Messianic symbolism in the exploration process of Christopher Columbus
Genoa and Florence: two great Renaissance capitals. Genoa, the pride, dominator of the seas and seat of powerful banks. Florence, the world financial center, at the top of which were the Medici, unchallenged capitalists of the 15th century.
Genoa gave birth to Christopher Columbus, the navigator of the Ocean Sea, who considered himself the new Messiah, bearer of the Faith to the New World. In Florence, however, Americo Vespucio was born, the traveler, the attentive observer, the cosmographer. These two great Italians, to whom the History of the New World is linked, met in Seville.
And then there was Rome, the center of Christianity, whose head was a Genoese pope: Giovanni Battista Cybo, Innocent VIII.
The 15th century had been marked by a fundamental event.
In 1453, in fact, the Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople and Islamized much of the Eastern Mediterranean basin. Its control of the maritime routes had closed important trade possibilities between Genoa and Venice, which had been trafficking for many years with the emporiums of the Black Sea and the Middle East.
The advance of Islam, seen as a force that opposed Christianity, was also felt in southern Spain. The risk of the Islamists blockading the Western world was real.
Furthermore, there was the New World, whose existence was already known. Since ancient times, in fact, the Middle Eastern world had knowledge of the enormous lands located on the other side of the ocean (see my articles: Fuente Magna, Ingá, Cueva de los Tayos). There was then the possibility that the Islamists, whether Arabs or Turks, would take over the new territories.
Innocent VIII had understood this and, for this reason, supported Christopher Columbus's enterprise. Although the two men probably did not know each other, this pope sponsored the initiative, not only in terms of financing the Italian part (Giannotto Berardi was a banker for the Medici, themselves related to the pope), but also as far as the Spanish part is concerned (the two managing partners of the Holy Brotherhood were linked to the pope: Santangel was the collector of the ecclesiastical revenues of Aragon and Francisco Pinelli was the pontiff's grandson).
Christopher Columbus, who already had decades of experience navigating the Atlantic Ocean (Ocean Sea), was the perfect person to carry out the project of conquest of immense territories and evangelization of the people who inhabited them: the indigenous people.
If Christopher Columbus had not done it as a representative of Christianity, the conquest project would have been carried out by the Islamic and world history would have taken a different direction.
For Columbus, Portugal and Spain represented the means to achieve his objective: the evangelization of the world, the final victory of Christ, and he, who was called Christopher (who carries the Christ), felt enlightened and charged by God to bring the Faith to the New World.
His strange cabalistic signature (main photo) is a clear example of who he believed to be the second Messiah:
S
SAS
XMY
Xpo ferens
Which was interpreted like this:
I am
a Servant of the Most High Savior
Christ, Son of Mary,
bearer of Christ
Then, the fact that Columbus was interested in finding colossal amounts of gold is related to the ultimate goal. Only with copious gold would it be possible to pay for well-armed armies in order to defeat the Islamists and reconquer the Holy Sepulchre.
Those immense amounts of gold and silver were, however, invested by Charles V and his successors in internal European wars.
Columbus had read “The Million” by Marco Polo. He was convinced that he could reach Cathay and perhaps found an alliance against Islam with the Chinese. His plans, however, collided with his mind, anchored in the Middle Ages.
His fundamental error, having underestimated the true extent of the Earth's circumference, led him to believe that he had arrived near Cathay, when, in reality, he was thousands of kilometers away.
The islands he discovered were baptized with names that honored the Bible, Christ or the project's sponsor, Innocent VIII (Giovanni Battista Cybo).
And so, the island where the caravels docked was baptized San Salvador (Guanahani), Cuba was initially named Juana (in honor of San Juan or Giovanni Battista Cybo?), Puerto Rico was also called San Juan, whose capital still remains today. This name, and Jamaica was called Santiago, in memory of a saint who fought against the Islamists.
In subsequent voyages, the possibility of reaching Cathay and the Indies blinded Columbus, in order to fulfill his dream, but his discoveries were not initially valued. Indeed, the new lands were seen almost as an obstacle in the race to the Indies, which was intended to seize the trade routes and spice traffic first.
Although he was named “Admiral of the Ocean Sea” and “Viceroy of the Indies”, his power began to fade.
In Rome there was no longer his pope, Innocent VIII, but a new Spanish pope: Rodrigo Borgia, Alexander VI, who would turn his back on Columbus and dedicate himself exclusively to the interests of Spain (Treaty of Tordesillas).
History turned against him. At that time, it was Spain that had used him, and he was no longer useful: his descendants had to fight to be recognized for the privileges that had been promised to them.
Furthermore, there was another Italian, whose mind was not medieval, but modern. It was Amerigo Vespucci : traveler, meticulous observer, cosmographer, anthropologist. In his notes he described the indigenous people, free men whose practices and customs had to be respected. Vespucci was not driven by the desire to evangelize nor by the desire to find extraordinary riches.
Although Columbus will die without recognition or honor, upon his death several cities disputed his remains, and even today dozens of them claim his paternity.
His epic, in the Western world, is only preceded by that of Jesus Christ. The Genoese triumphed, bringing Faith in Christ to the New World, although the process of forced evangelization of the indigenous people turned out to be one of the greatest cultural shocks of all time.
The Florentine also won, since his careful geographical and anthropological observations, together with his extensive experience, acquired in four exploration trips, led him to be, before his death, the most expert man on the new continent. in the world. Hence, King Ferdinand assigned him the title of “Master Pilot of Castile” and, for this reason, the New World will always be remembered with the name: America.
YURI LEVERATTO
