And of a truth, this wondrous western empire was subsequently brought

to light; peoples and cities were found, but beyond the limits within

which the wildest dreams of their discoverers had ever placed them. On

this foundation not a few speculators build a theory that America was

known to the ancients. The chief of the hypothetical isles were San

Brandan, Antilia, and the Island of the Seven Cities; their existence

was firmly believed in, and they were definitely located on maps of

the period. San Brandan is said to have been visited by the saint whose

name it bears in the sixth century. It was at first located far north

and west of Ireland, but gradually moved southward until at the time

of Columbus' first voyage it is found nearly in the latitude of Cape

Verde. To the inflamed imagination mirage is solid earth, or sea, or

a beautiful city; an island which was long supposed to be visible from

Madeira and the Canaries had something to do with the location of this

island of the saint, and of the others.

Antilia, and the Island of Seven Cities, according to Behaim's map, are

identical. See page 93 this volume; also a reputed letter of Toscanelli,

about the existence of which Humboldt thinks there may be some doubt.

The only tangible point in the traditionary history is the migration

of seven bishops, driven from the Peninsula by the Moorish invasion in

the eighth century, who took refuge there and built the Seven Cities.

The history and location of this Island of the Seven Cities in the

fifteenth century are similar to those of San Brandan Island. Galvano

says a Portuguese ship was there in 1447. Brazil, Bracie, or Berzil,

was another of these wandering isles, whose name has been preserved

and applied to a rock west of Ireland, to one of the Azore islands,

and to a country in South America. This name has been the theme of much

discussion, which, so far as I know, leads to no result beyond the fact

that the name of a valuable dye-wood known to the ancients was afterward

applied to lands known or conjectured to produce such woods. _Humboldt_,

_Exam. Crit._, tom. ii. pp. 214-45; _Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung Am._, pp.

7-10, and 35 et seq. Kunstmann attaches greater geographical importance

to the fabulous isles than Humboldt, connecting them in a manner

apparently not quite clear to himself with the previous discoveries

of the Northmen. Thus stood facts and fancies concerning the geography

of the world, when the greatest of discoverers arose and achieved the

greatest of discoveries.

* * * * *

Although in the chapters following I speak more at length of the

deeds of the Genoese and his companions, yet in order to complete

this Summary it is necessary to mention them here. I shall attempt no

discussion concerning the country, family, date of birth, or early

life of Christopher Columbus. For the differences of opinion on

these points, with numerous references, see _Harrisse_, _Bibliotheca

Americana Vetustissima_, New York, 1866, p. 2 et seq. Born somewhere

in Italy, probably Genoa, about 1435, he received something more than

a rudimentary education, went to sea at the early age of fourteen, and

in 1470, which is about the date of his coming to Portugal, had already

an extensive experience in the navigation of the Mediterranean, and

was skilled in the theory as well as the practice of his profession.

We have already seen him with the Portuguese on the African coast, and

with the English in Iceland. In fact, before his first voyage westward

in 1492, he was practically acquainted with all waters then navigated

by Europeans.

The promptings which urged forward this navigator to the execution

of his great enterprise may be stated as follows: The success of the

Portuguese in long voyages down the African coast suggested to his

mind, soon after 1470, that if they could sail so far south, another

might sail west with the same facility and perhaps profit. Says his

son: "Estando en Portugal, empeçó à congeturar, que del mismo modo que

los Portugueses navegaron tan lejos al Mediodia, podria navegarse la

buelta de Occidente, i hallar tierra en aquel viage." _Colon_, _Hist.

del Almirante_, in _Barcia_, tom. i. p. 4; edition of Venetia, 1709,

pp. 22-3; _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom. i. p. 12; _Navarrete_, _Col.

de Viages_, tom. i. p. lxxix; _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec. i. lib.

i. cap. 1-7. His ardent imagination once seized with this idea, every

nook and corner of geographical knowledge was searched for evidence

to support his theory. By intercourse with other navigators he learned

that at different times and places along the western coasts of Europe

and Africa, objects apparently from unknown western lands had been

washed ashore, suppositionally by the wind, really by the Gulf Stream

or other oceanic currents. _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom. ii. p. 249.

Though well aware of existing rumors of islands seen at different times

in the western ocean, it was not upon these, if any such there were,

that he built his greatest anticipations of success. In the writings of

the ancients he found another stimulant. Filled with fervent piety and

superstitious credulity, he pored over every cosmographical work upon

which he could lay his hands, as well the compilations of antiquated

notions, such as the _Imago Mundi_ of Pierre D'Ailly, or the more

modern travels of Marco Polo and Sir John Mandeville. _Colon_, _Hist.

del Almirante_, in _Barcia_, tom. i. p. 4 et seq.; _Major's Prince

Henry_, pp. 349, 352; _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom. i. pp. 46, 60;

_Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung Am._, pp. 74-6.

[Sidenote: EVOLUTION OF THE GRAND CONCEPTION.]

The result of these studies was a complete acquaintance with the

geographical knowledge of the day, with the greater part of what I have

thus far epitomized, the doings of the Northmen excepted. From all

this he knew of the earth's sphericity; he believed that the larger

part of the world's surface was dry land; that the land known to

Ptolemy extended over at least 180 degrees, or half the circumference

of the globe, that is, from the Canaries to the Ganges; he knew that

by later travels the eastern limit of geographical knowledge had been

moved much farther east, even to Cathay; he believed that far out in

the ocean lay the island of Zipangu; he knew that some eight or ten

degrees had been added on the west by the discovery of the Azores;

he believed that at most only one third of the circumference remained

to be navigated; that this space might naturally contain some islands

available as way stations in the voyage; that the explorations in the

East were very indefinite, and consequently Asia might, and probably

did, extend farther east than was supposed; that Ptolemy's figures

were not undisputed—Marino making the distance from the Canaries to the

Ganges 225 degrees instead of 180, while another geographer, Alfragano,

by actual measurement, made each degree about one sixth smaller than

Ptolemy, thus reducing the size of the earth, and with it the remaining

distance to India; that several ancient writers—see quotations from

Aristotle, Strabo, Seneca, et al., in _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom. i.

pp. 38, 61, 98 et seq.—had pronounced the distance to India very short,

and had affirmed that it might be navigated in a few days; and finally

that other scholars, as Toscanelli, had arrived at the same conclusions

as himself, possibly before himself. _Cartas de Pablo Toscanelli, Físico

Florentin, á Cristobal Colon y al Canónigo Portugues Fernando Martinez,

sobre el descubrimiento de las Indias_, in _Navarrete_, tom. ii. pp.

1-4; _Muñoz_, _Hist. Nuevo Mundo_, pp. 48-9. See also, on Columbus'

motives, _Irving's Columbus_, vol. i. pp. 42-51, and vol. ii. p. 148;

_Muñoz_, _Hist. Nuevo Mundo_, pp. 45-7; _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom.

ii. pp. 324-9; _Stevens' Notes_, p. 28; _Major's Prince Henry_, pp.

347-52; _Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung Am._, p. 74. Many of these conclusions

were erroneous, being founded on an incorrect idea of longitude;

but this reduction of the earth's size was an error most fortunate

for discovery, inasmuch as with a correct idea of the distance to be

traversed, and with no suspicion of an intervening continent, such an

expedition as that of the Genoese would not have been undertaken at the

time.

Such were the ideas and aspirations of Columbus before his undertakings;

later in life a theologic mysticism took possession of his mind,

and his success was simply a fulfillment of divine prophecy in which

cosmographical realities went for nothing. See _Cartas de Don Cristobal

Colon_, in _Navarrete_, tom. i. p. 330.

All attempts to diminish the glory of Columbus' achievement by proving

a previous discovery whose results were known to him have signally

failed. The reports of mysterious maps which have been claimed to have

prompted his enterprise evidently amount to nothing in view of the fact

that Columbus never suspected the existence of any new countries, yet

that he saw maps of the world, including the Asiatic coasts, can not

be doubted. The case of the pilot Sanchez, said to have died in the

house of Columbus, and to have told him of lands he had seen toward the

west, if true, is likewise of little moment as touching the honor due

to Columbus, for many men were confident of having seen such lands from

the Canaries and other islands, and several voyages had been made in

search of them, all of which was certainly known to Columbus. The story

of Sanchez was started by Oviedo, who gives no authority or date for the

event; it was repeated generally with disapproval by other historians,

until revived by Garcilaso de la Vega with date and details; but his

date, 1484, is ten years after Columbus is known to have proposed his

scheme to the Portuguese government. Columbus originated no new theory

respecting the earth's form or size, though a popular idea has always

prevailed, notwithstanding the statements of the best writers to the

contrary, that he is entitled to the glory of the theory as well as to

that of the execution of the project. He was not in advance of his age,

entertained no new theories, believed no more than did Prince Henry,

his predecessor, or Toscanelli, his contemporary; nor was he the first

to conceive the possibility of reaching the east by sailing west. He

was however the first to act in accordance with existing beliefs. The

Northmen in their voyages had entertained no ideas of a New World, or

of an Asia to the west. To knowledge of theoretical geography, Columbus

added the skill of a practical navigator, and the iron will to overcome

obstacles. He sailed west, reached Asia as he believed, and proved old

theories correct.

There seem to be two undecided points in that matter, neither of which

can ever be settled. First, did his experience in the Portuguese

voyages, the perusal of some old author, or a hint from one of the

few men acquainted with old traditions, first suggest to Columbus his

project? In the absence of sustaining proof, the statement of the son

Fernando that the father should be credited with the reconception of

the great idea, goes for little. Second, to what extent did his voyage

to the north influence his plan? There is no evidence, but a strong

probability, that he heard in that voyage of the existence of land

in the west. It is hardly possible that no tradition of Markland and

Vinland remained in Iceland, when but little more than a hundred years

had passed since the last ship had returned from those countries, and

when many persons must have been living who had been in Greenland. If

such traditions did exist, Columbus certainly must have made himself

acquainted with them. Still his visit to the north was in 1477, several

years after the first formation of his plan, and any information gained

at the time could only have been confirmatory rather than suggestive.

Both Humboldt and Kunstmann think that even if he ever heard of the

discoveries of the Northmen—which is thought probable by the latter—this

knowledge would not have agreed with, nor encouraged, his plans. Kohl,

_Hist. Discov._, pp. 115-20, believes that such a knowledge would have

been the strongest possible confirmation of his idea of the nearness

of Asia and Europe, in which opinion I concur. The idea of Draper,

_Hist. Int. Develop._, p. 446, that had Columbus known of the northern

discoveries he would have steered farther to the north, seems of no

weight, since he sought not the northern but the southern parts of

India.

[Sidenote: FIRST VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS.]

What Columbus had to contend with at this juncture was not, as I have

said, old doctrines oppugnant to any new conception, but the ignorance

of the masses, who held no doctrine beyond that of proximate sense,

which spread out the earth's surface, so far as their dull conceptions

could reach, in one universal flatness; and the knowledge of courts,

whence alone the great discoverer could hope for support, was but

little in advance of that of the people. Then the Church, with its

usual firmness and conservatism, was against him. The monks, who were

then the guardians of learning, knew, or might have known, all that

Prince Henry, Columbus, and other earnest searchers had ascertained

regarding the geography of the earth; but what were science and facts

to them if they in any wise conflicted with the preconceived notions

of the Fathers, or with Church dogmas? "II est vrai," says Humboldt,

"que les scrupules théologiques de Lactance, de St. Chrysostôme et de

quelques autres Pères de l'Eglise, contribuèrent à pousser l'esprit

humain dans un mouvement rétrograde." And again, the African expeditions

of the Portuguese had not on the whole been profitable or encouraging

to other similar undertakings, and the financial condition of most

European courts was not such as to warrant new expenses. Portugal, more

advanced and in better condition to embark in new enterprises than any

other nation, now regarded the opening of her route to India _via_ the

Cape of Good Hope an accomplished fact, and therefore looked coldly

on any new venture. Nor were the extravagant demands of Columbus with

respect to titles and authority over the new regions of Asia which he

hoped to find, likely to inspire monarchs, jealous of their dignities,

with favor toward a penniless, untitled adventurer. Passing as well

the successive disappointments of Columbus in his weary efforts to

obtain the assistance necessary to the accomplishment of his project,

as his final success with Queen Isabella of Castile, let us resume our

chronological summary.

