Exclusive interview with author Stephen R. Bown and a review of his historical novel about control of the ocean in 1494
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“When The Borgias TV show came out, featuring Jeremy Irons as Pope Alexander VI, Rodrigo Borgia, – the same pope who divided the world in half,” says author of 1494 Stephen Bown, “I remember reading about the Treaty of Tordesillas in a book about Magellan or Columbus and thinking “That sure is weird, the world being divided in half. How come no-one has written a book about that?”
In his new book,1494, award-winning author Stephen R. Bown tells of a feud between Spain and Portugal, and between explorers, monarchs and priests which crossed oceans and created a battleground on the high seas.
Columbus’ discovery of the American continent in 1492 created a rift between the Spanish monarchy of Ferdinand and Isabella, and Portugal’s João II. Both monarch’s sought to bring the New World under their control, prompting Pope Alexander VI, Rodrigo Borgia, to issue a proclamation that would become the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494, which created an imaginary line in the Atlantic Ocean dividing the entire ocean between Spain and Portugal. This encompassed both the known and unknown areas of the world.
This treaty was good for the catholic Spain and Portugal, but not good for other European powers. Inevitably, the decree created friction. Why did the pope think he could decree who gets control of the oceans?
Many people will recognize the names of Isabella and Ferdinand, the monarchs of Spain, as well as the Borgias, Columbus, Magellan and Sir Francis Drake. History buffs and those interested in the Iberian peninsula will find plenty to interest them in this book. Bown also introduces us to the Dutch legal theorist Hugo Grotius, whose arguments became the foundation of international law.
“1494 is my seventh non-fiction book,” says Bown. “I write primarily about history.
Scurvy: How a Surgeon, a Mariner, and a Gentleman Solved the Greatest Medical Mystery of the Age of Sail is perhaps my most unusual book. I have also written about the great proto-capitalist/conquerors in Merchant Kings: When Companies Ruled the World, 1600-1900, which features Robert Clive, Cecil Rhodes, and George Simpson, among others. My next forthcoming book is The Last Viking: The Life of Roald Amundsen, a revisionist biography of the great polar explorer who beat Robert Scott to the South Pole. He was also a pioneer in the use of primitive airplanes for Arctic exploration, and died attempting to rescue an Italian airship commander in 1928.”
Of his research, Bown says: “I read hundreds of books and articles,” says Bown. “I know that doesn’t sound exciting, but the topic is incredibly fascinating on so many levels. So many old source documents are now available online, as either scanned originals or translated copies. Internet accessibility is the single greatest transformative event of the past decade as it relates to historical research. I quite honestly couldn’t have written this book a decade ago without years of expensive travel.”
“I’ve been asked to speak at a medical conference, discussing scurvy, to a room full of physicians who had no idea about the history of the disease,” says Bown.
Bown has been shortlisted for several awards. He won the BC Booksellers Choice Award for Madness, Betrayal and the Lash: The Epic Voyage of Captain George Vancouver. He is currently working on The Last Viking.
Bown was born in Ottawa, Ontario Canada and currently lives in the Canadian Rocky Mountains near Banff, Alberta. You can download occasional free ebooks and collections of article by Bown at www.amazon.com/author/stephenrbown .
1494: How a Family Feud in Medieval Spain Divided the World in Half, by Stephen R Bown. Hardcover, 304 pages, Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books (February 14, 2012). Language: English, ISBN: 9780312616120 $27.99
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