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Internet Medieval Sourcebook

Selected Sources: Exploration and Expansion

Contents

• General
  • Drang Nach Osten
• Western Orientalism
• Maritime Exploration and Conquest
  • Portuguese Exploration
  • Columbus

• See section on Crusades
• See section on Spain and the "Reconquista"
• The Drang Nach Osten
  • texts?

• The Discovery of North America by Leif Ericsson, c. 1000 from The Saga of Eric the Red, (1387)
• Brother John of Monte Corvino: Letter to the Minister General of the Friars Minor in Rome, c. 1280
• John of Monte Corvino: Report on China, 1305.
• "Sir John Mandeville": On Prester John, c. 1366. The full text of The Travels of Sir John Mandeville is available. [At Project Gutenberg]
• Letter to Prester John, in Latin.
• Marco Polo (1254-1324): On the Tartars
• Marco Polo (1254-1324): Description of Kinsay [Hangchow].

• WEB See Modern History Sourcebook: Early Modern World Page for more texts on early overseas exploration.
• WEB See Discovers' Web [At Tue.nl]
  Includes a List of Online Primary Sources
• Portuguese Exploration
  • Vasco da Gama (1460-1524): Round Africa to India, 1497-1498 CE [At Modern History Sourcebook]
  • Hans Mayr: The Voyage and Acts of Dom Francisco, 1505-
  • texts?
• Columbus
  • Privileges and Prerogatives Granted by Their Catholic Majesties to Christopher Columbus, 1492 [At Yale]
  • Christopher Columbus: Selections from Journal, 1492.
  • Christopher Columbus  (1451-1506): Letter to Lord Raphael Sanchez, 14 March 1493 [At UVA]
  • Christopher Columbus  (1451-1506): Letter to King and Queen of Spain, prob. 1494 [At Medieval Sourcebook] or  here [At AmericanRev]
  • WEB Columbus and the Age of Discovery A splendid, and searchable, collection of over 1100 text articles on Columbus and the encounter of two worlds.
  • WEB Columbus Navigation Homepage [At Minn.net]
    With maps of the various voyages.
• Other Explorers
  • Amerigo Vespucci (1452-1512): Account of His First Voyage, 1497 [At Modern History Sourcebook]
  • Fra Soncino: Letter to Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, Regarding John Cabot's First Voyage, 1497 CE [At Modern History Sourcebook]
  • John Cabot (c.1450-1499): Voyage to North America, 1497  [At Modern History Sourcebook]
  • Ferdinand Magellan's Voyage Round the World, 1519-1522 CE [At Modern History Sourcebook]
  • Francis Pretty: Sir Francis Drake's Famous Voyage Round The World, 1580 [At Modern History Sourcebook]
  • Sir Walter Raleigh (1554-1618): The Discovery of Guiana, 1595 [At Modern History Sourcebook]
• Other World Cultures and Exploration
  • Sidi Ali Reis (16th Century CE): Mirat ul Memalik (The Mirror of Countries), 1557 CE
    Europeans were not the only ones to look at other cultures. This is a Turkish Admiral's account of his travels in the world of India and the Middle East.