As it is often taught, the colonial endeavor largely revolved around the thrill of exploring the unknown. What exists beyond the European continental limits? What biodiversity and what kinds of people makes up land masses that have yet to be discovered by Europeans? However, the thrill of exploration in itself seems to be Columbus's weakest skill and motivation. Columbus is overtly inept in the fields that would be required for proper exploration, namely botany, biology, ethnography, and geography. Additionally, he lacks interest in exploring these fields in depth. In describing the different plants, he manages to say, "I have seen many trees very unlike our own, many of them with a host of different branches emerging from the one trunk, one branch differing from another to such a degree that the variation is astonishing" (36). He reiterates several times in his journal entries that he does not have the time, the resources, nor the incentive to explore the islands thoroughly. He reinforces these comments by repeating the main objective, gold. This would strongly suggest that the true motivations of colonization have little to do with expanding the knowledge of humankind, but rather with producing subjects of the state, expanding Christendom, building stronger militaries, and, most importantly, enriching the Motherland.
Columbus
describes the indigenous as intelligent because "they quickly repeat
everything said to them (30). He continues, " I believe they would readily
become Christians; it appeared to me that they have no religion" (30). Columbus's
definition of intelligence is that of docile submission; someone who exhibits
near to zero critical spirit and repeats what they are told. In order to make
the indigenous colonial subjects, Columbus suggests converting them to Christianity.
Once Christian, they could be controlled through faith. Those who resist will
receive the wrath of the Spanish knights as expressed in Guaman Poma's excerpts.
Columbus was also motivated in searching
for resources that could increase the might of the Spanish navy, such as pine
wood for building ships. At the heart of the expedition was the search for gold
and riches. It is through this strong
desire for gold that the myth that is seemingly alluded to in Guaman Poma's
excerpts, El Dorado, is generated.
I very much agree with your point about Columbus's lack of scientific knowledge and motivation. He seemed to be unable or unwilling to do many of the things one expects would typically be done in an exploration of a new place. It is very clear from his writings that Columbus did not concern himself with classification or analysis of the unfamiliar lands unless it had to do with discovering gold. In this sense, you are very right to suggest that Columbus's overall lack of interest in these fields reveals his true objective which was to find wealth. This could very well be due to the fact that his first voyage turned out to be somewhat of a failure. The King and Queen of Spain had been very reluctant from the beginning to fund his journey, but they gave him a chance anyway in the hopes that it would bring them great prosperity. He had promised to find find a new, quicker route to the Chinese trade markets and instead ended up in the Bahamas. He had probably hoped to bring back ships full of valuable Chinese silks and spices and he instead all he had to show for his trip were small gifts and trinkets from the natives. This partly explains why Columbus considered the native population to be his greatest discovery. Perhaps he believed that the prospect of slave trading could make up for his utter failure in doing what the crown had expected of him.
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