It is known that Christopher Columbus wrote a letter to the Khaghan of China. This, by itself, already connects Catalonia with the discovery of the Americas, considering that Columbus was a figure linked to the Catalan court. I explain the reason in this article.
At the Institut Nova Història (INH) Symposium, in 2005, I spoke about the introduction of gunpowder to the West Europe through Catalonia. This argument is evident for many reasons that I detailed, including the large number of Catalan terms in the Spanish lexicon related to the world of weapons. So much so that even the most important concepts in this field, such as "pólvora" (gunpowder in spanish castilian) and "salitre" (saltpeter in spanish castilian), come directly from Catalan language.
I also explained that there is documentary evidence that King Jaume I (James I of Aragon) used gunpowder in the conquest of Valencia and that in the Museum of the "Royal Armory of Madrid," there are some very primitive handheld weapons that were sent in the 19th century from Mallorca, along with the famous royal dragon helmet, even though the museum director simply said, "this is impossible."
At the end of my presentation, my friend Ferran Margarit came to see me and showed me some photographs of some medieval capitals of a cloister with characters represented, easily identifiable as mandarins. I asked him: China? And he replied: No, Ripoll. He continued explaining to me that on page 182 of Garrigues's book titled "Colom català" (Catalan Columbus), there is mention of the reception in Catalan Perpignan, by Jaume I, of an embassy from the Great Khan, and that my link between Catalonia and gunpowder, which I intuited through the Moors, could actually be explained by this "proven relationship" of Jaume I with China.
Previously, researcher Jordi Bilbeny had asked me this question: why, if the Moors had gunpowder and we didn't, were we able to defeat them? Catalan portable weapons, introduced by the Chinese from this embassy, were decisive against the Moors' cannons, which were not useful for defense. The ambassadors of the Great Khan, in their entourage, necessarily had to bring craftsmen who taught to the catalans the manufacture and use of gunpowder. And in Catalonia, there were important factors for this knowledge of gunpowder to take root: ther was alchemists, such as Ramon Llull and Arnau de Vilanova, and there was saltpeter, in the Collbató Caves, known since the Neolithic.
As a culmination, the Catalan nation became the European "cradle" of paper, as papier-mâché is directly linked with the use of gunpowder. When Jaume I conquered Xàtiva (Valencian Country), he was the first to use paper for official documents, starting from the conquest and foundation of the Kingdom of Valencia. And the Valencians were also the artisans who spread paper mills throughout Europe. Thus, although the term "paper" comes from "papyrus," the English term for it ("paper") comes directly from Catalan ("paper").
Therefore, it was Catalans who conquered Murcia using gunpowder. And it was also the Catalans who conquered Almería, which still retains Catalan toponyms, such as Castillo de Ferro or Roquetas, and who conquered Málaga and Seville, which was taken by sea (what navy did Ferdinand III have?). And furthermore, it was Catalans who conquered Melilla, such as Pedro de Estopiñán (actually Pere d'Estopinyà or Pere Estupinyà).
Likewise, the role of the Catalans was very important in the conquest of Granada, and later in Naples, with their arquebuses, leading up to the discovery of America, and all this starting from this embassy with the Chinese!
With these Chinese ambassadors identified, history takes shape. Jordi Bilbeny, for his part, has insisted for many years that Marco Polo could have been Catalan. The circle is closing...
(Paper presented at the 5th Symposium on the Catalan Discovery of America in 2006).
Author: Manel Capdevila, engineer and member of the Institut Nova Història (INH).
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Article dated 28-10-2006.
This article is a translation from the Institut Nova Història (INH) website.
Original article in Catalan | Spanish Castilian version
[Image above: Capital with the Chinese ambassadors of the Great Khan located in the cloister of the Ripoll Monastery, Catalonia]
Image source: https://www.cch.cat/php/ls.php?fx=1xqar00300
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