The Four Voyages of Christopher Columbus

Columbus’s discovery of America counts as perhaps the greatest gamble of all time. His own account, however self-serving, brings us as close as we will ever get to the sheer excitement of unfolding events.

This enthralling book presents a smooth and vivid narrative of the voyages - to Cuba, Haiti/Hispaniola, Jamaica, Trinidad and finally the mainland of Central America. J. M. Cohen ingeniously weaves together the Admiral’s own letters and log-book, the letters of the fleet physician and a loyal lieutenant, the scholarly biography by Columbus’s son Hernando and Oviedo’s official history, to create a record of supreme courage and achievement. It also makes a revealing portrait of a fascinating but unstable personality who fluctuated wildly between awed enthusiasm, irritability, paranoia, eccentric geographical speculation and religious fervour. Writers ever since have provided important insights into Columbus’s motives and methods, yet for anyone truly interested in the man and his mission this remains the fundamental primary source.