Coelho to make farther explorations on the coast of Brazil, then called
Santa Cruz, and to sail, if possible, around its southern extremity to
India, an idea that seems to have been conceived during the preceding
voyage, but which could not then be carried into effect for want of
supplies. Vespucci commanded one of the vessels, and set out with
high hopes of accomplishing great things for his country, his God, and
himself. This is known as Vespucci's fourth voyage. Beyond the account
which he gives in his letters, little is known of it except the fact
that Coelho made such a voyage at the time. The identity of the two
expeditions has not been undisputed, but Humboldt and Major both show
that there can be little doubt in the matter. The fleet sailed from
Lisbon on the 10th of June—Vespucci says May—remained twelve or thirteen
days at the Cape Verde Islands, and thence sailed south-east to within
sight of Sierra Leone. The navigators were prevented by a storm from
anchoring, and so directed their course south-west for 300 leagues
to a desert island in about lat. 3° south, supposed to be Fernando de
Noronha, where Coelho lost his ship on the 10th of August. Vespucci's
vessel was separated from the rest for eight days, but afterward joined
one of them, and the two sailed south-west for seventeen days, making
300 leagues, and arriving at the Bahía de Todos os Santos. Remaining
there two months and four days, they followed the coast for 260 leagues
to the port now called Cape Frio, where they built a fort and left
twenty-four men who had belonged to the vessel which had been wrecked.
In this port, which by Vespucci's observations was in lat. 18° south
and 35° (or 57°) west of Lisbon, they remained five months, exploring
the interior for forty leagues; they then loaded with Brazil-wood, and
after a return voyage of seventy-seven days arrived in Lisbon June 28
(or 18), 1504. Vespucci believed the other ships of the fleet to have
been lost, but after his account was written, Coelho returned with
two ships; nothing, however, is now known of his movements after the
separation. _Di Amerigo Vespucci Fiorentino_, in _Ramusio_, tom, i.,
_Lettera prima_, fol. 139, _Lettera secondo_, fol. 141, _Sommario_,
fol. 141; _Viages de Vespucio_, in _Navarrete_, tom. iii. pp. 281-90;
_Southey's Hist. Brazil_, vol. i. p. 20.
[Sidenote: DIVERS EXPEDITIONS.]
Alfonso de Alburquerque sailed from Lisbon April 6, 1503, with four
vessels for India; but shaping his course far to the south-west, after
twenty-four (or twenty-eight) days he reached an island previously
discovered by Vespucci; thence he touched the main-land of Brazil, after
which he proceeded around the Cape of Good Hope to India, and returned
to Lisbon September 16, 1504. _Viaggio fatto nell'India per Giovanni di
Empoli_, in _Ramusio_, tom. i. fol. 158; _Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_,
vol. i. pp. 32-3. _Bergomas_, _Nouissime historiarũ omniũ_, etc.,
Venetiis, 1503, a book of chronicles published with frequent additions
to date, contains, for the first time, in this edition, a chapter on the
newly found islands of Columbus. In my copy, which is dated ten years
later, this chapter is on folio 328. At least nine editions of the work
appeared before 1540.
[1504.] Soon after the return from his third voyage, Vespucci wrote a
letter to Piero de' Medici, setting forth its incidents. This letter,
which bears no date, was probably written in corrupt Italian, and after
circulating to some extent in manuscript, as was the custom at the
time, it may have been printed, but no copies are known to exist, and
the original is lost. Translations were made, however, into Latin and
German, which appeared in small pamphlet form in at least seventeen
different editions before 1507, under the title of _Mundus Novus_,
or its equivalent. The earliest edition which bears a date is that of
1504, but of the nine issues without date, some undoubtedly appeared
before that year. It is probable that other editions have disappeared
on account of their undurable form. None of Vespucci's other accounts
are known to have been printed before 1507.
This same year the _Libretto de tutta le Navigazione del Re di Spagna_
is said to have been printed at Venice, being the first collection of
voyages, and containing, according to the few Italian authors who claim
to have seen it, the first three voyages of Columbus and those of Niño
and Pinzon. If authentic, it was the first account of the voyage of
Columbus to the Pearl Coast; but no copy is known at present to exist,
and its circulation must have been small compared with Vespucci's
relations. _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom. iv. pp. 67-77; _Harrisse_,
_Bib. Am. Vet._, nos. 22-41.
A chart made about 1504 has been preserved which shows Portuguese
discoveries only. In the north are laid down Newfoundland and Labrador
under the name of 'Terra de Cortte Reall,' and Greenland with no name,
but so correctly represented as to form a strong evidence that it was
reached by Cortereal. On the south we have the coast of Brazil, to
which no name is given; between the two is open sea, with no indication
of Spanish discoveries. _Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung Am._, pp. 127-8, and
_Munich Atlas_, no. iii.; _Kohl's Hist. Discov._, pp. 174-7, plate viii.
With the year 1504 the fishing voyages of the Bretons and Normans to
Newfoundland are said to have begun, but there are no accounts of any
particular voyage. _Sobre las navegaciones de los vascongados á los
mares de Terranova_, in _Navarrete_, tom. iii. p. 176; _Viages Menores_,
_Id._, p. 46. Kunstmann, _Entdeckung Am._, p. 69 et seq., makes these
trips begin with Denys' in 1503.
Juan de la Cosa equipped and armed four vessels, and was despatched
in the service of Queen Isabella of Spain, to explore and trade in the
vicinity of the gulf of Urabá, and also to check rumored encroachments
of the Portuguese in that direction. All that is recorded of the
expedition is that in 1506 the crown received 491,708 maravedís as the
royal share of the profits. _Carta de Cristobal Guerra_, in _Navarrete_,
tom. ii. p. 293; _Carta de la Reina_, in _Id._, tom. iii. p. 109; _Real
Cédula, adicion_, _Id._, p. 161. Stevens, in his _Notes_, p. 33, gives
the date as 1505.
[1505.] Alonso de Ojeda, with three vessels, made a third voyage to
Coquibacoa and the gulf of Urabá. _Noticias biográficas del capitan
Alonso Hojeda_, in _Navarrete_, tom. iii. p. 169.
The letter written by Columbus from Jamaica July 7, 1503, describing
the events of his fourth voyage, is preserved in the Spanish archives.
If printed, no copies are known to exist, but an Italian translation
appeared as _Copia de la Lettera_, Venetia, 1505.
A Portuguese map made about 1505 by Pedro Reinel shapes Newfoundland
more accurately than the map of 1504, being the first to give the
name 'C. Raso' to the south-east point; but Greenland is drawn much
less correctly. _Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung Am._, pp. 125-7; _Munich
Atlas_, no. i. Plate ix. in _Kohl's Hist. Discov._, pp. 177-9,
differs materially from the fac-simile in the _Munich Atlas_. See also
_Peschel_, _Geschichte der Entd._, p. 332; _Schmeller_, _Ueber einigen
der handschriftlichen Seekarten_, in _Akademie der Wissenschaften_,
_Abhandl._, tom. iv. pt. i. p. 247 et seq.
[1506.] The Bretons under Jean Denys are said to have explored the gulf
of St Lawrence, and to have made a map which has not been found. The
reports of this and of succeeding voyages northward are exceedingly
vague. _Charlevoix_, _Hist. de la Nouvelle France_, Paris, 1744, tom. i.
p. 4; _Viages Menores_, in _Navarrete_, tom. iii. p. 41; _Kohl's Hist.
Discov._, pp. 201-5; _Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung Am._, p. 69; _Bancroft's
Hist. U. S._, vol. i. p. 16.
Vicente Yañez Pinzon made a second voyage with Juan Diaz de Solis,
in which he explored the gulf of Honduras, from the Guanaja Islands,
the western limit of Columbus' voyage, to the islands of Caria on the
coast of Yucatan, in search of the passage which was still believed
to exist between the main continent of Asia and the land known as the
Pearl Coast, Santa Cruz, or, in the Latin translations of Vespucci, as
the _Mundus Novus_, or New World. Brief mention of this voyage may be
found in _Viages Menores_, in _Navarrete_, tom. iii. p. 46, repeated in
_Irving's Columbus_, vol. iii. p. 52; and _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._,
tom. iv. p. 228. See also _Reise des Diaz de Solis und Yanez Pinzon_,
in _Sammlung aller Reisebeschreibungen_, tom. xiii. p. 157.
Tristan da Cunha in a voyage to India, sailing from Lisbon March 6,
1506, round Cape St Augustine, heard of—_eut connaissance de_—a Rio São
Sebastião in the province of Pernambuco, and discovered the island since
called by his name, in 37° 5' south latitude, on his passage to the Cape
of Good Hope. Galvano does not mention that Cunha reached America.
* * * * *
On the 20th of May, 1506, at Valladolid, died the great admiral of the
Western Ocean, Christopher Columbus; whose story, notwithstanding his
innumerable historians, is nowhere more fully comprehended than in the
simple lines which may be seen to-day upon his tomb:
"Por Castilla y por Leon
Nuevo Mundo halló Colon."
_Maffei_ of _Volterra_, _Commentariorum urbanorum_, Rome, 1506, a kind
of geographical encyclopædia, contains a section on the _loca nuper
reperta_. Five editions are mentioned as having been issued in the years
1510, 1511, and 1530, all but one at Paris.
M. Varnhagen claims that the original mixed Italian text of Vespucci's
first voyage was printed in Florence in 1505 or 1506, and that several
copies have been preserved. This is the text used by him in his defense
of Vespucci. See _Premier Voy._, Vienna, 1869, and _Vespucci, son
caractère_, etc., Lima, 1865, in which the letter is reproduced. I find
no mention by any other author of such an edition.
[1507.] No voyages are mentioned in this year; but the bibliography
of the year is remarkable. _Montalboddo_ (or Zorzi), _Paesi Nouamente
retrouati, Et Nouo Mondo da Alberico Vesputio, Florentino, intitulato_,
Vicentia, 1507, is the second collection of voyages issued, and the
first of which any copies at present exist. This work is divided into
six books, of which the fourth and fifth relate to America, the fourth
being a reproduction of the _Libretto_ of 1504, while the fifth is
the _Nouo Mondo_, or third voyage of Vespucci; and its mention in
the title shows how important a feature it was deemed in a work of
this character. In the following year, besides a new Italian edition,
there appeared a German translation under the title of _Ruchamer_,
_Newe unbekanthe landte_, Nuremberg, 1508, and a Latin translation,
_Itinerariũ Portugallẽsiũ_, Milan, 1508. At least fourteen editions in
Italian, Latin, German, and French appeared before 1530.
[Sidenote: THE NAMING OF AMERICA.]
