Demonstrating that Columbus's voyage was a new step in a centuries-old process of European expansion, Fernandez-Armesto provides a stimulating account of the broadening of Europe's physical and mental horizons in the Middle Ages. He shows how the techniques and institutions of medieval colonial expansion that were applied to the New World made long-term conquest and settlement possible. A brief introduction analyzes the problems that face students and historians. Then, concentrating on medieval Spanish colonial development, but carefully linking that development to the wider European process of expansion, the author surveys the great areas of expansion in the Western Mediterranean: the island conquests of the House of Barcelona; the "first Atlantic Empire" in Andalusia, its environs, Valencia, and Murcia; the Genoese Mediterranean; and the North African coast. In the last four chapters, Fernandez-Armesto sketches the course and characteristics of early European expansion of the Atlantic before Columbus and highlights the impact of geography and anthropology on the discovery of "the Atlantic space." The emphasis throughout is on tracing the elements of continuity and discontinuity between Mediterranean and Atlantic worlds and studying how colonial societies originate and behave.
Felipe Fernandez-Armesto is a fellow of St. Anthony's College, Oxford, and has twice been a Visiting Senior Lecturer at Warwick University. His previous books include Columbus and The Canary Islands after the Conquest.
Preface A Note on Names List of Maps Introduction Problems and Approaches PART 1. FROM THE MEDITERRANEAN ... 1. The Island Conquests of the House of Bargelona -Majorca, 'The Kingdom in the Sea' -Ibiza and Formentera -'Proceeding Eastwards': Minorca and Sardinia -Aragon's Dynastic 'Empire' 2. The First 'Atlantic' Empire: Andalusia and its Environs -The Conquest of Upper Andalusia -The Conquest of Seville -The Fate of the Moors -The Nature of Settlement 3. A Mediterranean Land Empire: Sharq al Andalus -Valencia and Northern Murcia: Conquest and Division -Colonial Society in Valencia -Southern Murcia -An Imperial Formation 4. The Genoese Mediterranean -The 'Absence' of the State -The Sovereign Colonies -'Ambivalence': Typical Genoese Colonisation and Trade -The Transmission of Genoese Influence 5. The Rim of Africa -The Condition of the Maghrib -The Aragonese Protectorate -The Merchant Colonists -The Lure of the Gold Trade PART 2. TO THE ATLANTIC 6. Mapping the Eastern Atlantic -The Early Phases of Atlantic Navigation -The Exploration of the Canaries -The Mapping of the Archipelagoes -The 'Unknown Pilots' 7. The Atlantic Crucible -Fourteenth-century Beginnings -Bethencourt, La Salle and the Peraza -The Islands of the Infantes -The Rounding of Africa's Bulge -The Portuguese Colonies 8. From the Canaries to the New World -The Context of Columbus -The Last Canarian Conquests -Granada, the Canaries and America -The 'Rise' of Portugal and Castile 9. The Mental Horizon -The 'Discovery of Man' -The Image of the World References Further Reading I
"A welcome addition to the growing literature dedicated to 'Atlantic Studies.'... Recommended for the professional scholar, the university student, and the educated public."-History "Fernandez-Armesto writes thoughtfully of medieval Spanish colonial development and other European expansion in the western Mediterranean... A lively and sustained narrative."-Choice
