From Discoveries to Empire
he news of Columbus's find spread fast thanks to the power of the
X printing press.* Nothing speaks so eloquentiy to the reality of this
discovery than the excitement and wonder it aroused. The world had
opened up, transforming European self-awareness. Who are we? Who
are they? Theologians and moralists posed questions about the nature
of the "savages" found in these distant lands and the appropriate way
to deal with them. For artists, the New World provided a plethora of
images and themes, not only in itself but also as part of the new oec-
umene. For cartographers, maps became ephemera, repeatedly redrawn
to new information. The sea monsters and ornamental flourishes dis
appeared to make way for new landmasses of increasingly accurate
shape.
New land invites action. The rulers of Spain saw and held the
prospect of a great empire. This had no obvious connection with the
holy war of Christendom against Islam, but was nevertheless seen as an
extension of divinely blessed and papally sanctioned crusade. Even dis-
- Columbus himself made a point of spreading the news. After his return to Spain in
March 1493, his letter of discovery was printed thirteen times—once in Spanish, nine
times in Latin, three times in Italian. Gomez, L'invention, p. 95.