Columbus’ own writings reveal how tightly religion and conquest (and slavery) were intertwined from the start

His writings also show his delusions of grandeur

Peter C. Mancall, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

A manuscript with the text of the letter Cristopher
Columbus wrote in February 1493, giving his account
of the first voyage to the Americas.
Archivo General de Simancas/Spanish Ministry of
Culture via Wikimedia Commons

Few historic figures are as divisive as Christopher Columbus. For some, in both Spain and the United States, he remains a great hero, an explorer who found a “new world.” 

He is reviled by others who see him as an arrogant conqueror: the first European to enslave Indigenous Americans, and the man who launched ecological destruction in the Western Hemisphere.

As a historian who writes about early encounters between Europeans, Indigenous Americans and Africans in North America, I believe it is important to recapture this period as much as we can from existing documents – including Columbus’ own writings. Those texts reveal the enormous importance the push to spread Christianity played in Europeans’ colonial plans from the start.

In my 2026 book, “Contested Continent: The Struggle for North America, c. 1000-1680,” I describe how Europeans’ religious desires shaped the creation of American colonies that benefited conquerors, at a high cost to those they displaced or enslaved. In the Americas, the linkage of religious purpose and the eager pursuit of glory and wealth began in 1492.

History shows liberals were always right

For more cartoons by Ruben Bolling, CLICK HERE

Series on slavery in Charlestown kicks off March 5th

February 24 program on the legacy of slavery

Historian Anne Bailey will speak on ‘Historical Memory and the Debate over Reparations’ Feb. 24

Dawn Bergantino

Slavery was widespread in South County where Narragansett Indians and Africans gave their forced labor to create the wealth of South County's best known family names. Starting March 5, the Charlestown Historical Society will launch an educational series on slavery in South County. CLICK HERE for details.
Image credit: RI State Archives, "A Heritage discovered: Blacks in Rhode Island" (1976).

Noted historian and author Anne C. Bailey will deliver a keynote address on “Historical Memory and the Debate over Reparations” as part of the University of Rhode Island’s recognition of Black History Month. 

Bailey is a professor of history at SUNY Binghamton. Her most recent book, The Weeping Time: Memory and the Largest Slave Auction in American History (Cambridge University Press), chronicles the slave auction which occurred in 1859 Savannah, Georgia.

In addition to conducting exhaustive research on the Butler family, which owned the plantation where more than 400 men, women and children were sold into slavery, Bailey conducted interviews with the living descendants of slaves sold on the auction block, showing how the memories of slavery have shaped people’s lives today.