Internal Colonization in Medieval Europe The Expansion of Latin Europe - Vol. 2 Edited by Felipe Fernandez-Armesto and James Muldoon […] The second volume dealing with Christian expansion along the frontier with the Muslim world will examine the reconquista in the westward-facing parts of Spain and Portugal, a process that not only led to the creation of Spanish and Portuguese kingdoms, but also to Christian occupation of parts of the African coast, exploration of the Atlantic, and the discovery of several island chains. These efforts in turn led to Columbus's voyages and to Portuguese explorations that eventually linked the Atlantic to the trade routes of the Indian Ocean. Along other frontiers, European Christians expanded into lands occupied by a variety of societies, often employing religious motives to justify their actions as they had done in the crusades to regain the Holy Land. For example, expansion along the Celtic frontier brought Anglo-Norman conquerors of England into contact with Scots, Welsh, and Irish, all Christians yet, by continental standards, 'uncivilized'. Expansion here meant not only conquest but also, as in the case of Ireland, a responsibility for reforming the Church as well. There was also a task of transforming the pastoral societies of the Celtic fringe into agricultural societies that the intruders assumed to be the basis for fully civilized society. […]