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and turned into theocracies. This generally didn’t last long, but it was unsettling to have noble rulers replaced by charismatic religious leaders.
    Added to that, it seemed there was a whole new continent that had gone unnoticed for millennia. And there were people on it! Wasn’t it bad enough that the world order at home was turned upside down?
    The discovery of the inhabitants of North and South America rocked the belief system of the Europeans. How did those people get there? Were they really human? Some believed that the natives were the lost tribes of Israel. In that case, their conversion would certainly mean that the end times were near. For some of the Puritan settlers in New England, the conversion of the natives was one of the essential goals intended to hasten the Millennium. Even Christopher Columbus saw his voyages in a millennial light.
    The myths about Columbus having to prove the earth was round have been used to show that he was a modern Renaissance man in a dark and superstitious age. Actually, everyone knew the shape of the earth and had for some time. Columbus didn’t have to prove it. What he needed to do was demonstrate that he could get to the east by sailing west without starving on the way. In his library, scholars have found marginal notes in Columbus’ own hand that show he knew of Roger Bacon’s thirteenth-century theories that there were Atlantic islands and maybe even another continent to counterbalance Europe, Africa, and Asia. He may have thought he could use these as stops for provisions. 3
    That he thought he was on a millennial quest is made clear in his writings as well, particularly the notes that make up his “Book of Prophecies.” 4 In it, he collected quotations from biblical texts as well as from medieval Christian writers such as Nicholas of Lyra and Joachim of Fiore. In his arguments to convince King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, Columbus stressed the eschatological importance of the mission, especially for the later voyages.
    The overall themes of his collection were that an important stage of prophecy had been fulfilled with the discovery of new lands and new peoples and that the eschatological clock was ticking away. The next steps, he tells his monarchs, must soon begin, for the world would last only another century and a half. First the gospel message must be spread on a global scale; second, Jerusalem must be captured by the Spanish monarch and the Holy Temple on Mt. Zion must be rebuilt. These accomplishments would usher in the last days and the biblical chronology relating to them. 5
    The Franciscan and Dominican missionaries who accompanied the Conquistadors to the new continent were on their own millennial quest. The remaking of the world as Christian and the establishment of the New Jerusalem was a cherished goal to both Protestants and Catholics.
    But it wasn’t just in Christian Europe that people were considering that these might be the end times. Jewish messianic figures, like Sabbatai Sevi, attracted thousands of followers. In Ismaili Islam, there continued to be those who declared they were the promised Mahdi, who would usher in the end times.
    In China, the sixteenth century saw rebellions under the banner of the Pure Land White Lotus, and many expected the Buddhist Mayatreya to appear to lead their armies. And it is possible that The Aztecs were conquered so easily by the Spanish because of a world-changing prophecy in their culture.
    At some point, society developed a strong undercurrent of pessimism, especially in Europe. From now on, at any given moment, someone, somewhere would be anticipating the imminent end of the world.
    1 Henry St. John Bolingbroke, The Works of Lord Bolingbroke: With a Life, Prepared Expressly for This Edition, Containing Additional Information Relative to His Personal and Public Character , vol. 3 (Philadelphia: Carey & Hart, 1841), 477.
    2 Robert Lerner, “The Black Death and Western European