_Hylacomylus (Waldsee-Müller)_, _Cosmographiæ Introdvctio ... Insuper
quatuor Americi Vespucij Nauigationes_, Deodate (St Dié, Lorraine),
1507, is the title of a work which appeared four times in the same
place and year. It is the first collection of Vespucci's four voyages,
and generally regarded as the first edition of the first and fourth,
although as we have seen M. Varnhagen claims an Italian edition of the
first in 1506. This account of the third voyage is different from that
so widely circulated before as _Mundus Novus_. Three other editions of
the work, or of the part relating to Vespucci, appeared in 1509 and
1510. In _Hylacomylus_ the following passage occurs: "But now that
those parts have been more extensively examined, and another fourth
part has been discovered by Americus (as will be seen in the sequel),
I do not see why we should rightly refuse to name it America, namely,
the land of Americus or America, after its discoverer, Americus, a man
of sagacious mind, since both Europe and Asia took their names from
women." Here we have the origin of the name 'America.' To the northern
discoveries of Columbus, Cabot, and Cortereal, on the islands and coast
of the supposed Asia, no general name was given because those regions
were already named India, Cathay, Mangi, etc., while names were applied
by Europeans only to particular places on the new coasts. When Columbus
in 1498 explored the northern coast of South America he had no doubt
it was a portion, though probably a detached portion, of Asia, and
the terms Paria and the Pearl Coast sufficed to designate the region
during the succeeding trading voyages. Concerning these voyages, only a
letter of Columbus and a slight account of Pinzon's expedition had been
printed, apparently without attracting much attention. The voyages of
Columbus, Bastidas, and Pinzon along the coast of Central America were
almost unknown. Meanwhile the fame of the great navigator had become
much obscured. His enterprises on the supposed Asiatic coast had been
unprofitable to Spain. The eyes of the world were now directed farther
south. By the Portuguese the coasts of Brazil had been explored for a
long distance, proving the great extent of this south-eastern portion of
the supposed Asia, whose existence was not indicated on the old charts,
and which certainly required a name. These Portuguese explorations and
their results were known to the world almost exclusively by the letter
of Vespucci so often printed. To the Latin translation of the letter,
the name _Mundus Novus_ had been applied, meaning not necessarily a
new continent, but simply the newly found regions. The name 'America'
suggested itself naturally, possibly through the influence of some
friend who was an admirer of Vespucci, to the German professor of
a university in Lorraine, as appropriate for the new region, and he
accordingly proposed it. Having proposed it, his pride and that of his
friends—a clique who had great influence over the productions of the
German press at that period—was involved in securing its adoption. No
open opposition seems to have been made, even by the Portuguese who
had applied the name 'Santa Cruz' to the same region; still it was
long before the new name replaced the old ones. In later years, when
America was found to be joined to the northern continent, and all that
great land to be entirely distinct from Asia, the name had become too
firmly fixed to be easily changed, and no effort that we know of was
made to change it. Later still some authors, inadvertently perhaps,
attributed the first discovery to Vespucci. This aroused the wrath of
Las Casas and others, and a discussion ensued which has lasted to the
present time. See list of partisans on both sides in _Harrisse_, _Bib.
Am. Vet._, pp. 65-7. Muñoz and Navarrete insist that Vespucci was an
impostor, but others, headed by Humboldt, have proved conclusively that
the name 'America' was adopted as the result of the somewhat strange
combination of circumstances described, without any intentional wrong to
Columbus. This conclusion is founded chiefly on the following reasons,
namely: The honor to Vespucci resulted chiefly from his third voyage in
1501, and not from his first voyage in 1497, which last mentioned is
the only one possible to have claimed precedence over Columbus in the
discovery of the continent. Furthermore, neither Columbus nor Vespucci
ever suspected that a new continent had been found; and to precede Cabot
in reaching Asia, Vespucci, even if relying on his first voyage, must
have dated it somewhat earlier in 1497 than he did; while to precede
Columbus he must have dated it before 1492, when, as they both believed,
Columbus had touched Asia at Cuba. Then, again, there is no evidence
whatever that Vespucci ever claimed the honor of discovery. He was on
intimate terms with the admiral and his friends, and is highly spoken
of by all, especially by Fernando Colon, who was extremely jealous in
every particular which might affect his father's honor. Moreover, it is
certain that Vespucci did not himself propose the name 'America;' it is
not certain that he even used the term Mundus Novus or its equivalent
in his letters; and it is quite possible that he never even knew of
his name being applied to the New World, since the name did not come
into general use until many years after his death, which occurred
in 1512. The most serious charge which in my opinion can be brought
against Vespucci is neglect—perhaps an intentional deception for the
purpose of giving himself temporary prominence in the eyes of his
correspondent—in failing to name the commanders under whom he sailed;
and with exaggeration and carelessness in his details. But it is to be
remembered that his writings were simply letters to friends describing
in familiar terms the wonders of his voyages, with little care for dry
dates and names, reserving particulars for a large work which he had
prepared, but which has never come to light. "After all," says Irving,
"this is a question more of curiosity than of real moment ... about
which grave men will continue to write weary volumes, until the subject
acquires a fictitious importance from the mountain of controversy heaped
upon it." _Cancellieri_, _Notizie di Colombo_, pp. 41-8; _Humboldt_,
_Exam. Crit._, tom. iv. and v., and Preface to _Ghillany_; _Navarrete_,
_Col. de Viages_, tom. i. p. cxxvi.; _Major's Prince Henry_, pp. 380-8;
_Kohl's Hist. Discov._, p. 496; _Harrisse_, _Bib. Am. Vet._, pp. 65-6;
_D'Avesac_, _Martin Hylacomylus_, Paris, 1867; _Muñoz_, _Hist. Nuevo
Mundo_, p. x.; _Stevens' Notes_, pp. 24, 35, 52 et seq.; _Viages de
Vespucio_, in _Navarrete_, tom. iii. p. 183; _Carta del Excmo. Sr.
Vizconde de Santarem_, in _Navarrete_, tom. iii. pp. 309-34. Ludd,
_Speculi Orbis_, Strasburg, 1507, adopts Waldsee-Müller's suggestion
so far as to speak of the 'American race,' or people, _gentis Americi_.
Major, _Prince Henry_, pp. 380-8, explains the connection between this
and other works of the time influenced by the St Dié clique. See also
_Stevens' Notes_, p. 35.
[1508.] Pinzon and Solis, with Pedro Ledesma as pilot, were sent by
Spain for the third time to search southward for the strait which they,
as well as Columbus and Bastidas, had failed to find farther north
and west. Sailing from San Lúcar June 29, 1508, they touched at the
Cape Verde Islands, proceeded to Cape St Augustine, and followed the
coast south-west to about 40° south latitude, returning to Spain in
October, 1509. _Viages Menores_, in _Navarrete_, tom. iii. p. 47. Kohl,
_Die beiden ältesten Karten von Am._, p. 110, joins this voyage to the
preceding one of 1506.
Another of the uncertain French voyages to Newfoundland is reported
to have taken place in 1508, under the command of Thomas Aubert, from
Dieppe. _Viages Menores_, in _Navarrete_, tom. iii. p. 41; _Kohl's Hist.
Discov._, pp. 203-5.
In 1508 the governor of Española sent Sebastian de Ocampo to explore
Cuba. He was the first to sail round the island, thus proving it such,
as Juan de la Cosa probably imagined it to be eight years earlier. _Aa_,
_Naaukeurige Versameling_, tom. vi. p. 1; _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec.
i. lib. vii. cap. i.; _Stevens' Notes_, p. 35.
[Sidenote: BOOKS AND MAPS OF THE PERIOD.]
_Ptolemy_, _In hoc opere hæc continentvr, Geographiæ Cl. Ptolemæi_,
Rome, 1508, is said to be the first edition of this work which contains
allusions to the New World. Other editions of Ptolemy, prepared by
different editors, with additional text and maps, and with some changes
in original matter, appeared in 1511, 1512, 1513, 1519, 1520, 1522,
1525, 1532, and 1535. The edition first mentioned contains, in addition
to the preceding one of 1507, fourteen leaves of text and an engraved
map by Johann Ruysch—the first ever published which includes the New
World. Copies have been printed by Lelewel in his _Géog. du moyen âge_,
atlas; by Santarem, in his _Recherches_, Paris, 1842, atlas; and by
Humboldt, Kohl, and Stevens. I have taken the annexed copy from the
three last mentioned authorities, omitting some of the unimportant
names.
[Illustration: MAP BY JOHANN RUYSCH, 1508.]
This map follows closely that of Juan de la Cosa in 1500, but
illustrates more clearly the geographical idea of the time. The
discoveries of Cabot, whom Ruysch is supposed to have accompanied, as
well as those of Cortereal in the north, of Greenland, Labrador, and
Newfoundland, are laid down with tolerable accuracy; and the rest of the
supposed Asiatic coast as in Behaim's globe is taken from Marco Polo.
In the centre we have the lands discovered by Columbus, and the old
fabulous island of Antilia restored. To 'Spagnola' (Española) is joined
an inscription stating the compiler's belief that it was identical with
Zipangu, or Japan. Western Cuba is cut off by a scroll, instead of by
green paint as in the map of Juan de la Cosa, with an inscription to the
effect that this was the limit of Spanish exploration. Ruysch, having
as yet no knowledge of Ocampo's voyage performed during this same year,
evidently entertained the same idea respecting Cuba that was held by
Juan de la Cosa, but did not venture to proclaim it an island. In the
south, the New World is shown under the name 'Terra Sanctæ Crucis sive
Mvndvs Novvs.' An open sea separates the New World from Asia, showing
that Ruysch did not know of the unsuccessful search for this passage
by Columbus, Bastidas, and Pinzon. It is worthy of remark that the name
America is not used by this countryman of Hylacomylus. Humboldt thinks
that he had not seen the _Cosmographiæ Introdvctio_, but had read some
other edition of Vespucci's third voyage. _Exam. Crit._, tom. ii. pp.
5, 9; tom. iv. p. 121, and Preface to _Ghillany_. See also _Kunstmann_,
_Entdeckung Am._, pp. 136-7; _Harrisse_, _Bib. Am. Vet._, pp. 107-8;
_Kohl's Hist. Discov._, pp. 156-8; _Stevens' Notes_, pp. 31-2.
[Sidenote: OCCUPATION OF TIERRA FIRME.]
[1509.] Stimulated by the admiral's gold discoveries at Veragua, which
had been corroborated by subsequent voyages. King Ferdinand of Spain
determined to establish colonies on that coast. The region known as
Tierra Firme was to that end divided into two provinces, of which Alonso
de Ojeda was appointed governor of one, and Diego de Nicuesa of the
other. Ojeda sailed from Española November 10, 1509, and Nicuesa soon
followed. Their adventures form an important part of early Central
American history, and are fully related in the following chapters.
During the succeeding years frequent voyages were made back and forth
between the new colonies, Jamaica, Cuba, and Española, which are
for the most part omitted here as not constituting new discoveries.
_Peter Martyr_, dec. ii. cap. i.; _Gomara_, _Hist. Ind._, fols. 67-9;
_Galvano's Discov._, p. 109-10; _Oviedo_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. ii. pp.
421-8; _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec. i. cap. vii. lib. vii. et seq.
The _Globus Mundi_, Strasburg, 1509, an anonymous work, was the first
to apply the name America to the southern continent. _Humboldt_, _Exam.
Crit._, tom. iv. p. 142; _Major's Prince Henry_, p. 387.
[Illustration: PETER MARTYR'S MAP, 1511.]
[1511.] Juan de Agramonte received a commission from the Spanish
government, and made arrangements to sail to Newfoundland and the lands
of the north-western ocean, but nothing further is known of the matter.
_Viages Menores_, in _Navarrete_, tom. iii. p. 42; _Sobrecarta de la
Reina Doña Juana_, in _Navarrete_, tom. iii. p. 122. _P. Martyris_,
_Anglimediolanensis opera_, Seville, 1511, is the first edition of Peter
Martyr's first decade; containing in ten letters, or books, accounts of
the first three voyages of Columbus, certain expeditions to the Pearl
Coast, and closing with a brief mention of the admiral's fourth voyage.
The learned author was personally acquainted with Columbus, and his
relations are consequently of great value. This work contains a map, of
which I give a copy from Stevens, the only fac-simile I have seen.
The map shows only Spanish discoveries, but it is by far the most
accurate yet made. Cuba, now proved to be an island, is so laid down. No
name is given to the Mundus Novus, which, by a knowledge of the Spanish
voyages, is made to extend much farther north and west than in Ruysch's
map; but above the known coasts a place is left open where the passage
to India it was believed might yet be found. The representation of a
country, corresponding with Florida, to the north of Cuba, under the
name of 'Isla de Beimini,' may indicate that Florida had been reached
either by Ocampo in 1508, by some private adventurer, as Diego Miruelo,
who is said to have preceded Ponce de Leon, or, as is claimed by some,
by Vespucci in his pretended voyage of 1497; but more probably this
region was laid down from the older maps—see Behaim's map, p. 93—and
the name was applied in accordance with the reports among the natives of
a wonderful country or island, which they called _bimini_, situated in
that direction. The map is not large enough to show exactly the relation
which Peter Martyr supposed to exist between these regions and the rest
of the world, but the text of the first decade leaves no doubt that he
still believed them to be parts of Asia.
