The Conquest of the North Atlantic [Paperback]

Geoffrey Jules Marcus (Author), G.J. Marcus (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 26, 1998

The early voyages into the deep waters of the Atlantic rank among the greatest feats of exploration. In tiny, apparently fragile vessels the Irish monks searched for desolate places in the ocean in which to pursue their vocation. Their successors, the Vikings, with their superb shipbuilding skills, created fast, seaworthy craft which took them far out into the unknown, until they finally reached Greenland and America. The author of this book discusses the history of those expeditions not only as a scholar and historian, but also as a practical sailor. Besides the problem of what the early explorers actually achieved, he poses the question of how they did it, without compass, quadrant or astrolabe.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A wide-ranging, thorough and detailed study of the evidence for the colonisation of the Faeroes, Iceland, Greenland and, naturally, the Norse voyages to America. --Mariner's Mirror --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Univ of Rochester Pr (May 26, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0851151582
• ISBN-13: 978-0851151588
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,374,604 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A new look at Viking and English explorations, December 13, 2007

By 

Graham B. Weaver (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Conquest of North Atlantic (Paperback)

Eminent British naval historian Geoffrey Marcus gives us a new look at pre Columbian Viking and British exploration in the North Atlantic area. He provides us much additional information on the Viking discoveries and settlements in Iceland and Greenland. Also, he adds useful data on early Irish and Viking ship construction.

Marcus provides evidence that the first European to sight, though not land on, the North American continent was Bjarni Herjolfsson, not Leif Eiriksson. Readers interested in this little discussed period of history should not miss this important study.

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Clearly biased..., March 15, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Conquest of the North Atlantic (Hardcover)

I give two stars to this book decause of its good coverage of early norse/celtic/british exploration of the Northern Atlantic.
However the deliberate omission of important contributions by other people namely the Basque and the Portuguese in medieval times is difficult to understand. It's enough to look at a map to find a lot of non-norse/non-english/non-native names (as a small example the words "Labrador","Boa Ventura","Canada","Porto Novo" are Portuguese!).
If the title of this book was: "Early Norse and British exploration of the North Atlantic" I would give 5 stars.