ABSTRACT
The journey to the East for Columbus was not merely a physical itinerary nor was his iter one that was mapped and glossed by cartographers alone. In addition to its association with Eden, the East was also closely linked to the idea of Jerusalem, the Holy City. The two loci, Eden and Jerusalem, were, in turn, linked by their respective roles in sacred history. Like Eden, Jerusalem also represented both a nostalgia for that which had been lost and a figure of hope for the future. The prophetic tradition and millennial atmosphere played a major role in Columbus's own interpretation of the journey to the East, and convinced him that his 1492 journey, more than simple commercial enterprise, was part of a greater chain of events linked to the Last World Emperor and the reconquest of Jerusalem.
