About this edition
“África versus América: La fuerza del paradigma” is the work of the Spanish researcher Luisa Isabel Álvarez de Toledo, Duchess of Medina Sidonia (1936–2008), the fruit of years spent in the Medina Sidonia archives. In it, the author revisits the official account of the “discovery” of America and argues — from manuscripts, documents and maps — that much of what was attributed to the New World in fact concerns the West African coast. The thesis and its discussion are the author’s own, presented here in the original Spanish with a faithful English translation.
This parallel edition is designed for reading Spanish with English support. Every passage is aligned with its translation: keep them side by side, blur the English and reveal it on demand, or hide it entirely. Use the controls at the top of each chapter page.
The English translation covers the whole book — the prologue, all six parts and the author’s source apparatus. The same text is available in a complete Arabic edition. Both translations are preliminary and under revision.