• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 2984 0

1992:377 (“put there”); 380 (“by divine will”). Reporting to the monarchs about his third voyage, Colón claimed to have found the Paradise nipple. At the mouth of the Orinoco River, in Venezuela, he had ascended the slopes that led to “this protruding part” (ibid.:377). Heaven was presumably near the river’s headwaters. Such ideas were widely shared; Dante put Paradise on top of a huge projection he called Mount Purgatory (Lester 2009:292–95). My thanks to Scott Sessions for translation help.

37 Islam, Venice, Genoa as middlemen: My thanks to Dennis Flynn for straightening me out. See, e.g., Bernstein 2008:70–76; Hourani 1995:51–87ff.

38 Eratosthenes: Crease 2003:chap. 1 (“around the globe,” 3). Eratosthenes’s actual figure was probably closer to 29,000 miles, which most science historians view as remarkably accurate.

39 Colón’s geography: Wey Gómez 2008:65–99, 143–58; Varela and Gil eds. 1992:90–91 (quadrant); Nunn 1924:chap. 1. Colón also relied on the cosmographer Pierre d’Ailly, who argued that East Asia had to be near West Africa (Nunn 1935). D’Ailly took his ideas from Roger Bacon (1962:311), who in turn based his on a mistaken reading of Aristotle. (Aristotle in fact wrote [1924:II.14], “[M]athematicians who try to calculate the size of the earth’s circumference arrive at the figure 400,000 stades”—about 45,500 miles, twice its actual size.) Colón knew nothing of such scholarly niceties, and there is no evidence that he would have cared. Old Spanish nautical miles are close enough to current terrestrial miles that I ignore the difference.

40 “in the Apocalypse”: Colón, C. 1500. Letter to Dona Juana de la Torre. In Varela and Gil eds. 1992:430–37, at 430.

41 Converting emperor of China: Colón, C. 1503. Relation of the Fourth Voyage, 7 Jul. In Varela and Gil eds. 1992:485–503, at 498.

42 Inuits in Ireland (footnote): Varela and Gil eds. 1992:89 (marginalia). The story is brushed aside by Morison (1983:25), mentioned without comment by Phillips and Phillips (1992:105), and dismissed by Quinn (1992:282–85). By contrast, Jack Forbes (2007:9) calls the marginalia “solid, indisputable evidence that Columbus and others had seen Native Americans at Galway.” My thanks to Scott Sessions for helping me translate Colón’s note.

43 History of lighthouse project: González 2007; Roorda 1998:114–18, 283–85; Farah 1992; French 1992a, b (protests); Wilentz 1990; Gleave 1952.

44 Homogenocene: Samways 1999. It is more often called the Anthropocene.

45 Legazpi and Urdaneta before expedition: Rubio Mañé 1970, 1964; Mitchell 1964 (Urdaneta selects Legazpi, 105); De Borja 2005:chap. 3. Enriquez, M. 1561. Letter to Philip II, 9 Feb. In B&R 3:83–84 (Urdaneta and Legazpi as relatives); idem 1573. Letter to Felipe II, 5 Dec. In B&R 3:209–22, at 216–17 (Legazpi sells property). A popular account is Sanz y Díaz 1967:3–17.

46 King’s hopes for mission: Royal Audiencia of New Spain. Instructions to Legazpi, 1 Sep. 1564. In B&R 2:89–100.

47 “and Legazpi”: García-Abásolo 2004:231. Legazpi, García-Abásolo says, “always thought that his final destination would be to come to China.… Probably, if he had lived a few more years, Legazpi would have sponsored a diplomatic mission to China” (235). See also, Cortés 2001:266–77 passim, 444–47 (hoping to explore Pacific) and the many abortive China missions chronicled in Ollé Rodríguez 2002.

48 Legazpi’s first years in the Philippines: Legarda 1999:16–31; Guerrero 1966:15–18; Rubio Mañé 1970, 1964. See also, Sanz y Díaz 1967:35–52.

49 Beeswax (footnote): Cervancia 2003; Ruttner 1988:284 (bee ranges); Cowan 1908:73, 89, 105 (scale insect).

50 Maujao trading place: Author’s visit, interviews with Chiquita Cabacay-Jano and Rudmar T. Cabacay (Bulalacao development office); Horsley 1950:74–75 (parasols, drums); Legazpi, M. L. d. Letter to Philip II, 23 Jul. 1567. In B&R 2:233–43, at 238. See also, Laufer 1908:251–52; Li 2001:76–79.

51 Encounter at Maujao: Legarda 1999:23–24; Zuñiga 1814:vol. 1, 110–11; Laveçarism G. d. 1575? “Part of a Letter to the Viceroy.” In B&R 3:291–94, at 291–92; Anon. (Martín de