Crossing the tracks of Columbus: German liner shipping to Latin America, the Caribbean and the west coast of North America down the Years

Herford: E.S. Mittler. Very Good/Very Good. 1992. Hard Cover. 4to 3813204057 Dust jacket complete. Orange cloth boards with bright white titling. Map ed papers. Colour frontis plate. Numerous colour photographs / illustrations. 265 pages clean and tight. Published to mark the 500th anniversary of the discovery of America by Columbus, this book gives the first full account of the story of German liner shipping to the countries of Latin America and the Caribbeari. as well as the West coast stretching from Tierra del Fuego to Vancouver, from its earliest beginnings up to the present. The emphasis is on the activities of the two largest German shipping companies, Hapag-Lloyd AG and Hamburg-Sud, and their forerunners. The origins of German seaborne trade with Spain and Portugal and their territories in America are fully covered in the context of the history of the Colonial Epoch. The author builds up an impressive mosaic of the manifold political. commercial and cultural links between the Old and the New Worlds. From the early 1930s onwards, Hapag-Lloyd and Hamburg-Sud also played a valuable pioneer role in the development of German airline services to the countries of Latin America. In 1973 these activities were upgraded with the acquisition of an advanced fleet of passenger aircraft. For the first time in civil aviation, in addition to its normal charter operations Hapag-Lloyd could offer a splendid range of air cruises to a variety of destinations, including many attractive places in Latin America and the Caribbean. With advanced ship technology and house-house container traffic. the future pattern of seaborne transport has also arrived in this area of the world. Full notes. an extensive list of sources as well as indexes of subject matters, persons and ships will help the reader to find his bearings, and may provide useful leads for further study of the topics discussed here. .