Columbus and Islam: A little needed history

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Given the time of Columbus’ voyage in 1492, being pretty close to the end of the period where Spain managed to take its own country back from invading, conquering and perhaps unprecedentedly cruel occupation by the Muslims in that same year, it always seemed to me that the real purpose of the voyage was not geometry, or for a better tasting sandwich, but likely to find a way to keep trade with India going by circumnavigating Muslim territory.

Mohammad, as you may or may not know, started his religion by robbing trade caravans in the desert and funded his larger military adventures that way. So one can imagine the cost of trade across Muslim territory would be horrifically high. (Just a point of interest to those who think Trump’s tariffs are a historical level threat.) The cost in lost merchandise, costs of funding an expedition and the staff who then became dead or slaves was too much.

So likely Columbus was looking for a way to make the cost of trade cheaper.

Nice to have the record set straight on that.

Raymond Ibrahim is a first rate scholar on Islam.

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

8 Replies to “Columbus and Islam: A little needed history”

    • The War of the Barbary Pirates to the Shores of Tripoli: the Rise of the US Navy and Marines by Gregory Fremont-Barnes – 2006

      The Barbary War – the first American war against Libya – was the first war waged by the United States outside national boundaries after gaining independence and unification of the country. The four Barbary States of North Africa – Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli – had plundered seaborne commerce for centuries. This was piracy on an extraordinary scale: they controlled all trading routes through the Barbary waters and North Africa: demanding ransom and booty for safe passage. In 1801 the newly elected President Jefferson ordered a naval and military expedition to North Africa in order to put down regimes that endorsed piracy and slavery. The Pasha of Tripoli declared war on the United States. Under the leadership of Commodores Richard Dale and Edward Preble, the US Navy blockaded the enemy coast and engaged in close, bitterly contested gunboat actions. On 16 February 1804 LT Stephen Decatur led 74 volunteers into Tripoli to burn the captured American frigate “The Philadelphia.” British Admiral Lord Nelson called the raid “the most daring act of the age.” In 1805 Marines stormed the Barbary pirates’ harbor fortress stronghold of Derna (Tripoli), commemorated in the Marine Corp Hymn invocation “To the Shores of Tripoli.” The US Navy troops were recalled before they could secure their gains, but returned after the War of 1812. Their success then won worldwide admiration for the Americans and their Navy. They marked the way for the European nations to finally quash the Barbary States and end the piracy. This event marks the true birth of the US Navy and Marines and is ever remembered in the Marines’ battle hymn.
      https://grc-usmcu.libguides.com/battle-studies/barbary-wars

      United States Marines

      • I always find it in a way “interesting”, when someone prefers something obviously evil. Is it because of ignorance caused by by being uninformed, or a hatred of what is good?

  2. Wow – you are truly delusional, one-sided and blind as usual to all the sins and evil committed by Christendom. Wake up and smell the coffee. Drop that Anti-Muslim, Pro-Zionist chip off your shoulder PLEASE!!!!

    • I tend to go with actual evidence, history and contemporary actions by each group. So I’ll stick with reality thanks. Islam has been devastating anywhere it takes root. Like communism.

      Both are anathema to a republic.

  3. “invading, conquering and perhaps unprecedentedly cruel occupation by the Muslims in that same year”.

    An interesting and perfectly understandable reason to look at other solutions. Part of the eventual solution was to respond with equal violence, a practice that Islam understands.

  4. Not so much India as the East Indies, which had become hard to trade with after the fall of Constantinople.
    Columbus was obsessed with converting everybody to christianity, and acquiring so much gold that it would be possible to conquer the Holy Sepulchre.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus#Background

    The fall of Constantinople truly was a world-changing event, it’s a shame that the subject is under-studied, and little is taught about it in western schools.
    Almost as important imho were the portuguese naval expeditions, and the wars they fought against the ottomans in the indian ocean, persian guld, and red sea. These were remarkable events:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman%E2%80%93Portuguese_conflicts_(1538%E2%80%931560)#Aftermath
    “The original Ottoman goals of checking Portuguese domination in the ocean and assisting Muslim Indian lords were not achieved. This was in spite of what an author has called “overwhelming advantages over Portugal”, as the Ottoman Empire was wealthier and much more populous than Portugal, professed the same religion as most coastal populations of the Indian Ocean basin and its naval bases were closer to the theater of operations.”

    Also
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman%E2%80%93Portuguese_conflicts_(1586%E2%80%931589)