How Climate Made History 1300-1850
by Brian M. Fagan
Paperback
Posted on 06/12/2015 3:01:02 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Christopher Columbus wrote that he sailed in February 1477 to an island a hundred miles beyond Tile (Iceland). This trip, which would have led him to Greenland according to the distance he mentioned, was questioned many times in the 20th century. Arguments against accepting his claim have been that ice and snow would not have allowed him to make an expedition to the North in winter, and that the details he had given about the size of the tides (26 braccia) were far too overstated to be taken seriously. Taking into consideration new research concerning the change of climate at the end of the Middle Ages, Columbus' statement must be reconsidered in our days. It seems to be consistent not only with the climatic facts at that time, including extremely high and low tides, but also with the historical sources documenting the competition among European countries with regard to Greenland as a base for further advances to Newfoundland and Canada. This short essay shows, that there are substantive historical and climatic arguments supporting Christopher Columbus' claims.
Commenting on the five earthly zones and their habitability as described by Isidore of Seville in his treatises Etymologiae and De Natura Rerum, Columbus wrote in one of the rare records of his early seafaring time: In the month of February, 1477, I sailed a hundred leghe (miles) beyond Tile (Iceland), to an island, of which the south part is at a distance of 73 degrees from the equator, and not 63, as some say; and it does not lie within Ptolemy's western boundary, but much farther west. And to this island, which is as big as England, the English, especially those from Bristol, go with their wares...
(Excerpt) Read more at christopher-columbus.ch ...
Climate change is cyclic. That should always be considered when considering migration causes and travel anomalies. That applies to plants and animals as well.
I agree ...it's not uncommon for ancient fishermen to go great distances as long as the could keep land in sight and have a source of fresh water and fuel to cook with.
Leif was Chris’s Uber Driver.
It was Romanian after all... the translation worked here, said, no specific page exists, but still seemed to indicate that it was one mile; I tried another couple of searches and found all kinds of stuff (including *another* Romanian page) giving the various equivs for the various league lengths. :’)
Thanks.
Apropos of nothing, I wonder if the southern hemisphere equivalent calls itself Unter?
Say, I hate to bring up a sore subject, but the most obvious reason Columbus’ claims have to be discarded is because he says the weather then was warmer than now, and that just can’t be!
It makes Columbus a climate change denier, so we need to dig up his bones and put them in jail until Columbus admits that the world is warmer now than it ever was, and it’s all the fault of middle-aged white men like... like... well, like Columbus.
;-)
Actually, 1492 was right in the middle of the Little Ice Age.
I realize there’s a reference to plying wares in Greenland, but am highly skeptical. No Norse settlements remained to sell stuff to, and the Eskimos weren’t much of a market.
Yes, but Columbus claimed his Greenland trip was in the 1470s, and the article says it was warmer then, warmer than now? But if it was warmer then and not so warm now... ?
Color me skeptical. The thermometer hadn’t even been invented yet. Columbus had no way to quantify temperature. Nobody schlepped goods to Greenland because there was nobody living there to sell them to. There were a few scattered Eskimos here and there, but they were the very definition of poverty.
Sorry if that bursts bubbles. The article had a host of weird ideas in it.
European powers competing for access to Greenland, as a staging area for advance into a New World they didn’t know was there? You will note how vital the Greenland route was in the later exploration and colonization. /s
Tides much higher than today due to climate change? Unless I’m seriously confused, tides are caused by gravitational attraction of Sun and Moon, not by weather.
Sorry, article strikes me as tin foil kookburger stuff.
Eskimos managed to get around on the water just fine. They built kayaks and larger boats out of driftwood and skins.
There is a longstanding claim the CC was Catalan, not Genoese.
I suspect it’s BS, but it’s been around a long time.
So you agree, or disagree, with me that Columbus was a climate change denier, and for that reason alone, if for no other, should be removed from all politically correct histories, except as an example of how evil European men are?
;-)
Funny thing, there’s no trace of Eskimo kayaks in Scandinavia, or Viking kayaks for that matter.
Columbus was doing research, and found Greenland right where he’d been told it was, aware that English ships from Bristol were already going there as well, but you have to suit yourself.
How Climate Made History 1300-1850
by Brian M. Fagan
Paperback
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