Conquering the Pacific: An Unknown Mariner and the Final Great Voyage of the Age of Discovery

Conquering the Pacific: An Unknown Mariner and the Final Great Voyage of the Age of Discovery

by Andrés Reséndez
Conquering the Pacific: An Unknown Mariner and the Final Great Voyage of the Age of Discovery

Conquering the Pacific: An Unknown Mariner and the Final Great Voyage of the Age of Discovery

by Andrés Reséndez

Paperback

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Overview

The story of an uncovered voyage as colorful and momentous as any on record for the Age of Discovery—and of the Black mariner whose stunning accomplishment has been until now lost to history
 
It began with a secret mission, no expenses spared. Spain, plotting to break Portugal’s monopoly trade with the fabled Orient, set sail from a hidden Mexican port to cross the Pacific—and then, critically, to attempt the never-before-accomplished return, the vuelta. Four ships set out from Navidad, each one carrying a dream team of navigators. The smallest ship, guided by seaman Lope Martín, a mulatto who had risen through the ranks to become one of the most qualified pilots of the era, soon pulled far ahead and became mysteriously lost from the fleet. It was the beginning of a voyage of epic scope, featuring mutiny, murderous encounters with Pacific islanders, astonishing physical hardships—and at last a triumphant return to the New World. But the pilot of the fleet’s flagship, the Augustine friar mariner Andrés de Urdaneta, later caught up with Martín to achieve the vuelta as well. It was he who now basked in glory, while Lope Martín was secretly sentenced to be hanged by the Spanish crown as repayment for his services. Acclaimed historian Andrés Reséndez, through brilliant scholarship and riveting storytelling—including an astonishing outcome for the resilient Lope Martín—sets the record straight.

 

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780063269064
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication date: 09/27/2022
Pages: 304
Sales rank: 339,256
Product dimensions: 5.20(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

ANDRÉS RESéNDEZ’s most recent book, The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America, was a finalist for the National Book Award and the winner of the 2017 Bancroft Prize. He is a professor of history at the University of California, Davis, a current Carnegie fellow, and an avid sailor.  

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix

List of Maps xii

Preface 1

1 A Global Race 17

2 Dream Team 42

3 Navidad 65

4 A Disappearance 80

5 Mar Abierto 87

6 The Tiny Islands 101

7 "The Island of the Thieves" 113

8 The Far Side of the World 125

9 Vuelta 139

10 Fall from Glory 161

11 Survival and Revenge 171

12 At the Spanish Court 188

Epilogue 196

Note About Dates and Measurements 201

Acknowledgments 203

Notes 205

Analytical Index 273

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