The End-of-the-Year Update (2021)

 Happy Christmas and New Year for you and your families,

As the second year of the coronavirus draws to an end, I am reviewing my work on a new project. 

I have made some corrections in Chapter 1, The Galley vs. the Round Ship, to make the comparison between the two breeds of watercraft less straightforward. I also continue collecting material for a second chapter about war galleys.

I think it was a good idea to split the narrative into two developments: that of the galley and that of the sailing ship. The description becomes more accurate and the trends more palatable. 

I restrict the narrative of galleys to the Mediterranean, excluding the Atlantic and the Baltic Sea.  I try to avoid overloading readers with too many details and focus on the main tendencies. I write for the general public, not for a handful of experts. 

I am planning to branch the story of Mediterranean galleys into two channels: about warships and merchantmen. These are two separate developments that are worth discrete storylines. 

I began compiling a special dictionary for the project to freshen the ideas and phrasing. 

My plans: After uploading the first four chapters of my third project, "Seeking Christians and Spices: The Quest for the Maritime Route to India" at https://independent.academia.edu/BaizermanMichael 

I am going to upload the remaining chapters of my second project, "The Enchanting Encounter with the East: Breaking the Ice between the Latin West and the Far East", offering each new paper for Discussions. It can take the entire year or a little bit more. I will check other options: uploading my papers on other sites in an attempt to draw an additional audience to my work. 

The Quest for the River of Gold

 The present paper completes Unit I of my third project, "Seeking Christians and Spices: The Quest for the Maritime Route to India". You may view the previous chapters on my author's page on the Academia site:

 https://www.academia.edu/41214506/How_Wide_Spans_the_Ocean_Sea

https://www.academia.edu/42166248/Beyond_the_Pillars_of_Hercules

https://www.academia.edu/43517659/The_Rediscovered_Islands_European_Claims_to_the_Canaries

The popular trope associates the Late Middle Ages with the incessant strife of antagonistic faiths which took shape of a crusade and a jihad. My research calls this pervasive approach into question due to the presence of the restricted contingents of Latin Europeans on the southern shores of the Mediterranean. Giving an account for this phenomenon requires a new set of arguments. Religious fanaticism was not the only platform to drum up support for achieving one’s goals. The first part of the chapter focuses on the involvement of European mercenaries, merchants, and monks in the Maghrib. The second part deals with the vagaries of the Trans-Saharan trade. The third part treats the mythical aspect of West African geography, the Island of Gold, and a real group of go-betweens in the gold-for-salt trade.

You may read this chapter and take part in Discussions that I have just launched:

https://www.academia.edu/63196943/The_Quest_for_the_River_of_Gold

I made up my mind to quit this project for a while as what was supposed to be Unit II has developed into a separate venture dedicated to seafaring in the medieval and Renaissance Mediterranean. 

In the new year, I am going to upload the rest of the chapters from my second project, "The Enchanting Encounter with the East". Stay tuned! 

Meanwhile, I started a new blog, Michael Baizerman's Newsletter, where I posted my first entry, Presenting Myself: https://michaelbaizerman.substack.com/p/presenting-myself

where I speak about my four projects. 

The Rediscovered Islands: European Claims to the Canaries

After a short correspondence with the Academia site, I succeeded in uploading a renewed version of my article to Discussions. I consider this paper as a milestone on the road of my writing career. 

In August 2020, I learned that Academia launched a new option for its contributors, allowing them to upgrade each paper for Discussions. They send invitations to about 1K participants and all your fans to take part in the evaluation. It exposes your work to both experts and the general public. It attracts criticism and support. 

I decided to take all my previous articles through this process to realize my potential on this site. Now, after 16 months, I can report that the number of my readers has increased fivefold. I also had the chance to explain my position to other researchers.

This paper is my latest contribution. From now on, I will upload unknown articles, mostly from my manuscript, "The Enchanting Encounter with the East". 

 The present article looks into the medieval history of the Canary Islands from their rediscovery in the 1430s to European colonization in the course of the 15th and 16th centuries. The author puts an emphasis on the dark sides of the European intrusion, including ecological imperialism and genocide. You can read it https://www.academia.edu/43517659/The_Rediscovered_Islands_European_Claims_to_the_Canaries

as well as other articles on my page https://independent.academia.edu/BaizermanMichael

About my further plans: The evaluation of materials collected for the new project is underway. I am attempting to reconstruct the first chapter that compares and contrasts galleys and sailing ships. I also continue reading about medieval and renaissance galleys in the Mediterranean to focus on specific aspects of seafaring.

 

Merchant galleys (4)

 First of all, my lecture. Titled "The Place of Geography in the Medieval European Science", it met with moderate success. The audience was familiar, so I did not need to introduce myself. Based on three chapters from Unit I of my manuscript, "The Enchanting Encounter with the East", the lecture was accompanied by numerous illustrations and charts. The meat of the matter was to show that medieval conceptions were scientifically sound, prone to arguments, and in many cases inconclusive, i.e., requiring additional research. 

I am so happy to read accounts of maritime journeys for my current project. I have already got acquainted with the diaries of Felix Fabri and Pietro Casola and now I am studying the report submitted by Roberto da Sanseverino. The last one is the most productive since its author has a deep understanding of navigation problems. Besides, the editor, Vidoni, presents and explains entangled issues to my satisfaction. Pietro Casola, 

I have other names on my reading list. I need to check whether they are relevant or not for my research. I mean, if they are translated into English and add notable data to my growing database. After checking these names, I can resume reversing the collected material and weigh my chances to make a good story. I want to remind you that I had prepared the early version of this chapter about seven years ago. This is about a complete reversal of the previous work. This time, it will be a new manuscript, where advances in navigation serve to explain which needs they attempted to meet and to what extent they were successful. I think I will be able to debunk a few trends of conventional wisdom. I will continue my story to include the sixteenth century, i.e., to cover the medieval and the Renaissance periods. 