[Illustration: MARTIN BEHAIM'S GLOBE, 1492.]

[1492.] Shortly before the sailing of Columbus, the learned astronomer

Martin Behaim, of Nuremberg, constructed a globe showing the whole

surface of the earth as understood by the best geographers of the

time. This globe has been preserved, and I present a fac-simile of the

American hemisphere published in _Ghillany_, _Geschichte des Seefahrers

Ritter Martin Behaim_, Nürnberg, 1853. The entire globe may be seen

in _Jomard_, _Les Monuments de la Géographie_, no. xv., Paris, 1854. A

section of the globe is given by Irving, _Columbus_, vol. i. p. 53 (see

also _Id._, p. 135), by _London Geog. Soc. Journal_, 1848, vol. xviii.

p. 76; and a copy from Ghillany, with some of the names omitted, may be

found in _Kohl's Hist. Discov._, p. 147, map no. iv.

The chart by which the voyage of Columbus was made is supposed to

have been a copy of Behaim's Globe, which indeed may be regarded as

the exponent of geographical conceptions, those of Columbus as well

as those of the learned men and practical navigators of the day. By

an inscription on the original, the Asiatic coast is known to have

been laid down from Marco Polo, and to the islands of Antilia and San

Brandan are joined other inscriptions giving their history as I have

before indicated. Sailing from Palos on the 3d of August, 1492, with

one hundred and twenty men in three vessels commanded by himself and the

two brothers Pinzon, Columbus was at last fairly launched on the Sea of

Darkness. After a detention of three weeks at the Canaries, he sailed

thence the 6th of September; marked, not without alarm, the variation

of the needle on the 30th of September; and on the 12th of October

discovered San Salvador, or Cat Island.

So far all was well; all was as the bold navigator had anticipated;

all accorded with current opinions, his own among the number; he had

sailed certain days, had accomplished a certain distance, and had

reached triumphantly one of the numerous islands mentioned by Marco

Polo, and, God willing, would soon find the larger island of Zipangu.

Alas for mathematical calculations, for that other third of the earth's

circumference; alas for the intervening continent and broad Pacific sea,

which baffled the great discoverer to the day of his death!

Passing over the cruise through the Bahamas, or Marco Polo's archipelago

of seven thousand islands, in which the discoverers touched successively

at Concepcion, Exuma (Fernandina), and Isla Larga (Isabela), we find

Columbus sailing from the last-mentioned island on the 24th of October

for Zipangu, with the intention of proceeding thence to the main-land,

and presenting his credentials to the great Khan.

Touching at the Mucaras group, Columbus arrived at Zipangu, which was

none other than the island of Cuba, on the 28th of October, and gave to

the island, in place of its barbarous appellation, the more Christian

name of Juana. Cruising along the northern shore of Cuba, in frequent

converse with the natives, he soon learned that this was not Zipangu,

was not even an island, but was the veritable Asiatic continent itself,

for so his fervid mind interpreted the strange language of this people.

Unfortunately he could not find the Khan; after diligent search he

could find no great city, nor any imperial court, nor other display

of oriental opulence such as were described by Marco Polo and Sir John

Mandeville—only naked barbarians and thatched huts; so after advancing

west beyond Savana la Mar, the discoverers returned to the eastern end

of Cuba, visiting on the way the group El Jardin del Rey. Postponing

the exploration of the coast toward the south-west, Columbus returned

eastward and followed the northern coast of Española, turning off on his

way to discover the Tortugas, and arriving at La Navidad, where he built

a fort and left a colony of thirty-nine men. Now, Española, and not Cuba

as he had at first supposed, was the true Zipangu; for the main-land

of China could not by any possibility be the island of Japan; and in

this belief Columbus sailed for Spain on the 16th of January, reaching

the Azores on the 18th of February, and arriving at Palos the 15th of

March, 1493. _Primer viage de Colon_, in _Navarrete_, tom. i. pp. 1-197;

_Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_, vol. i. booke ii. pp. 10-13; _Sammlung

aller Reisebeschreibungen_, tom. xiii. p. 10; _Napione_ and _De Conti_,

_Biografia Colombo_, pp. 305-36; _Peter Martyr_, dec. i. cap. i.;

_Oviedo_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. i. pp. 21-31, 46-55; _Colon_, _Hist. del

Almirante_, in _Barcia_, tom. i. pp. 13-38; _Irving's Columbus_, vol. i.

pp. 124-289; vol. iii. pp. 447-68; _Major's Prince Henry_, pp. 356-7;

_West-Indische Spieghel_, p. 10; _Cancellieri_, _Notizie di Colombo_,

pp. 66-76.

[1493.] Just before reaching the Azores, Columbus wrote on shipboard two

letters describing his voyage, one under date of the 15th of February,

and the other of the 14th of March. The manuscript of one, with copies

printed in Spain probably during this same year, are yet preserved. Of

the other, both the original manuscript and Spanish copies, if any were

printed, are lost; but of a Latin translation, six editions are extant,

supposed to have been printed in 1493, in France and in Italy, under

the title _Epistola Christofori Colom_, or _De Insulis Inventis_, etc. A

poetical paraphrase of the same letter appeared the same year as _Dati_,

_Questa e la Hystoria_, etc., Florence, 1493, and four other works of

this year contain slight allusions to Columbus. Seven or eight editions

of Columbus' letters appeared in different forms during the next forty

years. Both letters may be found with Spanish translations in the first

volume of Navarrete's collection. For the bibliographical notices of

this sketch I have depended chiefly on Harrisse, _Bib. Am. Vet._, as the

latest and most complete essay on early American books, notwithstanding

the few blunders that have subjected it to so much ridicule. I shall

not consider it necessary to repeat the reference with each notice, as

Harrisse's work is arranged chronologically.

[Sidenote: PAPAL BULL OF PARTITION.]

As soon as Columbus had explained to Ferdinand and Isabella the nature

of his important discovery, the Spanish sovereigns applied to the Pope

for the same grants and privileges respecting lands discovered, and to

be discovered, in the west, that had before been granted the Portuguese

in the south and east. His Holiness, accepting the Spanish statements

that the concessions demanded did not in any way conflict with previous

grants to the Portuguese, by bull of May 2, 1493, ceded to Spain all

lands which might be discovered by her west of a line drawn from pole

to pole, one hundred leagues west of the Azores; the Portuguese to have

all new lands east of the same line. It is obvious that his Holiness

fixed this line arbitrarily, without a thought of the position or

importance of the corresponding meridian at the antipodes. This opposite

meridian, according to the idea of longitude entertained at the time,

would fall in the vicinity of India proper; and the Portuguese, besides

their natural jealousy of this new success of Spain, feared that the

western hemisphere thus given to her rival might include portions of

their Indian grants. Hence arose much trouble in the few following years

between the two courts. See _infra_.

Amidst the enthusiasm following his success Columbus had no difficulty

in fitting out another expedition. Embarking from Cádiz September

25, 1493, with seventeen vessels and over 1,200 men, among whom were

Alonso de Ojeda and Juan de la Cosa, _el almirante_, or the admiral,

as Columbus was now called, touched at the Canaries, discovered

Dominica the 3d of November, and Guadalupe a few days later; thence

sailing north-west through the Caribbean Archipelago, he occasionally

landed and gave names to islands. Resting two days at Puerto Rico, he

reached the coast of Española on the 22d of November, and on the 27th

anchored off the port of Navidad. The settlement established at this

place in the previous voyage had totally disappeared; the colonists

as is supposed falling victims to internal dissensions and general

excesses. A new city called Isabela was then founded at another port of

this island, and Ojeda was sent inland to explore the country. After a

short absence he returned, reporting the country rich in gold. On the

second of February, 1494, twelve vessels, with specimens of the people

and products of the country, were despatched for Spain under Antonio

de Torres. By this departure was also sent a request for immediate

supplies. Recovering from a serious illness, Columbus checked a revolt

among his people on the 24th of April, built a fort in the interior,

and then sailed to explore the main coast of Asia—as he supposed, but in

truth Cuba—south-westward from the point where he left it on his first

voyage. Following the south coast of Cuba the admiral at length reached

the vicinity of Philipina, or Cortés Bay, where the shore bends to the

southward. This to him seemed conclusive proof that it was indeed the

main-land of Asia which he was coasting. The statements of the natives

who said that Cuba was in fact an island, but that it was so large that

no one had ever reached its western extremity, confirmed him in his

belief—since one might question the knowledge of a boundary which no

one had ever reached and from which no one had ever come. The theory of

the age was thus made good, and that was sufficient; so Columbus brought

all his crew, officers and men, before the notary, and made them swear

that the island of Cuba was the continent of Asia—an act significant of

methods of conversion in those days. He even proposed to continue the

voyage along the coast to the Red Sea, and thence home by way of the

Mediterranean, or, better still, round the Cape of Good Hope, to meet

and surprise the Portuguese; but his companions thought the supplies

insufficient for so long a voyage, and the admiral was persuaded to

postpone the attempt.

Returning therefore to Española, on the way back Columbus discovered

and partially explored Jamaica, Isla de Pinos, and the small islands

scattered to the southward of Cuba, arriving at Isabela on the 4th of

September. There he found matters in a bad way. The colony, comprising

a motley crew of lawless adventurers, ever ready to attribute success

to themselves and ill-fortune to their governor, trumped up numerous

complaints which caused the admiral no little trouble. Margarite, to

whom had been given a command for an expedition inland, had revolted and

sailed with several ships for Spain. Open war had been declared with the

natives, and the colonists were hard pressed; but the admiral's presence

and Ojeda's impetuous bravery soon secured order. Meanwhile two arrivals

inspired the colonists with fresh courage; that of Bartolomé Colon,

brother of the admiral, with three ships, and that of Torres, with four

vessels laden with supplies. With the gold that had been accumulated,

and specimens of fruits and plants, and five hundred natives as slaves,

Torres was sent back to Spain, accompanied by Diego Colon, whose mission

was to defend his brother's interests at court. The pacification of the

natives was then completed, and heavy taxes were imposed upon them. In

October, 1495, arrived Juan de Aguado, sent by the king to ascertain

the facts concerning charges against the admiral. This man, in place

of executing his commission fairly, only stirred up the accusers of

Columbus to greater enmity—which quality of justice well accorded with

the temper of his master Ferdinand. On account of these troubles, as

well as from the discovery of a new gold mine, which proved beyond

question that Española was the ancient Ophir of King Solomon, Columbus

decided to return to Spain. So leaving his brother, Bartolomé, in

command as _adelantado_, or lieutenant-governor, he sailed with Aguado,

on the 10th of March, in two caravels, carrying 225 Spaniards and thirty

natives. Touching at Marigalante, and Guadalupe, he arrived at Cádiz

June 11, 1496. _Segundo Viage de Cristobal Colon_, in _Navarrete_, tom.

i. pp. 198-241; _Colon_, _Hist. del Almirante_, in _Barcia_, tom. i.

pp. 42-73; _Peter Martyr_, dec. i. cap. 2-4; _Oviedo_, _Hist. Gen._,

tom. i. pp. 31-5; _Napione_ and _De Conti_, _Biografia Colombo_, pp.

331-50; _Irving's Columbus_, vol. i. pp. 338-497; vol. ii. pp. 1-87;

_Major's Prince Henry_, p. 358; _Humboldt's Exam. Crit._, tom. iv. p.

