We all know the story of Christopher Columbus, the Genoese explorer who set sail under the patronage of the
Spanish Catholic Monarchs in 1492 to establish a direct sea route between Europe and the Far East, whence
India and its highly valued spice trade could easily be reached and, thusly, allow Castile and Aragon, the
predecessors of the Kingdom of Spain, to place first in the podium of the most profitable countries during the
Age of Discovery, competing neck and neck with the neighboring and extraordinarily successful Portuguese
Monarchy.

It is equally axiomatic that on October 12th that same year, Columbus eventually came to find land after a
month and a half at sea, mistaking the uncharted Caribbean islands for the Empire of Japan and, at some
point, China, as described by Marco Polo, a Venetian traveler who, two centuries prior, had treaded along the
Ancient Silk Road all the way to Asia and back.

The aspect that is usually kept out of the record, however, is the fact that Columbus stopped at nothing to
obtain every piece of gold the ground could yield, which led to a massive exchange between Europe, Africa,
and future America that was bound to modify the History of Humankind in the worst possible way – forever.
Throughout Part I of this expedition, we travel aboard the famous flotilla comprised of the Santa María, the
Niña, and the Pinta across the Atlantic, bearing witness to just how a group of initially ninety men expected to
enforce Christian law in an area where the aborigine inhabitants had already built an efficient society of their
own, having been deemed, nevertheless, “irrational beasts”.

Reference: Lameiras, Tiago. 2020. ‘Columbia: Part I’. Columbia, Carolina do Sul, EUA: Kindle Direct Publishing.