The Columbus Legacy

About a block from my dormitory, next to the cathedral of San Esteban, stands an old building. In a city filled with ancient architecture, it is easy to overlook the dwarfed structure, but it would be an eternal shame to miss this humble building due to its historical significance to Spain and the New World. It is in this building in 1492, after the Catholic King and Queen reconquered the Spanish lands, that a young Italian man named Christopher Columbus came to Isabel and Ferdinand to ask for permission to go in search of a new route through the Indies. Already refused by Portugal, Columbus laid out his plans to the Spanish King and Queen.

In that modest building beside the towering San Esteban of Salamanca, the course of history was changed. Columbus would fail in his quest for a route through the Indies but succeed in discovering the New World. He would forever change the course of history for both Spain and the Americas. This discovery would mean as much, if not more, for Spain as it did for the Americas for it would sustain the economy of Spain for years to come. Their vast holdings in the Americas would translate to power in the European contest of nations and extensive Spanish holdings that spurred the Spanish King Felipe II to say, “Sobre mi imperio nunca se pone el sol.” “Over my empire, the sun never sets.”

Monuments to Columbus abound in Spain; however, one of the largest can be found in Barcelona. Seville would eventually become the main port of trade with the Americas, but Barcelona is the location where Columbus first brought natives from the New World to Spain. Thus began our cooperation with Spain and, by extension, Europe at large.