Decades of the New World

Decades of the New World
Title page of Richard Eden's translation of Peter Martyr's Decades of the New World (1555).

Decades of the New World is the common English term for Peter Martyr's De orbe novo decades, a series of letters and reports of the early explorations of Central and South America that were published beginning 1511 and later anthologized. Being among the earliest such reports, Decades are of great value in the history of geography and discovery and describe the early contacts of Europeans and Native Americans derived from the narrative of the voyages of Christopher Columbus in the Caribbean and the reports from Hernán Cortés's Mexican expedition.

The Decades consisted of eight reports, two of which Martyr had previously sent as letters describing the voyages of Columbus, to Cardinal Ascanius Sforza in 1493 and 1494. In 1501 Martyr, as requested by the Cardinal of Aragon, added eight chapters on the voyage of Columbus and the exploits of Martin Alonzo Pinzón. In 1511 he added a supplement giving an account of events from 1501 to 1511. By 1516 he had finished two other Decades:

  • The first was devoted to the exploits of Alonso de Ojeda, Diego de Nicuesa, and Vasco Núñez de Balboa. It was first published against his consent in a Venetian-Italian summary in Venice in 1504, reprinted in 1507, and published in a Latin translation in 1508. The original Latin text was published in 1511.[1]
  • The second gave an account of Balboa's discovery of the Pacific Ocean, Columbus' fourth voyage, and the expeditions of Pedrarias Dávila.
  • The first three appeared together at Alcalá de Henares in 1516 under the title: De orbe novo decades cum Legatione Babylonica.
  • The Enchiridion de nuper sub D. Carolo repertis insulis (Basle, 1521) was printed as the fourth Decade, describing the voyages of Francisco Hernández de Córdoba, Juan de Grijalva, and Hernán Cortés.
  • The fifth Decade (1523) dealt with the conquest of Mexico and the circumnavigation of the world by Ferdinand Magellan.
  • The sixth Decade (1524) gave an account of Dávila's discoveries on the west coast of America.
  • The seventh Decade (1525) had collected descriptions of the customs of the natives in present-day South Carolina, including the "Testimony of Francisco de Chicora", a Native American taken captive there; as well as those of natives in Florida, Haiti, Cuba, and Darién.
  • The eighth Decade (1525) told the story of the march of Cortés against Olit.

In 1530 the eight Decades were published together for the first time at Alcalá. Later editions of single or of all the Decades appeared at Basel (1533), Cologne (1574), Paris (1587), and Madrid (1892). A German translation was published in Basle in 1582; a French one by Gaffarel in Recueil de voyages et de documents pour servir à l'histoire de la Geographie (Paris, 1907).

The first three decades were translated into English by Richard Eden and published in 1555 (found in Arber's The first three English books on America Birmingham, 1885), thus beginning the genre of English discovery travel writing, which stimulated English exploration of the New World.[2] Eden's translations were reprinted with supplementary materials in 1577 by Richard Willes under the new title, The historie of travayle into the West and east Indies. Richard Hakluyt had the remaining five decades translated into English by Michael Lok and published in London in 1612.

Editions

  • Peter Martyr d'Anghiera, De orbe novo, translated from the Latin with notes and introduction by Francis Augustus MacNutt, New York: Putnam, 1912. 2 vols.
  • Peter Martyr d'Anghiera, Decadas del nuevo mundo, 1944
  • Petrus Martyr de Anghieria, Opera: Legatio Babylonica, De Orbe novo decades octo, Opus Epistolarum, Graz: Akademische Druck- U. Verlagsanstalt, 1966 ISBN 320100250X

Notes

  1. ^ Gerbi, Antonello, and Jeremy Moyle. Nature in the New World: From Christopher Columbus to Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo, University of Pittsburgh Press, 2010, p. 53, n. 10.
  2. ^ Parks, George Bruner. Richard Hakluyt and the English Voyages. New York, American Geographical Society, 1928, 21, 23.

References

This article incorporates text from the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia article "Peter Martyr d'Anghiera" by Otto Hartig, a publication now in the public domain.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • New World Amusement Park — 新世界 The now defunct gateway of New World, circa December 2010 Location Jalan Besar, Singapore Owner Shaw Organi …   Wikipedia

  • New World Order (conspiracy theory) — This article is about the use of the term New World Order in conspiracy theory. For other uses, see New World Order. The reverse side of the Grea …   Wikipedia

  • The New Republic — For other uses, see New Republic (disambiguation). The New Republic The New Republic cover of Jan 30, 2008 Editor Richard Just Categories Editorial magazine …   Wikipedia

  • The New York Times Magazine — The magazine s June 8, 2008, cover. Editor Hugo Lindgren Categories Newspaper supplement Frequency Weekly …   Wikipedia

  • The New York Review of Books — (abrégé en NYREV ou NYRB) est un magazine bimensuel new yorkais fondé en 1963. Il traite de questions littéraires, culturelles, et plus généralement de grandes questions d actualité. Il se base sur une importante revue de presse de la production… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • The New Yorker — For other uses, see New Yorker (disambiguation). The New Yorker First issue s cover with dandy Eustace Tilley, created by Rea Irvin. The image, or a variation of it, appears on the cover of The New Yorker with every anniversary issue. Editor… …   Wikipedia

  • Rise of the New Imperialism — The Rise of the New Imperialism overlaps with the Pax Britannica period (1815 1870). The American Revolution and the collapse of the Spanish empire in the New World in the early 1810 20s, following the revolutions in the viceroyalties of New… …   Wikipedia

  • The New York Times — NYT redirects here. For the theater organization also known as NYT, see National Youth Theatre. The New York Times …   Wikipedia

  • The New York Review of Books — Not to be confused with The New York Times Book Review. The New York Review of Books David Levine s caricature of John Updike in the November 24, 1983 issue Editor Robert B. Silvers Categories …   Wikipedia

  • The New Blue of Yale — Infobox musical artist Name = The New Blue of Yale University Img capt = Img size = 225 Background = group or band Origin = Yale University Genre = A Cappella Years active = 1969 ndash; present URL = http://www.yale.edu/newblue/ Current members …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”