Dimensions
139 x 216 x 31mm
Tales From the Great Age of Discovery
Introduced and edited by Charles Ley, the excerpts range from straightforward historical accounts to fine literary expressions of the adventurous times.
Embracing three outstanding feats - the opening of the ocean routes, the colonisation of Brazil and the spreading of Christianity abroad - this volume features 'The Route to India, 1497-8' from the journal of Vasco da Gama's first voyage; 'The Discovery of Brazil', a letter to King Manuel written from Vera Cruz on 1 May 1500; 'The Land of Prester John', an account of the Portuguese envoy's mission in Abyssinia, 1520-6; 'The Furthest East, 1537-58' from Mendes Pinto's 'Peregrination' - without doubt one of the greatest travel books ever written; 'The Tragic History of the Sea', telling of the wrecks of the "Sao Joao" in 1552 and the "Santiago" in 1585 on the east coast of Africa; 'The Jesuits in Abyssinia' from Father Jeronimo Lobo's 'Voyage to Abyssinia', translated and with a preface by Dr Samuel Johnson; and 'Overland Return from India', Father Manuel Godinho's record of his return to Portugal in 1663.
