Why Columbus Discovered America

It was the year 1491. Pope needed money for crusades. He sent Columbus to look for the world’s richest country of that time, India. Columbus landed in that continent & thought he had reached India. Until 16th century, America was called “India”.

This is the earliest known map of America from Charta cosmographia (1544). Notice that North America was still called “India” or more specifically “India Orientalis pars” (“Eastern part of India”). Native Americans were called “Indians’ and American Islands called “west Indies”.

On December 26, 1492, Columbus writes “profits of my enterprise should be spent in the conquest of Jerusalem”. Christians and Muslims fought Crusades for control of Jerusalem. Apart from gold, silk, and spices, there was another important reason why Columbus took a sea Voyage to India (and ended up accidentally discovering America). Columbus writes in his diary that Pope sent him to India “to see how their conversion to Christianity might be undertaken”.

America was born from the desire of Christians to get hold of India’s riches and convert Hindus. If not for India, America, as we know it today, would not have existed.

Source: https://twitter.com/BharadwajSpeaks/status/1386334293178216448