The Age of Discovery ushered in the dawn of modern times, and as Columbus discovered america, restless European adventurers gained their life's goals and ventured into the New World. In the largest collective expedition ever undertaken, there are three spiritual motivators that support adventurers to venture deep into the unknown continents to risk their lives: religious beliefs, El Dorado, and The Fountain of Immortality.
<h1>The primordial dynamics of faith</h1>
Columbus was an idealistic man, which is easy to understand, because without strong spiritual motivation, no one would sail a ship to a sea that no one has ever been to. Specifically, Columbus's ideals were expressed as a devout Catholic faith, as if he were a knight of the Middle Ages, whose mission was to discover the New World. After Columbus landed in the Caribbean, he was overjoyed and immediately wrote to his patron, the Queen of Spain, saying: "Your Majesty, the subject has just arrived in a fairyland on earth. There was a smell of ecstasy between the lines, and in Columbus's mind, the Caribbean was like what the Bible called the "Promised Land."
Columbus arrived in the Americas
Columbus's discovery set off a wave of European exploration of the Americas, which was like a maritime crusade . Columbus, as a pioneer, was the first to achieve respect for faith with chivalry, which aroused the interest of other adventurers who followed his example.
For reasons of faith, adventurers led by Columbus gave it a new religious name for each island landing, such as "San Salvador" meaning Savior; "Dominica" means Sabbath; "Saint Croix" means Holy Cross.
In the naming campaign, some of the church's canonized saints did not receive the glory of the island's name, but their names also became the names of new towns, such as "Santiago" and "San Juan". Adventurers also named new islands after the flora and fauna of the Bible as a tribute to the legend of the Garden of Eden. For example, "Tortuga" means turtle; "Cayman" means crocodile; "Culebra" means snake. The externalization, figuration of faith, and the naming of the way to pay homage to faith have greatly satisfied countless adventurers, so they have a great motivation to explore the Americas next.
<h1>The ambition of faith</h1>
With adventurers acting as pawns of idealism, the Spanish Empire was tasked with turning ideals into reality. In order to avoid the rest of Europe from invading the Americas, after Columbus discovered the New World, Spain immediately applied to the Church in March 1493 to take charge of the indoctrination of the New World, and with permission, the Spaniards boarded a boat to the Americas.
Spanish adventurers are also called conquerors
After the repression of the Dark Ages of the Middle Ages, the sullen Spaniards found a vent in the Americas, and the adventurers could not wait to leave the Old World and willingly rush to a new world where danger and opportunity coexisted. From Columbus's arrival in the Caribbean in 1492 to the Spanish conquest of Venezuela in 1567, it took Spain 75 years to acquire a vast American colony and become one of the European powers.
Adventurers reached Arizona for the first time
The Spanish conquest of the Americas can be roughly divided into two phases, the first period of maritime exploration (1492-1519 AD) and the second stage of the continental conquest (1519-1567 AD). Although the pioneering activities of these two periods seem to be for gold, silver and land, Spain actually has a kind of religious ambition, they regard the whole Caribbean Sea as a second Mediterranean, hoping to reproduce the process of Christianity becoming the hegemonic Roman state religion of the Mediterranean through the activities of spreading faith.
The adventurer brought horses that were not found in the Americas
Specifically, during the period of maritime exploration, the Spaniards used Haiti as a base to conquer Puerto Rico (1508), Jamaica (1509) and Cuba (1511), and established a colony in the Caribbean based on the Spanish social system. It is like the New Romans of Christianization, and like the New Holy Land established after the Crusades, with wheat, Latin, and wine, but also the Acceptance of Catholicism, the Bible, and all the symbols and rituals that symbolize the faith of Europe. The Caribbean became the "Spiritual Mediterranean" and became the cradle of civilization in the New World.
<h1>Legend of El Dorado</h1>
While their faith was greatly satisfied, the adventurers also actively considered the sorghum plot, and they wanted to find gold and other interesting things.
A map of Baja California drawn by adventurers
After establishing a solid forward base, the Spaniards began exploring Florida, the Yucatan Peninsula, the Central American coast, and the Isthmus of Panama. In 1513, an expedition crossed the Isthmus of Panama to the Pacific Ocean, not only roughly guessing the outline of the American continent, but also paving the way for the next South American expedition. At a time when maritime exploration was in its infancy, the Spanish conquistadors used Cuba as a base to travel west to Mexico and north into Florida, launched the conquest of the American continent, and successively established colonies such as Mexico and Guatemala.
Adventurers are romantics, truth and facts mean nothing to them, they exaggerate what they see and hear. The Caribbean has become increasingly mysterious and rumored, such as Columbus's fictional encounter with a "monster"; missionary Gaspar de Carvajal created the Amazon female warrior legend. Among the many legends, the story of El Dorado is the most attractive, in addition to the Spaniards interested in el dorado, british, German and other countries of the expedition also appeared in the New World, wanting to discover the country full of gold. However, these people eventually lost themselves in the jungle, most of the army was destroyed, and the luckier ones were fruitless.
