Quotes from Laurence Bergreen

1200, Polo says, Genghis Khan sent word to Prester John to announce that he wished to marry the priest's daughter.

Under cover of his official title, Mendoza pursued his real job, that of spy.

only 67 ships and ten thousand men survived, and many of those survivors perished as they tried to return to Spain.

The adults weigh a thousand pounds, and if butchered properly, their rich meat and blubber

Beyond his library, Dee introduced crucial mathematical symbols such as +, –, and ÷ to England.

routes between Asia and Europe were severed. The prospect of establishing a spice trade via an ocean route opened up

could provide abundant food, and their thick, glossy, silvery-gray pelts a sorely needed source of warmth in these frigid latitudes.

Elizabeth, and especially Francis Drake, whom Mendoza recognized as the chief threat to Spain's imperial ambitions.

He later had the pleasure of presenting those "goodly great emeralds" to Queen Elizabeth.)

Mandeville argued that it was possible for people to circumnavigate the globe, but he warned

severe storm sprang up. The strong offshore winds blew Magellan's ships out to sea

new economic possibilities for any European nation able to master the seas.

stranding the six seamen on the little island. They passed a wretched night

And he was the first person to use the term "British Empire" to describe his vision.

The lure of spices impelled sober, cautious financiers to back highly risky expeditions to unknown parts of the globe

In the morning, Magellan dispatched a rescue team. When they found only the abandoned longboat

She placed her faith in God, not in superstitions about comets.

Marco Polo aprendeu a ultrapassar a sua condição de estrangeiro no Império Mongol, para chegar à conclusão de que, agora que estava em casa, tinha-se tornado uma vez mais um estrangeiro.

marked the first time that Pigafetta tested his firsthand experiences against the claims of ancient writers, in this case Pliny

They had settled next to the creatures to find shelter from the violent storm and enough warmth to sustain them through the night.

One Irishman, Melaghin McCabb, claimed he slaughtered eighty Spaniards with his axe.

Though hardly a revolutionary insight, the comment set Pigafetta apart from sages such as Pliny and Marco Polo

Various news has been current here with regard to them," he wrote to Philip

Columbus and Fonseca despised one another and fought bitterly.