Columbus approached the Spanish royalty at a particularly advantageous time— the newly unified Spain had just completed the Reconquista, the centuries-long effort to reclaim Spanish lands from Moorish control, in 1492.
Ferdinand and Isabella had established control, created one united country and had money that needed investment. Columbus capitalized on national fervor: He portrayed his potential trip to China and India via Western lands to the royalty as a new Crusade to spread Catholicism to heathen lands, along with financial gains by reaching Asia’s riches from a shorter, faster Atlantic trade route.
