A Dusty Tomes Audio BookIn Cooperation with Spoken Realms

Volume 3 of 27 in The American Nation: A History published by Harper Brothers (1904–1918). Edited by Albert Bushnell Hart, Professor of History at Harvard University.

Editor’s Introduction to the Series: That a new history of the United States is needed, extending from the discovery down to the present time hardly needs a statement. No such comprehensive work by a competent writer is now in existence. Individual writers have treated only limited chronological fields. Meantime, there is a rapid increase of published sources and of serviceable monographs based on material hitherto unused. On the one side, there is a necessity for an intelligent summarizing of the present knowledge of American history by trained specialists; on the other hand, there is a need for a complete work, written in untechnical style, which shall serve for the instruction and the entertainment of the general reader.

From the Editor’s Introduction to Volume Three: This volume begins with the detailed narrative of the founding and development of the communities now included within the United States of America, and the story necessarily goes back to the discovery of the American islands and continents. Professor Bourne in his earlier chapters summarizes and restates, with many original conclusions, the controverted points with regard to the discovery of America.

From the Author’s Preface: It has been my design in preparing this volume to accomplish two objects, so far as was practicable within the limits imposed by the conditions of the series to which it belongs. The first object was to provide an account, succinct and readable, and abreast of present scholarship, of the discovery and exploration of the New World. The second part of my plan is to present an outline sketch of the Spanish colonial system and of the first stage of the transmission of European culture to America.

Editor’s IntroductionAuthor’s PrefaceI. Preliminaries of Discovery (867–1487)II. Preparations of Columbus (1446–1492)III. Columbus’s Discovery and the Papal Demarcation Line (1492–1494)IV. Columbus at the Zenith of His Fortunes (1493–1500)V. Voyages of the Cabots and Corte-Reals (1496–1502)VI. Development of the Coast-Line (1499–1 506)VII. Amerigo Vespucci and the Naming of America (1499–1507)VIII. The Search for a Strait (1508–1514)IX. Magellan and the First Voyage around the World (1519–1522)X. Exploration of the Gulf and Atlantic Coasts (1512–1541)XI. Exploration of the Interior of North America (1512–1541)XII. French and Spaniards in Florida (1558–1568)XIII. The Achievement of Three Generations (1492–1580)XIV. The Beginnings of Spanish Colonial Policy (1493–1518)XV. Spanish Colonial Government and Administration (1493–1821)XVI. Spanish Emigration to America (1500–1600)XVII. Race Element and Social Conditions in Spanish America (1500–1821)XVIII. Negro Slaves (1502–1821)XIX. Colonial Commerce and Industry (1495–1821)XX. The Transmission of European Culture (1493–1821)