The _Ptolemy_ of 1511 has a map which I have not seen, but which from
certain descriptions resembles that of Ruysch, except that it represents
Terra Corterealis as an island separated from the supposed Asiatic
coast; the name Sanctæ Crucis for South America being still retained. As
long as the new lands were believed to be a part of Asia, the maps bore
some resemblance to the actual countries intended to be represented,
but from the first dawning of an idea of separate lands we shall see
the greatest confusion in the efforts of map-makers to depict the New
World. _Harrisse_, _Bib. Am. Vet._, no. 68; _Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung
Am._, 133; _Kohl_, _Die beiden ältesten Karten von Am._, p. 33. A copy
of this map was published in _Lelewel's Atlas_.
[1512.] The West India Islands, in which the Spaniards are at length
firmly established, become now the point of new departures. Conquerors
and discoverers henceforth for the most part sail from Española or
Cuba rather than from Spain. Juan Ponce de Leon, a wealthy citizen who
had been governor of Puerto Rico, fitted out three vessels at his own
expense, and sailed in search of a fountain, which according to the
traditions of the natives had the property of restoring youth, and
which was situated in the land called Bimini far to the north. This
infatuation had been current in the Islands for several years, and, as
we have seen, the name was applied to such a land on Peter Martyr's
map of 1511. Sailing from Puerto Rico March 3, 1512, Ponce de Leon
followed the northern coast of Española, and thence north-west through
the Bahamas, reaching San Salvador on the 14th of March. Thirteen days
thereafter he saw the coast of Florida, so named by him from the day
of discovery, which was Pascua Florida, or Easter-day. The native name
of the land was Cautio. On the 2d of April the Spaniards landed in
30° 8', and took possession for the king of Spain; then following the
coast southward they doubled Cape Corrientes (Cañaveral) May 8, and
advanced to an undetermined point on the southern or eastern coast,
which Kohl thinks may have been Charlotte Bay. All this while they
believed the country to be an island. On the 14th of June Ponce de
Leon departed from Florida, and on his return touched at the Tortugas,
at the Lucayos, at Bahama, and at San Salvador, arriving at Puerto
Rico the 21st of September. He left behind one vessel under Juan
Perez de Ortubia, who arrived a few days later with the news of having
found Bimini, but no fountain of youth. _Reise des Ponce de Leon, und
Entdeckung von Florida_, in _Sammlung aller Reisebesch._, tom. xiii. p.
188; _Viages Menores_, in _Navarrete_, tom. iii. pp. 50-3: _Real cédula
dando facultad á Francisco de Garay_, in _Navarrete_, tom. iii. p. 148;
_Uitvoerlyke Scheepstogt door den Dapperen Jean Ponze de Leon gedaan
naar Florida_, in _Gottfried_, tom, iii.; _Gomara_, _Hist. Ind._, fols.
50-2; _Galvano's Discov._, p. 123. Kohl places the voyage in 1513,
relying on Peschel, who, he says, has proved the year 1512 to be an
impossible date.
In 1512 the Regidor Valdivia was sent by the colonists from the gulf of
Darien, then called Urabá, to Española for supplies. Being wrecked in
a violent tempest, he escaped in boats to the coast of Yucatan, where
he and his companions were made captives by the natives. Some were
sacrificed to the gods, and then eaten; only two, Gonzalo Guerrero and
Gerónimo de Aguilar, survived their many hardships, the latter being
rescued by Cortés in 1519. _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. i. pp.
368-72; _Gomara_, _Hist. Mex._, fol. 21-2; _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec.
ii. lib. iv. cap. vii.; _Cogolludo_, _Hist. Yucathan_, pp. 24-9.
The very rare map in _Stobnicza's Ptolemy_, Cracoviæ, 1512, I have not
seen. It is said to show the New World as a continuous coast from 50°
north latitude to 40° south. Neither in the text nor in the map is found
the name America.
[Sidenote: DISCOVERY OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN.]
[1513.] In September, 1513, Vasco Nuñez de Balboa set out from the
settlement of Antigua on the gulf of Urabá, and crossing the narrow
isthmus which joins the two Americas, discovered a vast ocean to the
southward on the other side of the supposed Asia. The Isthmus here runs
east and west, and on either side, to the north and to the south are
great oceans, which for a long time were called the North Sea and the
South Sea. After exploring the neighboring coasts he returned to Antigua
in January, 1514, after an absence of four months. _Galvano's Discov._,
pp. 123-5; _Peter Martyr_, dec. iii. cap. i.; _Oviedo_, _Hist. Gen._,
tom. iii. pp. 9-17; _Andagoya's Narrative_, p. 7; _Carta del Adelantado
Vasco Nuñez de Balboa_, in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc. Inéd._,
tom. ii. p. 526.
The _Ptolemy_ of 1513 has a map which is said to have been made by
Hylacomylus as early as 1508, but concerning which there seems to be
much uncertainty. I give a copy from the fac-simile of Stevens and
Varnhagen.
The name Cuba does not appear, and in its place is Isabela. Many of the
names given by other maps to points on the coast of Cuba are transferred
to the main-land opposite. The compiler evidently was undecided whether
Cuba was a part of the Asiatic main or not, and therefore represented
it in both ways. The coast line must be regarded as imaginary or taken
from the old charts, unless, as M. Varnhagen thinks, Vespucci actually
sailed along the Florida coast in 1497. This map if made in 1508 may
be regarded as the first to join the southern continent, or Mundus
Novus, to the main-land of Asia. This southern land is called 'Terra
Incognita,' with an inscription stating expressly that it was discovered
by Columbus, notwithstanding the fact that its supposed author proposed
the name America in honor of Vespucci only the year before. In fact the
map is in many respects incoherent, and is mentioned by most writers but
vaguely. _Harrisse_, _Bib. Am. Vet._, no. 74; _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._,
tom. iv. pp. 109 et seq., and Preface to _Ghillany_; _Kunstmann_,
_Entdeckung Am._, pp. 130-2; _Kohl_, _Die beiden ältesten Karten von
Am._, p. 33; _Varnhagen_, _Nouvelles Recherches_, Vienna, 1869, p. 56;
_Stevens' Notes_, pl. ii. no. i. pp. 13, 14, 51; _Major's Prince Henry_,
pp. 385-6; _Santarem_, in _Bulletin de la Soc. Géog._, May, 1847, pp.
318-23.
[Illustration: MAP FROM PTOLEMY, 1513.]
The name America is thought by Major to occur first on a manuscript map
by Leonardo da Vinci, in the queen's collection at Windsor, to which he
ascribes the date of 1513 or 1514.
[1514.] Pedrarias Dávila, having been appointed governor of Castilla
del Oro, by which name the region about the isthmus of Darien was now
called, sailed from San Lúcar with an armada of fifteen vessels and over
2000 men, April 12, 1514. The special object of this expedition was to
discover and settle the shores of the South Sea, whose existence had
been reported in Spain, but whose discovery by Vasco Nuñez de Balboa was
not known before the departure of Pedrarias. _Herrera_, dec. i. lib.
x. cap. xiii.; _Peter Martyr_, dec. ii. cap. vii.; dec. iii. cap. v.;
_Galvano's Discov._, p. 125; _Quintana_, _Vidas de Españoles Célebres_,
'Balboa,' p. 28; _Robertson's Hist. Am._, vol. i. p. 207. See chapter
x. of this volume.
[1515.] Juan Diaz de Solis sailed from Lepe October 8, 1515, with three
vessels, and surveyed the eastern coast of South America from Cape San
Roque to Rio Janeiro, where he was killed by the natives. _Navarrete_,
_Col. de Viages_, tom. iii. pp. 48-50. Three vessels were fitted out at
Seville, well manned and armed for a cruise against the Caribs, under
command of Juan Ponce de Leon, but the Spaniards were defeated in their
first encounter with the savages at Guadalupe, and the expedition was
practically abandoned.
[Sidenote: GRADUAL ENLARGEMENT OF THE TWO AMERICAS.]
The adventures of Badajoz, Mercado, Morales, and others in 1515-16 and
the following years, by which the geography of the Isthmus was more
fully determined, are given elsewhere.
_Schöner_, _Luculentissima quædã terræ totius descriptio_, Nuremberg,
1515, and another edition of the same work under the title _Orbis
Typvs_, same place and date, have a chapter on America 'discovered by
Vespucci in 1497.' In _Reisch_, _Margaritha Philosophica_, Strasburg,
1515, an encyclopedia frequently republished, is a map which is almost
an exact copy of that in the _Ptolemy_ of 1513, except in its names.
The main-land to the north-west of Cuba is called Zoana Mela, but the
names of certain localities along the coast are omitted. Both Cuba
and Española are called Isabela, and the southern continent is laid
down as 'Paria seu Prisilia.' _Harrisse_, _Bib. Am. Vet._, nos. 80-2;
_Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung Am._, pp. 130-1; _Kohl_, _Die beiden ältesten
Karten von Am._, p. 33; _Stevens' Notes_, p. 52; fac-simile, pl. iv.
no. 2.
[1516.] After Ponce de Leon's voyage in 1512 or 1513, and probably
before that time, trips were made by private adventurers northward from
Española and Cuba to the Islands and to Florida. Among these is that of
Diego de Miruelo in 1516, who probably visited the western or gulf coast
of Florida, and brought back specimens of gold. No details are known of
the expedition. _Garcilaso de la Vega_, _La Florida del Inca_, Madrid,
1723, p. 5.
_Lettera di Amerigo Vespucci_, Florence, 1516, the second collection of
the four voyages; _Peter Martyr_, _Ioannes ruffus, De Orbe Decades_,
Alcala, 1516, the first edition of three decades; and _Giustiniani_,
_Psalterium_, Genoa, 1516, which appends a life of Columbus to the
nineteenth Psalm, are among the new books of the year.
[1517.] Eden, in his dedication of an English translation of _Munster's
Cosmography_, in 1553, speaks of certain ships "furnished and set
forth" in 1517 under Sebastian Cabot and Sir Thomas Pert; but so faint
was the heart of the baronet that the voyage "toke none effect." On
this authority some authors have ascribed a voyage to Cabot in 1517,
to regions concerning which they do not agree. An expedition whose
destination and results are unknown, can have had little effect on
geographical knowledge; and Kohl, after a full discussion of the
subject, seems to have proved against Biddle, its chief supporter,
that there is not sufficient evidence of such a voyage. _Navigatione
di Sebastiano Cabota_, in _Ramusio_, tom. ii. fol. 212; _Kunstmann_,
_Entdeckung Am._, pp. 54-5; _Roux de Rochelle_, in _Bulletin, Soc.
Géog._, Apr. 1832, p. 209; _Peter Martyr_, dec. iii. cap. vi.
Francisco Hernandez de Córdoba, with three vessels and 110 men, sailed
from La Habana February 8, 1517, sent by the governor of Cuba to make
explorations toward the west. Touching at Cape Catoche, in Yucatan,
he coasted the peninsula in fifteen days to Campeche, and six days
later reached Potonchan, or Champoton, where a battle was fought with
the natives, and the Spaniards defeated. Accounts indicate that the
explorers were not unanimous in supposing Yucatan to be an island, as
it was afterward represented on some maps. Failing to procure a supply
of water in the slough of Lagartos, Córdoba sailed across the Gulf to
Florida, and thence returned to Cuba, where he died in ten days from
his wounds. I find nothing to show what part of Florida he touched.
_Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. i. pp. 349-51; _Peter Martyr_, dec.
iv. cap. i.; _Oviedo_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. i. pp. 497-8; _Galvano's
Discov._, pp. 130-1; _Gomara_, _Conq. Mex._, fol. 8-9; _Herrera_, _Hist.
Gen._, dec. ii. lib. ii. cap. xvii.; _Cogolludo_, _Hist. Yucathan_,
pp. 3-8; _Prescott's Mex._, vol. i. pp. 222-24; _Viages Menores_, in
_Navarrete_, tom. iii. pp. 53-5; _West-Indische Spieghel_, p. 188;
_Icazbalceta_, _Col. Doc._, tom. i. pp. 338-41.
