Travel and Discovery in the Renaissance, 1420-1620.

The great discoveries by Europeans of non-European lands took place during the Renaissance: the Portuguese voyages to Africa and India, Columbus’ voyages, the search for El Dorado and the Northern passages to India, the great sailing feats of Drake and Hawkins, Magellan’s circumnavigation of the globe, the deeds of the Conquistadores, the Dutch discovery of Australia. In what is the first one-volume account in English, Boies Penrose tells the full story not only of these grand adventures, but also of the lesser-known free-lance travelers and of the maps by which the explorers traveled, the types of ships in which they sailed and how they navigated them, the books written about their travels when they came home.