217; _Cancellieri_, _Notizie di Colombo_, pp. 93-9. The letters which

Columbus sent to Spain by Torres in February, 1494, if ever printed, are

lost; but in _Syllacio_, _ad Sapiẽtissimũ ... de insulis_, etc., Pavia,

1494 or 1495, appeared certain letters from Spain to the author of this

work, describing the second voyage of Columbus.

[1494.] Thus during the absence of Columbus on his second voyage we have

seen the ocean route between Spain and Española six times navigated;

first, by the fleet of twelve vessels sent back to Spain by the admiral

under Antonio de Torres; second, by Bartolomé Colon, who followed his

brother to Española with three ships; third, by Margarite, who revolted

and left Española during the absence of Columbus in Cuba; fourth, by

Torres in command of four vessels from Spain with supplies for the

colony; fifth, by the return of the same four ships to Spain with gold

and slaves; and sixth, by Juan de Aguado with four ships from Spain in

August, 1495.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: REPARATION OF THE WORLD.]

With the division of the world by Pope Alexander VI., Portugal was not

satisfied. The world was thought to be not so large then as now, and

one half of it was not enough for so small a kingdom which had boasted

so great a navigator as Prince Henry. It was not their own side, but

the other side, that troubled the Portuguese, fearing as they did that

the opposite meridian threw into Spain's half a part or the whole of

India. So Spain and Portugal fell to quarrelling over this partition

by his Holiness; and the matter was referred to a commission, and

finally settled by the treaty of Tordesillas in June, 1494, which moved

the line 270 leagues farther west. About the location of this line of

demarcation, and its effect on Brazil, and the Moluccas, much has been

written, though little has been said as to the motive that prompted

Portugal in making this change. The fact is, that at a time when the

Spice Islands were but vaguely known, and the existence of Brazil not

even suspected, it is impossible to conceive why Portugal desired to

change the partition line from 100 leagues to 370 leagues west of the

Azores; for the change could only diminish the possessions of Portugal

in India by 270 leagues, as in truth it did, including the Moluccas

in the loss, and gaining in return 270 leagues of open Atlantic sea!

True, there proved to be an accidental gain of a part of Brazil, but

there could have been no idea at the time that this partition line

cut through any eastern portion of lands discovered by Columbus to the

west. In whatever light we imagine them to have regarded it, there is

still an unexplained mystery. The Pacific ocean was unknown; between the

discoveries of Spain and Portugal, so far as known, all was land—India.

By carrying the partition line westward, Portugal may have thought to

find some western land; at all events, it is generally believed that the

effect of the partition in the antipodes was not well considered; that

the only point in question was the right of making discoveries in the

western ocean, and that the treaty of Tordesillas was decided in favor

of Spain—Portugal being forced to yield the main point, but insisting on

the change of partition in order to give her more sea-room. On the other

hand it may be claimed that the antipodes, of which they knew so little,

were the avowed object of all the expeditions sent out by both parties.

See the original bull and treaty in _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, tom.

ii. pp. 28, 130; also _Prescott's Ferdinand and Isabella_, vol. ii. pp.

173-83; _Calvo_, _Recueil Complet des Traités_, Paris, 1862, tom. i. pp.

1-36; _Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_, vol. i. booke ii. pp. 13-15; _Curious

and Ent. Voy._, p. 20; _Cancellieri_, _Notizie di Colombo_, p. 183.

Italy, and especially Venice, as we have seen, was the first of the

European states to display in any marked degree in mediæval times that

commercial spirit so early and so well developed in the Phœnicians.

Portugal caught the flame under John the Great, 1385-1433, and led the

van of a more daring discovery and exploration by conquests on the

north-west coast of Africa. Simultaneously Prince Henry was sending

expeditions farther down the western coast of Africa, and among the

islands of the Atlantic. His country reaped the reward in 1486, when

the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope opened her a way by sea to

Hindostan, and to the commerce of the Orient, and gave at the same time

the death-blow to Venetian ascendancy in that market.

But Spain, as chance would have it, did not lag far behind her sister

kingdom. The fact of the great navigators, Columbus and Vespucci, being

Italians, and yet having to seek assistance of Spain, sufficiently

indicates in what direction the swing of maritime power was tending.

The astronomical schools of Córdova, Seville, and Granada had well

prepared Spain for the application of astronomy to navigation, and the

long internal wars had bred those bold and enduring spirits who alone

are fitted to conduct with success great enterprises of certain danger

and uncertain result.

* * * * *

It is claimed by some that John and Sebastian Cabot made their first

voyage and discovered Newfoundland in 1494. The claim rests on a

statement of the Spanish ambassador to England in a letter dated July

25, 1498, to the effect that during the past seven years several vessels

had been sent each year from Bristol in search of Brasil and the Islands

of the Seven Cities, and on an inscription on Sebastian Cabot's map

of 1544, which states that land was first discovered by the Cabots on

June 24, 1494. _D'Avesac_, _Letter on the Voyages of John and Sebastian

Cabot_, in _Kohl_, pp. 506-7. But other authors consider the map—even

if made by Cabot, which is extremely doubtful—insufficient authority to

prove such a voyage.

[1495.] At the solicitation of the brothers Pinzon and other navigators,

a license was granted April 10, 1495, permitting any native-born

Spaniard to make private voyages for trade and discovery from Cádiz

to the Western India; such expeditions to be under the inspection

of government, one of whose officials was to accompany each vessel

to ensure the payment to the crown of one tenth of the profit of the

voyage. For this document in full, see _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_,

tom. ii. p. 165. See also _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom. i. pp. 356 et

seq. Whether any one actually took advantage of this license before its

repeal—which was on June 2, 1497, at the instigation of Columbus—is a

disputed point of some importance in connection with certain doubtful

expeditions to be considered hereafter.

[1496.] Pedro Alonso Niño sailed from Cádiz June 17, 1496, just after

the return of Columbus, in command of three vessels laden with supplies

for the colony at Española.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: AMERIGO VESPUCCI.]

[1497.] Amerigo Vespucci, a Florentine navigator, claims to have set

sail from Cádiz with four vessels in the service of the king of Spain on

the tenth, or twentieth, of May, 1497. In what capacity he accompanied

the expedition, or who was its commander, he does not state, but says

that he was chosen by the king to go with the expedition. "Me ad talia

investiganda in ipsam societatem elegit." Sailing south-south-west to

the Canaries, 280 leagues from Lisbon, he remained there eight days, and

then sailed west-one-quarter-south-west 1,000 leagues in twenty-seven,

or thirty-seven, days, to a point on the main-land in 16° north and 75°

west of the Canaries—that is to say, on the coast of Central America

near Cape Gracias á Dios. This must have been about the 1st of July,

some days perhaps after Cabot's landing farther north, which was the

24th of June. The Spaniards went ashore in boats, but the natives

were too timid to trade; so that continuing their voyage for two days

north-west in sight of the flat coast, they reached a more secure

anchorage, established friendly relations with the people, and found

some traces of gold. The ships then followed the coast for several

days, to a port where was found a village built over the water like

Venice, and there fought with the natives (of Tabasco?); sailed eighty

leagues along the coast to a region of many rivers (Pánuco?), where

they were kindly received by people of a different language, and made a

journey of eighteen leagues inland, visiting many towns. This province

was called by the inhabitants Lariab, and is situated in the torrid

zone, near the tropic of Cancer, in 23° north. Again they started,

pursued a north-west course and frequently anchored, sailing thus 870

leagues, until after thirteen months, that is to say in June, 1498,

they reached "the best harbor in the world" (port of Cape Cañaveral?),

in 28° 30', where they resolved to repair their ships for the return

voyage. There they remained thirty-seven days, and when about to depart,

the natives complained of certain cannibals who came each year from

an island 100 leagues distant to attack them. The Spaniards, in return

for their kindness, promised to avenge their wrongs. Accordingly they

sailed north-east and east to a group of islands, some of which were

inhabited (Bermudas?); landing at one of them called Ity, they defeated

the cannibals, and made 250 prisoners, with a loss of one man killed

and twenty-two wounded. Returning, they arrived at Cádiz October 15,

1499, with 222 prisoners, who were sold as slaves. The above is the

account given by Vespucci in a letter written in 1504, according to

the edition adopted as authentic and original by Varnhagen, _Le premier

Voyage de Amerigo Vespucci_, who believes that Vicente Yañez Pinzon and

Juan Diaz de Solis were the commanders. This voyage is not generally

regarded as authentic; and a long and complicated discussion has arisen

on the question whether the account given is to be regarded as true,

as wholly a fabrication, or as belonging to a subsequent voyage and

accidentally or intentionally dated back two years. As this voyage, if

actually made as claimed by M. Varnhagen, would be the first to touch

the territory which I denominate the Pacific States, I find it necessary

to give in this place the leading points in the discussion. In what

may be called the standard authorities on American discovery, such as

Navarrete, Humboldt, and others, is found fully presented the question

of the authenticity of Vespucci's voyage, always, however, under the

supposition that the land claimed to have been visited was the coast

of Paria. The theory of M. Varnhagen, that that region must be sought

in North America, reopens the question and introduces some new features

which cannot be passed by unnoticed in this connection. Without entering

upon the somewhat complicated bibliography of Vespucci's narrations, or

taking up the question of his claims in the matter of naming America,

I shall attempt to state briefly, and as clearly as I am able, the

arguments for and against the authenticity of a voyage, in which perhaps

is involved the question of the first post-Scandinavian discovery of

the North American continent.

[Sidenote: THE DISPUTED VOYAGE OF VESPUCCI.]

Besides Vespucci's own statement, in a letter written in 1504, no

contemporary document has been found which mentions such an expedition,

though most diligent search for such documents has been made in the

Spanish archives by partisans and opponents of the Florentine's claim.

This absence of confirmatory documents is the more noticeable as the

expedition was made under royal patronage. In another and previously

written letter describing his second voyage in 1499, Vespucci not only

makes no mention of this voyage, but even excuses his long silence by

saying that nothing had occurred worth relating. True, a short letter

of one Vianello, dated 1506, published by Humboldt, mentions a voyage

to which no date is given, made by Vespucci in company with Juan de la

Cosa. M. Varnhagen supposes this to have been the voyage in question,

and a large river discovered at the time to have been the Mississippi;

but, beside the fact that there is no reason for attributing the date

of 1497 rather than any other to this voyage, Vianello's letter, with

two others, published by Harrisse, indicates a much later date for the

expedition with Juan de la Cosa.

Moreover, not only is there a want of original records, but contemporary

historians are silent respecting this expedition; the first mention by

later writers being a denial of its authenticity when it was thought

to conflict with the admiral's claims as discoverer of the continent.

Yet, on the supposition of a voyage to the North American coast, there

are some passages in the historians Peter Martyr, Oviedo, Gomara, and

Herrera, which point more or less definitely to an exploration of the

gulf of Honduras before 1502. Peter Martyr, dec. i. cap. vi., writing

before 1508, says that many claim to have sailed round Cuba; and later,

dec. i. cap. x., he mentions a report that Pinzon and Solis had explored

the coast of Honduras, giving, however, no dates. Oviedo, _Hist.

Gen._, tom. ii. p. 140, says positively that the gulf of Honduras was

discovered not by Columbus, but by Pinzon and Solis, and that before

the former discovered the Amazon, or the latter the Rio de la Plata,

that is to say before 1499. Gomara, _Hist. de las Indias_, fol. 63,

states that Pinzon and Solis are said by some to have explored the

coast of Honduras three years before Columbus, which would make it in

1499. Herrera, _Hist. Gen._, dec. iv. lib. viii. cap. iii., says that

the gulf of Honduras was named Hibueras from the gourds found floating

in its waters by the first Spaniards who sailed along the coast. To M.

