... who had kings competing for power and yet worshipped celestial bodies. The excitement of the initial news was tremendous, and this was reflected in the demand for literature concerning the new discovery. Columbus's first letter concerning his discovery was reprinted 9 times by the end of 1493 and at least 20 times by 1500. Montalboddo's voyages went into print 15 times by 1507 and even in the mid sixteenth century, Ramusi's voyages were being republished. Yet the excitement of discovery was not the only reason for the excitement. The scale of the discovery was well-recognised. Guicciardini praises the Spanish and Portuguese for the "great and unexpected" discovery. Juan Luis Vires wrote that "the globe has been opened up to the human race" and in 1539 the Paduan philosopher Buonamico claimed that the Americas and the printing press were the two great historical events that "could be compared not only to ...

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