He knew nothing of celestial navigation or of the existence of the Pacific Ocean. He was a self-promoting and ambitious entrepreneur. His maps were a hybrid of fantasy and delusion. When he did make land; he enslaved the populace he found; encouraged genocide; and polluted relations between peoples. He ended his career in near lunacy. But Columbus had one asset that made all the difference; an inborn sense of the sea; of wind and weather; and of selecting the optimal course to get from A to B. Laurence Bergreen's energetic and bracing book gives the whole Columbus and most importantly; the whole of his career; not just the highlight of 1492. Columbus undertook three more voyages between 1494 and 1504; each designed to demonstrate that he could sail to China within a matter of weeks and convert those he found there to Christianity. By their conclusion; Columbus was broken in body and spirit; a hero undone by the tragic flaw of pride. If the first voyage illustrates the rewards of exploration; this book shows how the subsequent voyages illustrate the costs - political; moral; and economic.
#60818 in Books Laurence Bergreen 2012-09-25 2012-09-25Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.40 x 1.20 x 5.50l; 1.10 #File Name: 014312210X448 pagesColumbus The Four Voyages 1492 1504
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. A Textbook ScorpioBy Carol MillerA Textbook ScorpioCristopher Columbus; the sailor from Genoa and son of a weaver; delivered half the world into the rapacious hands of a fledgling Christian Spain without ever knowing where he had been or what he had found. He died still thinking Cuba was a peninsula jutting outward from the subcontinent of India. He was intuitive; perceptive and persistent; a master of navigation; yet a failure at his task; a poor leader often victim of scheming and rivalry. He was cruel and magnanimous; monumental and pitiful; a collector of books whose damaged eyesight denied him the full appreciation of their pages; whose greatest reading was in fact the surface of the sea; despite acute arthritis; gout and chronic conjunctivitis.In “Columbus: the Four Voyages 1492-1504â€; by Laurence Bergreen; we follow the world’s greatest seaman into the morass of political connivance; while he; and those who followed; systematically destroyed the world they had found; corrupted or annihilated its populations and flustered after elusive or nonexistent riches to reward two bewildered monarchs who never fully came to terms with the notion of a “New World†in “the other world†of their resourceful but ineffectual and seriously ailing—both mentally and physically—emissary.Bergreen gives us the product of diligent research and exhaustive culling of available resources; in a prosaic but readable style; peppered by only a few missteps. An "Hidalgo" refers not to a " gentleman" ; as the author proclaims; but rather a son succeeding the first- born—to whom his family's wealth and titles are destined—in other words the landless; trying to make their fortune by any means. An " escudero" is equally low in the ranks of privilege and refers to a "squire"; who for lack of greater opportunity accompanies a man of title and position; wherever destiny may take them. As for the constuctions effected by Nicolas de Ovando in his capacity as governor of Hispaniola; they are not stone; as the author describes; but rather blocks of coral cut from the surrounding reefs; and so are solid but porous; pocked with residual shells and other marine life; and are uniquely handsome.The text is generally favorable to " the Admiral of the Ocean Sea"; fully aware of his skills and strengths; equally candid and perceptive regarding his idiosyncrasies and limitations. The book nonetheless often borders on harangue. No colonizer was ever bountiful and Spain was no exception; and was further nonplussed by the ambiguity of Columbus' discoveries. He had no idea where he was; less of where he was going; following as he did a hapless chimera he interpreted to be Marco Polo; and the Venetians' journeys to the realm of a "great Khan"; by then defunct.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Great bookBy CustomerBest book I have read about Columbus. Detailed account of the 4 voyages to the new world.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. ColumbusBy Marc K. Samet; Ph.D.An amazing account of the politics and "empire" of Spain and Portugal in search of gold and a path to China. Interestingly; Coloumbus died in chains as a prisoner of the Spanish Crown. His personality and the amazing FOUR voyages from Spain to the Carribean are stories which we as "civilized" Americans will find hard to comprehend. The book does lack in its expansion of how badly the natives were exploited in search of troves of gold....and few (including me) will realize how politically charged by the Spanish Crown this whole "exploitation" not exploration of the "new world" really was....a great read and hihgly recommended despite its minor shortcomings on treatment of the natives....
