explorers would seek the kingdom of Prester
John, a legendary Christian priest who was
thought to govern a wealthy empire some-
where in Asia or Africa. Prester John and islands
like Antilia were myths, but in 1492 they were
considered to be real by European explorers,
including Columbus, who hoped to find them.
To his surprise—and, ironically, his disappoint-
ment—Columbus would reach neither these
imaginary kingdoms nor the great empires of
Asia. Instead he encountered a hemisphere
whose existence was a complete surprise to the
best geographers of his time, changing long-
held views of the world that Middle Eastern,
African, and European mapmakers and sailors
had shared for centuries. The new sea routes
opened by his voyages would change history
on both sides of the ocean forever.The World in 1492 B 23
Books in the Age of Columbus =
Columbus set sail at a time when Europe was better equipped than ever to
spread the word of reported discoveries. Prior to the 1400s, books were created
individually, by hand on costly vellum, the finest type of parchment, or animal
skin. Most of these books addressed only religious matters and usually never
left the monastery libraries where they were produced. Increasingly, however,
books were also produced to address secular issues and to record observations
of the world. After the introduction in Europe of movable type by German printer
Johannes Gutenberg in the 1440s, the number of printing presses and books in
Europe skyrocketed. Printing presses quickly spread across Germany, then to
Italy, Venice, Spain, Hungary, and Poland. At first, woodcuts were used to illus-
trate printed books. Soon woodcuts were replaced by printing plates engraved
on copper, thus producing more accurate lines and measurements, which were
especially useful to navigators.
Starting in the mid-1400s, printers began translating and publishing texts
written by the ancient Greeks. The rediscovery of the work of first-century A.D.
Greek astronomer/geographer Claudius Ptolemaeus—better known as
Ptolemy—spurred interest in cartography and exploration. In 1477 a Latin
translation of Ptolemy’s Guide to Geographywas published in the Italian city of
Bologna. Other Italian and German editions followed soon thereafter. The
increasing accuracy of maps helped navigators, who in turn improved maps
when they returned to port with new information about the places they had vis-
ited. The explosion in printed knowledge continued without interruption until
the mid-1500s, when censorship by church and royal authorities imposed con-
trols on what had been an unrestricted flow of information.\