Editing Aruba (section)

==== Early explorations ====
It is known that [[Christopher Columbus]] was not searching for a new continent but for the shortest route to India. India had been the spearhead of [[Europe]]an trade expansion and the foreign policy of the [[Monarchy of Spain|Spanish Crown]] since the travels of [[Marco Polo]] a century earlier. India, China, and Japan formed the focal point of [[Middle Ages|medieval]] ideas about boundless riches, cities with houses covered in gold, and islands with inexhaustible amounts of spices, pearls, and [[silk]]. The suspicion arose that India could be reached via the relatively short route to the [[west]], across the [[Atlantic Ocean|ocean of Atlantis]].

During his third voyage to the [[New World]], Columbus was searching for the southern route to India and explored the [[Paria Peninsula]] (eastern Venezuela) and the [[Orinoco]] region, where he discovered the fresh river water of the [[Orinoco Delta]]. The suspicion arose that he had not found islands off the coast of India but a much more extensive land mass; an extension of Asia. Columbus did not realize that this was an unknown continent. Characteristic of his [[Christians|Christian]] medieval perspective, Columbus solved the puzzle by assuming that he had discovered the [[Garden of Eden|earthly paradise]]. The earthly paradise was inaccessible to humans without God's permission. Columbus experienced the geographical discovery of the New World in Christian terms and assigned himself a special role assigned by a divine power. With the discovery of the [[Americas]] the myths of the [[Golden Age]], [[Atlantis]], and the earthly paradise moved from Asia to the New World. He died on May 20, 1506, believing that he had found new islands of the coast of or possibly a peninsula of India—pre-islands: ''Ant-ilha.'' These Ant-ilhas were inhabited by peoples whom he called "Indians".<ref name=":03">{{Cite book |last=Alofs |first=Luc |url=http://archive.org/details/BNA-DIG-9789088906022 |title=Koloniale mythen en Benedenwindse feiten : Curaçao, Aruba en Bonaire in inheems Atlantisch perspectief, ca. 1499-1636 |date=2018 |publisher=Leiden : Sidestone Press |isbn=978-90-8890-602-2 |pages=29–50}}</ref>

In 1500, [[Juan de la Cosa]] drew the first map of the New World, which depicted the two Leeward Antilles known at the time. This was followed by the more accurate [[Cantino planisphere|Cantino map]], created anonymously in 1502, which also showed an extensive landmass and mentioned the ''Isla do gigante'' (Island of Giants) and ''Isla'' ''do brasil'' (Island of Brasil)''.'' The location of the Isla do gigante southwest of the Isla do brasil suggest that it refers to Bonaire and Curaçao since Aruba is located more to the northwest.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Khan Academy |url=https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/renaissance-reformation/xa6688040:spain-portugal-15th-16th-century/xa6688040:16th-century-spain/a/the-cantino-planisphere |access-date=2025-05-08 |website=www.khanacademy.org |language=en}}</ref>[[File:Mapa-de-las-Antillas-(1500).jpg|thumb|Map of the Antilles, from a portion of the [[map of Juan de la Cosa]] (''1500'')]]

In 1493, the year in which the [[West Indies|West Indian islands]] became known in Europe, the division between the secular (civil) and religious authorities in the New World had to be arranged. The newly appointed Spanish [[Pope Alexander VI]] issued the ''[[Inter caetera|Inter Caetera]]'' bull, granting the Spanish Crown sovereignty over the newly discovered territories and the responsibility of the holy task: ''to send good, God-fearing men, who are earned and capable, to those islands and continents to teach the natives living there about the Catholic faith and instill in them good habits''. In exchange for the papal approval of the treaty, Spain promised to vigorously carry out missionary work in the discovered territories. This gave Spain the right to evangelize the Americas and appoint and dismiss priests, blurring the separation between church and state in the region. In other words, the Spanish Crown was granted significant religious authority in the Americas, which was not strictly separate from the state and weakened the distinction between the religious and secular spheres—a key aspect of separation between church and state.<ref name=":03" />