Christopher Columbus's 1492 voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in search of a trading route to China, and his unexpected landfall in the Americas, is a watershed event in world history. Yet Columbus made three more voyages within the span of only a decade, each designed to demonstrate that he could sail to China within a matter of weeks and convert those he found there to Christianity. These later voyages were even more adventurous, violent, and ambiguous, but they revealed Columbus's uncanny sense of the sea, his mingled brilliance and delusion, and his superb navigational skills. In all these exploits he almost never lost a sailor. By their conclusion, however, Columbus was broken in body and spirit. If the first voyage illustrates the rewards of exploration, the latter voyages illustrate the tragic costs, political, moral, and economic. In this book the author re-creates each of these adventures as well as the historical background of Columbus's celebrated, controversial career.

"Spanish colonialism, the authors suggest, was the cutting edge of the early global economy. America's silver permitted Spain to graft early capitalistic elements onto its late medieval structures, reinforcing its patromonialism and dynasticism. However, the authors argue, silver gave Spain an illusion of wealth, security, and hegemony, while its system of "managed" transatlantic trade failed to monitor silver flows that were beyond the control of government officials." "Silver, Trade, and War is about men and markets, national rivalries, diplomacy and conflict, and the advancement or stagnation of states."--Jacket

"Spanish colonialism, the authors suggest, was the cutting edge of the early global economy. America's silver permitted Spain to graft early capitalistic elements onto its late medieval structures, reinforcing its patromonialism and dynasticism. However, the authors argue, silver gave Spain an illusion of wealth, security, and hegemony, while its system of "managed" transatlantic trade failed to monitor silver flows that were beyond the control of government officials." "Silver, Trade, and War is about men and markets, national rivalries, diplomacy and conflict, and the advancement or stagnation of states."--Jacket

Five hundred years ago Jews living in Spain were given a Stark choice: be baptized or leave the country. the expulsion of the Sephardim - the term for Spain's Jews - was a turning point in the history of the Iberian Peninsula and one o the greatest upheavals in jeFive hundred years ago Jews living in Spain were given a stark choice: be baptized or leave the country. The expulsion of the Sephardim--the term for Spain's Jews--was a turning point in the history of the Iberian Peninsula and one of the greatest upheavals in Jewish history since the Diaspora.The Middle Ages was a time of uneasy co-operation between Christians and Jews, but in the 14th century a rising tide of religious fanaticism and anti-Semitism gradually engulfed Spain, leading to horrific massacres in 1391. Then, in March 1492, came the edict of the Catholic Monarchs, giving the Jews three months to leave. The converts who stayed faced bitter prejudice--hounded by the Inquisition, their descendants penalized for centuries--as the Spanish Crown tried to impose Catholic uniformity.Those who fled the persecution had to struggle to re-establish their communities elsewhere in Europe, the Ottoman empire and Morocco. Outstanding individuals such as Baruch Spinoza--the most important philosopher of the Dutch Golden Age--and Joseph Nasi--the financier-favorite of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent--exemplify the achievements of the Sephardi exiles. Whether in Amsterdam, Istanbul or London, they seized the opportunities offered by a new world of empires and discovery.Published to mark the quincentenary of the Sephardi exodus, here at last is a complete and objective account of these traumatic events. Professor Elie Kedourie has gathered an international team of experts who piece together all aspects of the moving story: conditions in Spain leading up to 1492; the decree itself, and its consequences for Spanish Jewry; the experiences of the exiles and their contributions towards economic and intellectual life in their new countries. Professor Kedourie himself provides a stimulating and up-to-date assessment of the whole tragic episode--whose historic repercussions continue to this day.wish hostory since the diaspora. published to mark the quincentenary of the sephardi exodus, here is a complete and objective account of these traumatic events

"In Apogee of Empire, the authors argue that the inability to renovate the Hapsburg legacies reflected reluctance to undertake radical changes first at home, then in Spain's relationship with its colonies." "The Steins trace in detail efforts to reform the Spanish establishment in the early 1760s, initially under the leadership of the marques de Esquilache, who accompanied Charles from Naples. Reformers had to determine which adjustments could be made without risking radical innovation. The ensuring seven-year conflict between reformers and traditionalists ended in a coup that outsted Esquilache. The authors then analyze the shift in focus to the colonies and the emphasis on incrementally modifying a key element of Spanish colonialism, transatlantic trade, via so-called free trade within the imperial system. Comercio libre, like most Bourbon reformism in general, neither realized a colonial pact nor improved Spain's competitive position in the Atlantic trading system. At the time of Charles III's death, the authors conclude, Spain had only made superficial changes, rather than the profound transformation the situation demanded, and by 1789 Spain and its wealthiest colony, New Spain, would be ill-prepared for the coming decades of upheaval in Europe and America."--Jacket