THE spanish maritime expansion it took place a century after the Portuguese voyages along the coast of the African continent, mainly due to the formation of the Spanish National State after the Portuguese State. The obstacles to this were the need to finish expelling the Moors from the Iberian Peninsula and to find an alternative route to the discovery by the Portuguese.
THE Reconquest War, when the Spaniards managed to expel the Moors from the Iberian Peninsula, it ended only in 1492, when the Kingdom of Granada was conquered. This victory crowned the action taken by Fernando, from the Kingdom of Aragon, and Isabel, from the Kingdom of Castile, who were married with the aim of unifying the various Spanish kingdoms. The Catholic Monarchs, as the couple became known, managed to overcome the rivalries between the various kingdoms and unify them after the incorporation of Navarre, forming the Spanish National State.
In order to reach the markets where the profitable oriental spices were traded in India, the Spaniards needed to find an alternative route to that of the Portuguese. For this, the Catholic Monarchs hired the Genoese navigator Christopher Columbus. Columbus claimed to be possible to reach the Indies sailing to the West, as the Earth is round, it was possible to carry out his circumnavigation. With this argument, Columbus convinced the Spanish kings, leaving on August 3, 1492, with his expedition consisting of a ship and two caravels: Santa Maria, Pinta and Niña.
Sailing west for more than two months and having to face an onset of mutiny, on October 12, 1492, Columbus sighted the Guanaani Islands, later named San Salvador. Despite thinking he had arrived in the Indies, Columbus had landed on a continent unknown to Europeans. Initially, they called the newly known place the West Indies.
Columbus managed to reach Spain to communicate his “discovery” to the Catholic Monarchs in 1493, returning later on three more trips to the new continent, exploring the Caribbean islands and the east coast of the Central America.
The name America would only be given to the continent after the expeditions of cartographer Américo Vespucci. His studies showed that this was a new continent, not the Indies. In his honor, the new continent was named America.
The meeting of this new continent intensified the rivalry between Portugal and Spain for the new known lands, requiring the intermediation of the Catholic Church in the dispute. Faced with this, the Treaty of Tordesillas was signed in 1494, dividing the world in half, separating the lands that would be under the domain of the two kingdoms.
In addition to having enabled Columbus to “discover” America, the Spanish maritime expeditions also indicated that the globe circumnavigation terrestrial was possible. In 1522, Fernão de Magalhães managed to bypass the extreme south of America, passing through a strait that took him to the islands of the Philippines, across the Pacific Ocean. The strait was renamed Estreito de Magalhães, in his honor.
Despite reaching the Pacific, Magellan was unable to reach Spain, dying on the way. But other expedition participants succeeded, proving Columbus's theory that it was possible to get around the Earth, sailing west.
By Tales Pinto
Graduated in History
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