Summary Of A Voyage Long And Strange By Tony Horwitz

A Voyage Long and Strange written by Tony Horwitz is a novel in which he shares he thoughts and discoveries as he retraces the steps of some of the first people to ever set foot in North America. He retraces the steps of Christopher Columbus, Eirik the Red, John Smith, and many explorers in between.

Vinland

I found the first view chapters of this book to be very informative and easy to understand. I found it interesting to learn about Eirik the Red because in kindergarten we are taught the rhyme “in 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue”. Although his discovery matters I think that Eirik the Red should be given more credit. Eirik had two children a son Leif, and a daughter, Ferydis. His son was known as “Leif the Lucky”. Eirik settled the Vikings in Iceland, which he named so no one would go there. He named Greenland so that people would go there when really it was cold.
Columbus
I found reading about Columbus interesting.
As I mentioned before I have always heard the saying but was always uncertain as to Columbus’ claim to fame. After reading about him I realized he had lots going for him other than the famous boats the Nina and Pinta. I thought it was interesting how his life before setting sail was rough, he was washed onto the shores of Portugal and his wife died during their marriage. “The Lord having opened my mind to the fact that it would be possible to sail from here to the Indies” (p. 51). This quote to me says that he really had his mind set to finding the land and he was a very persistent and religious man. I found the picture of Columbus leaving Ferdinand and Isabel to be somewhat comical because of the boats in the background just waiting for him to get
approval.
The South I always find it interesting to read books that talk about food and clothing. So in this chapter when they described hard tack it made me think a lot about how far the world has really come. Hardtack was made from flour, water, salt and was then baked. Hundreds of years ago these three ingredients were the main ingredients of food. These days flour, water, and salt, are just the basics. Because of certain allergies and people who are health conscious these ingredients are not even present in some recipes, we have found ways to make food without these supplies.

Santa Domingo All of the information to be very interesting about these explorers however I found myself getting confused while taking notes on the explorers and who did what. I would have found it much easier if it was organized a different way. Specifically between Columbus and Vespucci because their discoveries were both very similar and they called their voyages “new world” and “another world”. I found it very interesting how the author wrote about the landmarks in honor of Columbus. The landmark that stands out to me the most is the lighthouse that does not light up. To me this is significant because it reflects Columbus. A lighthouse is a feature which meant to guide people but it doesn’t light up. Columbus was meant to guide people, but he was a mean manipulative person. Even the Dominicans thought that he brought bad luck. When Columbus captured Caonabo I thought it was very untrustworthy of him. Although it was very clever and it once again shows how cunning he was and how determined he was about getting what he wanted. Columbus had his few days of victory but after realizing he had lots of power he took advantage of it by killing many natives. My culture is very important to me and I thought it was very interesting how Estevanico could not be traced by his roots. He was a native of Morocco but his original name is unknown, he was known as “el nergo”. I think that it’s very sad how people were not recognized as their own individual person, they were recognized for what color skin they had. I realize most of the world at this time did not feel that way however I do not like reading about discrimination due to skin color.

Roanoke John Cabot was Englands next hope for land after Christopher Columbus, he was granted ships by King Henry VII and reached Newfoundland in 1497, a year after setting sail. Once he reached Newfoundland he was disappointed with his findings so he was sent on a second voyage to America. He never returned to England. I think that it was fitting of where the author placed this explorer in the book. The book speaks of many explorers who were very successful so I think that it was compassionate of the author to write about an explorer who wasn’t so successful.

Jamestown John Smith is described in the book as a braggart, a con man, an escape artist, and an accomplished killer. To read this was very surprising to me because when I think of John Smith I think of the hero who saved Pocahontas and fell madly in love with her. But, in reality he was sold into slavery and beat his master so he could be set free. He was accused of plotting against England’s ships and was then put in chains. The settlers in Jamestown had a hard time getting along and although it is very unrealistic for everyone to get along I thought they would have made more of an effort to get along because there were not many of them.

Plymouth The quotes that are under the titles of each chapter were a very creative idea. I thought the quote “The rock underlies all America: it only crops out here” to be very witty. I have visited Plymouth rock before and have seen the replica of the Mayflower so I found this chapter fun to read because it felt like I knew exactly what he was talking about. Overall I found this book to be not as terrible as I had imagined. I enjoyed the authors style of writing and would not mind reading another book of his for school. I would not pick up this book from the library to take home to read in my spare time but as far as summer assignments go I thought it was a good choice. I thought this book was very interesting it shows that there is a lot of American history to learn.