The Tropis of Empire

This book offers a radical revision of the geographical history of the discovery of the Americas that links Columbus´ southbound route with colonialism, slavery, and today´s divide between the industrialized North and the developing South.Everyone knows that in 1492 Christopher Columbus sailed west across the Atlantic, seeking a new route to the East. Few note, however, that Columbus´ intention was also to sail south, to the tropics. In The Tropics of Empire , Nicolas Wey Gomez rewrites the geographical history of the discovery of the Americas, casting it as part of Europe´s reawakening to the natural and human resources of the South. Wey Gomez shows that Columbus shared in a scientific and technical tradition that linked terrestrial latitude to the nature of places, and that he drew a highly consequential distinction between the higher, cooler latitudes of Mediterranean Europe and the globe´s lower, hotter latitudes.