first letter home.

Columbus named islands after saints and patrons, described forcibly taking Tainos to serve as translators, and later compiled a commonplace book comparing himself to the prophet Isaiah while seeking his king and queen's forgiveness after being sent home in chains over allegations of enslaving colonial subjects.

The piece situates this within a longer European pattern of religious conquest stretching from the Crusades through the Reconquista and the colonization of the Canary Islands, arguing the 1492 voyages were a continuation of that pattern rather than a break from it.

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