This chapter explores the beginnings of the European age of exploration, focusing on Prince Henry the Navigator's influence and Columbus's ambitious quest to reach Asia by sailing west. It discusses the motivations, challenges, and misconceptions surrounding the geographical understanding of the time that shaped Columbus's voyages.
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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)
