Early explorations It is known that Christopher Columbus was not searching for a new continent but for the shortest route to India. India had been the spearhead of European trade expansion and the foreign policy of the Spanish Crown since the travels of Marco Polo a century earlier. India, China, and Japan formed the focal point of medieval ideas about boundless riches, cities with houses covered in gold, and islands with inexhaustible amounts of spices, pearls, and silk. The suspicion arose that India could be reached via the relatively short route to the west, across the ocean of Atlantis.
Early explorations It is known that Christopher Columbus was not searching for a new continent but for the shortest route to India India had been the spearhead of European trade expansion and the foreign policy of the Spanish Crown since the travels of Marco Polo a century earlier India China and Japan formed the focal point of medieval ideas about boundless riches cities with houses covered in gold and islands with inexhaustible amounts of spices pearls and silk The suspicion arose that India could be reached via the relatively short route to the west across the ocean of Atlantis