Legend has it that El Dorado is located on Parima Lake
For nearly three centuries, adventurers have persevered in search of this mysterious country in the jungles of South America. Until the beginning of the 19th century, there were expeditions that still did not believe that El Dorado was fictional, trying to find its exact location in the jungle. The legendary El Dorado is located in the jungles of Venezuela's Orinoco River Valley, and the territory is full of gold. Chief Meta killed his wife because he suspected her of infidelity, but afterwards regretted it, so he would go to the lake every year to hold a confession ceremony: smear his whole body with gold powder, and then sail alone on the lake, throwing countless treasures into the center of the lake, hoping to get his wife's forgiveness.
Adventurer's exploration of the Brazilian interior
This ceremony of applying gold powder was chiseled by Spanish adventurers and became a legend of the El Dorado. In this way, through hearsay, every adventurer who wants to make a fortune goes into the jungle, they are eager for wealth, eager to join the upper class, but there is another group of adventurers who are more interested in the mythical thing, that is, the fountain of young.
<h1>The legend of the Immortal Spring</h1>
In addition to the Golden City, the search for the Fountain of Immortality is another powerful driver of adventurer activities. The legend of the fountain of immortality, first from the ancient Greek Herodotus, said that there is a magical fountain in Ethiopia, who drinks the "water of life" in the spring water, can live forever. The Fountain of Immortality is similar to the Meat of the Tang Monks in "Journey to the West", and everyone who yearns for immortality wants to share a piece of the pie. The story of the Fountain of Immortality has fallen silent for thousands of years, but through the mystique of the New World, it has finally revived in the Caribbean and South America.
14th-century French sculpture of the Fountain of Immortality
In 1513, the Spanish adventurer Ponce de León heard the legend of the Fountain of Immortality in Puerto Rico and immediately set a goal in life. In order to find this mythical fountain of immortality, he set sail north from Cuba and inadvertently discovered the Florida Peninsula. In Spanish, "Florida" means "land of flowers" and symbolizes youth. Pensay spent 25 years wandering around the islands of Florida and the Caribbean, traveling all over the rivers, streams and beaches, tasting springs everywhere, and finally did not find the fountain of Bulao, and then in the process of finding the fountain of Bulus, he clashed with the Indians, he was shot in the leg by a bow and arrow, and died of a tragic injury.
Spanish adventurer Ponce de León
The story of Pensay was basically promoted by an adventurer named Hernando Fontana. When Fontana was a boy, he was shipwrecked in Florida, he was rescued by the Indians, and then taken prisoner for 17 years, and in his Memoirs published in 1575, Fontana recounted what he had seen and heard in the primitive world, and he mentioned a lost river with healing water flowing in it, which he called the "Jordan River." In the book, he mentions Pensay Leon, who was looking for the river. Ponsai is just one of thousands of adventurers looking for the Fountain of Immortality, and we don't have to make fun of these idiots who take the legend seriously, especially in the environment at that time, even the New World was discovered, what else is impossible?
<h1>Three spiritual dynamics</h1>
The sixteenth century was the golden age of the Spanish Empire. The Golden Age symbolizes not only Spain's national strength, but also the irrepressible spiritual impulses in people's hearts. The Golden Age was the age of the Spanish royal family, the emergence of Cervantes and don Quixote, and the age of adventurers spreading their faith and searching for the El Dorado and the Fountain of Immortality.
In the process of opening up the Americas, adventurers desperately threw themselves into the ranks of exploration, some of them looking for faith, some of them looking for El Dorado, some of them looking for the fountain of immortality, in the process, many adventurers were lost in their hometowns, whether successful or not, they were able to get what they wanted.
In the Gothic masterpiece Faust, the Archetype of Faust characters has symbolic meanings such as "desire", "rebellion", "action", and "conquest". The Spanish adventurers of the sixteenth century had a Faustian spirit and created a new America through conquest. Under the idealism of adventurers, the totem culture of the Caribbean became a European theological culture, and each island not only changed its name, but also changed its identity, and finally stepped onto the big stage of world history. In the process of searching for el Dorado and the fountain of immortality, adventurers traveled through the famous mountains and rivers of the Americas, found out the geographical situation and resource endowments of various places, although they did not achieve their original goals, but what they saw and heard laid the information foundation for the great development of the Americas.
In summary, it is driven by the three spiritual dynamics of faith, El Dorado and Immortal Springs that adventurers have turned the previously unknown New World into a colony to be developed. In the eyes of the Church, they are saints; in the eyes of the royal family, they are warriors; in the eyes of the indigenous people, they are robbers and uninvited guests, and from different points of view, adventurers will receive different evaluations, but in any case, we cannot deny one thing: adventurers driven by spiritual motivation, connecting the old and new worlds.
Resources:
The Conquest of Contradictions: The Mayans and Spaniards in the Yucatan from 1517 to 1570, Inga Colandine
Lake Parlem and the City of Gold by Dawson Arion
Misunderstandings and Fictional Views Related to the Fountain of Youth and Juan Ponce de León's Expedition of 1513, Douglas Peck
General History of the Indians, Francisco López de Gomara
Magical Florida by Charlie Carlson
Born of Blood and Fire: A Concise History of Latin America by John Charles