Most of us are fascinated by the conventional storybook account
of Christopher Columbus' heroic discovery of America in 1492. Yet,
should the credit for discovering America go to a man who insisted
it was but a few islands off the shores of China?
In "Terra Cognita," Eviatar Zerubavel argues that physical
encounters are only one part of the complex, multifaceted process
of discovery. Such encounters must be complemented by an
understanding of the true identity of what is being discovered. The
small group of islands claimed by Columbus to have been discovered
off the shores of Asia was a far cry from what we now call America.
The discovery of the New World was not achieved in a single day but
was a slow process--mental as well as physical--that lasted almost
three hundred years. By celebrating 1492 as a year of discovery, we
inevitably distort the reality of history.
In vividly documenting how a slowly emerging New World
gradually forced itself into Europe's consciousness, Zerubavel
shows that Columbus did not discover America on October 12, 1492.
Supplemented by fascinating old maps and a new preface written for
this paperback edition, "Terra Cognita" will be of interest to
historians, geographers, cognitive scientists, sociologists, and
students of culture.
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