Varnhagen, this it may be random remark of Herrera is proof positive

that as Columbus did not enter or name the gulf, he was not the first

Spaniard who sailed along the coast. Whatever weight may be attached to

these passages from the historians, in proving a voyage to North America

previous to that of the admiral, such evidence is manifestly increased

by the fact that the date of the voyage attributed to Pinzon and Solis

seems to rest entirely on the statement of Herrera, _Hist. Gen._, dec.

i. lib. vi. cap. xvi., who describes the expedition with other events

under the date of 1506. Yet in the testimony in the lawsuit hereinafter

to be mentioned, it is implied, though not expressly stated, that the

voyage was after that of Columbus, since special pains was taken by

the king to prove the coast explored by Pinzon to be distinct from that

discovered by the admiral. Another point is that in this same testimony

the name 'Caria' is given to a place visited during Pinzon's voyage,

and for this name Vespucci's 'Lariab' may possibly be a misprint.

Humboldt, _Exam. Crit._, tom. iv. pp. 59, 267, 272-4, repeatedly states

it as an undeniable fact that Vespucci was employed in Spain in fitting

out the vessels for the third voyage of Columbus, up to the date of the

sailing of the expedition, May 30, 1498, and consequently could not

himself have sailed in May or any other month of 1497. He makes this

statement on the authority of documents collected by Muñoz. Harrisse,

_Bib. Am. Vet._, p. 57, states, also on the authority of Muñoz, that

from April, 1497, to May 30, 1498, Vespucci was "constantly travelling

from Seville to San Lúcar." Vespucci is known to have succeeded Juanoto

Berardi, who died in December, 1495, in a contract to fit out vessels

for the Spanish government, and to have received money on account of

that contract on the 12th of January, 1496. Irving, with access to the

documents of Muñoz, says that four caravels fitted out by Vespucci

sailed February 3, 1496, but were driven back; and he speaks of no

evidence of his presence in Spain in 1497 or 1498. Navarrete, relying

on the same Muñoz documents—which consist of extracts from the books of

expenses of Indian armadas in the Casa de Contratacion in Seville—gives

no date to the sailing and wreck of the four vessels mentioned by

Irving, but implies that the event took place before Berardi's death.

After speaking of the receipt of money on the 12th of January, 1496,

he states that Vespucci "went on attending to everything until the

armada was despatched from San Lúcar." _Col. de Viages_, tom. iii. p.

317. He does not state that the fleet thus fitted out was that in which

Columbus sailed in 1498. Muñoz in the printed portion of his work is

silent on the subject. Varnhagen, _Vespuce et son Premier Voy._, p. 18,

argues that Humboldt had no authority whatever for applying Navarrete's

statement respecting the armada despatched from San Lúcar to the

admiral's fleet, that statement having probably been his authority, and

not the original documents of Muñoz; and that the four vessels whose

fitting-out Vespucci personally superintended were much more probably

those in which he himself sailed and made the voyage in question.

Varnhagen furthermore thinks that the death of Berardi furnished a

reasonable motive for the resolution formed by Vespucci to visit the

Indies, and a favorable opportunity for carrying out his resolution. If

it can be proved that Vespucci was in Spain in 1497 and 1498, of course

the question of his claimed voyage admits of no farther discussion;

but if Humboldt's only authority be his interpretation of Navarrete's

statement, even if the interpretation be not unnatural or improbable,

the matter must still be considered doubtful until the original Muñoz

documents are produced.

The silence of contemporary documents respecting Vespucci's voyage

carries the greater weight from the fact that there are special reasons

for the existence of such documents, if the voyage had been actually

made. In 1508 a suit was begun by Diego Colon against the Spanish

crown for the government of certain territory claimed by virtue of

the discovery of Paria by his father, the admiral. The suit continued

to 1513, and every effort was made by the crown to prove a previous

discovery of the coast in question; hundreds of witnesses were examined,

and their testimony has been preserved and published in Navarrete's

collection. In this suit Vespucci was not summoned as a witness,

although much of the time in royal employ, having held the office of

_piloto mayor_ from 1508 to his death in 1512. No claim was advanced

for his discovery, although the voyage is stated to have been made

under royal patronage, and by proving its authenticity the crown would

have gained its object. Indeed, Vespucci's name is only mentioned once

in all the testimony, and that as having accompanied Alonso de Ojeda

in his voyage of 1499. That no one of the many witnesses examined knew

of Vespucci's voyage in 1497, if it were a fact, is hardly possible.

Not only were the witnesses silent on the Florentine's expedition, but

many of them, including Ojeda, affirmed that Paria was first discovered

by Columbus, and next afterward by Ojeda himself. Now as Vespucci

accompanied Ojeda, the latter would surely have known of any previous

discovery by Vespucci, and as Ojeda was not friendly to Columbus he

certainly would have made the fact known. Moreover, the admiral's

charts and sailing-directions were followed by Ojeda in his voyage,

which would hardly have been done with a skilful pilot like Vespucci

on board, and one who had visited the coast before. True, this last

point would have little weight if the coast of Paria was not the region

visited by Vespucci, while the other points would be little if at all

affected by the theory that North America was the coast explored. No

other Spanish voyage to the new region was neglected; indeed, to have

so completely disregarded Vespucci's expedition, it must be supposed

that the king not only knew exactly what region he explored, but had a

positive conviction that said region was entirely distinct from Paria;

and we have seen that no such definite opinion was held at the time, but

on the contrary, special pains was taken to prove that the new regions

were "all one coast." When it is considered that Vespucci's voyage, that

is the voyage of Pinzon and Solis, was mentioned in the testimony, the

failure to summon the piloto mayor appears all the more remarkable. What

more efficient witness could have been brought forward? Thus the silence

of the testimony in this suit on the question under discussion, must

be deemed something more than mere negative proof, as it is termed by

M. Varnhagen. This gentleman also notes that only one witness mentions

that Vespucci accompanied Ojeda in 1499; but he does not note that the

presence of Vespucci on Ojeda's ships was of no importance to either

party in the suit, while a previous discovery by him was of the very

greatest importance to the crown.

[Sidenote: VESPUCCI'S VOYAGE FURTHER CONSIDERED.]

The date of sailing from Cádiz is given by different editions of

Vespucci's letter as May 10, and May 20, 1497; and of his return as

October 1, 15, and 18, 1499. From these dates two difficulties arise;

first, the duration of the voyage is stated in the letter to have been

eighteen months, while the period between the dates of sailing and

return is twenty-nine months; and again, Vespucci is known to have

sailed with Ojeda in May, 1499, that is, five months before he returned

from the voyage in question. One way of reconciling the first difficulty

is to suppose that the author reckoned time by the Florentine method,

then common in familiar correspondence, according to which the year

began the 25th of March. Then in case of a very natural misprint in

the original of May for March, the voyage really began in 1498, its

duration being thus reduced to nineteen months. A more simple method of

removing both difficulties is to suppose a misprint of 1499 for 1498

as the date of the return; this would reduce the time to seventeen

months. Several later editions have made this change. The edition

claimed as original by M. Varnhagen has the date 1499 according to his

translation, and strangely enough the editor makes no allusion to it in

his notes, although in a former pamphlet he speaks of 1498 as the date

of the return. I attach very little weight to discrepancies in dates

in this relation except as evidence against any intentional deception

on the part of Vespucci. Confusion in dates is common in all relations

of the period; and Vespucci's letters were written hastily, not for

publication, and merely to interest his correspondents by a description

of the marvels he had seen in his New World adventures. It may here be

stated that the long and bitterly argued question of the rival claims of

Vespucci and Columbus in the matter of naming America has no bearing on

the present discussion. There is no evidence that the voyage in question

had any influence in fixing the name America; and to pronounce this

expedition not authentic has no tendency to weaken Vespucci's reputation

for honesty, which may now be considered fully established; nor do the

arguments against intentional falsification on Vespucci's part tend to

prove the voyage authentic.

Several coincidences between the narratives of this voyage and that

of Ojeda have led many writers to conclude that both describe the same

expedition, the dates having been accidentally or intentionally changed.

Humboldt, after a careful examination, was convinced that the two

voyages were identical. But when we consider that Humboldt, Navarrete,

and Irving formed their conclusions without a suspicion of a voyage

to North America, and before that question had ever once arisen; that

Navarrete severely criticises Vespucci's narrative as applied to Ojeda's

voyage; that two of the strongest coincidences—the mention of Paria as

the coast visited, and the discovery of a town built over the water like

Venice—have no weight in view of the new theory, since the province is

called Lariab in the original edition, and that method of building was

not uncommon in all the tropical regions of America, it must be admitted

that this argument has by itself little force against the authenticity

of Vespucci's voyage.

The right granted to private individuals by the Spanish government in

April, 1495, to make voyages of discovery at their own expense, subject

to certain regulations, was partially revoked in June, 1497, after

Vespucci's claimed departure. All authorities agree that during this

time such private voyages, or even clandestine expeditions, may have

been and probably were made, of which no records have been preserved.

It is argued that Vespucci's voyage may have been of this number,

although claimed to have been made under royal patronage, and by no

means clandestine. It is even suggested that the revocation of the right

of private navigation, brought about by the influence of Columbus, was

purposely delayed until after Vespucci's departure—all of which proves,

if it proves anything, simply that there was nothing to prevent Vespucci

from making the voyage.

We have seen how certain statements of the old chroniclers may be taken

as indicative of a voyage along the Central American coast previous

to that of Columbus. There are also similar indications in some of the

early maps. Thus Juan de la Cosa's map representing Cuba as an island

in 1500 (see page 115 this volume) might be accounted for by such a

voyage as Vespucci claims to have made. It will be seen hereafter that

early maps show some slight traces of a knowledge of Florida before its

discovery in 1512 (pp. 128-9 this vol.) In the Ruysch map of 1508 (p.

126 this vol.) the eastern coast of what seems to be Cuba is identified

by M. Varnhagen with the main-land; in his opinion the inscription at

the north point of that coast refers directly to Vespucci's expedition,

and 'Cape S. Marci' at the southern point may indicate Vespucci's

arrival on Saint Mark's day, especially as his uncle was a priest of

the order of St Mark. If this appears somewhat far-fetched, perhaps

more weight should be attached to the name 'Cape Doffin de Abril' on

the southern point of what may be Florida on the Ptolemy map of 1513 (p.

130 this vol.), for at the end of April Vespucci may, according to his

narrative, have been at that point. On this matter of an early voyage it

may be noted that Columbus, striking the coast at Guanaja Island in 1502

in search of a passage westward, instead of following westward, as he

naturally would have done, at least to the head of the gulf of Honduras,

turned directly east. A knowledge on his part that Vespucci had already

explored westward and northward without finding a passage, would account

for his actions. But they have already been satisfactorily accounted for

by the fact that he simply proposed to sail along the sinuosities of the

supposed southern coasts of Asia to India, rather than to penetrate any

intervening continent, whose existence he did not suspect.

[Sidenote: CONCLUSIONS CONCERNING THE VOYAGE OF VESPUCCI.]

In addition to the leading arguments for and against the voyage in

question, the following minor points are urged:

It is claimed that the command of such an expedition would not have been

given to a foreigner, and Vespucci did not become a naturalized citizen

of Spain until 1505. But on the other hand, if Vespucci had rendered no

other service to Spain than to have accompanied Ojeda, he would hardly

have received so many favors from the government, especially after

having served four years under the king of Portugal.

Señor Navarrete finds a difficulty in Vespucci's claim to have brought

back to Spain 222 slaves in the few small vessels under his command.

Vespucci also speaks of Ferdinand as king of Castile, which it was not

customary to do until after Isabella's death.

The high opinion held of Vespucci during his life by Columbus and his

zealous friends is of little weight, because the admiral's claim to

have discovered the supposed Asiatic continent or islands adjacent

thereto was undoubted; but the favorable opinions expressed by later

writers, especially by Fernando Colon, writing after America was known

to be distinct from Asia, tend to prove that the Florentine made in

his lifetime no claim to a voyage in 1497. Yet the publication and

circulation of his letter in several languages, uncontradicted for

years, would indicate its authenticity, unless it be taken as a sign

of carelessness for dates and details so long as they were not supposed

to conflict with the admiral's claims. It must also be remembered that

the same voyager's second, third, and fourth expeditions have all been

disputed and have at last proved authentic.

