The European Discovery of America, Vol 1: The Northern Voyages, 500-1600 by Samuel Eliot Morison

The European Discovery of America, Vol 1: The Northern Voyages, 500-1600 Reviews

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  Al

  My US history teacher in high school would make us listen to recorded lectures by RADM Morison and I thought they were as dry as a desert and even more boring.
  
  This book is not like that.
  
  Morison’s prose is sharp, and sometimes very witty. From the Preface: “All honest efforts to throw light on historical darkness, such as this era, have my enthusiastic support. But it has fallen to my lot, working on this subject, to have read some of the most tiresome historical literature in existence. Young men seeking academic promotion, old men seeking publicity, neither one nor the other knowing the subject in depth…write worthless articles…” Morison knows this subject in depth and has mastered the source material and this book was hard to put down.
  
  This is the first of two volumes on European voyages to America, and in this volume, RADM Morison describes the voyages to North America prior to 1600. This volume is quite comprehensive; Morison describes the initial voyages of the Norsemen to Greenland and Newfoundland, the Portuguese voyages to Labrador, Newfoundland and New England and their claims of sovereignty, Cabot, Verrazzano, Cartier and Frobisher, the first and second English colonies on the coast of North Carolina, and other voyages that have somehow never made it into school books and US history survey courses. Morison also describes some of the myths of American discovery, such as the stories of St Brendan and Prince Madoc, and mythical lands such as the Flyaway Islands and Norse exploration of Minnesota. He also takes pains to examine the evidence for such myths and explains how they could not occur.
  
  A significant strength of this book is the use Morison makes of his own sailing experience, as well as the experience of other blue water sailors and fishermen. Throughout the book, Morison is always explaining how these early explorers navigated their way across the Atlantic. These men were very competent navigators, able to determine latitude to a remarkably accurate degree, with what we would consider crude instrumentation such as cross staffs and astrolabes. In trying to estimate longitude, their guesses were sometimes fairly close. Morison also describes the weather conditions and the length of the passage, based on winds and currents, as well as the type of vessel. He vividly describes the harsh conditions which led ships just disappearing and an incredibly high mortality rate.
  
  “Consider also the hazards of a sixteenth-century navigator exploring an unknown coast in a square-rigged vessel, incapable of quick maneuvering like a modern sailing yacht. With an onshore wind, the discoverers had to sail close to shore if they wanted to learn anything; yet it was always risky, especially on a fog-bound coast….Every harbor you entered added a new risk…Would your anchor hold…If the wind is offshore when you sight land, you might be blown seaward again and have to beat back, which could take weeks….”
  
  These men had no reliable charts and were exploring unknown coasts in vessels with very limited capabilities. Morison includes at the end of every chapter a detailed bibliography, as well as detailed notes on things such as navigation instruments and maps. The bibliographies extensively cover primary sources from archives all over Europe, as well as the significant secondary literature at the time of this book’s publication. Morison provides plenty of illustrations, which are referred to in the text, and after finishing the book, I was left with admiration for the accomplishments of these men.
  
  This book was a pleasure to read, and I look forward to the second volume, as well as his work on Columbus.
  
• 
  Glen Pekin

  If you were told the history of the discovery of America as a child and have not paid much attention since I have to recommend reading this book. Most of the book is devoted to the 16th century and the men who explored the east coast of America in search of a passage to the orient. It is a fascinating period in history. Although this book is 40 years old I do not consider it out of date. It would have been a new book when I was in college. Morison has been criticized for failing to condemn the behavior of these explorers but I think that is a bit unfair. He mentions many cases of the mistreatment of the natives and is not the wildly pro west writer of earlier generations. Morison is not writing hagiography. The book is not a biography of the explores or a tale of their adventures. It is a map of where they explored. Morison (an Admiral and noted expert on the subject) has actually sailed the same seas in small sailboats. He knows maps - what they tell you and what they do not tell. I find it interesting that in one passage he remarks that no nation has every completely photographed it's coastline. But today I have Google Earth! Morison includes quite a number of illustrations and maps but online resources like Google Earth really help. Many of the original maps are available online although you must be careful - a lot are not exact facsimiles but are doctored to support some very partisan history. Morison denies many of these alternate histories himself. Also online are many of the original documents as well as the earlier researchers writings that Morison cites.
• 
  jcg

  An excellent book covering the various European encounters with America, north of Pamlico Sound. The book starts with St. Brendan and other early, often imaginary, journeys across the Atlantic. Besides recounting the history, often from primary sources, the book gives a large amount of fascinating detail on the ships, rigging and supplies used in the first trans-Atlantic voyages. There are many maps reproduced to illustrate the struggle navigators had in trying to understand the shape of the new continent with limited instruments and no accurate method of calculating longitude and how tales of imaginary places, islands and kingdoms were repeated by cartographers and chroniclers.
  
