Beasts or Brothers?

John Elliott

  • BuyThe Discovery of Mankind: Atlantic Encounters in the Age of Columbus by David Abulafia
    Yale, 379 pp, £25.00, April 2008, ISBN 978 0 300 12582 5
  • BuyHans Staden’s True History: An Account of Cannibal Captivity in Brazil edited and translated by Neil Whitehead and Michael Harbsmeier
    Duke, 206 pp, £12.99, September 2008, ISBN 978 0 8223 4231 1

David Abulafia ends his engaging survey of the first encounters between Europeans and the indigenous peoples of the New World with the words of the prophet Malachi: ‘Have we not all one father? Has not one God created us?’ This question, with its corollary, ‘Why do we deal treacherously, every man against his brother, profaning the covenant of our forefathers?’ looms large in his book, just as it did in the minds of more thoughtful 16th-century Europeans as they became aware that the world was more diverse and more crowded than their forefathers could ever have imagined.

You are not Logged In

  • If you have already registered login here
  • If you are a print subscriber using the site for the first time please register here
  • If you are not yet a subscriber you can subscribe here
  • If you are a member of a subscribing institution or University library please login here
  • If you have an Institutional print subscription and online access is not included, find out about our Institutional online subscriptions