HISA04H3 Lecture Notes - The Columbian Exchange
Document Summary
Columbus looked at americas, peered through tightly woven filters of expectation and assumption from the past. ". We have our own assumptions/expectation of columbus. Saw three mermaids, said they were not pretty, and looked like men. Brought certain expectations when he was out there. To europeans image of the east determined by marco polo + john mandeville. Mandeville"s account = more popular than marco polo"s. Columbus read both marco and john"s accounts of travel. May have taken written accounts of polo and mandeville during voyage. Helped create expectations of marvels of the east. Mandeville"s travels exploits eyewitness & local diversity. Columbus and readers expected such expectations made by mandeville"s travels. People never travelled mock tales, but if a man will . Columbus says he (so far) never saw any human monstrosities as expected in these islands, but whole population is very well formed; said on his first voyage. Developments encompassing several continents over several centuries and the exchange of many things.
