The Controversial Skill of Columbus as a Navigator: An Enduring Historical Enigma

Abstract

This study of Columbus' navigation is unique because it was written by an historian who is also a trained and experienced professional global (and ocean) navigator, rather than an academic historian with only superficial knowledge of the science of navigation as practiced by Columbus and other early navigators. The study is also unique in that as an American historian author disagrees with his colleagues in the USA who present the “politically correct” view of Columbus as an unskilled entrepreneur who obtained his limited knowledge of navigation as a crew member or passenger on Portuguese voyages, rather than as one of the most skilled and experienced of the cadre of respected Genoese captains and navigators used by kings throughout Europe to perform their maritime enterprises.

The Empirical Reconstruction of Columbus' Navigational Log and Track of his 1492–1493 Discovery Voyage

“…The study is follow-on to the article: “The Controversial Skill of Columbus as a Navigator: An Enduring Historical Enigma,” published in The Journal of Navigation (2009) Vol. 62, 417–425 1 .…”