Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter 1
2. Table of Contents 7
3. List of illustrations 11
4. Acknowledgments 15
5. Introduction 17
6. 1. The Iberian Peninsula and the Atlantic 37
7. 2. The imperial bureaucracy and the appropriation of the New World 55
8. 3. The piloto mayor: cosmography and the art of navigation 75
9. 4. Machines of the empire 119
10. 5. The Master Map (Padrón Real) and the cartography of the New World 217
11. 6. The creatures of God never seen before: natural history 245
12. 7. The New World, global science, and Eurocentrism 285
13. Bibliography 307
14. About the Author 319
15. Index 321