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Age of Exploration (1450-1700)

The early history of New World exploration reads like an old-style fantasy novel. Men from Europe literally traversed the North American continent looking for things like the City of Gold and the Fountain of Youth. With such a vast terrain ripe for discovery, there was really no way to prove those things couldn't be found, though not even someone as diligent as Juan Ponce de Leon was able to find any trace of such mystical destinations.

What they found instead was firm ground, mountains, jungles, rivers, deserts, exotic animals, and native inhabitants sometimes happy to greet them, sometimes happy to attack the newcomers. There are a lot of opinions and versions about the European exploration of North and South America, some of them accepted as standard, a few relegated to the conspiracy theorists' corner of shame, and one or two downright shocking.

Most historians agree that the initial Spanish and Portuguese insurgence, particularly in South and Central America, was occasioned primarily by greed and political jockeying. The big villain of this period was Hernan Cortes, a Spaniard who dealt freely in death, communicable disease, treachery, and gold between the Aztec empire and his own nation. It was said he pilfered so much gold his ships sank under it on the return journey.

Christopher Columbus has fared slightly better in the annals of history, though even his methods and motivations have fallen under suspicion. That he claimed the work of a missionary is now seen more as a burden for the Christian community to explain than as a noble mark in his favor. He also took gold, swapped diseases with the Indians, and provoked many to combat.