I recently got a negative response from a literary agent, whom I asked to represent my manuscript, "The Enchanting Encounter with the East". He gave a positive comment on my work as an amateur enthusiast but added that editors prefer to deal with the leaders in the field. I suddenly understood my uniqueness as a writer. My work does not aim at the scientific community only. I also address the general audience. I discuss the ideas and make suggestions. And often deliver the proofs. The thought that the "leading experts" can cover the entire topic is absurd and hampers scientific research which is based on checking and rechecking  every opinion and hypothesis. The more choice the reader or listener has the better. My piece of luck is that the Internet gives me a chance to appeal to readers above the head of strict editors and severe literary agents. 

 

Merchant Galleys (3)

 I am still reviewing my notes about merchant galleys. I began to understand how things worked in  medieval society and what happened in the Renaissance when a marvelous system of merchant convoys faded. Apart from freight galleys, I check my observations about war fleets, pick up examples to be studied in detail and develop new ways of presenting the facts for further comparison. 

I found a serious shortfall in my work: my unfamiliarity with genuine maritime travel accounts about seafaring across the Mediterranean during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. I began to trace these materials and their English translations. Meanwhile, I have found Pietro Casola's Traveling to Jerusalem and am going to make good use of it. As far as I understand, Pietro sailed on a pilgrim galley in 1494. 

The academia.edu site offered me to be their reviewer. That means that I have to recommend scientific articles and books to be presented on the site. Each researcher receives a list of recommended reading in his field and my recommendations will be part of it. 

 I am going to continue re-editing my article "Rediscovered Islands". I have not decided yet whether to upload parts as draft copies (as I did with "The Priority of Discovery", which is part 1 of the whole or to alter the entire paper and offer it for Discussion. 

I have achieved my goal concerning the exposure on the Academia site. I have over 5 K readers now. I still think that my potential is larger but now I have to prove it through meticulous labor by re-editing my uploaded articles and writing new ones. You can help me reach my next goal. 

I remind that my papers appear on my personal page 

https://independent.academia.edu/BaizermanMichael 

where I can offer 26 articles. The number remains because I wanted to promote discussion on my already uploaded accounts. I hope that I can contribute more papers soon. 

The Priority of the Discovery: European Claims to the Canary Islands

 As I have promised, I returned to my publishing activity in September. This time, I uploaded a new version of my article and offered it to Discussion on the Academia. 

It is the first part of my longer paper, The Rediscovered Islands. The subtitle makes clear that the author covers the history of the Canary Islands in the 14th century. 

The Little Age of Discovery (14th century) starts with the controversial uncovering of the Canary Islands. Without delay, the curia laid claims to dominion over the new enclave. However, the kings of Portugal and Castile had second thoughts about the sovereignty. The author refers to the portolan charts and travelogues of the trecento to prove the cautious expansion and dissemination of the geographic lore.

Yes, the Canaries presented the first stepping stone ushering the Little Age of Discovery. I call the discovery controversial since it is still unclear who discovered each of the seven populated islands. I guess, in 1341 the Portuguese had mapped the entire archipelago; however, the first islands, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, were visited during the 1330s, probably by another expedition dispatched by the same king, Afonso IV dubbed The Brave. 

One can trace the further history of the Little Age of Discovery comparing  contemporary portolans and travelogues, such as the Libro de Conocimiento. The last source mentions about 25 Atlantic Islands, most of them bearing modern names, suggesting that during the latter part of the 14th century Madeira and the Azores had been sighted and mapped. A Castilian friar, the purported author of the travel account, was an armchair globetrotter, with an eye for maps and coats of arms. 

This extract belongs to my third project describing the quest for the maritime route from Europe to the Indies. You can view the paper https://www.academia.edu/51337940/The_Priority_of_the_Discovery_European_Claims_to_the_Canary_Islands 

I intend to upload other extracts in the coming months. Meanwhile, I continue reviewing the data about transport galleys. 

Merchant Galleys (2)

 I have passed to a new stage of developing the collected data concerning medieval galleys. It will also take a great amount of time since I need to reread many pages and meanwhile I receive new articles and books. I feel that I am better prepared to address the subject and I think that besides ships and seafaring it will be good to show the life of people in the European Middle Ages and Renaissance. 

Last Monday, I delivered a lecture on zoom for the participants of the History Club. I built the speech titled "The Place of Geography in the European Middle Ages: Mathematical Geography on the Eve of the Age of Discoveries" on the first three chapters of my manuscript, "The Enchanting Encounter with the East: Breaking the Ice between the Latin West and the Far East". You can read those extracts 

https://www.academia.edu/39779482/What_If_the_Earth_is_the_Sphere

https://www.academia.edu/39924577/How_to_Measure_the_Earths_Circumference

https://www.academia.edu/39993075/How_Long_Spans_the_Inhabited_World

Some listeners wanted to read the entire book. I explained that unfortunately, it is unpublished though I downloaded 14 chapters out of 29 on my page on the Academia site

https://independent.academia.edu/BaizermanMichael?from_navbar=true

The rest will appear throughout the next year. The chairman of the meeting suggested that I should publish my articles on their institute's site. I am checking this opportunity.  

I am preparing an extract from a new book for Academia Letters, a new journal for researchers. The passage concerns the comparison between galleys and sailing ships. The topic was presented many times but I hope to have found a new approach. My last attempt was rejected because I attached an illustration from Wikipedia. Somehow the editors did not like it. I learned my lesson: no photos! I am hopeful that they will send me reviews from other contributors and I will see if I can count on publication.