USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Columbus, a master mariner then in the service of Spain, and an avid reader, was searching for Cipangu (Japan), the island of “endless gold, ” about which he had read with great excitement in Marco Polo’s Travels.

Detailed explanation-2: -On Christopher Columbus’s second voyage to the Americas, he enslaved the indigenous people and forced them to mine for gold.

Detailed explanation-3: -Writing to Ferdinand from Jamaica in 1503, Columbus said: “Gold is the most precious of all commodities; gold constitutes treasure, and he who possesses it has all he needs in this world, as also the means of rescuing souls from Purgatory and restoring them to the enjoyment of Paradise.”

Detailed explanation-4: -For months, Columbus sailed from island to island in what we now know as the Caribbean, looking for the “pearls, precious stones, gold, silver, spices, and other objects and merchandise whatsoever” that he had promised to his Spanish patrons, but he did not find much.

Detailed explanation-5: -Christopher Columbus didn’t discover the Americas, he bumped into them while searching for spices. He was hunting for a trade route to the Far East to find cinnamon, cloves and pepper, which were as valuable as gold in 1492.