Challenge/WI: Columbus sails for the Emir of Granada

Moorish Granada was an incredibly wealthy city even in its final years, and Muhammad XII "Boabdil" of Granada remained very rich when he went into exile in Morocco, building a palace in Fez. And Christopher Columbus's request had already been declined by Genoa, Venice, England, Portugal, and France over a period of 7 years.

What if Ferdinand and Isabella turned him down, so Columbus converts to Islam and asks the Emir-in-exile to finance his western voyage to "India"?

Columbus seems opportunistic enough that he would easily convert to another religion if it suited him. Also, when Muhammad XII had originally succeeded to the throne of Granada, he invaded Castile despite the immense odds against him, for a chance at gaining some prestige. So I think he would be eager enough to accept Columbus's offer, hoping to become wealthy from the profits of trade with India.

What would result from a New World voyage by Morocco/financed by the emir of Granada?

Also: Relevant image
 
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Columbus decided to present his plan to the Spanish queen and king. He made his way to Cordoba, where they held court at the time. (They were wrapping up their campaign against Grenada.)
By the time Columbus had presented his plan to Spain, Grenada was doomed. I doubt they'd spend money on a wild scheme like that when they were about to be exterminated.

Now.... If he went to them before he ran out of Christian monarchs, that might be possible.

Esther Friesner has an amusing short story in which the Jews of Spain (OK, Grenada) finance him ealier, and he brings back an Aztec army...
"Such a Deal" is the name of the story.
 
At this point, not only is Grenada basically nothing - to the point that by 1492, only the (currently besieged) city of Granada is left and the Emirate literally has no coast anymore - the Muslims have much greater knowledge of the actual diameter of the world. Columbus's math was, to be blunt, totally ridiculous. The Muslims likely know better, considering where the Spanish got their knowledge in the first place.

The other thing to consider is whether a rump Muslim emirate would care about funding some fantasy expedition when its survival was on the line at this point.

Point number three is whether a Muslim country would want to seek out a route to India in this way.

You'd need an earlier POD to have any chance of a Muslim dynasty in Iberia funding a trans-Atlantic voyage - early enough that Muslims are, if not dominant, then competitive in Iberia and secure enough to be able to throw money at navigators. That means going back several centuries - nothing after Las Navas de Tolosa seems feasible, and even then you don't have much of al-Andalus to work with, and you're dealing with the Almohads, who don't have much of a maritime tradition to begin with. By that point you've butterflied Columbus and it's some other Genoese navigator with his hand out for money.
 
What about the Moroccans?

By 1492, the kingdom has lived through civil war and defeat but is now more or less stabilised. They however need new revenues as piracy gets them beaten and the transsaharian trade routes are short circuited by the maritime trade.

To try and get some money, they fund Colombus in an attempt to get a shorter trade route. As a muslim kingdom, they could have used the land route to the Indian Ocean but it is still pretty far away and it has to go through several other, often rival kingdoms.

If it had a direct trade route, it could be useful.
 
At that point you've got the Wattasids in charge of Morocco and the Spanish and Portuguese raiding them on a regular basis, if not outright occupying most of their port cities, at least to my knowledge. Basically at this point Morocco has bigger problems to deal with. By the time the 1490s end, Wattasid authority doesn't carry much weight.
 
I do understand that, and that is a major problem.

However, the portuguese were still trading with them so it's not entirely adversarial.

It might work as a last ditch effort since they don't have much to lose. Sure it's a bit stretched but no worse than the Portuguese trying to find Priester John and reach India to short-circuit the Venitians and not be invaded by Castille...
 
What about the Moroccans?

By 1492, the kingdom has lived through civil war and defeat but is now more or less stabilised. They however need new revenues as piracy gets them beaten and the transsaharian trade routes are short circuited by the maritime trade.

To try and get some money, they fund Colombus in an attempt to get a shorter trade route. As a muslim kingdom, they could have used the land route to the Indian Ocean but it is still pretty far away and it has to go through several other, often rival kingdoms.

If it had a direct trade route, it could be useful.
That's why I suggested the Emir of Granada in exile in Morocco. At that point, he had no territory to worry about, but plenty of money to throw around.
 
That's why I suggested the Emir of Granada in exile in Morocco. At that point, he had no territory to worry about, but plenty of money to throw around.
But would he have enough will to do it?

I mean, such a project would be too big for personal investment. Way quicker and safer way to make big money. This is at country-level, because you're worried about the long term implication for your country.
If the Emir has no territory, I don't think he'd give enough of a care about it. If he wants money, he can just bank some venitian merchant
 
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