King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain saw many benefits of investing in Christopher Columbus's voyage in 1492. Despite the voyage being now famous for Columbus's discovery of the Americas, the initial voyage was actually an attempt to find a quicker trade route between Europe and Asia. This goal was one benefit that King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella saw when they decided to invest in Columbus's journey. By finding a shorter shipping route, the Spanish empire would gain an advantage when it came to trading with Asia when compared with the rest of Europe. A second benefit of funding Columbus's journey was that they would get to keep 90% of all the wealth found during the journey. This placed any potential riches from newly discovered lands in Spanish hands. This also represented a large incentive for Columbus as well, as he would maintain 10% of the wealth, and become governor of any new lands he found. Finally, a third benefit that helped them to decided to fund the voyage was to help spread Catholicism around the world, with the idea being that a more direct route to Asia would allow them to more easily spread the Catholic faith to that part of the world.
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