Christopher Columbus and the Conquest of Paradise: Second Edition (Tauris Parke Paperbacks)
by Kirkpatrick Sale
Book Summary Information
Author: Kirkpatrick SaleEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2006-08-08
ISBN: 1845111540
Number of pages: 464
Publisher: Tauris Parke Paperbacks
Book Reviews of Christopher Columbus and the Conquest of Paradise: Second Edition (Tauris Parke Paperbacks)
Book Review: A very detailed account of Columbus (Cristobal Colon)
Summary: 4 Stars
This book is an excellent read and the author clearly spent many years of research in compiling this. All 4 of Colon's voyages are outlined here and there is much more in addition: such as the impact of his explorations throughout the centuries and the role of England in picking up what the Spanish first started in the Americas.
I have to say that some chapters are stretching a bit though - for example, there are 2 long chapters about Europe and the general European psyche in 1492, but these seem to go off on a tangent - such as long discussions about the European mind versus nature and the animal kingdom. I can see what the author was trying to do here. But, personally, I would have preferred a few more chapters on the build up to the first voyage.
Colon is criticised at various points in the book - he seems to be venerated these days (particularly in the USA) but clearly had many failings (he was an explorer and certainly not a wise colonial administrator and this weakness was greatly exposed when he governed over Hispaniola for example).
Still, Colon has to be greatly admired - he had tremendous vision (for unlocking the 'chains' of the mighty ocean), persistence (in finally persuading the Spanish monarchs to fund his voyage), resilience (spending months on end at sea in far off lands) and a measure of seafaring skill (for example, in catching the winds from the Canaries to the Bahamas, but coming back the more northernly route via the Azores - this may sound simple now, but at the time it was an issue that the Portuguese couldn't seem to be able to work out).
The cruelty and greed of the Spanish invaders is outlined in this book and the shocking figures for the depopulation of Hispaniola put the Spanish conquest up there as genocide on an unprecedented scale.
I read this book on a week's holiday in Costa Brava. One day I went to Barcelona and there, at the bottom of the famous La Rambla, is the high statue of Cristobal Colon. Clearly, he is much more highly regarded now than he was at the time of death, and in my opinion, quite rightly so.
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