The world would end in 1492 – so the prophets, soothsayers and stargazers said. They were right. Their world did end. Ours began. Felipe - Armesto traces key elements of the modern world back to that single, fateful year: the way power and wealth are distributed around the globe; the way major religions and civilisations divide the world. Events that began in 1492 even transformed the whole ecological system of the planet. 1492 takes readers on a journey, in the company of real-life travellers, drawing together the threads that began to bind the planet.