The Enterprise of the Indies
Reach the East by sailing west.
A seed round for the Crowns of Castile and Aragon.
Santa Fe · Spring 1492
The problem
Every peppercorn pays three middlemen.
Since Constantinople fell in 1453, the road east runs through other people's ports.
- The IndiesPepper, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg
- Arab merchant fleetsCarry it across the Indian Ocean Takes a cut
- Ottoman and Mamluk portsConstantinople, Alexandria, Beirut Takes a cut
- VeniceHolds the Mediterranean resale Takes a cut
- Your kitchen in CastilePays for every hand it passed through
The solution
The world is round. Sail west to get east.
No Sultan, no Venice, no tolls. One stretch of open sea.
- West: open sea, zero tolls
- East: overland, three tolls
Why now
Granada fell in January. The Crown is free.
- 1453 Constantinople falls
The Ottomans take the gate to the eastern trade.
- 1488 Dias rounds the Cape
Portugal finds the bottom of Africa. India is next.
- Jan 1492 Granada surrenders
Ten years of war are over. Your treasury is free.
Market
The market is the entire East.
Sized by Marco Polo, who has actually been there.
The math
On our math, Japan is 2,400 miles west.
- Size of the Earth
- 75%
- Canaries to Japan
- 2,400 nmi
- In the way
- Open sea
Traction
Eight years of pitching. Zero miles sailed.
Conviction Total
- 1484Lisbon John II of PortugalHis experts: the distance is far too short. Passed
- 1486 to 1490Castile The Talavera commissionGrossly underestimated. Recommended no. Passed
- 1488Lisbon John II, againThen Dias sails home from the Cape. No. Passed
- Around 1489London Henry VII, via BartholomewNo deal. Passed
- January 1492Santa Fe Ferdinand and IsabellaNo. Then a royal guard, two leagues down the road. Recalled
Team
Two Pinzóns, a shipowner, and the Khan’s translator.
- CC Christopher Columbus Founder and Admiral (pending)
Genoese. Years on Portuguese ships, as far as the Gold Coast.
- MP Martín Alonso Pinzón Captain, Pinta
The best-known captain in Palos. His name signs the crew.
- VP Vicente Yáñez Pinzón Captain, Niña
His younger brother. Same port, same nerve.
- JC Juan de la Cosa Owner, Santa María
Brings his own ship. Also draws a very good map.
- LT Luis de Torres Interpreter
Hebrew, Aramaic and some Arabic. For the Great Khan.
Competition
Portugal is going around Africa. We go straight there.
- Portugal
- Decades down the coast. Reached the Cape in 1488. India: not yet.
- Castile
- One stop in the Canaries. Then due west.
Roadmap
Seventy days from Palos to the Indies.
Day 70 12 Oct
Land, 2 a.m. Founder confirms he saw it first.
- 3 Aug Sail from Palos at dawn.
- 6 Aug Pinta's rudder comes loose. Fix it in the Canaries.
- 6 Sep Leave La Gomera. Last land on the chart.
- 9 Sep Start a second logbook, with smaller numbers, for morale.
- 16 Sep Weed everywhere. Land is surely close.
- 7 Oct Follow the birds southwest.
- 10 Oct Morale event. Ask the crew for three more days.
- 12 Oct Land, 2 a.m. Founder confirms he saw it first.
Risks we've considered
We've thought of everything.
- Sailing off the edge Not a risk. The Earth is round; everyone in this room knows it.
- The crew loses its nerve Two logbooks. The crew sees the smaller numbers.
- Water and supplies Last resupply in the Canaries, Castile's own islands.
- A Portuguese claim The Treaty of Alcáçovas leaves us the Canaries. We sail west of Africa, not down it.
- The committee says the ocean is too wide Respectfully, we have done our own math.
- A continent in the way Not considered
The ask
Three ships. A tenth of everything.
- Admiral of the Ocean SeaHereditary
- Viceroy and GovernorOf every land found
- 10% of the profitsTax free, forever
Ofeverythingfound
- The Crown
- 90% of the profits, and the lands
- Columbus
- 10%, tax free, forever. Plus the titles.
- Town of Palos
- Nothing. It was a fine.