[1518.] The following year Juan de Grijalva was sent from Cuba to carry
on the explorations begun by Córdoba. Grijalva sailed from Santiago
de Cuba April 8, 1518, with four vessels, reached the island of Santa
Cruz (Cozumel) on the 3d of May, took possession on the 6th of May, and
shortly after entered Ascension Bay. From this point he coasted Yucatan
270 leagues, by his estimate, to Puerto Deseado, entered and named the
Rio de Grijalva (Tabasco), and took possession of the country in the
vicinity of Vera Cruz about the 19th of June. Advancing up the coast to
Cabo Rojo, he turned about and entered Rio Tonalá, engaged in a parting
fight at Champoton, followed the coast for several weeks, and then
turned for Cuba, arriving at Matanzas about the 1st of November. During
his absence, Cristóbal de Olid had coasted a large part of Yucatan in
search of Grijalva's fleet. _Peter Martyr_, dec. iv. cap. iii.-iv.;
_Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. i. pp. 351-8, _Oviedo_, _Hist.
Gen._, tom. i. pp. 502-37; _Gomara_, _Conq. Mex._, fol. 8-11, 56-8;
_Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec. ii. lib. iii. cap. i. ix.; _Robertson's
Hist. Am._, vol. i. pp. 240-4; _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat.
Civ._, tom. iv. pp. 40-50; _Cogolludo_, _Hist. Yucathan_, pp. 8-16;
_Diaz_, _Itinéraire_, in _Ternaux-Compans_, _Voy._, série i. tom. x. pp.
1-47; _Viages Menores_, in _Navarrete_, tom. iii. pp. 53-64; _Alaman_,
_Disertaciones_, tom. i. pp. 45-8; _Reise des Johann Grijalva und
allererste Entdeckung Neuspaniens_, in _Sammlung_, tom. xiii. p. 258;
_Itinerario de Juan de Grijalva_, in _Icazbalceta_, _Col. Doc._, tom.
i. p. 281.
I may here remark that such manuscript maps, made generally by pilots
for government use, as have been preserved are, as might be expected,
far superior to those published in geographical works of the period.
I give a copy of a Portuguese chart preserved in the Royal Academy at
Munich.
From the fact that Yucatan is represented as a peninsula, though not
named, while the discoveries of Grijalva and Cortés are not shown, the
date of 1518 may be ascribed to the map. Stevens believes it to have
been made some time about 1514; Kohl about 1520; Kunstmann some time
after 1511. Unexplored coasts are left out instead of being laid down
from old Asiatic maps; as for example the United States coast from
Newfoundland (Bacalnaos) to Florida (Bimini), and the Gulf coast from
Florida to Yucatan. In the central region the names 'Terram Antipodum'
and 'Antilhas de Castela' are used without any means of deciding to
exactly what parts they are to be applied. The South Sea discovered by
Balboa in 1513 is here shown for the first time with the inscription
'Mar visto pelos Castelhanus.' To South America the name 'Brasill' is
given. The presence of two Mahometan flags in locations corresponding
to Honduras and Venezuela, shows that the compiler still had no doubt
that he was mapping parts of Asia. _Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung Am._, pp.
129 et seq.; _Munich Atlas_, no. iv., from which I take my copy; _Kohl's
Hist. Discov._, pp. 179-82, pl. x.; _Stevens' Notes_, pp. 17, 53, pl.
v. Pomponius Mela's _Libri de situ orbis_, Vienna, 1518, contains a
commentary by Vadianus, written however in 1512, in which the name
America is used in speaking of the New World. Other editions appeared
in 1522 and 1530.
[Illustration: MAP IN MUNICH ATLAS, SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN DRAWN ABOUT
1518.]
[1519.] _Stobnicza's Ptolemy_ of 1519 alludes to the New World
discovered by Vespucci and named after him.
_Enciso_, _Suma de geografia_, Seville, 1519, is the first Spanish work
known which treats of the new regions. The author was a companion of
Ojeda in his unfortunate attempt to found a colony on Tierra Firme.
Another edition appeared in 1530.
[Sidenote: CONQUEST OF MEXICO.]
On February 18, 1519, Hernan Cortés set sail from Cuba to undertake
the conquest of the countries discovered by Córdoba and Grijalva. After
spending some time on the island of Cozumel, where he rescued Gerónimo
de Aguilar from his long captivity (see p. 129), he followed the coast
to Rio de Grijalva, where he defeated the natives in battle, and took
possession of the land in the name of the Catholic sovereigns. From this
place he continued his voyage sailing near the shore to Vera Cruz, where
he landed his forces and began the conquest of Montezuma's empire, the
history of which forms part of a subsequent volume of this series.
Francisco de Garay, governor of Jamaica, prompted by the reports of
Ponce de Leon, Córdoba, and Grijalva, despatched four vessels in 1519,
under Alonso Alvarez Pineda, who sailed northward to a point on the
Pánuco coast (where, according to Gomara, an expedition had been sent
during the preceding year, under Camargo). Prevented by winds and shoals
from coasting northward as he desired, he sailed along in sight of the
low gulf shores until he reached Vera Cruz, where he found the fleet of
Cortés. Troubles between the commanders arose from this meeting which
will be narrated hereafter.
Garay continued for some time his attempts to found a settlement in the
region of Pánuco, but without success. _Peter Martyr_, dec. v. cap. i.;
_Gomara_, _Hist. Ind._, fol. 55-6; _West-Indische Spieghel_, p. 202;
_Gomara_, _Hist. Conq._, fol. 222-7; _Viages Menores_, in _Navarrete_,
tom. iii. pp. 64-7; _Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung Am._, p. 73.
Soon after landing at Vera Cruz Cortés despatched for Spain a vessel
under the pilot Antonio de Alaminos, with messengers who were to clear
up before the king certain irregularities which the determined conqueror
had felt obliged to commit, and furthermore to establish his authority
upon a more defined basis. Alaminos sailed July 16, 1519, following a
new route north of Cuba, through the Bahama Channel, and down the Gulf
Stream, of which current he was probably the first to take advantage.
Touching at Cuba and discovering Terceira he reached Spain in October.
_Diaz del Castillo_, _Hist. Verdadera de la Conqvista_, Madrid, 1632,
fol. 37-9; _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec. ii. lib. v. cap. xiv.; _Kohl's
Hist. Discov._, pp. 243-5.
The history of the Darien colonies is elsewhere recounted in
this volume, and the introduction here of the numerous land and
water expeditions on and along the Isthmus would be confusing and
unprofitable. Suffice it to say that in 1519 the city of Panamá was
founded, and a second expedition sent under Gaspar de Espinosa up the
South Sea coast. The northern limit reached was the gulf of San Lúcar
(Nicoya), latitude 10° north, in Nicaragua, and the expedition returned
to Panamá by land from Burica. _Andagoya's Narrative of the Proceedings
of Pedrarias Dávila_, London, 1865, pp. 23-4; _Kohl_, _Die beiden
ältesten Karten von Am._, p. 162; _Oviedo_, _Hist Gen._, tom. iii. p.
61 et seq.
We have seen several unsuccessful attempts by both Spaniards and
Portuguese to find a passage to India by the southern parts of Brazil,
Santa Cruz, or America. In 1519 a native of Oporto, Fernando de
Magalhaens, called by Spaniards Magallanes, and by English authors
Magellan, after having made several voyages for Portugal to India _via_
Good Hope, quit the Portuguese service dissatisfied, entered the service
of Spain, and undertook the oft-repeated attempt of reaching the east
by sailing west. His particular destination was the Moluccas, which the
Spaniards claimed as lying within the hemisphere granted to them by the
treaty of Tordesillas in 1494. It appears that Magellan had seen some
map, of unknown origin, on which was represented a strait instead of
an open sea at the southern point of America—probably the conjecture of
some geographer, for, says Humboldt, "dans le moyen âge les conjectures
étaient inscrits religieusement sur les cartes." See _Exam. Crit._,
tom. i. pp. 306, 326, 354; tom. ii. pp. 17-26. Sailing from San Lúcar
September 20, 1519, with five ships and 265 men, he reached Rio de
Janeiro on the coast of Brazil on the 13th of December, and from that
point coasted southward. An attempt to pass through the continent by the
Rio de la Plata failed, and on March 31, 1520, the fleet reached Port
St Julian in about 49° south, where it remained five months until the
24th of August. On the 21st of October Magellan arrived at Cabo de las
Vírgenes and the entrance to what seemed, and indeed proved, to be the
long-desired strait. Having lost one vessel on the eastern coast, and
being deserted by another which turned back and sailed for Spain after
having entered the strait, with the remaining three he passed on, naming
the land on the south Tierra del Fuego, from the fires seen burning
there. Emerging from the strait, which he called Vitoria after one of
his ships, on the 27th of November he entered and named the Pacific
Ocean. Then steering north-west for warmer climes he crossed the line
February 13, 1521, arrived at the Ladrones on the 6th of March, and at
the Philippines on the 16th of March. This bold navigator, "second only
to Columbus in the history of nautical exploration," was killed on the
27th of April, in a battle with the natives of one of these islands; the
remainder of the force, consisting of 115 men under Caraballo, proceeded
on their way, touching at Borneo and other islands, and anchoring on the
8th of November at the Moluccas, their destination. From this point one
of the vessels, the _Vitoria_, in command of Sebastian del Cano, sailed
round the Cape of Good Hope, and reached San Lúcar September 6, 1522,
with only eighteen survivors of the 265 who had sailed with Magellan.
Thus was accomplished the first circumnavigation of the globe.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: THE NAMING OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN.]
As to the circumstances attending the naming of the Pacific Ocean, a few
words may not be out of place. Magellan was accompanied by one Antonio
Pigafetta, of Vicenza, afterward Caviliere di Rhodi, who wrote in bad
Italian a narrative of the voyage, which was rewritten and translated
into French, _Primer voyage autour du Monde, par le Chevallier
Pigafetta, sur l'Escadre de Magellan pendant les années 1519, 20, 21,
et 22_, by Charles Amoretti. "Le mercredi, 28 novembre," says Pigafetta,
liv. ii. p. 50, "nous débouquâmes du détroit pour entrer dans la grande
mer, à laquelle nous donnâmes ensuite le nom de mer Pacifique; dans
laquelle nous naviguâmes pendant le cours de trois mois et vingt jours,
sans goûter d'aucune nourriture fraiche." And again, p. 52, "Pendant cet
espace de trois mois et vingt jours nous parcourûmes à peu près quatre
mille lieues dans cette mer que nous appelâmes Pacifique, parce que
durant tout le temps de notre traversée nous n'essuyâmes pas le moindre
tempête;" or, as Ramusio, _Viaggio atorno il mondo fatto et descritto
per M. Antonio Pigafetta_, in _Viaggi_, tom. iii. fol. 393, puts it,
"Et in questi tre mesi, & venti giorni fecero quattro mila leghe in
vn golfo per questo mar Pacifico, il qual ben si puó chiamar pacifico,
perche in tutto questo tempo senza veder mai terra alcuna, non hebbero
né fortuna di vento, né di altra tempesta." Peter Martyr, dec. v. cap.
vii., speaks of it only as "the huge Ocean" first found by Vasco Nuñez,
and then called the South Sea. Galvano, _Discov._, p. 142, alludes to
it as a "mightie sea called Pacificum." Oviedo, _Hist. Gen._, tom. ii.
p. 22, merely remarks: "Es aquel estrecho en algunas partes mas ó menos
de media legua, y çircundado de montañas altissimas cargadas de nieve, y
corre en otra mar que le puso nombre el capitan Fernando de Magallanes,
el _Mar Pacífico_; y es muy profundo, y en algunas partes de veynte é
çinco hasta en treynta braças." Gomara, _Hist. Ind._, fol. 120, says,
"No cabia de gozo por auer hallado aq̃l passo para el otro mar del Sur,
por do pẽsava llegar presto alas yslas del Maluco," without any mention
of the word Pacific. The _Sammlung aller Reisebeschreibungen_, tom.
xi. p. 346, gives it essentially the same as Pigafetta: "In einer Zeit
von drey Monaten und zwanzig Tagen, legete er viertausend Meilen in
einer See zurück, welche er das friedfertige oder stille Meer nannte;
weil er keinen Sturm auf demselben ausstund, und kein anderes Land sah,
als diese beyden Inseln." Kohl, _Die beiden ältesten Karten von Am._,
p. 161, is unable to find the name on the old maps: "Der Name 'Oceano
Pacifico,' der auch schon auf den Reisen des Magellan und Loaysa in
Schwung kam, steht nirgends auf unseren Karten." Herrera, dec. ii.
lib. ix. cap. xv., describes the exit from the strait in the language
following: "a veynte y siete de Nouiẽbre, salio al espacioso mar del
Sur, dando infinitas gracias a Dios." Navarrete, _Viages al Maluco;
Primero el de Hernando de Magallanes_, in tom. iv. pp. 49-50, of his
collection says: "Salió pues Magallanes del _estrecho que nombraron
de Todos los Santos_ el dia 27 de Noviembre de 1520 con las tres naos
Trinidad, Victoria, y Concepcion, y se halló en una mar oscura y gruesa
que era indicio de gran golfo; pero despues le nombraron _Mar Pacífico_,
porque en todo el tiempo que navegaron por él, no tuvieron tempestad
alguna." Happening thus, that in this first circumnavigation of the
globe, as the strangers entered at its southern end the South Sea of
Vasco Nuñez, the waters greeted them kindly, in return they gave them
a peaceful title; other voyagers entering this same sea at other times
gave to it a far different character. For further reference see _Voyage
de Fernando de Magelhaens_, in _Berenger_, _Col. Voy._, tom. i. pp.