M. Varnhagen applies to Vespucci and his men the well-known tradition

related by Sahagun and others of white men who appeared at Pánuco from

the east before the coming of the Spaniards. He also supposes Guerrero,

the soldier found by Cortés at Cozumel, and believed by other authors

to have been a survivor with Aguilar of Valdivia's shipwreck in 1512,

to have been left in Yucatan by Vespucci; but he gives no reason for

this belief, except that Guerrero had married among the natives, and

had adopted many of their customs. By the same writer it is thought much

more likely that Cape Gracias á Dios was named by Vespucci after a long

voyage in search of land, than by Columbus after following the coast a

few days and taking possession; especially as Columbus in his own letter

simply mentions his arrival at the cape, the fact of his having given

the name coming from other sources.

The events of the voyage, and the description of the coast visited

by Vespucci as given in his letter, furnish no evidence whatever for

or against the authenticity of the expedition; but if it be admitted

from outside evidence that the voyage was actually made, and was

distinct from that of Ojeda, while the narrative has nothing except the

occurrence of the name Paria in favor of a South American destination,

from it may be gathered the following points in support of the theory

that a more northern coast was the one explored. The course sailed

from the Canaries, W. ¼ SW.; the time thirty-seven days; the distance

1,000 leagues, taking the distance from Lisbon to the Canaries, 280

leagues, as a scale of measurement; the latitude of the landing 16°,

and longitude 75° west of the Canaries; and the arrival by sailing up

the coast at a province situated in about 23°, and near the tropic of

Cancer, are worthy of consideration, since a series of blunders such

as these is hardly probable. The natives of Lariab were of different

language from and hostile to the nations passed further south, as the

Huastecs of the Pánuco region are known to have been with respect to

the Mexicans. Moreover, Lariab has a slight claim to being a Huastec

word, since Orozco y Berra gives three names of places in that language

containing an _l_ and ending in _ab_; but of course this would interfere

sadly with the theory that Lariab is a misprint of Caria. Vespucci's

description of the natives, criticised by Navarrete as incorrect when

applied to the people of Paria, agrees better, as M. Varnhagen thinks,

with the aborigines of Honduras. Other parts of Vespucci's vague and

rambling descriptions apply well enough to the North American coasts,

or in fact to any part of tropical America, north or south.

The application of the narrative to North America is not, however,

without its difficulties. Vespucci makes no mention of the Antilles,

through which his course must have led him; perhaps not seeing them

by reason of fog; or he had instructions not to concern himself with

what the admiral had already discovered. He also refers to a larger

work, never published, in which details were to be given. Neither does

he mention the prominent peninsulas of Yucatan and Florida, nor the

lofty mountain peaks which he would naturally have seen in following

the Mexican coast. He claims to have sailed north-west from Pánuco 870

leagues (over dry land?) to the best harbor in the world. M. Varnhagen's

explanation of this difficulty is that Vespucci simply states

incidentally that he left Pánuco "tuttavia verso il Maestrale" still

toward the north-west, not intending to include in this course the whole

voyage of 870 leagues. All the windings of the coast and the entering

and leaving of many ports or rivers must be taken into account to make

up a distance of 870 leagues between Pánuco and Cape Cañaveral; and the

latter port would hardly be considered the 'best harbor in the world'

except by a great stretch of the imagination, or by a navigator little

acquainted with good harbors. The archipelago of Ity has generally been

supposed to be Hayti, but there is probably no reason for the identity

beyond the resemblance of names. The Bermudas when discovered in 1522

were uninhabited, but this does not prove that they were always so; the

Spaniards may have returned and captured the people for slaves. Indeed

the Bermudas may have been the archipelago of San Bernardo, famous

for its fierce Carib population, but generally located off the gulf of

Urabá. It may even have been named by Vespucci, for on San Bernardo's

day, the 20th of August, he was probably there.

Thus have I given, and let me hope without prejudice, the arguments for

and against this disputed voyage; and from the evidence the reader may

draw his own conclusions. To me the proofs seem conclusive that Vespucci

made no voyage to South America prior to 1499, when he accompanied

Alonso de Ojeda. Against a North American expedition the evidence,

if less conclusive, is still very strong; since the most that can be

claimed in its favor is a probability that the Central American coast

was visited by some navigator before 1502, and a possibility, though

certainly a very slim one, that Vespucci accompanied such navigation.

On this voyage see _Navigationum Alberici Vesputii Epitome_, in

_Grynæus_, _Novus Orbis_, pp. 122, 155; _Varnhagen_, _Le Premier

Voyage de Vespucci_; Id., _Vespuce et son Prem. Voy._; also in _Société

Géog._, _Bulletin_, Jan. and Feb., 1853; _Harrisse_, _Bib. Am. Vet._,

pp. 58-68, and _Additions_, pp. xxvii-viii.; _Lester and Foster's

Life of Vespucius_, pp. 93-139; _Leben der See-Helden_, p. 24;

_Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, tom. iii. pp. 183-241, 291-3, 309-34;

_Irving's Columbus_, vol. iii. pp. 395-418; _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._,

tom. iv. v.; _Major's Prince Henry_, pp. 370-5; _Kerr's Col. Voy._,

vol. iii. p. 342; _Eerste Zee-Togt van Alonso D'Ojeda, en Amerikus

Vesputius_, in _Gottfried_, _Reysen_, tom. iii. p. 38; _Cancellieri_,

_Notizie di Colombo_, pp. 41-7, 257.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: CABOT AND VASCO DA GAMA.]

[1497.] To continue our chronological summary. Following the brilliant

success of Spain, England was the first nation to attempt discovery

to the westward. Fully acquainted with the achievements and hypotheses

of Columbus, having been indeed almost persuaded by him to embrace his

beliefs, King Henry VII. on the 5th of March, 1496, granted a license

to John Cabot, a Venetian citizen and trader of Bristol, to attempt

discoveries in that direction.

Either from respect for Portuguese and Spanish rights in the south, or

from some vague hints received from the Northmen during their trading

voyages to Iceland, or possibly from a dim idea of the advantages of

great-circle sailing, the English determined to attempt reaching India

by a northern route. This expedition of Cabot's, with perhaps several

vessels, sailed from Bristol probably in May, 1497; discovered land the

24th of June on the coast of Labrador between 56° and 58°; sailed some

300 leagues in a direction not known, but probably northward; and one

vessel, the _Matthew_, returned to Bristol in August of the same year.

No further details of the voyage are known, and those given, which are

the conclusions of Humboldt, Kohl, and Stevens, have all been disputed

in respect to date, commander, and point of landing. D'Avesac, as we

have seen (pp. 98-9), insists on a previous voyage in 1494. Biddle,

_Memoir of Sebastian Cabot_, London, 1831, p. 42 et seq., claims that

Sebastian Cabot was the commander. Robinson, _Account of Discov. in

the West_, Richmond, 1848, pp. 81-93, explains that by a change in the

method of reckoning time after 1752, the date should properly read 1498.

Many authors moreover confound this voyage with a later one. _Hakluyt's

Voy._, vol. iii. pp. 4-11; _Galvano's Discov._, pp. 87-9; _Viages

Menores_, in _Navarrete_, tom. iii. pp. 40-1. Irving, _Columbus_,

vol. ii. p. 316, names but one voyage and regards the accounts as

"vague and scanty." See also _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom. i. pp.

279, 313; _Hakluyt Soc._, _Divers Voy._, pp. lxviii., 19-26; _Kohl's

Hist. Discov._, pp. 121-35; _Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung Am._, pp. 48-53;

_Stevens' Notes_, pp. 17-19; _Pinkerton's Col. Voy._, vol. xii. p. 158;

_Bancroft's Hist. U. S._, vol. i. p. 13.

The Portuguese, to complete their discovery of the route to India by

way of the Cape of Good Hope, sent out Vasco da Gama with four ships.

Sailing from Lisbon July 8, 1497, he doubled the Cape of Good Hope

the 22d of November, passed the limit reached by Dias on the 17th of

December, received intelligence of Prester John at several points on the

eastern coast, and anchored at Calicut May 20, 1498. Trading somewhat,

jealous of everybody, after quarrelling with Arabian merchants and

failing to make good his arbitrary measures, he thought best to return.

Accordingly he set sail the 29th of August, passed the cape March 20,

1499, and reached Lisbon about the end of August. Thus Gama was the

first to accomplish the grand object of so many efforts, and to reach

India by water. His achievement would doubtless have been regarded as

the most glorious on record, both to himself and to Portugal, had not

Columbus for Spain reached the same continent, as he supposed, farther

east several years before. _Navigatione di Vasco di Gama_, in _Ramusio_,

tom. i. fol. 130; _Galvano's Discov._, pp. 93-4; _Navarrete_, _Col.

de Viages_, tom. i. pp. xli.-ii.; _Major's Prince Henry_, pp. 391-406;

_Voyages, Curious and Entertaining_, p. 103; _Leben der See-Helden_, p.

40; _Notizie di Vasquez di Gama_, in _Cancellieri_, _Notizie_, p. 165.

[1498.] After the return of the Cabots in August, 1497, with the news

of having discovered the northern regions of Cathay, King Henry issued

a new patent dated February 3, 1498, and, probably in May of the same

year, two vessels with 300 men sailed from Bristol under command of

Sebastian Cabot. Little is known of the voyage, save that he reached

the coast of Labrador, which he followed northward until at a certain

point where the coast trends eastward he found much ice even in July.

This northern limit is placed by Ramusio at latitude 56°; by Gomara,

who states that Cabot himself gives a much higher latitude, at 58°;

by Galvano, at above 60°. Kohl follows Humboldt in the opinion that

it was 67° 30', which would place it on the Cumberland peninsula.

Cabot then turned southward and sailed as near shore as possible. The

southern limit of this voyage is more indefinite than the northern.

In a conversation with Peter Martyr, prior to 1515, Cabot stated that

he reached the latitude of Gibraltar, and the chronicler adds that he

sailed so far west that he had Cuba on his left. Cabot's remark would

place him in latitude 36°, near Cape Hatteras, while Martyr's addition

might apply to any locality on the east coast. Martyr's statement is

the only authority for the supposition by Humboldt and others—see

_Exam. Crit._, tom. i. p. 313, and Preface to Ghillany—that Cabot

reached Florida. Stevens, _Notes_, pp. 17-19 and 35, considers Peter

Martyr's remark as absurd, since it would place Cabot near Cincinnati.

He is satisfied that the southern limit was the gulf of St Lawrence,

founding this belief on maps of 1500 (see p. 115 this vol.) and 1508

(p. 126 this vol.), 1514, and 1544, the latter said to have been

made by Cabot himself. That Cabot did not reach the southern coast of

the United States seems proved by the fact that he was in Spain from

1513 to 1524, holding high positions, including that of piloto mayor,

while that coast was actually being explored, and he making no claim

to a previous discovery. The point reached, therefore, must remain

undetermined between Cape Hatteras, where Kohl fixes it, and the gulf

of St Lawrence, with a strong probability, as I think, in favor of

the latter. Nothing whatever is known of the route or date of Cabot's

return. And it is to be remembered that concerning this voyage we have

only one contemporary document, which is a letter dated in 1498, stating

simply that the expedition was still absent. All additional details are

from accounts written after the geography of the New World was better

known in consequence of the discovery of the South Sea. Nothing, then,

can be proved by Cabot's voyages beyond the discovery of the continent

in June, 1497, and the exploration of the coast from the gulf of St

Lawrence to above 60° in 1498. The statement of Asher, _Life of Henry

Hudson_, London, 1860, that Cabot "was the first to recognize that a

new and unknown continent was lying as one vast barrier between western

Europe and eastern Asia," accepted also by Kohl, _Hist. Discov._, p.

