Publisher's description and from the back cover:
The years that preceded and followed the 5th Centennial of the discovery of America produced a great number of studies on the event and on its protagonists (in the first place, of course, Christopher Columbus). This caused a notable shift in perspective from the way they had been considered in the past. A more mature view of the events has now been introduced, given the awareness that Columbus' discovery is the most significant moment in a long process of European people's widening of their geographical horizon. This process started at least two Centuries before the discovery itself and was concluded only at the dawn of the 19th Century.The studies explored more deeply Columbus' enigmatic figure, certainly not an ordinary character, tenacious and determined, an exceptional sailor, but also a man of his time, with all the weaknesses and preconceptions typical of a very particular cultural education.Ilaria Luzzana Caraci gave a valid contribution to the renewal of the Columbus' historiography producing many studies on Columbus, on the conceptual genesis of discovery, on its effects on contemporary culture and, more generally, on the Columbus' historiography itself. These studies can be considered as essential and unavoidable prerequisites for any new research in this field.Some of the most significant essays that were published in periodicals and reviews have now been collected in this volume. The book proposes a less romantic, but certainly more logical and credible image of Columbus and stresses his historical role.

Index:
page 9 Foreword by Franco Salvatori
Part One. The Stages of the Discovery
15 1. Seeking, Finding and Discovering. The Stages of the Discovery
Part Two. Columbus' Voyages and Their Consequences
35 1. Christopher Columbus and the "Encounter"
47 2. New data on Columbus' Second Voyage. Arrival at the Lesser Antilles and Landing at Guadeloupe
Part Three. The Documents
65 1. Columbus' Postilla B 858c and Its Chronological Value
85 2. Regarding the So-called "Columbus' Map"
109 3. New and Old Documents Relating to Columbus
Part four. Columbus' Culture
135 1. Columbus and the Problem of the Longitudes
147 2. Columbus' Culture
Part Five. From Asia to a New World
167 1. Columbus' Asia
183 2. Columbus' Otro Mundo. The Genesis of a Geographical Concept
Part Six. Columbus and Genoa
205 1. Genoa and Columbus
227 2. Columbus' Nautical Culture
Part Seven. Columbus and the Historiography of His Age
247 1. Cassiterides, Gorgades, Hesperides after the Discovery of America
261 2. Columbus, Las Casas and Portuguese Voyages
Part Eight. Columbus, Martellus and the Fantasy of Some Scholars
271 1. The Cartographic Works of Henricus Martellus and the "Pre-discovery" of America
281 2. Henricus Martellus' Map in the Yale University Library and the Columbus Brothers
293 Bibliography