Uncharted Waters New Horizons

Well, I found out some things. Most related to the Portuguese colonies. (I actually learned this in history classes, as part of the history of my country).
  I found some stuff in english for you, here it is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_Empire
http://geography.about.com/od/historyofgeography/a/The-Portuguese-Empire.htm
About other countries, I'm still searching. If I learn something I will post here

I wonder if Koei was inspired by this map from Piri Reis (Pilly Reis) for UWNH?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Piri_Reis_map_of_Europe_and_the_Mediterranean_Sea.jpg

Here's a comparison between his map of America vs a modern one.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/75/Piri_Reis_map_interpretation.jpg/600px-Piri_Reis_map_interpretation.jpg

For the newer members, check Google Earth and navigate along the Mediterranean Sea. If you zoom just enough, you can spot some ancient ports and see some beaches, straits, etc. I spent 2 to 4 hours doing that last year. That was an amazing experience.
I went to Venice and zoomed, then virtually walked in the streets, I also went in the strait of Hormuz, the strait of Malacca, the Red Sea, the Yellow River, Japan, the Amazonian River. You need to try it at least once.
I get chills just to talk about it. 😀

I got some new info. 😀
While Venice was being built and people kept killing each other for the Doge position, the rest of Europe was at war with the Barbarians, Attila (Hun), then Theodoric(Goth), Charlemagne, the Magyars, Robert Guiscard (Norman), etc, all of them attacking either Rome, Venice or Byzantium.

Then we can understand why Venice had close ties to the Byzantine Empire. As it became smaller, Venice grew bigger and ended up defending Byzantium and it's eastern ports.
Finally, the Emperor gave them permission to build trading post across his empire and they could do business tax free which gave them the advantage over the Genoese which they will go at war with later.
Now the fall of Constantinople(Byzantium) at the hand of the Turks is significant for Venice because they lost their tax free business and the access to all these ports on the Black Sea, Greece,
and Cyprus.
Also the fact that one of the Doge, during the Fourth Crusade, put the last nail in the Constantinople coffin, and practically shooting himself in the foot makes things very interesting and help understand why all those Empires were at war in UWNH, the game we love so much. 🙂

I will add more details as I gather them in this current book. I think I will buy it. It'll go well with my other books on the subject. 😀

Tell me Igor-Kipnis, have you found in this book of yours any mencion to the venetian galeass? It's one of my favorites ships and I never found good info about it on the internet.