Beyond the Pillars of Hercules (2)

I have completed the paper titled "Beyond the Pillars of Hercules". I have made loads of corrections in the draft copy and for the first time used expressions from a special glossary which I fill in on a parallel basis with my reading the topic. I am hopeful that my new article has become much more presentable. 

However, I will refrain from uploading it on the site before offering it to some magazines, many of which insist on exclusive rights. I will also appeal to Mr. Misyuk, the editor of the Russian-language literary magazine 'The Captain's Cabin' who is going to publish my previous article, 'How Wide Spans the Ocean Sea' next month. You can find this paper on my site https://www.academia.edu/41214506/How_Wide_Spans_the_Ocean_Sea

As for my second book, "The Enchanting Encounter with the East", I will address several small publishing houses which accept manuscript from authors. It should be a traditional publisher whom I will give full rights for publication. Meanwhile, I will continue uploading additional chapters from the book on my site. 

Not long ago, I resumed my interest in ancient Mesopotamia, the subject of my first book, "Dawn and Sunset". This time, I will try to understand the rise of the urban elite in the pristine cities, especially in Northern Mesopotamia, which is becoming a new bonanza of information on early urbanism. I have started compiling a dataset that I may use sometime in the future.

Meanwhile, I am gleaning info about the rediscovery of the Fortunate (Canary) Islands in the course of The Little Age of Discovery (i.e. the fourteenth century). 

Beyond the Pillars of Hercules

Image: The Strait of Gibraltar viewed from the space, with Jebel Tariq on the port side and Jebel Musa to the starboard

Courtesy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strait_of_Gibraltar#/media/File:STS059-238-074_Strait_of_Gibraltar.jpg

I have written the first draft of my new research which deals with the 'opening' of the Strait of Gibraltar for Christian vessels at the end of the thirteenth century. This topic alludes to one of the chapters of the Reconquista, especially the struggle for the domination of the three ports which served the vessels wishing to enter the Strait: Tarifa, Algeciras, and Gibraltar.

My paper includes four parts. Part 1, The Evil Omen, refers to the ancient spell laid on the crossing of the Pillars of Hercules by poets and historians. However, it did not prevent ancient or medieval Mediterranean mariners from venturing into the Atlantic.

Part 2, Passing through the Eye of the Needle, discusses some weather vagaries and navigation hazards which made it difficult to transit the Strait, especially for sailing ships.

Part 3, Locking Horns in the Unceasing Crusade, points to the main reason why it took so long for the Christian vessels to unlock the maritime route across Western Europe: the presence of the Muslim fleet and the ban on docking in the ports of Al-Andalus. The Castilian crusade, which took about one hundred years, led to the Christian control over large swaths of former Muslim territories of southern Iberia and the opening of the havens for free trade and shipping.

Part 4 called "The Mediterranean Breakout", sums up the article, showing the main maritime route of European sailors through the Strait to Flanders and England, as well as the ancillary course to the Moroccan Atlantic havens.  The champions of these ventures were the Genoese and the Venetians seaman, with the rest playing the second fiddle. In my view, the 'opening' of the Strait at the close of the thirteenth century served as a springboard for spectacular voyages of European mariners in the Atlantic throughout the fourteenth century, the period which I call 'The Little Age of Discovery'.