Looking East Sailing West

Columbus pondered these prophetic words until they were woven into his heart.  We must give credit to him for the beginning of the Age of Discovery, pointing the way to the new world.  As the Middle Ages were waning into the intellectual and artistic move called, Renaissance, more and more, worldly living was being emphasized in contrast to the strict virtues of the Middle Ages.   This new spirit wetted appetites for the exotic goods of the Far East, of which Marco Polo had already documented in his book, The Book of Marco Polo. 

There was growing urgency to re-establish the two known civilizations, the European West and the Asiatic East of the Great Khan and Cipango (Japan), which had been increasingly close during the Middle Ages, but had been hampered by the Turks, who controlled much of the near east, capturing important cities, such as Constantinople (Istanbul). 

The West (Europe) was determined to find other routes to the Far East to trade for their exotic goods.  Venice held a commanding domination in trade with the Orient, and as the Spanish begin to compete for this position, the Mediterranean center of gravity shifted to the Spanish peninsula, of which the westward voyages began, thus launching the Age of Discovery.  The Age of Discovery was the pursuit of the setting sun. 

Even before Columbus had concluded the last of his four voyages, many exploring expeditions were released from Europe.  The Cabots sailed from England, the Corte-Reals from Portugal, and from Spain, Solis and Ojeda, the latter was accompanied by a Florentine, Amerigo Vespucci, the man who was given credit for naming America.  In a short time, these and others sailed west.  There was one major  obstacle standing in the way of these early explorers and the land of the Great Khan, a massive land mass consisting of two continents , The Americas. 

Only Magellan, a Portuguese Argonaut in the service of Spain, was able in 1520 to penetrate to the Pacific, which had been glimpsed by Balboa at the isthmus joining the two continents, where Columbus and others had failed.  The strait through which Magellan passed was of little benefit, due to being so close to the southern tip of the continent.

The Conquistadors

With the existence of an immense continental barrier to the Far East, established for all time, on Columbus’s predictions as being a land of great riches, the Spanish efforts shifted to the exploration of what was before them, thus entered the Conquistadors in The Age of Discovery.

By a series of established bridgeheads, these hardy adventurers swarmed over the immense lands of the two continents, from what is now, the northern part of South America, to the southwestern part of the United States.

Impelled by their drives of greed, wonder, fantasy, plunder and carnage, the Spanish Conquistador’s positive contribution of geographical knowledge, spearheading the westernizing of the globe, went mostly unnoticed in the Age of Discovery. The Conquistadors were the bridge between the medieval and the modern western age.