Links to other sites of interest

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Writings about Columbus on the Internet:

Dr. T. C. Tirado at Millersville University (Millersville, PA, USA) maintains the Mother of All Databases on Columbus and the Age of Discovery, mostly written around the Columbus quincentenary in 1992. With about 1100 (!) articles and papers, this should be the first stop in your Internet research.

Columbus database now in peril!

Tom Tirado's irreplacable Columbus database (above) is now in danger of permanent loss due to copyright issues. All of Dr. Tirado's permissions were secured (properly) before the passage of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, and that has lawyers at Millersville U. all quaking in their boots.

Dutch historian Andre Engels maintains the very useful Discoverers Web, which includes a Columbus Link Page.

What did Columbus look like? Nobody knows for sure, but Paul Martin Lester has several ideas.

Judy Baca Romero's Hispanic view of Columbus and the Age of Discovery.

If you're interested in what they ate aboard ship, the Castello Banfi winery in Italy has posted an essay by Lucio Sorre' on this topic.

My good friend Maurizio Tagliattini has an extensive study of Columbus's early origins in his book The Discovery of North America.

The Columbus Monuments Page by Peter van der Krogt.

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Writings BY Columbus on the Internet:

The Log of Columbus 1: Thacher translation (1903, complete log).

The Log of Columbus 2: Markham translation (1893, complete log) in .pdf format.

The Log of Columbus 3: Extracts (unknown translator).

Columbus's letter announcing the discovery, from the Osher Map Library at the University of Southern Maine.

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Fun Stuff:

Want to know how to build and use a quadrant, like the one Columbus used? The Event Inventor will show you how, and some neat things you can do with one.

The Christopher's Crossing game: how to play.

My blog: The Numerate Historian.

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About the Taino, "the people who discovered Columbus"

The homepage of Chief Peter Guanikeyu Torres of the The Taino Jatibonuco Tribal Council.

Jatibonicu' Taino Tribal Nation of Boriken, Puerto Rico

Tekesta Taino Tribal Band of Bimini Florida, USA

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European Exploration and Expansion:

American Journeys is an extensive online library of historical documents related to the European exploration of the New World. The documents are in .pdf format and take some time to download. Included are the articles of agreement between Columbus and the Spanish Sovereigns; a translation of Columbus's log of the first voyage, and his letter to the court announcing the discovery.

Discovering New Horizons: a super website about explorers designed by students. First-class graphics and content.

The Bibliography of the Discoveries covers texts published on the subject in Portugal and abroad, in the form of both Studies and Printed Sources, related to Portuguese and European Overseas Expansion (from the thirteenth- to the eighteenth-century) and the History of the Geographical Discoveries in general and their Technical and Scientific Achievements in particular. It is mainly concerned with the Portuguese Discoveries and the Expansion of Portugal Overseas, and is complemented by a bibliography of texts referring to similar issues at the general level, in relation to Europe and to the world. The B.D. seeks, in short, to provide a thorough inventory of works published on the Portuguese Discoveries and Expansion, accompanied by a basic bibliography of similar themes relating to the world at large.

Doug Peck's site on New World explorers.

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Library and Museum resources:

The Library of Congress exhibit, "1492: An Ongoing Voyage."

Also from the Library of Congress, an explanation of Columbus's Coat of Arms in their Hispanic Reading Room.

The Library of Congress's resources on American History.

From Yale, the Priviledges granted to Columbus by the King and Queen of Spain.

The American Geographical Society has some Columbus materials in their huge collection of stuff (mostly maps) relating to the age of discovery. (It's worth a trip to Milwuakee!)

The Boal Mansion Museum in Boalsburg, PA, has inherited artifacts from the Columbus family chapel, including the Admiral's desk.

The Mariner's Museum offers a little bit of everything about sailing, including a great selection of stuff about the age of exploration.

Rutgers University Library has a fantastic list of resources for British and American history, including online dialups to major research libraries.

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Navigation resources:

Read Doug Peck's article on Columbus's dead reckoning navigation.

Or for an alternate view, read Arne Molander's article on Columbus's celestial navigation.

Magnetic Declination: What do you mean, North isn't North? Originally from the Canadian Geological Survey.

Everything you ever wanted to know about Celestial Navigation.

J.S. Illsley at the University of Wales has a huge bibliography on the history of navigation. It's part of an even huger History of the Ship series.

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Columbus and the destruction of native peoples

The American Indian Movement statement.

Geoffrey Eatough's scholarly paper, "In Defence of the Amerindian: Bartolome de Las Casas's Classical Strategies."

Dinesh D'Souza's copyrighted paper, "The Crimes of Christopher Columbus," from First Things.

Jack Weatherford's Examining the Reputation of Christopher Columbus.

Chief Peter Guanikeyu Torres' essay, The Historical roots of a Nation

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Columbus Landfall sources

From Doug Peck, a good explanation of the reasons he supports the Watlings Island landfall. Best viewed by downloading the .pdf files.

Turks Islands Landfall- The rich and sometimes audacious history of the Turks and Caicos Islands is recounted by H.E. "Bertie" Sadler from Columbus' (alleged) landfall in 1492 to the mid 1980's.

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General and related history resources

Michael Ross maintains a website debunking Gavin Menzies' 1421 claims that Chinese Admiral Zheng He discovered America seventy years before Columbus. Includes links to a number of scholarly papers.

The University of Kansas maintains the largest index of history links anywhere.

The Chinese University of Hong Kong has a fine list of history sites, including hard-to-find resources on Asian history.

The University of North Texas has links to WWW sites for historians, organized by topic and subtopic.

Phil Stohrer maintains a great list of history resources for teachers.

Anyone interested in the history of cartography should join the MAPHIST discussion list -- which occasionally veers into the history of exploration, with unpredictable results.

DIO, The International Journal of Scientific History.

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Return to The Columbus Landfall Homepage.

Return to The Columbus Navigation Homepage.