8 /10 1 Votes
4/5 Audiobooks Publication date June 1, 2005 Pages 304 Originally published 1 June 2005 Page count 304 Publisher Little, Brown and Company | 4/5 Goodreads Language English Media type Novel ISBN 0-7595-1376-7 Genre Biography | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Similar Martin Dugard books, Christopher Columbus books, History books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Columbus lost voyage 1of10
The Last Voyage of Columbus: Being the Epic Tale of the Great Captain's Fourth Expedition, Including Accounts of Sword fight, Mutiny, Shipwreck, Gold, War, Hurricane and Discovery (also referred to as The Last Voyage of Columbus,) is a non-fiction book, authored by Martin Dugard and published in 2005 by Little, Brown and Company. The plot is a lifelong account of explorer Christopher Columbus and his founding of what is now often referred to as the New World. The book received positive reviews by critics.
Contents
Plot
The books topic focuses on Christopher Columbus, who was one of the first European founders of the Americas. The book tells the story of his life, as well as the problems he faced with his journeys. Columbus had seduced some of the most powerful woman in Europe to pay the expenses of his trip. The book follows Columbus' departure from Spain prior to his first voyage before sunrise on August 3, 1492. After three days of sailing on the Pinta, the rudder became loose, unable to cope with the strength of the seas, Columbus and his fleet stayed for a month on the Canary Islands. After repairing the ship, the fleet resumed sailing, despite pleas from fellow crew members for Columbus to turn back, which he ignored. On October 11, 1492, after seeing a distant light, it was later confirmed this was the area which would soon be marked as the New World, claiming the land to for the Spanish sovereigns, as well as claiming numerous other islands for Spain. In reward for this, Columbus was given ten thousand Spanish maravedis and 1/10 of all Royal profits.
Reception
Ben Cosgrove of The San Francisco Chronicle comments "Dugard's book breathes life into that futile, unquenchable, 500-year-old dream. There's adventure for you." Ben Sisario of The New York Times noted about that book that "In a rich, fluent account, Dugard offers both a gripping naval adventure and a revealing history of the competitive mercantile politics of the turn of the 16th century, and portrays Columbus as a star-crossed striver eager to legitimize his quest." James Neal Webb of Book Page comments "The Last Voyage of Columbus, a new book by Martin Dugard, is of the latter variety, and in it we find a figure who, while familiar, is more human and thus more interesting than the Christopher Columbus we know from history textbook."