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Selected Sources: Exploration and Expansion

Contents

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

General

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

Western Orientalism

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].

Maritime Exploration and Conquest

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.

NOTES: copyrighted means the text is not available for free distribution. In some cases alternate versions are available, and are working through the pipeline. Dates of accession of material can be seen in the New Accessions Page. The date of inception was 1/20/1996. Links to files at other site are indicated by [At some indication of the site name or location]. No indication means that the text file is local. WEB indicates a link to one of small number of high quality web sites which provide either more texts or an especially valuable overview.