Christopher Columbus Habits - Navigating Ambition and Exploitation

Engaged in structured prayer, hymns, and scripture reading daily. Included reciting the Divine Office, singing the Salve Regina, and opening letters with religious invocations.

Documented daily navigation details, weather, and interactions with indigenous peoples. Maintained precise records of distances sailed and geographic observations.

Kept two separate logs: one with true distances for personal use and another with reduced figures to prevent crew panic.

Took short daytime rests to manage fatigue during long voyages. Prioritized sleep to maintain decision-making clarity.

Used celestial charts to predict events like lunar eclipses. Leveraged astronomical knowledge to assert authority.

Enslaved indigenous populations to mine gold and build settlements. Instituted quotas enforced by violence.

Captured indigenous leaders and individuals to ensure compliance. Used hostages as translators or bargaining tools.

Assigned Spanish names to geographic features and settlements. Erased indigenous toponyms to assert ownership.

Framed successes as God’s will and setbacks as spiritual tests. Frequently cited biblical parallels in journals.

Personally verified ship provisions and equipment condition. Prioritized maintenance to prevent mid-voyage failures.

Gathered plants, animals, and gold to present as evidence of discoveries. Curated tangible proof of new territories.

Assigned indigenous labor to colonists for resource extraction. Institutionalized exploitation under the guise of protection.

Deliberately underreported daily sailing distances to crew. Maintained optimism about proximity to destinations.

Insisted on using honorifics like 'Admiral of the Ocean Sea.' Reinforced authority through formal nomenclature.

Appointed family members as governors in colonized territories. Prioritized loyalty over merit in administrative roles.

Deployed attack dogs and mutilation to suppress resistance. Used extreme force to instill fear.

Imposed strict gold collection targets on indigenous populations. Punished failures with dismemberment or death.

Imposed European clothing and Christian practices on natives. Suppressed indigenous traditions systematically.

Prioritized gold mining over sustainable land use. Exhausted local ecosystems for short-term gain.

Built forts and settlements immediately after landfall. Established physical markers of Spanish presence.