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7/9/2025, 10:39:12 AM
>>17826940
I might have overstated the precision. My fault.
>Columbus wasn't even trying to find a new landmass
True, but the Crown’s backing wasn’t random. I'd say it’s more like opportunistic adaptation. They funded him after years of lobbying, seeing a chance to outmaneuver Portugal’s eastern trade routes. The Catholic Monarchs were consolidating power post-Reconquista and wanted a geopolitical edge. Columbus’s “discovery” was accidental in outcome, not intent. The follow-up voyages, with settlements and trade posts, show Spain quickly pivoting to exploit the New World.
>Cortés’s expedition charter was revoked by Velázquez
Correct, Cortés went rogue. But calling it uncoordinated misses the bigger picture. The Crown didn’t micromanage every conquistador, but it set up a system (encomiendas, adelantado contracts, etc.) that incentivized private ventures to expand Spanish influence. Cortés’s conquest of the Aztecs was a high-stakes side quest, sure, but it aligned with Spain’s broader goal of territorial and resource acquisition. His success (Tenochtitlán’s fall in 1521) was absorbed into the empire’s framework, with the Crown retroactively sanctioning it.
>Cortés was being used and manipulated by local kings and officials as much as he was using them
True as well, but this wasn’t “dumb luck” though; it was Cortés exploiting divisions, much like Pizarro later did with the Inca. The conquistadors were adept at playing local politics, even if their survival hinged on unpredictable factors. That’s not central planning, but it’s not random either.
cont.
I might have overstated the precision. My fault.
>Columbus wasn't even trying to find a new landmass
True, but the Crown’s backing wasn’t random. I'd say it’s more like opportunistic adaptation. They funded him after years of lobbying, seeing a chance to outmaneuver Portugal’s eastern trade routes. The Catholic Monarchs were consolidating power post-Reconquista and wanted a geopolitical edge. Columbus’s “discovery” was accidental in outcome, not intent. The follow-up voyages, with settlements and trade posts, show Spain quickly pivoting to exploit the New World.
>Cortés’s expedition charter was revoked by Velázquez
Correct, Cortés went rogue. But calling it uncoordinated misses the bigger picture. The Crown didn’t micromanage every conquistador, but it set up a system (encomiendas, adelantado contracts, etc.) that incentivized private ventures to expand Spanish influence. Cortés’s conquest of the Aztecs was a high-stakes side quest, sure, but it aligned with Spain’s broader goal of territorial and resource acquisition. His success (Tenochtitlán’s fall in 1521) was absorbed into the empire’s framework, with the Crown retroactively sanctioning it.
>Cortés was being used and manipulated by local kings and officials as much as he was using them
True as well, but this wasn’t “dumb luck” though; it was Cortés exploiting divisions, much like Pizarro later did with the Inca. The conquistadors were adept at playing local politics, even if their survival hinged on unpredictable factors. That’s not central planning, but it’s not random either.
cont.
6/29/2025, 6:33:20 PM
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