Paolo Emilio Taviani remains one of my favorite Columbus historians of modern times. However, as mentioned in other posts, books written by historians should be supplemental and not a substitute for primary sources.
The Great Adventure book was published (at least the English translation version) in 1991. There are a lot of good insights in it. The author even took the time to visit many of the places Columbus visited as well. For example, in Chapter 37 he criticizes historians who claim Columbus’ choice for establishing a colony in Panama (during his fourth voyage) was a bad idea, when none of them had seen the place.
As much as I enjoyed this book, I do have a few criticisms:
First, the book hardly contains any reference citations.
Second, Taviani thinks Columbus had some “greed” when it comes to gold.
Third, Taviani insists Columbus was “stubborn” (p. 191) believing he was in Asia and not another continent, even though Columbus was just following the science of his times.
I disagree with how Taviani talks about Columbus in regards to slavery. I also disagree with Taviani’s assessment that Columbus, in spite of being the greatest explorer of his times, was a bad politician. In addition, Taviani thinks Columbus’ removal from office was a political coup led by no other than the king and queen themselves. On page 219, Taviani mistakenly says Columbus reached North America. Something he never did.
On a positive note, Taviani talks about the good relationship between Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci. He mentions that the king and queen entrusted Columbus with a letter addressed to Vasco da Gama (p. 215), something I wasn’t aware of.
The most impressive thing I learned from this book was that Columbus was correct about the following: During his third voyage, Columbus said that though the earth is round, it does have a protuberance, like a pear or the breast of a woman. Many people have mocked him for this, but he was right. According to Harvard astronomers J.A. O'Keefe and A. Eckels (in 1959), the earth does have a protuberance they describe as a “pear” shape.
In spite of a few disagreements, this is a great book. Yet, Taviani’s other book, Christopher Columbus- The Grand Design, remains my favorite.
#emiliopaolotaviani #bookreview
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