"Before borders were fixed, ‘India’ was a European fantasy—a floating label for distant lands rich in gold and spices. But when Columbus reached the Caribbean, he didn’t just mistake it for Asia; he believed it was a lost biblical land, ‘where never mankind dwelt.’ This confusion birthed ‘India Superior,’ a colonial mirage that reshaped the map. From the East Indies to the West, European empires stretched the word ‘India’ across oceans, binding geography to ambition.