  First published in 1971, some of the information could be updated with modern scholarship, but the book still provides a solid introduction to early European contact with North America.
• 
  Jeffrey Williams

  This is a very complete and detail oriented book. On one hand, you will be mesmerized by how much useful information is here, but on the other, some of the details are too meticulous to make for a tedious read.
  
  He begins with some of the legends and myths that formed European thought to "what's out there" beyond the sea, and does a good job with the Norse sagas that retell the discovery of Newfoundland c. 1000, and then skips ahead to Columbus, bypassing nearly half a millennium because either nothing happened then or we don't have documentation. Fair point. He ends just prior to the establishment of Jamestown colony in 1607, with the meat of the story covering the century between Columbus and Raleigh's second Roanoke colony.
  
  This is a book that needs to be studied, not just casually read, in order to be understood and appreciated. This book is already 50 years old as I write this review, but it's lessons are timeless.
  
  This is an important foundational worknin understanding the history of North America.
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  Trish

  This book does not read exactly like a textbook but it’s close. Definitely interesting if you have the wherewithal to get through it. Skipped the bibliographies at the end of each chapter.
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  Eric Stutzman

  An excellent book and a must read for people interested in learning more about North America prior to the Mayflower landing. I received this book as a gift eight years ago, but, due in large part to moving, I had completely forgotten about it until I saw it in a box. I decided to give it a go because I love history and I love to read. The writing style is remarkable, easy to read yet not simple in its execution. The story and flow of the narrative was enjoyable and informative, the two biggest factors I look for in history books, and it broadened my worldview considerably, which I am very grateful for.
  
  In short, this is a fantastic historic work and one which should absolutely be read by anyone, regardless of background or nation.
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  Mark Singer

  This is an excellent summary of all known European voyages of exploration to the North American continent until the year 1600 AD. After an initial discussion of the Irish monk St Brendan, the Norsemen and assorted legendary voyages, most of the 700+ pages covers from John Cabot's voyage in the Mathew to Newfoundland in 1497 up until Sir Walter Raleigh's failed Virginia colony of Roanoke Island in 1587-1590. Not only is it exhaustively researched with an excellent bibliography after each chapter but Morison also visited many of the places mentioned in the book by land, sea and air. No shrinking violet, Morison is willing to make opinions as to where someone travelled when the evidence is obscure. I've always been fascinated by tales of exploration and this is a good book for a rainy day.
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  Erik Graff

  I was introduced to Morison by Dad. He'd used one or more of his texts at Grinnell College after being demobilized from the service. He himself had spent much of WWII shipboard as an army cryptanalyst attached to the navy, usually serving in command ships. Morison, of course, was a navy man himself, the author of a fifteen-volume history of naval actions in that war.
  
  This book, and a second volume on the Southern Voyages, covers the early history of the European "discovery" of America pretty completely. Morison's knowledge of and love for the sea and sailing is well conveyed by his engaging text.
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  Jim

  This is an excellent history of the European exploration of North America from the 6th-16th centuries. Starting with the voyages of St. Brendan, it concludes with the lost colony at Roanoke. The main thrust is the 100 years following the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus and the bulk of the exploration takes place in Newfoundland and Labrador. Morison actually sailed some of the routes and flew over others. He describes living conditions on the ships and colonies, navigation and relations with the natives. The edition I read included many pictures and maps. I came away with an admiration for all the explorers and what they went through exploring the new continent.
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  Antoine

  Frobisher anyone? Efforts to plant colonies in Labrador, or on Baffin Island? Tired of the usual cast of conquistadores? Looking for a cast of explorers who were less cruel, but also (it would appear) less bright? Morison is not only a titanic historian, but also talented, graceful, and witty writer. His passion for the sea is evinced in his efforts to visit the places that these explorers did firsthand, though some are godforsaken in the extreme.
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  David R.

  A blast from the past (1971). Admiral Morison set a tone for naval and discovery history in his time and in my opinion has never been surpassed. I reconnected with this book after many years and continue to be impressed with his rock-solid research and thoughtful analysis.
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  Krista the Krazy Kataloguer

  Read it as a teenager. I've always loved stories of exploration and discovery. I should read the second volume, on the southern voyages.
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  Gordon Francisco

  Admiral Morison at his best.