I decided to do an analysis of the "Privileges and Prerogatives Granted by Their Catholic

Majesties to Christopher Columbus: 1492" (Links to an external site.), a letter stipulating

an agreement between Columbus and the King and Queen of Spain as to what rewards
were due to him in the event he encountered any new lands. The letter appears to be
credited as such: Queen Isabella of Castile; King Ferdinand II of Aragon (addressed as
"Ferdinand" and "Elizabeth", respectively); "By their Majesties Command: John Coloma,
Secretary to the King and Queen; Roderick. Doctor. Sebastian Dolona, Francis de Madrid,
Councellors." It seems to have been written primarily to Columbus, but because this is a
legal document, it is directed toward Columbus' and the Spanish monarchs' potential
new subjects as well.
At the time this letter was drafted, Spain was in the midst of a rivalry with Portugal.
Vasco da Gama had successfully navigated his way to India by sailing eastward, around
the tip of Africa, as an alternative to the Silk Road. Before da Gama's voyage, Columbus
had proposed to the king of Portugal that he try sailing west across the Atlantic Ocean,
but was rejected. Columbus instead appealed to the King and Queen of Spain, citing
their rivalry with Portugal and their newfound success in establishing an alternative
trade route as reason to proceed with his plan. Despite objections from experts, who
deemed Columbus' plan
infeasible, it's possible that the Spanish monarchs saw this as a chance to outdo
Portugal - a slim chance, but a chance nonetheless. What's interesting is how much the
monarchs were willing to compensate for Columbus' troubles - that is, promising him
such grand ruling powers as Admiral, Viceroy, and Governor of any territories he
encountered, as well as the aforementioned titles to Columbus' sons and successors,
and so forth. How confident were the monarchs that Columbus would indeed encounter
such lands? Did they make said promises of power and fortune assuming they would not
have had to grant them after all, considering the seemingly low likelihood that
Columbus would reach land at all? Also, why would the monarchs make an offer so
grand when Columbus didn't seem to need much persuasion? Did having this sort of
advantage of Portugal really mean that much to Spain?
I don't see much reason to discredit the source other than the fact that it is an English
translation of what, I assume, was probably written in Latin or Spanish, and it's been
featured again and again in several different texts over the centuries. Out of curiosity, I
decided to investigate the source from which this text was extracted. I found a scanned
version of the text online, and began tracing back sources, which culminated in this text
(https://goo.gl/UyagBV), which was written in 1704. The authors claim to have
transcribed or translated many of the original writings contained in this text, which I'm
assuming includes this letter. Aside from that, I didn't have much luck in finding
anything to do with the original letter; just copies of translations.

In relating this document to the concept of the "Other", there are a few major examples
of this sort of "us vs. them" mentality. The most prominent being the rivalry between
Spain and Portugal. It is unclear whether or not the Spanish viewed the Portuguese as
inferior; if they had seen them as such, would there have been as much motivation for
the Spanish to join in the rat race for glory and riches? In addition, there isn't much
mention of the possibility of the existence of native peoples in these soon-to-bediscovered new lands; however, the monarchs don't fail to mention that essentially
anything and anyone that belonged to the lands Columbus had set out to find would
belong to him. Whether it was Columbus' assumption or that of the monarchs, it was to
be assumed that those conquered peoples were automatically inferior.