HISA04H3 Lecture : Two Senses of Making History
Document Summary
When columbus looked at the americas, he peered through tightly woven filters of expectation from the past. Naming of the indies : thought he d found india because he was looking for new trade routes to. India and he had no idea that he hadn t actually found india. We have our own assumptions and ideas about columbus. At the time, europe was being influenced by mandeville"s travels. In fact the entire image that europe had of the east was based on this book and the accounts of marco. Mandeville s account was much more popular than polo s accurate account. It may be that these two books were actually on his ship while he was sailing to the americas. Story of an englishman travelling in the east. Popularized the idea of circumventing the earth in a boat. Helped create an expectation of the east. Sept. 19: mystical beasts, fabulous, far-off lands.
