very_random_user t1_ixjc3uo wrote
Reply to comment by ImThatAnnoyingGuy in Researchers in Galicia open 15th-century tomb to test Columbus link theory. Explorer is generally believed to have been born in Italy in 1451 but some argue he was in fact born in Spain by ArtOak
>His “rediscovery” of the Americas (because the Vikings “discovered” it for Europeans first) was a Spanish accomplishment, not an Italian one.
Columbus voyages moved the trade to the Atlantic away from the Mediterranean. In the long term Columbus damaged the Italian peninsula, if anything. Italy was crazy rich compared to a large part of the rwt.of Europe until yhe discovery age. Then became a secondary place and all of the countries in the peninsula suffered. (Granted I am not saying Columbus is the main cause of the Italian decline but he didn't help). PS my understanding is that it is not clear at all that Columbus genuinely believed he was going for the Indies or if that was sort of an excuse to get funded.
ImThatAnnoyingGuy t1_ixkrs0f wrote
His voyage led to Spain becoming a super power and the first “global empire,” wherein Spain would hold assets in all hemispheres be they north, south, east, or west. Southern Italy, namely the kingdom of Naples, was already a vassal of Spain’s. Naples was a vassal to the kingdom of Aragon, which King Ferdinand ruled over. When he married Isabel to further the forging of a united “Hispania,” he brought his vassals to the union as assets. Once the conquests of New Spain began the Spanish Empire grew in wealth and power beyond anything that had been seen since the rise of the Western Roman Empire. Regardless, Columbus or Colón as he is known to us, was an agent of Spain and executed the will of the Spanish monarchy.
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