Description
It’s pretty well-known that “in 1492, Columbus sailed the Ocean Blue.” But what was he really after? Why did nearly every major western European nation reject his offer to work for them? And was he really venturing into the unknown— or did he have Insider Information (in the form of stolen map data)? This course looks at the forces that shaped the early modern European world: The chase after spices; the development of great oceanic sailing ships; the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople; the competition for new sea routes to Asia; and how the competing nations tried every trick in the book to gain an advantage over their competitors!!
