5 results
The Special Features of French Antarctica, Otherwise Called America, and of Several Lands and Islands Discovered in Our Time
André Thevet (1516/17-92) was a Franciscan friar who traveled widely and, through his writings, helped to establish cosmographie--as geography was called at the time--as a science in 16th-century France. After making trips to Africa and the Middle East in the 1540s, he was appointed chaplain to the expedition of Nicolas Durand de Villegagnon, which set out from Le Havre in May 1555 to establish a colony in Brazil. The expedition landed near present-day Rio de Janeiro in November of the same year. In January 1556, Thevet fell ill ...
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Library of Congress
Concerning Discovered Islands: Letter of Christopher Columbus, to Whom Our Age is Greatly Indebted, Concerning Islands Recently Discovered in the Indian Ocean
This small work, published in 1493, is a Latin edition of a letter by Christopher Columbus announcing his discoveries of the previous year. It most likely was produced in Basel, Switzerland, by Jakob Wolff, a well-known printer who was active in Basel from 1488 to 1518. The work contains some of the first published images purporting to show the New World, including one depicting Columbus landing on a shore and making contact with indigenous people, and one showing the building of a town. At the top of both illustrations are ...
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John Carter Brown Library
On the New World or Landscape Recently Discovered by the Illustrious King of Portugal Through the Very Best Pilots and Sea Experts of the World
This work is the only known copy of a Dutch translation of a letter from Amerigo Vespucci (1454-1512) to Lorenzo de Medici (1463-1503), describing Vespucci's third voyage to America, undertaken in 1501-02 in the service of the king of Portugal. The work was published in Antwerp circa 1507 by the famous Flemish printer Joes van Doesborgh. The book is a translation of a Latin text, published in Paris in 1503, under the title Mundus novus (New world), which was itself a translation from Vespucci’s original Italian. In the ...
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John Carter Brown Library
Columbus Manuscript
In this manuscript, enscribed Cadiz, Spain, November 20, 1493, Christopher Columbus describes the new lands he has discovered, which he calls the East Indies. The manuscript is written on linen paper and bears a watermark. In 1978, the eminent historian Edmundo O’Gorman authenticated the document and backed its acquisition by CONDUMEX.
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Center for the Study of the History of Mexico CARSO
A Letter of Christopher Columbus
Following his first voyage across the Atlantic, Columbus wrote a brief report on the "Islands of India beyond the Ganges." His intent was to announce his recent discoveries and to garner financial and political support for another voyage. The first edition of the letter was printed in Spanish, in Barcelona, in April 1493. Within a month, Stephan Plannck published a Latin translation in Rome. Plannck’s preamble gave credit to Fernando of Aragon for supporting the expedition but omitted any mention of Queen Isabel. Plannck soon published a corrected edition ...
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Library of Congress