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Reviewed by Kristen A. Peters for Readers' Favorite
Andrei Romanov’s book, Masters of the Ocean Sea, is a massive deep dive into how Portugal basically redrew the world map during the Age of Discovery. It avoids being just a dry list of dates, instead focusing on the lives of people like Prince Henry the Navigator and Vasco da Gama. The chapters trace the evolution of ship design, showing how these small technical changes were the only reason explorers could eventually travel so far into the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. From the early days in Madeira to the huge naval battles led by Afonso de Albuquerque, the book covers how a tiny nation built a global empire. It walks you through the navigation problems, the political pressure, and the first-time encounters with cultures in Africa and the Americas.
The research in Andrei Romanov's Masters of the Ocean Sea is what really stands out. It’s so refreshing to see a history book that gives a voice to people like Gil Eanes and Duarte Pacheco Pereira, rather than letting the mainstream historical figures hog the spotlight. The author clearly put in a huge amount of work to bring these different perspectives to light, making the 500-year-old voyages feel like high-stakes adventures. I thoroughly enjoyed this book because it makes the technical side of maritime history feel so personal and grounded. It’s a great, impressive piece of work for anyone who wants a more complete picture of how the modern world was actually put together.
