And I say that Your Highnesses ought not to consent that any foreigner does business or sets foot here, except Christian Catholics, since this was the end and the beginning of the enterprise, that it should be for the enhancement and glory of the Christian religion, nor should anyone who is not a good Christian come to these parts.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Columbus insists that only Christian Catholics should conduct business or settle in the new lands to glorify the religion.
- In plain terms
- Only Catholics should do business or live there to honor the Christian mission.
- What can you take from it?
- Religious purity was a core condition for colonization.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Should religion dictate policy?
- What are the costs of exclusion?
Another view
Excluding non-Christians limits economic and cultural exchange.
More from Christopher Columbus
When there are such lands there should be profitable things without number.
Permalink to quote #10 ...your Highnesses may believe that this island (Hispaniola), and all the others, are as much yours as Castile. Here there is only wanting a settlement and the…
Permalink to quote #12 The two Christians met on the way many people who were going to their towns, women and men, with a firebrand in the hand, herbs to drink the smoke thereof, as …
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