While accounts such as these—if published immediately— may have had a variety of effects on sixteenth-century readers, over the years they have often elicited favorable and admiring responses from historians. And just as the stories of each explorer vary widely, the veneration shown to them springs from many different sources. As one example, Amerigo Vespucci has been seen as heroic by at least one historian not only for the dangers he overcame and the endurance he and his crew exhibited but for other factors as well:

His robust constitution, his proved ability as an executive and manager in the complex business of equipping ships and engaging in international trade, his practical knowledge of the materials and supplies needed on a protracted sea voyage, his skills in cosmography, cartography, mathematics, and astronomy, his intelligent and inquiring mind.

Probably the most illustrative...