1-26; _Aa_, _Naaukeurige Versameling_, tom. ix. pt. ii. p. 7; _Purchas_,
_His Pilgrimes_, vol. i. pt. ii. pp. 33-46.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: MAPS AND BOOKS.]
A manuscript map supposed to have been made by Maiollo in 1519, of
which a fac-simile is given in the _Munich Atlas_, no. v., shows the
islands and main-land from Yucatan south and east, closely resembling,
except in names of localities, the map of 1518 (see page 133). The
eastern part of Brazil is called 'Sante Crucis,' and on the Pearl Coast
is an inscription to the effect that it was discovered by Columbus.
_Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung Am._, pp. 135-6; _Schmeller_, in _Abhandl.
Akademie der Wissensch._, tom. iv. pt. i. p. 253.
[1520.] An anonymous pamphlet without date, _Copia der Newen Zeytung_,
is a translation of a letter describing a voyage of two thousand miles
along the Brazilian coast. Harrisse places it under date of 1520, and
thinks it may furnish grounds for the belief that Magellan was not the
first to reach the strait. Varnhagen, _Hist. Brazil_, Madrid, 1854,
maintains that the voyage described was under Solis and Pinzon in 1508.
Humboldt, _Exam. Crit._, tom. v. p. 249, applies the description to some
later voyage made between 1525 and 1540.
To _Varthema_, _Itinerario Nello Egitto_, Venetia (supposed to be 1520),
is joined an account of Grijalva's voyage to Yucatan in 1518 (see page
132), translated from the original diary of Juan Diaz, chaplain of the
expedition. Other editions appeared in 1522-26-35. _Discorso sopra lo
itinerario di Lodouico Barthema_, in _Ramusio_, tom. i. fol. 160. The
Itinerary of Diaz is not given by Ramusio. _Provinciæ sive Regiones
in India Occidentali_, Valladolid, 1520, is a Latin translation of
an account, by an unknown author, of the conquest of Cuba by Diego
Velazquez. _Pigghe_, _De æquinoctiorum sol_, etc., Paris, supposed to
have been printed in 1520, has a passage on the lands discovered by
Vespucci. _A New Interlude_, London, 1519 or 1520, has a verse in which
the name America is used.
A globe made by John Schöner in 1520 is preserved in Nuremberg, and
copies have been given by Ghillany, Lelewel, and Kohl, of which I give
a reduction.
[Illustration: SCHÖNER'S GLOBE, 1520.]
This is the first drawing to represent all the regions of the New World
as distinct, although not distant, from the Asiatic coast, which is laid
down mostly as in Behaim's globe, with some imaginary additions round
the north pole. This separation was undoubtedly a mere conjecture of
the compiler, for the voyage of Magellan, which might have suggested
such an idea, was not yet known or even consummated, and the map shows
no knowledge of the later voyages even to the eastern coast. All the
northern discoveries are given as an island, 'Terra Corterealis.'
The central and southern parts—except their separation from Asia—are
accurately copied from the map of Ptolemy, 1513 (see page 130), although
a strait leads through the Isthmus into the South Sea. 'Terra de Cuba'
is the name applied to the northern part of what may be regarded as
the nucleus which afterward grew into North America, while the southern
part is called Paria. Several names of localities on the coast, as 'C.
Dellicontis' and 'C. Bonaventura,' are retained from the map of 1513,
although Kohl erroneously calls all the names new and original. To
the southern continent various names are applied, as America, Brazil,
Paria (repeated), Land of Cannibals and of Parrots. On the original
is an antarctic region round the south pole, called 'Brasiliæ Regio,'
and separated from America in lat. 42° south by a strait, although
the discovery of such a strait could not at the time have been known.
_Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom. ii. p. 28. Several globes of about this
date preserved in Germany are said to agree with this of Schöner's in
their general features. _Kohl's Hist. Discov._, pp. 153-63, pl. vii.,
and _Beiden ältesten Karten von Am._, p. 33; _Harrisse_, _Bib. Am.
Vet._, p. 141.
In the _Solinus-Camers_, _Enarrationes_, Vienna, 1520, was published
a woodcut map, the first to give the name America. The map was made by
Petrus Apianus, and afterward used by him in his cosmography. According
to various descriptions it agrees very nearly with Schöner's globe
except in the extreme north, where Engronelant is represented very
much as in the map of the Zeni in 1400 (see page 82). _Kunstmann_,
_Entdeckung Am._, pp. 134-5; _Kohl_, _Beiden ältesten Karten von Am._,
p. 33; _Harrisse_, _Bib. Am. Vet._, pp. 184, 192.
Cortés with his second letter dated October 30, 1520, sent to Spain
a map of the Gulf of Mexico, which was printed in 1524. The map is
valuable only for its list of names along the whole extent of the gulf
coast, and it is therefore unnecessary to reproduce it here. Yucatan
seems to be represented as an island. _Stevens' Notes_, pp. 38, 53, pl.
iv. no. vii.
In 1520 Lucas Vazquez de Aillon and other wealthy citizens of Española
sent two vessels, probably under one Jordan, to the Lucayos Islands
for slaves. Not succeeding according to their expectations in the
islands, the Spaniards directed their course northward toward the
country discovered by Ponce de Leon in 1513, and finally touched the
coast in about 32° or 33°—Port Royal according to Navarrete; Stevens
says Cape Fear—a region probably never before visited. They called the
country Chicora, and the place of landing was named Cabo de Santa Elena
and Rio Jordan. They made no explorations in any direction. One vessel
and nearly all the slaves were lost on the return. _Navarrete_, _Col.
de Viages_, tom. iii. pp. 69-71; _Kohl's Hist. Discov._, pp. 245-8;
_Stevens' Notes_, p. 48.
Pánfilo de Narvaez sailed from Cuba in 1520 with a large force to
dispossess Cortés, who had declared himself independent of his chief
Velazquez; but after many reverses his forces went over to his opponent.
_Gomara_, _Hist. Ind._, fol. 52-5; _Oviedo_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. i. p.
540; _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. i. p. 474.
[Sidenote: SOUTH SEA DISCOVERIES.]
The conquest of Mexico once accomplished, Hernan Cortés very soon turned
his attention to the South Sea coasts. Hearing from natives that the
Pacific extended as far north as the land he had conquered, he sent
small parties to explore and take possession, which they did at two
points, Tehuantepec and Zacatula, before the end of 1521. Cortés was
fully acquainted with the cosmographic theories of the time, and was
enthusiastic in their application to the discovery of islands and main,
rich in spices and precious metals. It was now established in a general
way, as shown by the best maps, that the newly discovered lands were
not the main Asiatic continent of Marco Polo, but a great south-eastern
projection of that continent, probably separated from it by a strait.
Cortés' idea was to sail down the coast as he termed it, northward at
first, until he should either reach the rich Indian lands, or on the
way find the strait which should afford a short cut from Spain to those
lands. His efforts will be briefly noticed here in chronologic order,
but fully presented in another part of my work. The best and almost only
authority is _Cortés_, _Cartas_.
[1521.] Juan Ponce de Leon, learning from other voyagers that the land
of Florida discovered by him was not, as he had believed it to be, an
island, fitted out an expedition in Puerto Rico and sailed to repeat in
Florida the glorious achievements of Cortés in New Spain. He reached the
west coast of the peninsula, but was killed by the natives soon after
landing, and his men returned without having accomplished their object.
_Peter Martyr_, _De nvper svb D. Carolo repertis Insulis_, Basiliæ,
1521, is the first edition of a part of the fourth decade.
[1522.] Pomponius Mela, _De Orbis Sitv_, Basiliæ, 1522, reproduced
Apianus' map of 1520 (see page 137), also _Kohl_, _Beiden ältesten
Karten_, p. 33. The _Ptolemy_ of this year, edited by Frisius, contains
two maps resembling in their general appearance the Ptolemy map of
1513, and showing but little advance in geographical knowledge. These
maps are also in the edition of 1525. _Asher's Catalogue_, no. civ.,
Berlin, 1873. _Translationus hispanischer_, etc., n.p., n.d., has a
slight notice of the City of Mexico. _Ein Schöne Newe Zeytung_, Augsburg
(1522), notices the voyages of Columbus and the conquest of Mexico.
_Of the newe lãdes and of ye people founde by the Messengers of the
Kynge of portygale_, attributed to this year, is regarded as the first
book in English to treat of America, which it calls Armenica. _Cortés_,
_Carta de Relaciõ_, Seville, 1522, is the letter dated October 30, 1520,
supposed to be the conqueror's second letter, the first having been
lost. Eight other editions or translations appeared in various forms
before 1532.
In 1522 Pascual de Andagoya followed the west coast of America southward
from Panamá, to a point six or seven days' sail below the gulf of San
Miguel in the province of Birú (Peru), a little beyond Point Pinos.
Information obtained during this expedition concerning more southern
lands, furnished the motive for the conquest of Peru undertaken a few
years later by Francisco Pizarro. _Pascual de Andagoya_, _Narrative_,
pp. 40-1.
Gil Gonzalez Dávila with a fleet of four vessels sailed from the islands
in the Bay of Panamá, January 21, 1522, to explore the South Sea coast
north-westward. Reaching the gulf of Nicoya, the limit of Espinosa's
voyage, Gil Gonzalez proceeded by land and discovered Lake Nicaragua.
The pilot Andres Niño continued westward, discovered and named the gulf
of Fonseca, and reached, according to Herrera, dec. iii. lib. iv. cap.
v.-vi., the province of Chorotega, having discovered 350 leagues of
sea-coast from Nicoya, or 650 leagues from the gulf of San Miguel. Peter
Martyr places Niño's ultimate limit at 300 leagues beyond the gulf of
San Vicente; Ribero's map at 140 leagues west of the bay of Fonseca.
Kohl, _Beiden ältesten Karten von Am._, pp. 163-9, thinks he probably
reached the mountains south of Soconusco. See also _Navarrete_, _Col.
de Viages_, tom. iii. pp. 413, 417-18; _Galvano's Discov._, pp. 148-9;
_Oviedo_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. iii. pp. 97-114; _Squier's Nicaragua_,
New York, 1860, pp. 157-61. Not long afterward the cities of Granada
and Leon were founded, and communication with Nicaragua from the south
became of frequent occurrence.
In 1522 Pedro de Alvarado occupied Tututepec on the Pacific; while at
Zacatula a _villa_ was founded, and a beginning made there on several
vessels for exploration northward. _Cortés_, _Cartas_, Letter of May
15, 1522.
[1523.] Francisco de Garay fitted out a new fleet of eleven vessels,
with 850 men, which sailed from Jamaica June 26, 1523. This force was
intended for the conquest and settlement of Pánuco, but soon united with
the army of Cortés without having accomplished anything of importance.
_Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, tom. iii. pp. 67-9; _Herrera_, _Hist.
Gen._, dec. iii. lib. v. cap. v.-vi.; _Peter Martyr_, dec. vii. cap.
v.; _Cortes_, _Carta tercera de Relaciõ_, Seville, 1523. This third
letter was written May 15, 1522. Other editions appeared in 1524, and
1532. For the bibliography of Cortés' letters see _Harrisse_, _Bib. Am.
Vet._, pp. 215-23. _Maximilian_, _De Molvccis Insulis_, Coloniæ, 1523,
is a letter written by the emperor's secretary, describing Magellan's
voyage round the world. Other editions are mentioned as having appeared
in 1523, 1524, 1534, 1536, and 1537.
[1524.] _Apianus_, _Cosmographicus Liber_, Landshutæ, 1524, contains
a short chapter on America, which the author describes as an island,
because he says it is surrounded by water; furthermore, he affirms
this land was named from Vespucci, its discoverer. The map of
_Solinus-Camers_, 1520, is repeated in this and in several succeeding
editions of the cosmography. _Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung Am._, pp. 134-5.
Francis, _De Orbis Sitv ac Descriptione_, Antwerp, 1524, also describes
the New World.
In 1524 Cortés' fleet at Zacatula was not yet launched, the work having
been delayed by fire. The conquest of Colima had however made known a
good port, and brought new rumors of rich islands further north. The
conqueror's plans were unchanged and his enthusiasm undiminished. His
use of the term "la costa abajo," or down the coast, when he meant
to sail northward, has sadly confused many writers as to his real
intentions, and as to his ideas of the strait. _Cortés_, _Cartas_,
Letter of Oct. 15, 1524.
In 1524 was made the first official French expedition to the New
World. A fleet of four vessels was made ready under Giovanni Verrazano
at Dieppe, but three of his ships were separated from him in some
inexplicable manner before leaving European waters; and in the remaining
one, the _Dauphine_, with fifty men, he sailed on the 17th of January,
1524, from an island near Madeira. After a voyage of forty-nine days,
during which time he sailed 900 leagues, Verrazano struck the United
States coast in about latitude 34°, perhaps at Cape Fear. Thence he
sailed first southward fifty leagues, then turning about he followed
the coast northward, frequently touching, to Newfoundland, whence he
returned to Dieppe in July, 1524. Verrazano in his journal mentions
only one date, and names but one locality; consequently there is much
difference of opinion concerning his landings.
The southern limit of the voyage, so far as it can be known, was in the
vicinity of Cape Romain, South Carolina, though some authors, apparently
without sufficient authority—the voyager says he saw palms—have placed
the limit in Florida. It is probable that a large part of the United
States coast was for the first time explored during this voyage, which
also completed the discovery of the whole eastern shore-line of America,
except probably a short but indefinite distance in South Carolina and
Georgia, between the limits reached by Ponce de Leon in 1513 and by
Verrazano; one intermediate point having also been visited by Aillon
in 1520. _Relatione di Giouanni da Verrazzano Fiorentìno della terra
per lui scoperta in nome di sua Maestà, scritta in Dieppa, adi 8_,
Luglio, MDXXIIII., in _Ramusio_, tom. iii. fol. 420. In the preface to
this volume, edition of 1556, the author states that it is not known
whether New France is joined to Florida or not. _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._,
dec. iii. lib. vi. cap. ix.; _Hakluyt's Divers Voy._, pp. 55-71; _New
York Hist. Soc._, _Collections_, 1841, series ii. vol. i.; _Kohl's
Hist. Discov._, pp. 249-70; _Hakluyt's Voy._, vol. iii. pp. 295-300;
_Aa_, _Naaukeurige Versameling_, tom. x. app. p. 13. A chart given by
Verrazano to Henry VIII. is said to have been used by Lock in compiling
the map published in _Hakluyt's Divers Voy._, London, 1582. (Reprint by
the Hakluyt Society, 1850. Copy in _Kohl_, p. 290.)
In 1522 Pedro de Alvarado had accomplished the conquest of Tehuantepec
on the South Sea; in 1524 and the following years he extended his
explorations and conquests by land across the isthmus over all the
north-western region of Central America, joining his conquests to
those of his countrymen from Panamá. In 1523 Cristóbal de Olid made
an expedition by water to Honduras in the service of Cortés, founding
a settlement; and in 1524 Cortés himself marched overland from
Mexico to Honduras. _Lettres de Pédro de Alvarado à Fernan Cortés_,
in _Ternaux-Compans_, _Voy._, série i. tom. x. pp. 107-50, and in
_Ramusio_, _Viaggi_, tom. iii. fol. 296-300; _Peter Martyr_, dec.
viii. cap. v. x.; _Oviedo_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. iii. pp. 434, 439,
475-87; _Gomara_, _Hist. Conq. Mex._, fol. 228-33, 245-6, 250-74;
_Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec. iii. lib. iii. cap. xvii.; lib. vi. cap.
x.-xii.; lib. vii. cap. viii.-ix.; lib. viii. cap. i.-vii.; _Alaman_,
_Disertaciones_, tom. i. pp. 203-25; _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist.
Nat. Civ._, tom. iv. pp. 546-50, 598 et seq., 631-705.
[Sidenote: CONQUEST OF PERU.]
In this same year, 1524, Francisco Pizarro sailed from Panamá southward,
and began the conquest of Peru, which, as related elsewhere in this
volume, brought to light, before 1540, nearly the whole western coast of
South America. For references to Pizarro's discovery see a later chapter
of this volume.
A meeting of the leading pilots and cosmographers of Spain and Portugal,
known as the Council of Badajoz, was convened for the purpose of
settling disputed questions between the two governments. Failing in
its primary purpose, the council nevertheless contributed largely to
a better knowledge of New World geography. Indeed, from this time the
European governments may be supposed to have had, and to have delineated
on their official charts, tolerably accurate ideas of the general form
of America and of its relation to Asia, except in the north-west,
although the existence of a passage through the continent was still
firmly believed in. Writers on cosmography and compilers of published
maps did not, however, for a long time obtain the knowledge lodged in
the hands of government officials.
[1525.] The man who accompanied Magellan in 1519, but left him after
entering the strait and returned with one vessel to Spain, was named
Estévan Gomez. In 1525 this captain was sent by Spain to search for a
corresponding strait in the north. Although an official expedition, and
the only one ever sent by Spain to northern parts, no journal has been
preserved, and only slight particulars derived from the old chroniclers
are known. Gomez expected to find a strait somewhere between Florida
and Newfoundland, probably not knowing the result of Verrazano's voyage
of the preceding year. Cabot was at the time piloto mayor in Spain, and
if Verrazano had, as is claimed for him by some, reached the southern
United States coasts, it is not likely that Gomez would have looked
there so confidently for his strait. This voyage lasted about ten
months, and in it Gomez is supposed to have explored the coast from
Newfoundland to a point below New York—possibly to Georgia or Florida.
_Peter Martyr_, dec. vi. cap. x.; _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec. iii.
lib. viii. cap. viii.; _Kohl's Hist. Discov._, pp. 271-81; _Navarrete_,
_Col. de Viages_, tom. iv. p. viii.; _Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung Am._,
pp. 70-1. According to Harrisse, _Fries_, _Auslegung der Mercarthen oder
Cartha Marina_, Strasburg, 1525, contains a map of the world, including
America, but Kohl states that this map, although made in 1525, was not
published till 1530. Other publications of the year are: _Pietro Arias_
(Pedrarias Dávila), _Lettere di Pietro Arias Capitano generale, della
conquista del paese del Mar Occeano_, written from Darien, and printed
without place or date; _Pigafetta_, _Le voyage et nauigation faict par
les Espaignolz es Isles de Mollucques_, an abridgment of the original
account by the author, who was with Magellan; _Cortes_, _La quarta
Relacion_, Toledo, 1525, dated October 15, 1524.
García de Loaisa sailed from Corunna July 24, 1525, to follow Magellan's
track. Passing through the strait between January and May, 1526, he
arrived at the Moluccas in October. _Viages al Maluco, Segundo el del
Comendador Fr. Garcia de Loaisa_, in _Navarrete_, tom. v.; _Burney's
Discov. South Sea_, vol. i. pp. 127-45; _Relaciones del viaje hecho á
las islas Molucas_, in _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, tom. v. p. 5.
[1526.] One small vessel of Loaisa's fleet, under command of Santiago
de Guevara, became separated from the rest June 1, 1526, after having
reached the Pacific Ocean. Guevara decided to steer for the coast of
New Spain, which was first seen in the middle of July; and on the 25th
he anchored at Tehuantepec. _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, tom. v. pp.
176-81, 224-5.
Cortés' exploring vessels, begun in 1522—the first having been burned
on the stocks, others were built in their place—were now, after long
delay, nearly ready to sail; and Guevara's vessel was brought up from
Tehuantepec to join them. _Cortés_, _Cartas_, Letter of September, 1526.
Aillon, in 1523, was made adelantado of Chicora, the country discovered
by him in 1520, and immediately prepared a new expedition with a view
to colonize the country, explore the coasts, and to find, if possible,
a passage to India. The preparations were not completed until July,
1526, when he sailed from Española with six vessels, 500 men, and
ninety horses. He reached the Rio Jordan—perhaps St Helena Sound, South
Carolina—and thence made a careful exploration northward, at least
to Cape Fear, and probably much farther. Aillon died on the 18th of
October, and after much internal dissension 150 men, all that remained
alive, returned to Santo Domingo. _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, tom.
iii. pp. 71-4, 153-60; _Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung Am._, p. 71.
Oviedo, _De la Natural hystoria de las Indias_, Toledo, 1526, describes
the New World, but this book is not the great historical work,
lately printed, by the same author. It may be found also in _Barcia_,
_Historiadores Primitivos_, and in _Ramusio_.
Sebastian Cabot attempted a voyage to India in 1526, sailing with
four vessels in April, with the intention of bearing succor to Loaisa.
Owing to insubordination among his officers, and other misfortunes, he
reached only the Rio de la Plata, and after extensive explorations in
that region, returned to Spain, having been absent four years. _Oviedo_,
_Hist. Gen._, tom. ii. p. 169; _Diccionario Universal_, Mexico, apend.,
'Viages,' tom. x. p. 807; _Roux de Rochelle_, in _Bulletin de la Soc.
Geog._, April, 1832, p. 212.
[1527.] June 10, 1527, an English expedition—the last officially sent by
that nation within the limits of my sketch—sailed from Plymouth, still
in search of a north-west passage. The two vessels sailed in company
to latitude 53°, and reached the coast, where, on the 1st of July, they
were separated by a storm, and one of them was probably lost. The other,
under John Rut, turned southward, followed the coast of New England,
often landing, probably reached Chicora, and returned to England _via_
the West India Islands, arriving early in October. _Hakluyt's Divers
Voy._, pp. 27, 33; _Biddle's Mem. Cabot_, pp. 114, 275; _Oviedo_, _Hist.
Gen._, tom. i. p. 611; _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec. ii. lib. v. cap.
iii.
Francisco Montejo, who had accompanied the expeditions of Grijalva and
Cortés, and had since been sent by the latter as ambassador to Spain,
obtained from the king in 1526 a commission as adelantado to conquer the
"islands of Yucatan and Cozumel." He sailed from Seville in 1527, landed
at Cozumel, penetrated the northern part of the peninsula, and during
the following years fought desperately to accomplish its conquest,
but failed. A small colony struggled for existence at Campeche for
several years, but in 1535 not a single Spaniard remained in Yucatan.
_Cogolludo_, _Hist. Yucathan_, pp. 59-94; _Gomara_, _Hist. Ind._, fol.
62-3; _Stephens' Incidents of Travel in Yucatan_, New York, 1858, vol.
i. pp. 56-62.
_La Salle_, _La Salade_, Paris, 1527, contains references to Greenland
and other northern parts of America.
[Sidenote: PACIFIC COAST EXPLORATIONS.]
