A reassessment of the career of the man whose Caribbean landing in 1492 changed for ever, both the Old World and the New. Published to coincide with the 500th anniversary of the discovery of America. The author presents Columbus as a rootless, lonely man who never understood the nature of the world he had discovered, nor how to live with his fellow Europeans or the Indians he conquered. He refutes many enduring myths - of Queen Isabella pawning her jewels to finance the voyages, of mutinous sailors who believed the world was flat and of Columbus' death in obscure poverty.