Explorers of a new world

In 1419, the Portuguese prince Henry the Navigator commissioned two young men to 'go in search of Guinea'.
It would be the beginning of the great voyages of discovery to Africa, India and America.
In this book, David Divine goes back to the oldest people who tried to cross large rivers and used the water to move around with rafts and later with primitive boats. In ancient times, it was mainly the Phoenicians who contributed significantly to the development of shipping and who ventured onto the ocean. Their tradition would actually only be continued in the Viking age with expeditions even to America.
The main theme of this book is the time of the great voyages of discovery with men like Bartolomeu Dias, Vasco da Gama, Columbus, Magellan, Hawkins and Drake. The history of these voyages of discovery is often romanticized. Divine, however, tries to reduce everything to the right proportions as soberly as possible and to recognize the many factors that played a role in these expeditions. It is also good to remember that the discovery of new land was not an end point, but a beginning, through which many peoples were brought into close contact with each other and the foundation was laid for world trade as we know it today.