In July, 1527, three of the vessels built by Cortés made a preliminary
trip up the Pacific coast from Zacatula to Santiago in Colima and
back—the first voyage along that coast. _Relacion ó Derrotero_, in
_Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. Doc._, tom. xiv. pp. 65-9; _Relacion
de la Derrota_, in _Florida, Col. Doc._, pp. 88-91. But an order from
Spain required the fleet to be sent to India direct—instead of by the
roundabout route proposed by Cortés—for the relief of Loaisa; and the
three vessels sailed from Zacatula in October under Saavedra, arriving
safely in India. Guevara's ship was too worm-eaten to accompany them;
but several vessels were already on the stocks at Tehuantepec to replace
those sent across the ocean. _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, introd. pp.
vi.-xi.; _Navarrete_, _Col. Viages_, tom. v. pp. 95-114, 181, 440-86;
_Gil_, _Memoria_, in _Boletin de la Soc. Mex. Geog._, tom. viii. p. 477
et seq.
In 1527 Robert Thorne, English ambassador to Charles V., wrote a book
or memorial to Henry VIII. on cosmography, on the Spanish and Portuguese
discoveries, and on the importance of exploring northward for a passage
to Cathay. It was afterward printed as _The booke made by the right
worshipful M. Robert Thorne_, in _Hakluyt's Voy._, vol. i. pp. 214-20.
In 1526 a commissioner was appointed to correct the Spanish charts.
Fernando Colon was charged with the revision, and in 1527 a map was made
called _Carta universal en que se contiene todo lo que del mundo se ha
descubierto fasta agora_. This map has been preserved, and a fac-simile
is given in _Kohl_, _Beiden ältesten Karten von Am._ It shows the whole
eastern coast line from the strait of Magellan to Greenland, and the
western coast from Panamá to the vicinity of Soconusco, and indicates
that the information in possession of the Spanish government was
remarkably accurate and complete. Yucatan is represented as an island,
and the discoveries on the Pacific side of South America are not laid
down; otherwise this map varies but little except in names from a map
made by Diego Ribero, in 1529, of which I shall give a copy. _Kohl_,
_Beiden ältesten Karten von Am._, pp. 1-24; _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._,
tom. ii. p. 184, and Preface to _Ghillany_.
[1528.] Bordone, _Libro di Benedetto Bordone Nel qual si ragiona de
tutte l'Isole del mondo_, Vinegia, 1528, gives maps of the larger
American islands, and also a map of the world, the American part of
which I copy from the original. No part of the western coast is shown,
although the New World is represented as distinct from Asia.
Kohl, _Beiden ältesten Karten von Am._, p. 34, mentions another work
printed at Venice the same year, which has a map resembling that of
Schöner in 1520.
Pánfilo de Narvaez sailed from Spain in 1527 with five ships and 600
men, to conquer the northern shores of the Gulf of Mexico, and after
losing some of his ships by storm, and many of his men by desertion,
in cruising about Española, Cuba, and other islands, he landed in
the vicinity of Tampa Bay April 14, 1528, and nearly all the company
perished in an attempt to follow the coast toward Vera Cruz. _Cabeça de
Vaca's Relation_, New York, 1871, pp. 13-20; _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._,
dec. iv. lib. iv. cap. iv.-vii.; lib. v. cap. v.
[Illustration: MAP BY BENEDETTO BORDONE, 1528.]
[1529.] Major, _Prince Henry_, pp. 440-52, entertains the opinion that
Australia was discovered probably before 1529, and certainly before
1542.
In 1529 was made the before-mentioned Spanish official map by
Diego Ribero, which may be supposed to show all that was known by
European pilots at that time of New World geography. It contains some
improvements and additions to Colon's map of 1527 with the same title,
although criticised, perhaps justly, by Stevens as partisan in its
distribution of the new regions among the European powers. I give a
copy reduced from the full-sized fac-simile in _Kohl_, _Beiden ältesten
Karten von Am_.
Greenland is called Labrador and is joined to the continent, as the
separating strait had not at the time been explored. It will be noticed
that Greenland is far less accurately laid down on this and other late
maps than on some earlier ones which are supposed to have derived some
of their details from northern sources. Labrador, Newfoundland, and
Nova Scotia have the general name of Bacallaos. Many of the numerous
islands along the coast are named in the original. Corresponding
perhaps to the New England and middle United States we have the 'Tiera
de Estevã Gomez,' stated by an inscription to have been discovered by
the Spaniards in 1525. From this land to Florida extends the 'Tiera de
Ayllon,' between which and 'Nveva España' comes the 'Tiera de Garay,'
thus dividing nearly all of the northern continent among the Spaniards.
The West India Islands have here their true number, position, and names.
Yucatan is given in its true proportions but is separated by a strait
from the main-land. The South Sea coast is represented only to the limit
of the voyage of Gil Gonzalez Dávila on the north, and extends southward
to the port of Chinchax in about latitude 10° south, including,
according to an inscription, the countries which had been reached by
Pizarro in 1527. The form of South America is correctly laid down and
the name 'Mvndvs Novvs' is applied to the whole, which is divided into
the provinces of 'Castilla del Oro,' 'Perv,' 'Tiera del Brasil,' 'Tiera
de Patagones,' and 'Tiera de Fernã de Magallaes,' or land of Magellan.
South of the strait is the 'Tiera de los Fuegos,' whose true form and
extent were not known until Schouten and Le Maire doubled Cape Horn in
1616.
* * * * *
Thus far I have copied or mentioned all maps which could throw any light
on the progress of geographical knowledge, and have endeavored to give
a statement of all the voyages by which this progress was made. Thus
far we have seen the coasts of both North and South America, except in
the south-west and the far north-west, more or less carefully explored
by European voyagers; we have seen the New World recognized as distinct
for the most part from Asia, a tolerably correct idea of its form and
extent given by government pilots, and the name America applied, except
on official maps, to the southern continent. Henceforth voyages to
the parts already discovered become of common occurrence, and numerous
maps, both in manuscript and print, are made, no one of which I shall
attempt to follow. In the expeditions of the next and concluding ten
years of this Summary I shall notice chiefly those by which a knowledge
was acquired of the countries lying toward California and the great
Northwest, presenting several maps to illustrate this part of the
subject.
[1530.] During the absence of Cortés in Spain no progress had been
made in maritime exploration; and by 1530 his ships on the stocks at
Tehuantepec were ruined, but he made haste to build more. _Cortés_,
_Cartas_, letters of Oct. 10, 1530, and April 20, 1532.
[Sidenote: NUÑO DE GUZMAN.]
Nuño de Guzman, formerly president of the audiencia of New Spain, and
the inveterate enemy of Cortés, undertook with a large force, recruited
in Mexico, the conquest of the region lying to the north-west of that
city. The northern limit of his conquest in 1530-1 was Culiacan, between
which and Mexico the whole country was brought under Spanish control by
expeditions sent by Guzman in all directions under different leaders.
_Relation di Nvnno di Gvsman_, in _Ramusio_, tom. iii. fol. 331, and
abridged in _Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_, vol. iv. p. 1556; _Jornada que
hizo Nuño de Guzman á la Nueva Galicia_, in _Icazbalceta_, _Col. de
Doc._, tom. ii.; _Primera relacion_, p. 288; _Tercera relacion_, p. 439;
_Cuarta relacion_, p. 461; _Doc. para Hist. de Mex._, serie iii. p. 669;
_Mota Padilla_, _Conquista de Nueva Galicia_, MS. of 1742; _Oviedo_,
_Hist. Gen._, tom. iii. pp. 559-77; _Gil_, _Memoria_, in _Boletin de la
Soc. Mex. Geog._, tom. viii. p. 424 et seq.
[Illustration: DIEGO RIBERO'S MAP, 1529.]
Hakluyt, in his _Voyages_, vol. iii. p. 700, states that one William
Hawkins, of Plymouth, made voyages, in a ship fitted out at his own
expense, to the coast of Brazil in 1530 and 1532, bringing back an
Indian king as a curiosity.
[Sidenote: PETER MARTYR, PTOLEMY, AND MUNSTER.]
_Peter Martyr_, _De Orbe novo_, Cõpluti, 1530, is the first complete
edition of eight decades; and _Opus Epistolarum_, of the same date and
place, is a collection of over eight hundred letters written between
1488 and 1525, many of them relating more or less to American affairs.
In the _Ptolemy_ of 1530, in several subsequent editions, and in
_Munster's Cosmography_ of 1572 et seq., is the map of which the
following is a reduction.
[Illustration: THE NEW WORLD, FROM PTOLEMY, 1530.]
I give this drawing, circulated for many years in standard works,
to illustrate how extremely slow were cosmographers to form anything
like a correct idea of American geography, and how little they availed
themselves of the more correct knowledge shown on official charts. The
following map, made in 1544, illustrates still further the absurdities
circulated for many years under the name of geography. Scores of
additional examples might be given.
[Illustration: RUSCELLI'S MAP, 1544.]
[1532.] At last, in the middle of 1532, Cortés was able to despatch from
Acapulco two vessels, under Hurtado de Mendoza and Mazuela, to make the
first voyage up the coast beyond Colima. Mendoza touched at Santiago and
at the port of Jalisco, near the later San Blas, discovering the islands
of Magdalena, or Tres Marías. Then they took refuge from a storm in a
port located only by conjecture, probably on the Sonora coast, where
after a time the vessels parted. Mendoza went on up the coast. Having
landed and ascended the Rio Tamotchala—now the Fuerte—he was killed,
with most of his men, by the Indians. The rest were massacred a little
later, when the vessel grounded and broke up at the mouth of the Rio
Petatlan, or Sinaloa. Meanwhile, Mazuela with the other vessel returning
down the coast was driven ashore in Banderas Bay, where all his men but
two or three were killed by the natives. Authorities, being voluminous,
complicated, and of necessity fully presented elsewhere, are omitted
here.
_Cortes_, _De Insvlis nvper inventis_, Coloniæ, 1532, is a translation
of Hernan Cortés' second and third letters, with Peter Martyr's _De
Insulis_, and a letter from Fray Martin de Valencia, dated Yucatan, June
12, 1531, with some letters from Zumárraga, first bishop of Mexico.
_Grynævs_, _Novvs Orbis_, Paris and Basle, 1532, is a collection of the
voyages of Columbus, Pinzon, Vespucci, and others. In this work the
assertion is made that Vespucci discovered America before Columbus,
which aroused the wrath of Las Casas, and seems to have originated
the subsequent bitter attacks on Vespucci. About the maps originally
published with this work there seems to be some doubt, most copies, like
my own, having no map. According to _Stevens' Notes_, pp. 19, 51-2,
pl. iii. no. 4, the Paris edition of _Grynæus_ contained a map made
by Orontius Fine in 1531. The following is a reduction from Stevens'
fac-simile on Mercator's projection:
[Illustration: ORONTIUS FINE'S MAP, 1531.]
All of the New World, so far as explored, is represented with tolerable
accuracy, but the unexplored South Sea coast is made to extend westward
from the region of Acapulco, and to join the southern coast of Asia,
which is laid down from the ancient chronicles. Instead of being, as
Stevens terms it, a "culmination of absurdities," I regard this map as
more consistent with the knowledge of the time than any other printed
during the first half of the sixteenth century. North America when found
was regarded as Asia; South America was at first supposed to be a large
island, and later an immense south-eastern extension of Asia; subsequent
explorations, chiefly that of Magellan, showed the existence of a
vast ocean between southern America and southern Asia; official maps
left unexplored regions blank, expressing no theory as to the northern
extension of the Pacific Ocean; other maps, as we have seen, without
any authority whatever, make that ocean extend north and completely
separate Asia from the New World. The present map, however, clings to
the original idea and makes North America an eastern extension of Asia,
giving the name America to the southern continent.
The map in the Basle edition of _Grynæus_, also given in _Stevens'
Notes_, pl. iv. no. 4, closely resembles _Schöner's Globe_ of 1520 (see
page 137).
[Sidenote: LOWER CALIFORNIA DISCOVERED.]
