Book excerpt: European colonization of America occurred as a result of the bravery and discoveries of great navigators, visionaries and adventurers. This carefully edited collection presents the lives of the most influential explorers of North America: Eric the Red, Christopher Columbus, John Cabot, Amerigo Vespucci, Vasco Núñez de Balboa, Jacques Cartier, Henry Hudson and Samuel de Champlain. Sale with these remarkable seamen through the vivid biographies and writings of their contemporaries. Table of Contents: Eric the Red and the Northmen: The Saga of Eric the Red The Vinland History of the Flat Island Book From Adam of Bremen's DescriptioInsularumAquilonis From the Icelandic Annals Papal Letters Concerning the Bishopric of Gardar in Greenland During the Fifteenth Century Christopher Columbus The life of John Cabot Original Narratives of the Voyages of John Cabot Letter of Lorenzo Pasqualigo to His Brothers Alvise and Francesco, Merchants in Venice Despatch to Ferdinand and Isabella From Pedro De Ayala Junior Ambassador at the Court of England, July 25, 1498 Amerigo Vespucci Vasco Núñez de Balboa Jacques Cartier Henry Hudson Samuel de Champlain