So what's the truth of all this? Are Europeans just a bunch of terrible people out to exploit everyone else? Is this merely liberal revisionism? The truth (as usual) is probably somewhere in between. Many of the explorers were pretty ruthless, but then again, the kind of personality that could accomplish something as arduous as the years-long journey to an unknown part of the world is bound to have some equally heroic flaws.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
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Active Filters: 7th grade (Ages 12-13), Hardcover
Balboa:
by Jeannette Mirsky
from Harper & Row
for 4th-7th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Balboa: Swordsman and Conquistador
World Landmark #25
by Felix Riesenberg, Jr.
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Book of Famous Explorers
Young Folks Library
by Edwin Erle Sparks, editor
from Auxiliary Educational League
for 3rd-9th grade
in Vintage Anthology Collections (Location: VIN-ANTH)
Captain Cook and the South Pacific
by Oliver Warner
from American Heritage Publishing Co.
for 4th-8th grade
in Horizon Caravel Books (Location: VIN-HOR)
Captain Waymouth's Indians
by Anne Molloy, illustrated by Douglas Gorsline
from Hastings House
for 7th-9th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Captive
by Scott O'Dell
from HMH Books for Young Readers
for 5th-8th grade
Hans Christian Anderson Award
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$9.00 (2 in stock)
Cartier Sails the St. Lawrence
by Esther Averill, illustrated by Feodor Rojankovsky
from Harper & Brothers
for 4th-8th grade
in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
Commodore Perry in Japan
by Robert Reynolds
from American Heritage Publishing Co.
for 4th-8th grade
in American Heritage Junior Library (Location: VIN-HIS)
Conquest of the Atlantic
by Ingri & Edgar Parin D'Aulaire
for 3rd-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Conquest of the North and South Poles
Landmark #27
by Russell Owen, illustrated by Lynd Ward
from Random House
for 5th-8th grade
in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
Cortes and the Aztec Conquest
by Irwin R. Blacker
from American Heritage Publishing Co.
for 6th-10th grade
in Horizon Caravel Books (Location: VIN-HOR)
DK Eyewitness: Explorer
by Rupert Matthews
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 4th-8th grade
in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
DK Eyewitness: Explorer
DK Eyewitness Series
by Rupert Matthews
1st edition from DK Publishing
HIstory Reference for 4th-8th grade
in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Drake: The Man They Called a Pirate
by Jean Lee Latham
from Harper & Brothers
for 4th-8th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Empires Lost and Won
by Albert Marrin
1st edition from Atheneum
for 5th-12th grade
in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Exploration and Conquest
by Betsy & Giulio Maestro
1st edition from Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books
for 3rd-7th grade
in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Exploration and Conquest
by Betsy & Giulio Maestro
1st edition from Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books
for 3rd-7th grade
in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Exploration of Africa
by Thomas Sterling
from Harper & Row
for 4th-8th grade
in Horizon Caravel Books (Location: VIN-HOR)
Explorations of Père Marquette
Landmark #17
by Jim Kjelgaard
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
Explorers & Discoverers - 4 Volume Set
from UXL Publishing
biographical encyclopedia for 5th-8th grade
in World History Reference (Location: HISW-REF)
$30.00 (1 in stock)
Explorers of the Pacific
by A. Grove Day
from Duell, Sloan and Pearce
for 7th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Finding the New World
by Walter Taylor Field
from Ginn and Co.
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
French Explorers in America
by Walter Buehr
from G.P. Putnam's Sons
for 6th-8th grade
in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
Great Explorers
by Joyce Grosseck & Elizabeth Attwood
for 4th-8th grade
in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
La Salle, River Explorer
Makers of America
by Alberta Powell Graham
from Abingdon Press
for 4th-7th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Long and Uncertain Journey
by Joan Goodman, Illustrated by Tom McNeely
from Mikaya Press
for 3rd-8th grade
in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
$9.00 (2 in stock)
Marco Polo and the Medieval Explorers
by Rebecca Stefoff
from Chelsea House Publishing
Biography for 4th-8th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$7.00 (2 in stock)
Pizarro and the Conquest of Peru
Horizon Caravel Book
by Cecil Howard
from American Heritage Publishing Co.
for 5th-9th grade
in Horizon Caravel Books (Location: VIN-HOR)
Prisoner of the Indies
by Geoffrey Household, with map and decorations by Warren Chappell
from Little, Brown & Company
for 4th-7th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Sieur de La Salle
by John Paul Zronik
from Crabtree Publishing
for 3rd-8th grade
in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Sir Walter Raleigh and the Quest for El Dorado
by Marc Aronson
from Clarion Books
for 7th-9th grade
2001 Robert F. Sibert Medal winner
in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
$21.99 $12.00 (2 in stock)
Sir Walter Raleigh: Captain and Adventurer
by Nina Brown Baker
1st edition from Harcourt, Brace & Company
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Spanish Conquistadores in North America
Buehr's Explorer Histories
by Walter Buehr
from G.P. Putnam's Sons
for 6th-8th grade
in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
Spice and the Devil's Cave
by Agnes Hewes, illustrated by Lynd Ward
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 7th-10th grade
1931 Newbery Honor Book
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Story of Christopher Columbus
Grosset & Dunlap Signature #2
by Nina Brown Baker, illustrated by David Hendrickson
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Grosset & Dunlap Signature Books (Location: VIN-SIG)
Story of Marco Polo
Grosset & Dunlap Signature #22
by Olive Price, illustrated by Frederico Castellon
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Grosset & Dunlap Signature Books (Location: VIN-SIG)
Story of the Pacific
by Harold Rabling
from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 7th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Streams to the River, River to the Sea
by Scott O'Dell
from Houghton Mifflin
Historical Fiction for 7th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
They Saw America First
by John Bakeless, Katherine Bakeless
from J.B. Lippincott Co.
for 4th-9th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Three Conquistadores
by Shannon Garst, illustrated by Lee J. Ames
from Julian Messner
for 6th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Tomatoes, Potatoes, Corn, and Beans
by Sylvia A. Johnson
1st edition from Atheneum
for 3rd-7th grade
in Food & Farming Around the World (Location: HISMC-FOOD)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Vast Horizons
by Mary Seymour Lucas, illustrated by C. B. Falls
from Viking Press
for 5th-10th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Voyagers, The
by Padraic Colum, illustrated by Wilfred Jones
from Macmillan
for 4th-8th grade
1926 Newbery Honor Book
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Voyages of Christopher Columbus
Landmark #1
by Armstrong Sperry
from Random House
for 5th-8th grade
in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
Voyages of Christopher Columbus
Spencer Press Landmark #1 (RH#1)
by Armstrong Sperry
from Spencer Press
for 5th-8th grade
in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
We Were There with Cortes and Montezuma
We Were There #25
by Benjamen Appel, illustrated by Reynold Pollack
from Grosset & Dunlap
Historical Fiction for 5th-9th grade
in We Were There Series (Location: VIN-HIS)
World Made New
by Marc Aronson & John W. Glenn
from National Geographic
for 3rd-7th grade
in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
$17.95
World of Columbus and Sons (pictorial hardcover)
by Genevieve Foster
from Charles Scribner's Sons
for 7th-10th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Year of Columbus: 1492
by Genevieve Foster
from Charles Scribner's Sons
for 3rd-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Year of the Pilgrims, 1620
by Genevieve Foster
from Charles Scribner's Sons
History Reference/Biography for 7th-10th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
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