What was the name of Columbus's project to reach Asia by sailing west?

Columbus called his plan to reach Asia by sailing west the Enterprise of the Indies. The phrase described far more than a single voyage: it was a commercial, imperial, and religious project aimed at reaching the wealthy markets of Asia while extending Christian rule.

Columbus and his brother Bartholomew developed the idea in the late fifteenth century, when European powers were competing for access to spices, gold, textiles, and other Asian goods. Columbus believed the ocean separating Europe from Asia was much narrower than it really is, partly because he underestimated Earth’s circumference and overestimated the eastward extent of Asia.

He sought support first in Portugal and later from Ferdinand and Isabella of Castile and Aragon. After years of lobbying, the monarchs authorized the 1492 expedition. Columbus reached Caribbean islands instead of Asia, but he continued to interpret his discoveries within the framework of the Indies.

The title is sometimes confused with the Columbian Exchange, which names the later transfer of plants, animals, diseases, people, and commodities between the Americas and the Old World.