Exploring Civilizational Capacities and Desires for Oceanic Exploration
This chapter explores the historical background of transoceanic voyages begun by Western Europeans in 1492. It examines the navigational knowledge of various civilizations and the motivations of lesser Christian monarchs in their quests for trade and religious expansion.
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Episode notes
This episode is a remastered and slightly revised version of the first of five on Christopher Columbus, the “Admiral of the Ocean Sea.” The episode discusses why Columbus should figure in to The History of the Americans in the first place, the state of Europe in 1491, how it changed after Columbus’s discovery, why it was a European who connected the hemisphere rather than an Asian, American Indian, African, or Muslim, and how it came that Columbus got the idea and built his proposal – a medieval venture “pitch deck” – to raise the money for his venture.
The Nuremberg Chronicle of 1493 (referred to in the episode):
Selected references for this episode (Commission earned for Amazon purchases through the episode notes on our website)
