This edition features a leather binding on the spine and corners, adorned with gold leaf printing on the rounded spine. Additional customizations are available upon request, such as full leather binding, gold screen printing on the cover, colored leather options, or custom book colors. Reprinted in 2019 from the original edition published many years ago [1892], this book is presented in black and white with a sewn binding to ensure durability. It is printed on high-quality, acid-free, natural shade paper, resized to meet current standards, and professionally processed to maintain the integrity of the original content. Given the age of the original texts, each page has been meticulously processed to enhance readability. However, some pages may still have minor issues such as blurring, missing text, or black spots. If the original was part of a multi-volume set, please note that this reprint is a single volume. We hope you understand these limitations and appreciate our efforts to preserve this valuable piece of literary history. We believe this book will be of great interest to readers keen on exploring our rich cultural heritage and are pleased to bring it back to the shelves. We welcome your feedback and suggestions. eng,und, 268. Full leather binding is available for an additional $25 beyond the price of the standard leather-bound edition. {Folio edition also available.} Complete Writings ... descriptive of the discovery and occupation of the new world; 1892 [Leather Bound] by Columbus, Christopher,Ford, Paul Leicester,
Christopher Columbus (c. 1451–1506) was a Genoese navigator, colonizer and explorer whose voyages across the Atlantic Ocean led to general European awareness of the American continents in the Western Hemisphere. Although not the first to reach the Americas from Europe—he was preceded by the Norse, led by Leif Ericson, who built a temporary settlement 500 years earlier at L'Anse aux Meadows — Columbus initiated widespread contact between Europeans and indigenous Americans. With his four voyages of discovery and several attempts at establishing a settlement on the island of Hispaniola, all funded by Queen Isabella of Spain, he initiated the process of Spanish colonization which foreshadowed general European colonization of the "New World." (The term "pre-Columbian" is usually used to refer to the peoples and cultures of the Americas before the arrival of Columbus and his European successors.)
His initial 1492 voyage came at a critical time of growing national imperialism and economic competition between developing nation states seeking wealth from the establishment of trade routes and colonies. In this sociopolitical climate, Columbus's far-fetched scheme won the attention of Queen Isabella of Spain. Severely underestimating the circumference of the Earth, he estimated that a westward route from Iberia to the Indies would be shorter and more direct than the overland trade route through Arabia. If true, this would allow Spain entry into the lucrative spice trade — heretofore commanded by the Arabs and Italians. Following his plotted course, he instead landed within the Bahamas Archipelago at a locale he named San Salvador. Mistaking the North-American island for the East-Asian mainland, he referred to its inhabitants as "Indios".
Academic consensus is that Columbus was born in Genoa, though there are other theories. The name Christopher Columbus is the Anglicisation of the Latin Christophorus Columbus. The original name in 15th century Genoese language was Christoffa Corombo. The name is rendered in modern Italian as Cristoforo Colombo, in Portuguese as Cristóvão Colombo (formerly Christovam Colom), and in Spanish as Cristóbal Colón.
The anniversary of Columbus's 1492 landing in the Americas is observed as Columbus Day on October 12 in Spain and throughout the Americas, except that in the United States it is observed on the second Monday in October.
I enjoyed this book. Though Columbus clearly had an avaricious streak later in life, it intensely frustrates me how many ignorant people echo the condemnation about him that they heard somewhere, without knowing how false it is. Columbus was clearly a decent fellow overall.