145, appears to me utterly without foundation. Cabot's complaint that

a new-found land—that is a land further north and east than any part of

Asia described by Polo—was a barrier to his reaching India, and the fact

that on a map made as late as 1544, and doubtfully attributed to him,

a separate continent is shown, seem weak authority for according him so

important a discovery, especially when other voyagers and geographers,

intimate with him and fully acquainted with his discoveries, continued

for many years to join those discoveries to the Asiatic continent.

See, beside references on page 107, _Peter Martyr_, dec. iii. cap.

vi.; _Gomara_, _Hist. Ind._, fol. 31, 115; _Robertson's Hist. Amer._,

book ix.; _American Antiq. Soc., Transact._, 1865, p. 25 et seq.;

_Kohl's Hist. Discov._, pp. 135-46, 481; _Stevens' Notes_, pp. 35, 52;

_Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung Am._, pp. 53-4.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: THIRD VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS.]

Returned from his second voyage, Columbus found his popularity waning,

and with it the enthusiasm for new discoveries. The voyage had not

been profitable, had not been fruitful enough in gold to satisfy the

adventurers who accompanied him, and the ghastly faces of the mariners

more than counteracted the effect of the specimens of native products

exhibited. It was difficult, therefore, to obtain men for a new

enterprise. Still, notwithstanding the reports of his numerous enemies,

the admiral was considerately treated at court, and finally, by the

efforts of the queen, six vessels were made ready, and Columbus embarked

from San Lúcar on a third voyage May 30, 1498. This time he determined

to steer farther to the south than before, in order to reach, as he

supposed, the richer parts of Asia. After touching at Madeira, Porto

Santo, and the Canaries, he divided his fleet, sent three vessels direct

to Española, and with the other three reached the Cape Verde Islands

the 27th of June. Thence he sailed first south-west and west through

the region of tropical calms, and then northward to Trinidad Island,

where he arrived the 31st of July. Coasting the island on the south, in

sight of the main-land, he entered the gulf of Paria, landed, and found

much gold of an inferior quality, and an abundance of pearls; from which

circumstance, that land, which was the northern end of South America,

was for some time thereafter known as the Pearl Coast. Passing out by

the Boca del Drago on the 14th of August, he followed the northern coast

of Paria to the island of Cubagua, beginning to suspect meanwhile that

the land on his left was the main-land of Asia. Ill health and the state

of his supplies did not permit him to satisfy himself on that point at

the time, and consequently he turned his course north-west for Española.

On the 30th of August he arrived at the mouth of the river Ozema, where

he met his brother Bartolomé, who informed him of the internal discords

and external wars of the colonists. Francisco Roldan had refused to

submit to the admiral's authority, and on the 18th of October five ships

were despatched for Spain with news of the rebellion. By this departure

Columbus sent letters and charts describing this Pearl Coast, as his

present South American discoveries which yielded so many gems were

called. During the whole year following, peace was maintained among the

colonists only by the most humiliating concessions of Columbus to Roldan

and his crew. On the 5th of September, 1499, Alonso de Ojeda arrived at

Española from the Pearl Coast, whither he had been to take advantage of

the discoveries and misfortunes of the admiral.

Vessels laden with complaints by and against Columbus were despatched

for Spain in October; needy, ambitious courtiers held King Ferdinand's

willing ear against him; from his persistent advocacy of Indian

slave-traffic the friendship of his patron, Queen Isabella, grew

cold; and in July, 1500, Francisco de Bobadilla was sent to Española

with powers to investigate. Arrived at Santo Domingo August 23, the

commissioner assumed at once authority, which at most was his right

only after careful and conscientious inquiry, seized Columbus and his

brother, and in October sent them in irons to Spain. _Colon_, _Hist.

del Almirante_, in _Barcia_, tom. i. pp. 74-99; _Peter Martyr_, dec. i.

cap. vi.-vii.; _Tercer Viage de Cristobal Colon_, in _Navarrete_, tom.

i. pp. 242-76; _Napione_ and _De Conti_, _Biografia di Colombo_, pp.

350-75; _Cancellieri_, _Notizie di Colombo_, pp. 99-108, where is given

Columbus' letter received in Spain in December, 1498, but apparently

not printed at the time.

During this third voyage, while about the gulf of Paria, new visions

of the earth's form filled the mind of the great navigator, inflamed

as it was by illness and anxiety. The world was indeed for the most

part spherical, as had been supposed, but in this great central region

on the equator he believed the surface to rise gradually to a great

height, making the earth pear-shape with the terrestrial paradise, or

birth-place of man, on its apex, the waters and islands visited by him

being on the borders of this elevated portion. It is not necessary to

enumerate the natural phenomena, scientific writings, and scripture

texts with which he confirmed his theory. In his distracted enthusiasm

he leaves us somewhat uncertain as to his idea of the situation of this

new region with respect to India proper and those parts of Asia found by

him in a former voyage farther north. If he had supposed it to be simply

a southern extension of Marco Polo's Asia, he would not subsequently

have sought for a strait or passage to India to the north rather than

to the south of this point. Gama's successful circumnavigation of

Africa forbade a revival in the mind of Columbus of the old theory of

Ptolemy, that Africa extended east and north so as to enclose the Indian

Ocean like an immense gulf. The admiral's idea, so far as he formed a

definite one on the subject, must have been that of a large island, or

detached portion of the Asiatic continent, occupying very nearly the

actual relative position of the Australian archipelago, and only vaguely

included, if at all, in ancient or mediæval knowledge of the far East.

No other conclusion could rationally be drawn from his letters and

subsequent actions; and we shall find such an idea of the geography of

these parts often repeated in following years. We shall also see how

unfortunate it was for the posthumous glory of the great discoverer in

the matter of naming the western world, that he did not more clearly

specify his idea of this new land—for I believe this was the first

suspicion that new lands of any considerable extent existed—and that his

account of this and his fourth voyage were not more widely circulated

in print.

[1499.] The discovery of the Pearl Coast, made known in Spain in

December, 1498, caused several expeditions to be sent out in the

following year. These were trading and not exploring voyages, and their

commanders had no thought of cosmography, caring little whether Paria

were the terrestrial paradise or the infernal regions, so that pearls,

and gold, and slaves were abundant. No connected journals of these

voyages have been preserved, our knowledge of them being derived from

statements of the early historians and from testimony in the famous

lawsuit with the heirs of Columbus, printed in Navarrete's collection.

[Sidenote: MINOR EXPEDITIONS.]

The first was that of Alonso de Ojeda, who, by the influence of Bishop

Fonseca, the admiral's most bitter enemy, obtained a commission to

visit the Pearl Coast, avoiding, however, lands discovered by the

Portuguese and by Columbus prior to 1495. In company with Juan de la

Cosa and Amerigo Vespucci, Ojeda embarked with four vessels from Santa

María, near Cádiz, on the 20th of May, 1499. Sailing by the admiral's

charts, he touched at the Canaries, and after twenty-four days reached

the main-land of South America between 3° and 6° north latitude—that

is according to Ojeda's testimony; but Vespucci's account of what was

probably the same voyage brings them first upon the continent further

south. This is claimed by Varnhagen, _Examen de quelques points de

l'histoire géographique du Brazil_, Paris, 1858, as the first discovery

of Brazil. Following the coast north-west for 200 leagues without

landing, but discovering the two great rivers Essequebo and Orinoco,

they landed on Trinidad Island, the first inhabited coast which they

touched, where they traded for pearls and found traces of the admiral

who had preceded them. Out through the Boca del Drago, following the

coast of Paria to the gulf of Pearls, or Curiana, landing on Margarita

Island, anchoring in the bay of Corsarios, they continued from port to

port to Chichirivichi, where they had a fight with the natives, and

spent twenty days in a port near by. Ojeda then visited Curazao and

the gulf of Venezuela, where was found a town built over the water

like Venice. On the 24th of August he discovered Lake Maracaibo, and

afterward followed the coast westward to Cape de la Vela, whence he

directed his course, on the 30th of August, to Española, arriving, as

we have seen, September 5, 1499. He finally returned to Spain in the

middle of June, 1500, the voyage having yielded but a small profit.

_Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, tom. iii. pp. 4-11 and 543-5; _Major's

Prince Henry_, pp. 367-9; _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom. iv. pp. 195,

220; _Oviedo_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. i. p. 76.

The second minor expedition to South America was that of Pedro Alonso

Niño and Cristóbal Guerra, similar in its object to that of Ojeda. A

few days after Ojeda's departure they sailed from Palos in one vessel

with thirty-three men, reaching the main-land farther north, and some

fifteen days later than Ojeda. They traded on the coast of Cumaná for

three months, their western limit being the region of Chichirivichi,

started for home February 13, 1500, and arrived in Spain about the

middle of April with a large quantity of pearls. _Peter Martyr_, dec.

i. cap. viii.; _Gomara_, _Hist. de las Indias_, fol. 98; _Navarrete_,

_Col. de Viages_, tom. ii. p. 147; tom. iii. pp. 11-18, 542; _Irving's

Columbus_, vol. iii. p. 37-42; _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom. iv. p.

220.

The third expedition of this year was that of Vicente Yañez Pinzon,

who had commanded a vessel under Columbus in 1492. Sailing early in

December, 1499, from Palos with a fleet of four vessels he crossed the

equator, and on the 20th of January—Peter Martyr says the 26th, and

Irving the 28th of January—discovered land in latitude 8° south, at Cape

St Augustine, which he named Santa María de la Consolacion. Varnhagen,

_Examen_, pp. 19-24, entertains doubts regarding the spot where Pinzon

first landed, and thinks it quite as likely to have been some cape

further north. From this point, wherever it may have been, Pinzon

followed the coast to the north, touched at various places, discovered

the Amazon, and in due time reached the gulf of Paria. Thence he sailed

through the Boca del Drago, arrived at Española on the 23d of June, and

returned to Spain in September, 1500. This voyage was as disastrous

as the preceding one had been profitable. Peter Martyr states, dec.

i. cap. ix., that Paria was thought to be a part of Asia beyond the

Ganges. See also _De Navigatione Pinzoni Socii Admirantis, et de rebus

per eum repertis_, in _Grynæus_, _Novus Orbis_, p. 119; _Navarrete_,

_Col. de Viages_, tom. iii. pp. 18-23; _Major's Prince Henry_, p. 369;

_Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom. i. pp. 313-14; tom. iii. p. 221.

Here belongs Amerigo Vespucci's account of a second voyage made in

conjunction with others in the service of the king of Spain. Departing

in May, 1499—some editions of his letters have it 1489—from Cádiz

and touching at the Canaries he steered south-west for nineteen days,

sailing in that time 500 leagues to a point on the main-land in latitude

5° south,—from incorrect readings of the originals some editors make

him say 800 leagues and latitude 8°—where the days and nights are

equal on the 27th of June, at which time the sun enters Cancer. Thence

coasting eastward forty leagues; then north-west to a beautiful island

and convenient harbor; and yet eighty other leagues to a secure harbor

where he remained seventeen days and gathered many pearls; thence to

another port; then to an island fifteen leagues from the main-land; and

again to another island, which was called Gigantes, where captives were

taken; then to a fine bay where the ships were refitted; and finally,

after forty-seven days at this last place they sail for Antilla, that is

Española. Two months and two days are spent at Antilla, whence on the

22d of July they embark for Spain, and reach Cádiz September 8, 1500.

_De Secundariæ Navigatinis Cursu_, Latin text and Spanish translation

of Vespucci's letter in _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, tom. iii. pp.

242-62.

