:<i>Ceremonies of Possession in Europe's Conquest of the New World, 1492-1640</i>

Introduction 1. Houses, gardens, and fences: signs of English possession in the New World 2. Ceremonies: the theatrical rituals of French political possession 3. The requirement: a protocol for conquest 4. 'A New Sky and New Stars': Arabic and Hebrew science, Portuguese seamanship, and the discovery of America 5. Sailing in the wake of the Portuguese Conclusion: the habits of history.