Christopher Columbus was a man of contradictions; he professed God spoke to him to direct his travels, yet after four voyages he still could not recognise that he had 'discovered' a New World.

Christopher ... Columbus’s expedition as an opportunity to expand Spain’s trading network into the Indies’ lucrative economy. Proponents of the Catholic Church, the monarchy also hoped the ...

The map itself is undated, but there are clues it was created in 1491: It quotes a book published that year, and Christopher Columbus may have consulted the map (or a copy) before his great voyage.