Before Columbus: Exploration and Colonization from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, 1229-1492 (The Middle Ages Series) [Paperback]

Felipe Fernandez-Armesto (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1987 | ISBN-10: 0812214129 | ISBN-13: 978-0812214123 | Edition: 2 Reprint

Demonstrating that Columbus's voyage was a new step in a centuries-old process of European expansion, Fernandez-Armesto provides a stimulating account of the broadening of Europe's physical and mental horizons in the Middle Ages. He shows how the techniques and institutions of medieval colonial expansion that were applied to the New World made long-term conquest and settlement possible.

A brief introduction analyzes the problems that face students and historians. Then, concentrating on medieval Spanish colonial development, but carefully linking that development to the wider European process of expansion, the author surveys the great areas of expansion in the Western Mediterranean: the island conquests of the House of Barcelona; the "first Atlantic Empire" in Andalusia, its environs, Valencia, and Murcia; the Genoese Mediterranean; and the North African coast.

In the last four chapters, Fernandez-Armesto sketches the course and characteristics of early European expansion of the Atlantic before Columbus and highlights the impact of geography and anthropology on the discovery of "the Atlantic space." The emphasis throughout is on tracing the elements of continuity and discontinuity between Mediterranean and Atlantic worlds and studying how colonial societies originate and behave.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Fernandez-Armesto writes thoughtfully of medieval Spanish colonial development and other European expansion in the western Mediterranean. . . . A lively and sustained narrative."—Choice

"A welcome addition to the growing literature dedicated to 'Atlantic Studies.'. . . Recommended for the professional scholar, the university student, and the educated public."—History

About the Author

Felipe Fernandez-Armesto is a fellow of St. Anthony's College, Oxford, and has twice been a Visiting Senior Lecturer at Warwick University. His previous books include Columbus and The Canary Islands after the Conquest.

Product Details

• Paperback: 294 pages
• Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press; 2 Reprint edition (June 1, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812214129
• ISBN-13: 978-0812214123
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #567,867 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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10 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Columbus as a logical outcome, March 18, 2003

By 

Henry Misbach (Canton, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Before Columbus: Exploration and Colonization from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, 1229-1492 (The Middle Ages Series) (Paperback)

It is hard to use, in the same sentence, logic and a man who believed both in the basic sphericity of the earth and the existence of the Earthly Paradise. But, all hero-villain dichotomies aside, we shall always be confronted with the fact that it was Columbus who started the inexorable process that produced America as we know it, to the exclusion of all who may have preceded him to these shores.

I doubt seriously that, even today, you can find any book in English containing as much of the process (speaking historically) that produced Columbus. The patchwork of overlapping interests that constituted the Medieval and Renaissance Mediterranean has to be one of the truly difficult places to begin on the globe. Just when you think Venice has emerged safely ahead of Genoa, and the Portuguese have shut the gate on Spain, then everything changes. Too bad the expression "sea change" wasn't yet invented when this book was written.

The African leg of the process has had some coverage, but not any more competently than here. I have some reservations about the claim that gold was the Italian merchants' only motive for trading in North Africa. And this claim is somewhat mitigated by the author's own observation that the attraction of the Canaries was a certain dyestuff easily obtained there. His explanation of
the crucial role of the Canaries, while Morisonesque, certainly explains much.

A chronological list of major steps would have been helpful. This book is, however, a "keeper," and will be for some time to come.