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The great explorers of the past dismissed as mercenary opportunists

Simon Park follows the current trend of accusing Columbus, Magellan, Da Gama and other famous navigators of seeking personal enrichment above all else

David Abulafia David Abulafia
The Portuguese Ferdinand Magellan was willing to serve the king of Spain, if offered the right incentives. Bridgeman Images
EXPLORE THE ISSUE 12 April 2025
issue 12 April 2025

Ceremonial cannibalism was not a European invention but a regular feature of South American societies

Simon Park, who teaches Portuguese history and literature at Oxford University, aims to recast the early period of European exploration as a story of disasters rather than successes. His target is the notion that those who led the first European expeditions across the Atlantic or into the Indian Ocean were ‘heroes who pushed forward boundaries of knowledge’.

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