Customer Reviews

The European Discovery of America: Vol 2, The Southern Voyages A.D. 1492-1616

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There's not much doubt that Samuel Eliot Morison's two volume history of the European discovery of America is the best around. The first of the volumes, "The Northern Voyages," is probably of more interest to North Americans, delving as it does into the Vikings and speculative pre-Columbian discoveries of America.

"The Southern Voyages" begins with Columbus, covering his four voyages in about 200 pages, proceeds onward to Magellan and his circumnavigation of the globe, "the most remarkable voyage in recorded history," and finishes with the English voyages of Sir Francis Drake and Thomas Cavendish. Along the way, Morison also discusses the voyages of many "minor" explorers including the enigmatic Amerigo Vespucci, a man of modest accomplishments who saw his name applied to two continents. Sebastian Cabot rates a chapter as does the Dutch discovery of Cape Horn and the French and Portuguese in Brazil.

Morison was a sailor himself, a student of the sea, a naval historian, a biographer of Columbus, and a fine storyteller. He brings a wealth of insight to the voyages and even undertook expeditions of his own to visit the places where the voyagers called. His admiration for Columbus' seamanship is unbounded. "Never was a title more justly bestowed than...Admiral of the Ocean Sea." This admiration is a bit old-fashioned today, as latter-day historians talk more about Columbus's faults on land than his skill at sea. Morison follows each chapter in his book with notes and a bibliography in which he discusses, often with some humor, the controversies, old maps, and speculations so beloved by armchair theorists and explorers. Numerous photographs and outstanding maps dot the text.

To my mind any reading about the European discoverers of America should begin with Morison's two volumes -- and it can end there in most cases unless the reader's thirst for knowledge is unquenchable. This is an outstanding book and nothing comparable has been written to my knowledge since its publication 30 years ago.

Smallchief

Morrison's monumental chronicle of the European expeditions to America still holds its place as the best work in the field after three decades. Although quite lengthy (two volumes weigh in at more than 800 pages each), the books are quite readable and the writing manages to be both scholarly and entertaining.

This history doesn't deal with the explorations in a vacuum. Every voyage to America was prompted and influenced by a variety of social, economic, political, and technological factors in its country of origin, and Morrison gives a thorough view of the background of the explorers and their home country before treating the expeditions themselves. This book will not only tell you what the explorers discovered, but what they were looking for and why.

For all of those interested in the Viking expeditions to North America, this book tells the definitive story. The exact site of the first Viking settlement has been identified, and the archaeological evidence is discussed here. There is also a thorough debunking of several spurious "Viking stones" in places like Minnesota and New Hampshire.

Other explorations of North America are covered in fascinating detail, including the seasonal but very active sixteenth-century fishing outposts in Newfoundland, and the many attempts to discover the elusive Northwest Passage.

As a naval historian, Morrison devoted a fair number of pages in this book to technical descriptions of ships and sailing. The uninterested reader can safely skim over these parts without detracting from the historical saga, but this landlubber found it interesting to trace the technological development of the vessels that crossed the Atlantic.

In short, if you have any interest in who explored the Americas, why they went there, and what they experienced, then this is absolutely the best book you can read on the subject.

I've read countless modern books about the Age of Discovery but it took finding this series by Samual E Morison, written in the early 1970's to knock the socks off every history book on the subject. The best!!!! Very readable, and Morison adds his little wit and flare like no one else can.

Simply put: if you want to learn about the Age of Discovery, there is nothing better. Readable, enjoyable, and chock full of information. 40 years later, still unmatched.

If you read one of Morison's books, you'll become a sponge for all of his writings. He is no doubt the easiest, most entertaining historian in history. Beware, once you start reading his work, you'll be addicted.

Morrison answers so many of the questions which probably exist in everyone's mind as to how it was discovered. These 2 books really answer most questions in an educated and lucid way. If you have never read Morrison, it might be best to read his quicker reading volumn on Colombus, Admiral of the Ocean Sea [usually easily found used on Amazon].

A highly readable history with some novel touches. First the author has personally sailed many of the places he discusses. That gives him insight and appreciation for the brilliance of Columbus and Magellan as sailors using dead reckoning. Second, he can make their stories come alive by describing the feel of the Caribbean and the Strait of Magellan from his own trips there. Third, I've not seen many history books with such extensive discussions of their sources and the history of their translation and reliability as we have here. On the down side, the photos are almost worthless, being mostly poorly reproduced, too dark, and of poor composition. I can't think of one that was worth putting in the book and there are many. There's also way too much info on the minor voyages, but it's quite possible to just read about the two most interesting people, Columbus and Magellan, and skip over the rest.

In regard to Mr Kasprzak's review above -- If interested in Viking explorations or any other matter described in that review, one should buy the Northern Voyages work, not the Southern Voyages edition under which Mr Kasprazak's review appears. His signals were crossed.