Many people know that Columbus discovered the New World, but Chinese and foreign historians all agree that Columbus's adventure could not have been realized without Isabella's keen vision and her foresight. At the same time, without The extremely generous support and encouragement of Queen Isabella, without her astute and agile strategy, there would be no win-win situation between Columbus and Spain, let alone the glory of Spain in the future.
For Spain, Columbus's contribution can be said to be unparalleled, but as a foreigner from Italy, everything he had was also a gift from Queen Isabella. Columbus treated Isabella like an angel throughout, and when the queen was critically ill, Columbus, who had always been unruly, wrote to his son, asking him to pray for himself in Italy and to give him everything to the queen.
Lucky Columbus
In the 15th century, Portugal had become the center of world navigation, and the Portuguese king also admired Columbus, but in his opinion Columbus had too much appetite, Columbus not only served as the commander of the navy of the newly discovered lands, the chancellor of Chincha and the governor, but also demanded civil and criminal jurisdiction in the colonies, and these positions must also be hereditary, but his plan was full of uncertainty and the probability of winning was low.
After being rejected by the King of Portugal, Columbus came to Spain to try his luck. He was undoubtedly lucky that he met Isabella, a rare and wise lord in Spain.
On May 1, 1486, Columbus met Isabella for the first time, and the queen's first impression of Columbus was also very good, the heroic Columbus had a great enthusiasm for navigation, although Columbus's plan was vague and costly, but Spain was in ruins at that time, and the war with the Arabs was in a state of stalemate, and he needed Columbus to bypass the Arabs and find the enemies of the Arabs.
The Queen first treated Columbus as a reserve talent, first having her commission evaluate Columbus's plans, and after being approved, she gave Columbus an annual salary of 12,000 Malawid, equivalent to the salary of the best sailor. Although this salary is not luxurious, it is enough to ensure that Columbus can live a worry-free life.
Columbus, having run into a wall in Portugal before, did not trust the Queen's commission, and when they came to check on his sailing plans, he appeared very inactive and took a nautical chart from a few years earlier. So in the early days, Columbus's voyage plan was not approved by the committee, and he was depressed and felt that he had nothing to do.
When the queen discovered Columbus's condition, she gave him spiritual encouragement and granted Him a privilege that all cities in Spanish territory would receive Columbus unconditionally. This undoubtedly gave Columbus great encouragement, and he later began to look for a sailing partner in Spain, after all, sailing required a huge expense, and the queen's order was the basis of his credit.
Between 1486 and 1492, Columbus spent a total of six years in Spain, during which no one could learn more about Columbus's plans, and even Columbus himself was not sure whether he would succeed. In fact, the queen also trusted Columbus by intuition and was not fully sure of Columbus's plan.
Although Isabella did not understand Columbus's detailed plans, she valued morale, whether it was a major battle or dealing with internal disputes, she valued the legitimacy of things and the enthusiasm she personally displayed.
How to navigate Columbus
She also knew that navigators took great risks to explore for the treasure of the East, and Columbus never lowered his asking price standards, always putting personal interests first. Although he paid lip service to his loyalty to the Catholic Church and sowed the seeds of Christianity, he always valued only money and wealth in his heart.
In the face of the unruly and self-interested Columbus, the queen clearly demanded that the purpose of this voyage was to spread Catholicism, and the secondary purpose was to expand overseas. At that time, Spain, like other European countries, adopted the primogeniture system, and the feudal nobles did not have the right to inherit property except for the eldest son, so the children of other nobles hoped to obtain land overseas when they expanded overseas.
Isabella's husband, King Ferdinand, hated Columbus's lions for opening his mouth, and although the queen hated Columbus's greed, she did not despise Columbus for his sky-high price. She allocated huge sums of money from the treasury to support his voyages, and even sold some of her own jewelry, and it was because of the queen's dedication and charisma that Columbus worshipped the queen as an idol.
In 1492, Columbus received the appointment document signed by the queen and went to lucia to prepare logistical supplies, but he ran into nails everywhere in the local area, and the Spanish nobles always treated the king's orders and did not obey them. The Queen harshly reprimanded local officials and vigorously added logistical support.
As Columbus was about to leave, Isabella posthumously honored Columbus's eldest son as a junior bodyguard, a position usually reserved only for people of royal blood.
Columbus after returning from the voyage
After Columbus returned from his first atlantic voyage, Isabella gave Columbus the highest standard of hospitality, and she and her husband went to pick up Columbus at the same time, and when they met Columbus, they also gave him a stool to sit with them. At the same time authorizing Columbus to carve the marks of castles and lions on his sword, which were the rights of the royal family.
But after Columbus's first voyage, his personal heroism grew heavier, and his unruly personality became more and more obvious. So the queen appointed her cronies Fonseca to be in charge of Columbus's military affairs, and when Fonseca and Columbus could not handle each other's relations, the queen always admonished Fonseca, and when she learned of Columbus's loyalty, she delegated military command to Columbus.
The Queen very clearly took the strategic authority of the expedition in her own hands, and the number of expeditions and colonies, the scale of equipment, the rationing of daily necessities, the rationing of military supplies, and especially the proportion of the operating income that Columbus diligently sought, were all prescribed by the Queen, because it was related to the financial control system of the country.
In pursuit of gold, Columbus more than once demanded the Queen to turn the Indians into slaves in order to guarantee the best interests of commerce, but the Queen righteously refused Columbus's request. At the same time, she demanded that Columbus should help the natives, develop their wealth with the locals, and protect them from bullying and atrocities.
The queen wanted to conquer with religion, and Columbus passed through the stick, so Columbus suggested that a group of Indians be taken to Spain to be indoctrinated as the initial believers in the promotion of Christianity, and the queen went out of her way to ask Columbus to be patient and educate the inhabitants. But this still did not prevent Columbus from committing crimes in the Americas, and without the queen's persuasion, Columbus would have been even more cruel in the Americas.
Queen Isabella's letting go of the use of people, using people well, has full performance in driving Columbus. Female leaders generally pay attention to the moral character of their subordinates, and the queen, as a devout Christian, has a personal moral character that is almost perfect, but with sufficient cultivation to tolerate Columbus's lack of private morality. In terms of the way of working, unlike the imperiousness of male leaders, the Queen's leadership style has a flexible feminine caring color, which greatly motivates Columbus.
For Columbus, the Queen was both a leader in the workplace and a friend outside the workplace. Therefore, no matter how much dirty water was thrown at Columbus by the people around him, Columbus always trusted the queen. It's hard to imagine how many more years columbus would have had his adventures waited if he hadn't met a queen like Isabella.