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Other titles in the Transformations: Studies in the History of Science and Technology series:
The Tropics of Empire: Why Columbus Sailed South to the Indiesby Nicolas Wey-Gomez
Review-A-Day"The Tropics of Empire is most convincing in its historicization of Columbus's literary and geographical world, not necessarily in its prescriptive ability to chart a direct path from the Discoverer's "southing" on his way to the Indies to the troubled relationships between present-day populations who inhabit either side of the equatorial divide." Neil Safier, American Scientist (read the entire American Scientist review) Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:Everyone knows that in 1492 Christopher Columbus sailed west across the Atlantic, seeking a new route to the East. Few note, however, that Columbus's intention was also to sail south, to the tropics. In The Tropics of Empire, Nicolas Wey-Gomez rewrites the geographical history of the discovery of the Americas, casting it as part of Europe's reawakening to the natural and human resources of the South. Wey-Gomez shows that Columbus shared in a scientific and technical tradition that linked terrestrial latitude to the nature of places, and that he drew a highly consequential distinction between the higher, cooler latitudes of Mediterranean Europe and the globe's lower, hotter latitudes. The legacy of Columbus' assumptions, Wey-Gomez contends, ranges from colonialism and slavery in the early Caribbean to the present divide between the industrialized North and the developing South. This distinction between North and South allowed Columbus to believe not only that he was heading toward the largest and richest lands on the globe but also that the people he would encounter there were bound to possess a nature (whether "childish" or "monstrous") that seemed to justify rendering them Europe's subjects or slaves. The political lessons Columbus drew from this distinction provided legitimacy to a process of territorial expansion that was increasingly being construed as the discovery of the vast and unexpectedly productive "torrid zone". The Tropics of Empire investigates the complicated nexus between place and colonialism in Columbus's invention of the American tropics. It tells the story of a culture intent on remaining the moral center of an expanding geography that was slowly relegating Europe to the northern fringe of the globe. Wey-Gomez draws on sources that include official debates over Columbus's proposal to the Spanish Crown, Columbus's own writings and annotations, and accounts by early biographers. The Tropics of Empire is illustrated by color reproductions of period maps that make vivid the geographical conceptions of Columbus and his contemporaries. Review:"This superb, learned book offers a Columbus the vast scholarship on the Genoese has failed to notice: a man who sailed to the tropics, not the East. Rooted in ancient and medieval sources, the 'open earth model' of Columbus predicted a bountiful, temperate paradise in the equator, rich in gold, commodities, and spiritless slaves. Columbus's tropics explain the ruthless nature of the early modern European imperial expansion to the New World. A tour de force, a model of scholarship! Alice Drysdale Sheffield Professor of History, University of Texas at Austin Review:"The Tropics of Empire is an extraordinary work of history, learned, imaginative, and immensely revealing. Nicolas Wey-Gomez recreates the complex and now forgotten world of cosmological and geographical learning within which Columbus planned his voyage to Asia. Through close reading of a vast range of sources he shows us exactly why Columbus thought he could sail south, as well as west, to Asia, and how he envisioned the material and human world that he would find there. Wey-Gomez makes clear that Columbus's wide reading and speculative thinking had dramatic consequences in the real world, not only for him but for the inhabitants of the Americas. " Anthony T. Grafton, Henry Putnam University Professor of History, Princeton University Review:"In this challenging book, Nicolas Wey-Gomez proves something everyone thought was impossible: there are useful new things to say about Columbus." Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, Tufts University Review:"Mr. [Wey] Gomez's volume... offer[s] tremendous insight into the prevailing medieval understanding of the shape of the world Columbus encountered and absorbed." Alfred W. Crosby, The New York Sun Synopsis:A radical revision of the geographical history of the discovery of the Americas that links Columbus's southbound route with colonialism, slavery, and today's divide between the industrialized North and the developing South. About the AuthorNicolas Wey-Gomez is Assistant Professor of Hispanic Studies at Brown University. What Our Readers Are SayingBe the first to add a comment for a chance to win!Product Details
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