It has never been claimed that Vespucci attempted discoveries in 1499

as chief in command. The voyage described by him is without doubt that

of Pinzon or Ojeda, although D'Avesac, in _Bulletin de la Soc. Géog._,

makes it identical with that of Lepe. Humboldt, _Exam. Crit._, tom. iv.

pp. 200 et seq., by comparing the details decides that it was that of

Pinzon, and by the same method he concludes that Vespucci's first voyage

was that under Ojeda. As the points of resemblance are slight in either

case; as Vespucci is known to have accompanied Ojeda; as he would have

been obliged to return to Spain before Ojeda in June, 1500, in order

to sail with Pinzon in December, 1499; and as Vespucci describes an

astronomical phenomenon which, as Humboldt admits, could not possibly

have taken place during Pinzon's voyage, I am inclined to accept the

generally received opinion that Ojeda's is the voyage described. "There

can now be no doubt that Vespucci's voyage in 1499 was identical with

that of Ojeda." _Major's Prince Henry_, p. 370; _Varnhagen_, _Exam._,

pp. 1-19. Navarrete and Irving imply that this was the only voyage made

by Vespucci for the crown of Spain. However it may be, for the purposes

of this Summary the question is of little importance; for there are

no disputed points of geographical import depending on the two trading

voyages, one of which Vespucci attempts to describe; and if there were,

his account in the different forms in which it exists is so full of

blunders that it could throw but little light upon the subject.

[Sidenote: LEPE, GUERRA, AND CABRAL.]

The fourth minor expedition of this year was that of Diego de Lepe,

who sailed in less than a month after Pinzon—that is near the end

of December, 1499—with two vessels. Touching main-land below Cape St

Augustine, he observed the south-western trend of the coast below that

point; but of his voyage along the shore nothing is known save that

he reached the Pearl Coast. Before the 5th of June he had returned

to Spain. _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, tom. iii. pp. 23-4, 553-5;

_Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom. i. pp. 314-15; tom. iv. pp. 221-2.

There are some scattered hints collected in _Biddle's Memoir of

Sebastian Cabot_, pp. 91 et seq., of a new expedition in 1499 by the

Cabots, directed this time to tropical regions. They are not sufficient

to render it probable that such a voyage was made, although Ojeda

reported that he found several Englishmen cruising on the Pearl Coast.

_Viages Menores_, in _Navarrete_, tom. iii. p. 41; _Kohl's Hist.

Discov._, p. 145.

[1500.] In this year Cristóbal Guerra made a second voyage to the Pearl

Coast with some success, and returned to Spain before November 1, 1501.

_Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, tom. iii. pp. 24-5. Spain also made

preparations to explore the northern lands discovered by the Cabots, but

without any known results. _Peschel_, _Geschichte der Entd._, Stuttgart,

1858, p. 316; _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, tom. iii. pp. 41-46;

_Biddle's Mem. Cabot_, p. 236; _Kohl's Hist. Discov._, pp. 192-3. In

_Diccionario Universal, Apénd._, article 'Viages,' p. 805, is mentioned

a voyage to the Pearl Coast by Alonso Velez de Mendoza in two vessels.

No authorities are given.

The year following the return of Gama from his successful voyage to

India, Pedro Alvarez Cabral was entrusted with the command of thirteen

well-armed vessels, and sent to establish commercial relations with

the new countries now made accessible to Portuguese enterprise. Cabral

embarked from Lisbon on the 9th of March, 1500; thirteen days later

he left behind him the Cape Verde Islands, pursuing a south-westerly

course. Whether he was driven by storms in this direction, or wished to

avoid the calms of the Guinea coast, or whether he entertained a hope of

reaching some part of the regions recently discovered by the Spaniards

is not known. Certain it is, however, that notwithstanding his having

sailed for India, on the 22d of April—Humboldt says in February—he found

himself on the coast of Brazil in about latitude 10° south, leaving a

gap probably of some 170 leagues between this point and the southern

limit of Lepe and Pinzon. Thence he coasted southward, took formal

possession of the land on the 1st of May at Porto Seguro, and named the

country Vera Cruz, which name soon became Santa Cruz. Cabral immediately

sent Gaspar de Lemos in one of the ships back to Portugal with an

account and map of the new discoveries. Leaving two convicts with the

natives of that coast, Cabral continued his journey for India on the 22d

of May. Off the Cape of Good Hope he lost four vessels, in one of which

was Bartolomeu Dias, the discoverer of the cape, and reached Calicut

on the 13th of September. Returning he met at Cape Verde a fleet, on

board of which is supposed to have been Amerigo Vespucci, and arrived

at Lisbon July 23, 1501. _Navigation del Capitano Pedro Alvares_, in

_Ramusio_, tom. i. fol. 132-9; _Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_, vol. i.

booke ii. pp. 30-1; _Cancellieri_, _Notizie di Colombo_, pp. 48-9;

_Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, tom. iii. pp. 45-6, 94-101; _Humboldt_,

_Exam. Crit._, tom. i. p. 315; tom. iv. p. 223; tom. v. pp. 53, 61.

The Portuguese did not overlook the north while making their important

discoveries to the south. Two vessels, probably in the spring of 1500,

were sent out under Gaspar Cortereal. No journal or chart of the voyage

is now in existence, hence little is known of its object or results.

Still more dim is a previous voyage ascribed by Cordeiro to João

Vaz Cortereal, father of Gaspar, about the time of Kolno, which, as

Kunstmann views it, "requires further proof." Touching at the Azores,

Gaspar Cortereal, possibly following Cabot's charts, struck the coast

of Newfoundland north of Cape Race, and sailing north discovered a land

which he called Terra Verde, perhaps Greenland, but was stopped by

ice at a river which he named Rio Nevado, whose location is unknown.

Cortereal returned to Lisbon before the end of 1500. _Cancellieri_,

_Notizie di Colombo_, pp. 48-9; _Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung Am._, p. 57;

_Galvano's Discov._, pp. 95-6; _Major's Prince Henry_, p. 374; _Kohl's

Hist. Discov._, pp. 166-8, 174-7. Biddle, _Mem. Cabot_, pp. 137-261,

thinks that Cortereal landed south of Cape Race; Humboldt, _Exam.

Crit._, tom. iv. p. 222, is of the opinion that Terra Verde was not

Greenland.

In October of this same year Rodrigo de Bastidas sailed from Cádiz with

two vessels. Touching the shore of South America near Isla Verde, which

lies between Guadalupe and the main-land, he followed the coast westward

to El Retrete, or perhaps Nombre de Dios, on the isthmus of Darien,

in about 9° 30' north latitude. Returning, he was wrecked on Española

toward the end of 1501, and reached Cádiz in September, 1502. This

being the first authentic voyage by Europeans to the territory herein

defined as the Pacific States, such incidents as are known will be given

hereafter. For references to this voyage, see _Oviedo_, _Hist. Gen._,

tom. i. p. 76; tom. ii. p. 334, where the date given is 1502; _Gomara_,

_Hist. Ind._, fol. 67, date of voyage also 1502; _Viages Menores_, in

_Navarrete_, tom. iii. pp. 25-8, 545-6; _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec.

i. lib. iv. cap. xi.; _Galvano's Discov._, pp. 99-100, date of voyage

1503; _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom. i. pp. 360-1; tom. iv. pp. 224;

_Voyages, Curious and Ent._, p. 436; _Churchill's Col. Voy._, vol. viii.

p. 375; _Harris' Col. Voy._, vol. i. p. 270; _Major's Prince Henry_,

pp. 369-70; _Asiento que hizo con sus Majestades Católicas Rodrigo de

Bastidas_, in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc. Inéd._, tom. ii. pp.

362-467; _Robertson's Hist. Am._, vol. i. p. 159; _Quintana_, _Vidas de

Españoles Célebres_, 'Balboa,' p. 1.

[Sidenote: EARLIEST EXISTING MAPS.]

Of the many manuscript maps and charts made by navigators prior to this

time none have been preserved. In the year 1500, however, a map of the

world was made by the veteran pilot Juan de la Cosa, who had sailed with

Columbus on his second voyage, and had accompanied Alonso de Ojeda to

the Pearl Coast. It is preserved in the Royal Library of Madrid, and

shows in a remarkably clear manner all discoveries up to that date.

Drawn in colors and gold on ox-hide, on a scale of fifteen leagues to

the degree, it lays down the parallels of Gibraltar and Paris, beside

the equator and tropic of Cancer, and gives a scale at the top and

bottom. _Stevens' Notes_, p. 16. Humboldt first published a copy of

the American portion, and the whole, or parts thereof, have been since

published or described in _Lelewel_, _Géog. du moyen âge_, tom. ii. pp.

109 et seq., atlas, no. 41; _Sagra_, _Hist. physique et politique de

l'île de Cuba_, Paris, 1838, and atlas; _Ghillany_, _Geschichte_, etc.,

pref. by Humboldt; _Jomard_, _Monuments de géog._, atlas no. xvi., which

gives a full-sized fac-simile; _Kohl's Hist. Discov._, pp. 151-5, 239,

plate v., being a copy of the northern part from Humboldt with additions

from Jomard. Stevens in his _Notes_, see pp. 11-16, 33, 51, and plate

i., produces a photo-lithographic copy of the western hemisphere from

Jomard. I give a copy of the central portions of the western hemisphere

from Humboldt, Stevens, and Kohl.

[Illustration: JUAN DE LA COSA'S MAP, 1500.]

The upper portion is North America, and the lower South America, between

which a continuous coast line remains as yet undiscovered.

All the newly found regions are represented as parts of Asia,

and consequently names are applied only to islands and particular

localities. Up to this time three portions of the supposed Asiatic

seaboard have been explored. First, there are the discoveries of the

Cabots in the north, represented as extending from 'Cabo de Yngleterra'

westward to the flag which bounds the 'Sea discovered by the English.'

This direct western trend of the coast, most likely laid down from

Cabot's charts, is one of the strongest evidences that the coast

explored by Cabot was the northern shore of the gulf of St Lawrence.

Another reason for entertaining such belief is the use of the words _Mar

descubierta por Yngleses_ instead of _Mare Oceanus_, thus indicating

that it was a sea or gulf and not the open ocean. Cosa could not at

the time have known the results of Cortereal's voyage. On Cabot's

coast various points are named, but farther to the north-east and to

the south-west the line is laid down indefinitely and without names,

probably from Marco Polo. Kohl puts the inscription _Mar descubierta_,

etc., farther south and west than on the original, and thinks the curve

in the coast west of the last flag to be Cape Cod. Then we have in

the south the northern coast of South America quite accurately laid

down from Cape de la Vela south-eastward to the limit of Pinzon's

voyage in 1499; with a nameless coast-line south-east to the locality

of Cape St Augustine. From Cape de la Vela we have the same imaginary

coast-line without names extending westward, as if to meet the line

from the north-east; but just at the point where the lines must meet,

or be separated by a strait leading to India proper, the non-committal

map-maker inserted a picture—indicated by the double dotted lines—thus

avoiding the expression of his opinion as to whether the Pearl Coast

was joined to Asia, or was detached from the continent. On the original

map no attempt is made to show inland topography, although the copies of

Humboldt and Kohl have some lakes and rivers. I have taken the liberty

to indicate the indefinite, nameless coasts by a dotted line for greater

clearness. The last of the three several explored regions shown by this

map are the central islands, Cuba, Española, and others discovered by

Columbus, who was accompanied in at least one of his voyages by the

author himself. In this part of the map some difficulty has arisen from

the fact that Cuba is represented as an island, while Columbus is known

to have held the opinion that it was a part of the mainland; an opinion,

as before stated, which was subscribed to under oath by all his men,

including Juan de la Cosa. On the original, the western part of Cuba

is cut off by green paint, the conventional sign of _terra incognita_,

which leads Stevens to infer that the pilot "did not intend to represent

Cuba to be an island," but that he only supposed it to be such. This,

however, by no means implies that the draughtsman intended to say that

Cuba was not an island, but rather that he was not certain that it was

an island, but only supposed it to be. It will be remembered that the

natives affirmed from the first that it was an island, although so large

that no one had ever reached its western extremity. This statement,

together with his own observations during the voyage, probably caused

Juan de la Cosa to afterward change the opinion to which he had perhaps

hastily subscribed at the request of Columbus. There can be but little

doubt of the authenticity of this map, although Stevens considers it has

been distorted in the various copies and descriptions. That the author

did not himself make any later additions to it is evident from the fact

that his own subsequent discoveries are not shown.

