CRISTOFORO COLOMBO - GOD'S NAVIGATOR first presents a true picture of the intrinsic character of Christopher Columbus & the factual purpose of his voyage, then proves conclusively that Columbus was an exceedingly accurate navigator & his navigation log was accurate & easily followed. Peck is a veteran & experienced ocean navigator with an inquisitive & innovative mind that seeks to find the ultimate truth in any project he undertakes. Peck's study involved nine years of intensive academic research & four controlled research voyages reconstructing the tracks of Columbus & Ponce de Leon from the navigational data in their logs, resulting in a positive navigational fix at San Salvador Island. Here the reader will find that Peck's conclusions differ extensively from many popular & accepted writers on the subject. "Peck's book is most opportune in that it corrects the distorted views of Columbus' expertise as a navigator & ends the controversy of his landfall by proving without equivocation that the historic landfall was on the island of San Salvador." - Paolo Emilio Taviani, Dean of the Italian Parliament, Senator for Life, & world renowned Columbian historian & author. This book is not only a readable, informative book for general interest but is a consummate reference book for the serious historian.

This definitive edition of Columbus's account of the voyage presents the most accurate printed version of his journal available to date. Unfortunately both Columbus's original manuscript, presented to Ferdinand and Isabella along with other evidence of his discoveries, and a single complete copy have been lost for centuries. The primary surviving record of the voyage-part quotation, part summary of the complete copy-is a transcription made by Bartolome de las Casas in the 1530s. This new edition of the Las Casas manuscript presents its entire contents-including notes, insertions, and canceled text-more accurately, completely, and graphically than any other Spanish text published so far. In addition, the new translation, which strives for readability and accuracy, appears on pages facing the Spanish, encouraging on-the- spot comparisons of the translation with the original. Study of the work is further facilitated by extensive notes, documenting differences between the editors' transcription and translation and those of other transcribers and translators and summarizing current research and debates on unanswered current research and debates on unanswered questions concerning the voyage. In addition to being the only edition in which Spanish and English are presented side by side, this edition includes the only concordance ever prepared for the Diario. Awaited by scholars, this new edition will help reduce the guesswork that has long plagued the study of Columbus's voyage. It may shed light on a number of issues related to Columbus's navigational methods and the identity of his landing places, issues whose resolution depend, at least in part, on an accurate transcription of the Diario. Containing day-by-day accounts of the voyage and the first sighting of land, of the first encounters with the native populations and the first appraisals of his islands explored, and of a suspenseful return voyage to Spain, the Diario provides a fascinating and useful account to historians, geographers, anthropologists, sailors, students, and anyone else interested in the discovery-or in a very good sea story. Oliver Dunn received the PH.D. degree from Cornell University. He is Professor Emeritus in Purdue University and a longtime student of Spanish and early history of Spanish America. James E. Kelley, Jr., received the M.A. degree from American University. A mathematician and computer and management consultant by vocation, for the past twenty years he has studied the history of European cartography and navigation in late-medieval times. Both are members of the Society for the History of Discoveries and have written extensively on the history of navigation and on Columbus's first voyage, Although they remain unconvinced of its conclusions, both were consultants to the National geographic Society's 1986 effort to establish Samana Cay as the site of Columbus's first landing.

"An interpretive examination of the legal documents that granted Columbus rights in and to the New World, with a facsimile of the original copy of the Book of Privileges that is housed in the Library of Congress"--Provided by publisher.

No gamble in history has been more momentous than the landfall of Columbus's ship the Santa Maria in the Americas in 1492 - an event that paved the way for the conquest of a 'New World'. The accounts collected here provide a vivid narrative of his voyages throughout the Caribbean and finally to the mainland of Central America, although he still believed he had reached Asia. Columbus himself is revealed as a fascinating and contradictory figure, fluctuating from awed enthusiasm to paranoia and eccentric geographical speculation. Prey to petty quarrels with his officers, his pious desire to bring Christian civilization to 'savages' matched by his rapacity for gold, Columbus was nonetheless an explorer and seaman of staggering vision and achievement.

"Well-produced and appealing readalong...expressive narration and appropriate music and sound effects...Sure bet for story time or home." - Booklist