Nature in the New World: From Christopher Columbus to Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo

In Nature in the New World (translated 1985), Antonello Gerbiexamines the fascinating reports of the first Europeans to see the Americas. These accounts provided the basis for the images of strange and new flora, fauna, and human creatures that filled European imaginations.

Initial chapters are devoted to the writings of Columbus, Vespucci, Cortés, Verrazzano, and others. The second portion of the book concerns the Historia general y natural de las Indias of Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo, a work commissioned by Charles V of Spain in 1532 but not published in its entirety until the 1850s. Antonello Gerbi contends that Oviedo, a Spanish administrator who lived in Santo Domingo, has been unjustly neglected as a historian. Gerbi shows that Oviedo was a major authority on the culture, history, and conquest of the New World.

Author: Antonello Gerbi
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
Published: 06/28/2010
Pages: 480
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.45lbs
Size: 9.20h x 6.10w x 1.20d
ISBN: 9780822960805

About the Author
Antonello Gerbi (1904-1976) was a specialist on the history of political ideology and the author of several books, including The Dispute of the New World: The History of a Polemic, 1750-1900