[1501.] Again King Henry of England issues commissions permitting

private persons to make discovery at their own expense. So far as known,

however, no voyage was effected under this royal encouragement, although

it is not improbable that intercourse with Newfoundland was continued

after Cabot's discovery. _Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung Am._, p. 55; _Kohl's

Hist. Discov._, pp. 185-7; _Biddle's Mem. Cabot_, p. 228 et seq.;

_Peschel_, _Geschichte der Entd._, p. 334 et seq.

[Sidenote: JUAN DE NOVA AND THE CORTEREALS.]

The Portuguese, more practical in their attempts, push discovery in

all directions. Juan de Nova with four vessels sails from Lisbon March

5, 1501, doubles the Cape of Good Hope, and returning reaches Lisbon

September 11, 1502, having discovered Ascension Island on the voyage

out, and St Helena on the return. _Galvano's Discov._, pp. 97-8;

_Major's Prince Henry_, p. 413; _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom. iv. p.

225; tom. v. p. 107. The Cape of Good Hope route to India may now be

declared open; voyages thither from this time cannot properly be called

voyages of discovery; hence of the frequent subsequent voyages of the

Portuguese to India I shall make no mention except of such as in some

way relate to America. For a summary of these later voyages see _Major's

Prince Henry_, pp. 413-18.

Gaspar Cortereal this year makes a second voyage to the regions of the

north, sailing from Belem, near Lisbon, May 15, 1501, with two or three

vessels, touching probably at some point in Newfoundland, and coasting

northward some six or seven hundred miles. He does not, however, reach

the Terra Verde of the former voyage on account of ice. One of the

vessels—Kunstmann says two—returned, arriving at Lisbon October 8,

1501; the other with the commander was never afterward heard from. One

of the chief objects of this expedition seems to have been the capture

of slaves. The name Labrador is applied by Cortereal to this discovery,

"and is perhaps the only permanent trace of Portuguese adventure within

the limits of North America." _Bancroft's Hist. U. S._, vol. i. p.

16; _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, tom. iii. p. 44; _Major's Prince

Henry_, p. 374; _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom. iv. p. 224; _Kohl's

Hist. Discov._, pp. 169-71; _Peschel_, _Geschichte der Entd._, pp. 331

et seq.; _Biddle's Mem. Cabot_, pp. 237 et seq.

The Portuguese also send an expedition to prosecute the discoveries

begun by Cabral, who has not yet returned from India, but whose

discovery of Brazil has been reported by Lemos. Strangely enough no

documents exist in the Portuguese archives touching this voyage, nor is

the name of its commander known, although Varnhagen thinks it may have

been Manuel. It is known as Vespucci's third voyage, and its incidents

are found only in his letters. The authenticity of this as of his other

voyages has been often doubted and denied, and as it is the voyage that

resulted in the naming of America, it has given rise to much discussion,

into which however I shall not enter. The discussion does not affect the

voyage itself, nor the leading facts connected with it, the questions

being whether Vespucci was in command, which indeed he does not claim to

have been; and above all, whether the results of the voyage entitled him

to the honor of naming America, which they certainly did not, even had

he commanded, from the fact that other navigators had discovered both

of the Americas before him. Navarrete, one of Vespucci's most jealous

enemies, admits that he visited the coast of Brazil in a subordinate

capacity in some Portuguese expedition; and Humboldt, in an essay of 115

pages, effectually defends the veracity of Vespucci in his accounts of

his voyages, which the distinguished commentator quotes with notes on

the variations of different editions.

Vespucci was induced to leave Seville in order to accompany the

fleet, which consisted of three vessels—some editions say ten, some

fourteen—and which sailed from Lisbon on the 13th of May. Passing the

Canaries without landing, to the African coast and Basilica in 14°,

probably Cape Verde, there he remained eleven days. At this place he

met Cabral's fleet returning from India and learned the particulars

of the voyage, including the American discoveries, of which he gives

a full account in a letter written at the time under date of June 4,

1501, which is a strong proof of the veracity of his other accounts.

See extracts in _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom. v. pp. 34-44. It is

extraordinary that in the several accounts of this meeting the name

of Vespucci's commander is not mentioned. From Cape Verde the fleet

sailed south-west sixty-seven days and touched the main-land the 17th

of August, at a point in 5° south latitude, taking possession for the

king of Portugal. Thence it followed the coast south-east, doubled

Cape St Augustine, and went on in sight of land for 600 leagues to

a point in 32° south—according to Gomara, 40°; Navarrete thinks it

could not have been over 26°. Having found no precious metals during

a voyage of ten months, the Portuguese abandoned this coast on the

13th (or 15th) of February, 1502, and after having been driven by

storms far to the south-east, and discovering some land whose identity

is uncertain—Humboldt thinks it was an accumulation of ice, or the

coast of Patagonia—they reached the coast of Ethiopia on the 10th of

May, the Azores toward the end of July, and Lisbon September 7, 1502.

Vespucci gives full descriptions of the natives of Brazil, but these

descriptions, together with the numerous conflicting statements, or

blunders of the various texts relating to details of the voyage, I pass

over as unimportant to my purpose. That Vespucci was with a Portuguese

fleet which in 1501-2 explored a large but ill-defined portion of the

Brazilian coast, there can be no doubt. _Grynæus_, _Novus Orbis_, pp.

122-30; _Ramusio_, _Viaggi_, tom. i. pp. 139-44; _Viages Menores_, in

_Navarrete_, tom. iii. pp. 46, 262-80; _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom.

v. pp. 1-115; _Major's Prince Henry_, pp. 375-7; _Galvano's Discov._,

pp. 98-9.

[1502.] Miguel Cortereal sailed from Lisbon May 10, 1502, in search of

his brother Gaspar, only to share his brother's fate. Neither of his

two vessels appears to have returned. _Viages Menores_, in _Navarrete_,

tom. iii. p. 44; _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom. iv. p. 226; _Major's

Prince Henry_, p. 374; _Kohl's Hist. Discov._, pp. 171-2.

It is probable that Portuguese fishermen continued their trips more

or less to Labrador and Newfoundland, but if so, no accounts have been

preserved. _Kohl's Hist. Discov._, pp. 187-92; _Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung

Am._, pp. 69, 95; _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec. ii. lib. v. cap. iii.

In January, 1502, Alonso de Ojeda with four vessels departed from

Cádiz on a second voyage to the Pearl Coast, with the intention of

there establishing a colony. Accompanied by Garcia de Ocampo, Juan de

Vergara, Hernando de Guevara, and his nephew Pedro de Ojeda, he touched

at the Canaries and Cape Verde Islands, and reached the gulf of Paria.

Refitting his vessels, on the 11th of March he set sail and coasted

north-westward, touching at various points until he came to a port

which he called Santa Cruz, probably Bahía Honda, about twenty-five

miles east of Cape de la Vela. During the voyage along the coast the

vessels were much of the time separated, following different courses. At

Santa Cruz Ojeda found a man who had been left by Bastidas, and there

he determined to establish his colony. A fort was built, and a vessel

sent to Jamaica for supplies; but the colony did not prosper. To other

troubles were added dissensions among the fiery leaders, and about

the end of May Ojeda was imprisoned by his companions; the colony was

finally abandoned, and its governor brought as a prisoner to Española

in September. The few disputed points of this voyage concern only the

personal quarrels of Ojeda and his fellow-captains. _Navarrete_, _Col.

de Viages_, tom. iii. pp. 28-39, 168-70, 591 et seq.; _Humboldt_, _Exam.

Crit._, tom. i. p. 360; tom. iv. p. 226.

[Sidenote: FOURTH VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS.]

On the eleventh of May, 1502, Columbus embarked from Cádiz on his

fourth and last voyage. Refitting at Española, he directed his course

westward, discovered _terra firma_ at the Guanaja Islands, off the north

coast of Honduras, and sailing southward, followed the shores of the

supposed Asia to El Retrete on the isthmus of Darien, where terminated

the discovery of Bastidas from the opposite direction, whose chart may

have been in the admiral's possession. Particulars of this voyage are

given hereafter. See _Cuarto y Último Viage de Cristobal Colon_, in

_Navarrete_, tom. i. pp. 277-313; _Colon_, _Hist. del Almirante_, in

_Barcia_, tom. i. pp. 101-18; _Gomara_, _Hist. de las Indias_, fol. 31;

_Peter Martyr_, dec. iii. cap. iv.; _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec. i.

lib. v.-vi.; _Benzoni_, _Historia del Mondo Nvovo_, Venetia, 1572, fol.

28; _Galvano's Discov._, pp. 100-1; _Robertson's Hist. Am._, vol. i.

pp. 164-74; _Burke's European Settlements in Am._, vol. i. pp. 37-45;

_Napione_ and _De Conti_, _Biografia Colombo_, pp. 379-406; _Laharpe_,

_Abrégé_, tom. ix. p. 122; _Acosta_, _Comp. Histórico de la Nueva

Granada_, cap. i.; _Navigatio Christophori Colvmbi_, in _Grynæus_,

_Novus Orbis_, p. 90, and elsewhere.

Since the admiral's discovery, in 1498, of the Pearl Coast, that is,

the extreme northern shore of South America, nothing had occurred to

modify his views formed at that time concerning the new regions, except

to show that this southern addition of the Asiatic continent was much

larger than had at first been supposed. His special aim in this fourth

voyage was to do what various circumstances had prevented him from

doing before, namely, to sail along the eastern and southern coasts of

Asia to India, passing, of course, through the supposed strait between

the main-land and the land of Paria. It is certainly extraordinary

that this idea entertained by Columbus corresponded so closely with

the actual conformation of the eastern Asiatic coast, and its southern

addition of the Australian archipelago; that this conformation is so

closely duplicated in the American coasts; and that the position of

the admiral's hypothetical strait was almost identical with the actual

narrowest part of the American continent. Columbus followed the coast

to the western limit of Bastidas' voyage and could find no opening

in the shore, either because the ancient chroniclers were faulty in

making no mention of this great supposed southern extension of Asia, or

because the strait had in some way escaped his scrutiny. He therefore

abandoned the search, and gave himself up to other schemes, but he

never relinquished his original idea, and died, 1506, in the belief

that he had reached the coast of Asia, and without the suspicion of a

new continent. Moreover, his belief was shared by all cosmographers and

scholars of the time. _Peter Martyr_, dec. i. cap. viii.; _Humboldt_,

_Exam. Crit._, tom. i. p. 26; tom. iv. p. 188; Preface to _Ghillany_;

_Major's Prince Henry_, p. 420; _Kohl's Hist. Discov._, pp. 140, 238-9;

_Draper's Int. Develop._, p. 445; _Stevens' Notes_, p. 37.

[1503.] Another expedition was sent by Portugal in search of the

Cortereals, but returned unsuccessful. _Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung Am._,

p. 58; _Peschel_, _Geschichte der Entd._, p. 334.

According to Harrisse, _Bib. Am. Vet._, pp. 173-4, we have "authentic

deeds and depositions proving beyond doubt a French expedition to Brazil

as early as 1503;" in support of which he refers to _De Gonneville_,

_Mémoires_, Paris, 1663; _De Brosses_, _Hist. des Navigations_, Paris,

1756, tom. i. pp. 104-14; _Revista Trimensal_, Rio de Janeiro, tom. vi.

p. 412-14; _D'Avesac_, in _Bulletin de la Soc. Géog._, tom. xiv. p. 172.