After five centuries, Columbus remains a mysterious and controversial figure who has been variously described as one of the greatest mariners in history, a visionary genius, a mystic, a national hero, a failed administrator, a naive entrepreneur, and a ruthless and greedy imperialist.
Columbus's enterprise
to find a westward route to Asia grew out of the practical experience of a
long and varied maritime career, as well as out of his considerable reading
in geographical and theological literature. He settled for a time in
Portugal, where he tried unsuccessfully to enlist support for his project,
before moving to Spain. After many difficulties, through a combination of
good luck and persuasiveness, he gained the support of the Catholic
monarchs, Isabel and Fernando. 
The widely published
report of his voyage of 1492 made Columbus famous throughout Europe and
secured for him the title of Admiral of the Ocean Sea and further
royal patronage. Columbus, who never abandoned the belief that he had reached
Asia, led three more expeditions to the Caribbean. But intrigue and his own
administrative failings brought disappointment and political obscurity to
his final years.
In Search and Defense of Privileges
Queen Isabel and King Fernando had agreed to Columbus's lavish demands if he succeeded on his first voyage: he would be knighted, appointed Admiral of the Ocean Sea, made the viceroy of any new lands, and awarded ten percent of any new wealth. By 1502, however, Columbus had every reason to fear for the security of his position. He had been charged with maladministration in the Indies.
The Library's vellum copy of the Book of Privileges is one of four that Columbus commissioned to record his agreements with the Spanish crown. It is unique in preserving an unofficial transcription of a Papal Bull of September 26, 1493 in which Pope Alexander VI extended Spain's rights to the New World.
Much concerned with social status, Columbus was granted a coat of arms in 1493. By 1502, he had added several new elements, such as an emerging continent next to islands and five golden anchors to represent the office of the Admiral of the Sea.