[1533.] The expedition of Becerra, Grijalva, and Jimenez, sent out by
Cortés to search for Hurtado de Mendoza and to continue north-western
discoveries, sailed from Santiago in November. This voyage, like those
following, will be fully treated elsewhere in this work. The only
result, so far as the purposes of this chapter are concerned, was the
discovery of the Revilla Gigedo group of islands and the southern part
of the peninsula of Lower California, supposed then to be an island.
Jimenez landed and was killed at Santa Cruz, now known as La Paz. The
subsequent expedition of 1535-6, headed by Cortés in person, added only
very slightly to geographical knowledge of the north-west. Many points
were touched and named along the coast; but comparatively few can be
definitely located except by the aid of information afforded by the
earlier explorations of Guzman by land.
Schöner, _Opvscvlvm Geographicvm_, supposed to have been printed in
1533, maintains that the New World is part of Asia, and contains, so far
as known, the first charge against Vespucci. _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._,
tom. v. pp. 174-5. Other books of the year are: _Franck_, _Weltbuch_,
Tübingen, 1533, which includes America in a description of the world;
and _Zummaraga_, _Botschafft des Grossmechtigsten Königs Dauid_, n.p.,
n.d., containing a letter from Mexico dated in 1532.
[1534.] In 1534, 1535, and 1540, Jacques Cartier made three voyages for
France, in which Newfoundland and the gulf and river of St Lawrence
were carefully explored. _Prima Relatione di Iacqves Carthier della
Terra Nvova detta la Nuoua Francia, trouata nell'anno_ MDXXXIIII., in
_Ramusio_, tom. iii. fol. 435; _Hakluyt's Voy._, vol. iii. pp. 201-36;
_Sammlung alter Reisebeschreibungen_, tom. xv. p. 29.
Simon de Alcazaba sailed from San Lúcar in September, 1534, with two
ships and 280 men, intending to conquer and settle the western coast of
South America south of Peru. After spending a long time in the strait
of Magellan, he was finally prevented by the mutiny of his men from
proceeding farther. His explorations in the Patagonian regions were more
extensive than had been made before. Seventy-five men, the remnant of
his expedition, reached Española in September, 1535, one vessel having
been wrecked on the coast of Brazil. _Oviedo_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. ii.
pp. 155-65; _Galvano's Discov._, pp. 198-9; _Herrera_, dec. v. lib. vii.
cap. v.; _Diccionario Univ._, app. tom. x. p. 807; _Burney's Discov.
South Sea_, vol. i. p. 171.
The books of 1534 are, _Francis of Bologna_, _La Letera_, Venetia, n.d.;
_Chronica compendiosissima_, Antwerp, 1534, containing letters from
priests in Mexico; _Vadianus_, _Epitome_, Tigura, 1534, includes the
Insulæ Oceani; _Peter Martyr_, _Libro Primo Della Historia_, Vinegia,
1534, which has joined to it a libro secondo by Oviedo, and an anonymous
third book on the conquest of Peru; two anonymous works, _Letera de
la nobil cipta_, and _Copia delle Lettere del Prefetto della India_,
being letters from Peru, the latter describing the conquest; _Honter_,
_De cosmographiæ_, Basileæ, 1534, with a chapter on the new islands;
_Xeres_, _Uerdadera relacion de la conquista del Peru_, Seville, 1534;
and an anonymous work on the same subject, _La conquista del Peru_,
Seville, 1534.
[1535.] In this year appeared the first edition of the great historical
work of Gonzalo Hernandez de Oviedo y Valdés, _La Historia general de
las Indias_, Seville, 1535. Only nineteen of the fifty books which
comprise the whole work appear in this edition; the work complete
has since been published in Madrid, 1851-5. Steinhowel, _Chronica
Beschreibung_, Franckenfort, 1535, has a chapter on 'America discovered
in 1497.'
[1536.] In April, 1528, as we have seen, Pánfilo de Narvaez had landed
on the west coast of Florida, probably at Tampa Bay, and attempted
with three hundred men to reach Pánuco by land. The company gradually
melted from famine, sickness, and battles with the savages, until
only Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca with a few companions remained. They
were held as slaves by the natives of the Gulf coast for six years;
and then escaping, traversed Texas, Chihuahua, and Sonora, by a route
which has not been very definitely fixed. Cabeza de Vaca with three
companions reached the Spanish settlements in northern Sinaloa early in
1536, and their reports served as a powerful incentive to more extended
exploration. _Relatione che fece Alvaro Nvnez detto Capo di vacca_, in
_Ramusio_, tom. iii. fol. 310-30; _Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_, vol. iv.
p. 1499; _Cabeça de Vaca's Relation_, New York, 1871; _Ternaux-Compans_,
_Voy._, série i. tom, vii.; _Oviedo_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. iii. p. 582 et
seq.; _Barcia_, _Historiadores Prim._, tom. i.
_Peter Martyr_, _De Rebus Oceanicis_, Paris, 1536, contains nine
decades. This work, with _Sacro Bosco_, _Sphera Volgare_, Venetiis,
1537, and _Nunez_, _Tratado da Sfera_, Olisipone, 1537, closes the
bibliographical part of this Summary, in which, following Harrisse as
the latest authority, I have endeavored to mention all the original
works by which the geographical results of voyages of discovery were
made known prior to 1540.
[1537.] After the abandonment of California by the colony, Cortés sent
two vessels under Hernando de Grijalva and Alvarado (not Pedro) to Peru
with supplies and reinforcements for Pizarro. There are vague reports
that Grijalva sailed westward from Peru and made a long cruise in the
Pacific, visiting various islands which cannot be located. _Herrera_,
_Hist. Gen._, dec. v. lib. viii. cap. x.; dec. vii. lib. v. cap. ix.;
_Galvano's Discov._, pp. 202-3; _Burney's Discov. South Sea_, vol. i.
p. 180.
[1538.] Fernando de Soto landed on the west coast of Florida, crossed
the peninsula to that part discovered by Aillon in 1526, wandered four
or five years in the interior of the southern United States and followed
the course of the Mississippi, probably as far up as to the Ohio. Here
Soto died, and the remnant of his company, after penetrating farther
west to the buffalo country, floated down the Mississippi and returned
to Mexico in 1543. Soto's travels are esteemed by Kohl as "the principal
source of knowledge regarding these regions, for more than a hundred
years." _Discov. and Conq. of Terra Florida_, _Hakluyt Soc._, London,
1851; _Selection of Curious Voy._, _Sup. to Hakluyt_, London, 1812, p.
689; _Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_, vol. iv. p. 1532; _Ferdinands von Soto
Reise nach Florida_, in _Sammlung_, tom. xvi. p. 395.
[1539.] In August, 1539, three vessels under Alonso de Camargo were
despatched from Seville for India _via_ the South Sea, and reached Cabo
de las Vírgenes January 20, 1540. One of the vessels was wrecked in the
strait of Magellan; another returned to Spain, and the third entered
the Pacific, and finally, after touching Chile in 38° 30', arrived at
Arequipa in Peru. This voyage is supposed to have afforded the first
knowledge of the intermediate coast between the strait of Magellan and
Peru. _Diccionario Univ._, app. tom. x. p. 807; _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._,
dec. vii. lib. i. cap. viii.; _Burney's Discov. South Sea_, vol. i. p.
186.
[Sidenote: NEW MEXICO INVADED.]
Cabeza de Vaca brought to Sinaloa and thence to Mexico accounts of
wonderful towns in the northern regions traversed by him; and in March,
1539, Fray Marcos de Niza, accompanied by one of the men who had seen
the reported wonders, set out from Culiacan and proceeded northward in
search of the Seven Cities of whose existence other rumors were current
besides those brought by Alvar Nuñez. Marcos de Niza reached the Pueblo
towns of Zuñi and brought back greatly exaggerated reports of the
wealth of the people and the magnificence of their cities. _Relatione
del Reverendo Fra Marco da Nizza_, in _Ramusio_, tom. iii. fol. 356;
_Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_, vol. iv. p. 1560; _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_,
_Col. de Doc._, tom. iii. p. 325; _Hakluyt's Voy._, vol. iii. pp.
366-73; _Ternaux-Compans_, _Voy._, série i. tom. ix. p. 256. See also
_Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner_, in _Pacific R. R. Reports_, vol. iii.
pp. 104-8.
Niza's report prompted Cortés to renewed efforts in his Californian
enterprise, and in July, 1539, Francisco de Ulloa was sent from Acapulco
with three vessels to prosecute the discoveries by water. Ulloa spent
some time in the port of Santiago for repairs, lost one vessel in a gale
near the entrance to the gulf, visited Santa Cruz, and then followed
the main coast to the mouth of the Colorado, and returned along the
coast of the Peninsula to Santa Cruz, where he arrived on the 18th of
October. From this place he doubled the southern point of California,
and sailed up the western coast to Cedros Island, and somewhat beyond.
During the whole voyage he touched and named many places, whose names
have seldom been retained, but some of which may be with tolerable
certainty identified. In April the vessels separated, one returning by a
quick passage to Colima. Ulloa himself with the other vessel attempted
to continue his explorations northward, with what success is not
known. According to Gomara and Bernal Diaz, he returned after several
months spent in fruitless endeavors to reach more northern latitudes;
other authorities state that he was never heard from. Preciado, who
accompanied the expedition, wrote of it a detailed but not very clear
narrative or journal. _Relatione dello scoprimento che nel nome di
Dio va à far l'armata dell' illustrissimo Fernando Cortese_, etc.
(Preciado's Relation), in _Ramusio_, tom. iii. 339-54, and in _Hakluyt's
Voy._, vol. iii. pp. 397-424; _Gomara_, _Hist. Conq._, fol. 292-3;
_Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Conq._, fol. 234; _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec.
vi. lib. ix. cap. viii. et seq.; _Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_, vol. v.
p. 856; _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, pp. xxii.-vi.; _Burney's Discov.
South Sea_, vol. i. pp. 193-210; _Venegas_, _Noticia de la California_,
quoted from _Gomara_, tom. i. pp. 159-61; _Clavigero_, _Storia della
California_, tom. i. p. 151.
[1540.] Also in consequence of Marcos de Niza's reports, Francisco
Vazquez de Coronado, who had succeeded Nuño de Guzman and Torre
as governor of New Galicia, set out from Culiacan in April, 1540,
penetrated to the Pueblo towns, or the Seven Cities of Cibola, and
thence to the valley of the Rio Grande and far toward the north-east
to Quivira, whose location, fixed by him in latitude 40°, has been a
much disputed question. While in Sonora, he sent forth Melchor Diaz,
who explored the head of the gulf, and the mouths of the rivers, Gila
and Colorado, where he found letters left by Alarcon. See _infra_. From
Cibola, Coronado sent Garcia Lopez de Cárdenas west, who passed through
the Moqui towns and followed the Colorado for some distance. Coronado
returned in 1542. _Relatione che mando Francesco Vazquez di Coronado_,
in _Ramusio_, tom. iii. fol. 359; _Pacheco_ and _Cárdenas_, _Col. de
Doc._, tom. iii. p. 511. _Hakluyt's Voy._, vol. iii. pp. 373-82, has the
same and Gomara's account. _Ternaux-Compans_, _Voyages_, série i. tom.
ix., gives the relations of Coronado, Castañeda, and Jaramillo. See also
_Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner_, in _Pacific R. R. Reports_, vol. iii.
pp. 108-12; _Simpson_, in _Report of Smithsonian Institution_, 1869.
To coöperate with Coronado's land expedition, Hernando de Alarcon
was despatched from Acapulco in May, 1540. Alarcon followed the coast
to the head of the gulf, and ascended the Buena Guia (Colorado) some
eighty-five leagues in boats, but hearing nothing from Coronado, he
returned after burying letters, which, as we have seen, were found by
Melchor Diaz. Beside the references given above, see _Sutil y Mexicana,
Viage_, p. xxviii.; _Burney's Discov. South Sea_, vol. i. pp. 211-16;
_Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_, vol. iv. p. 1560; _Schoolcraft's Arch._,
vol. iv. p. 21 et seq.; vol. vi. p. 60; _Doc. Hist. Mex._, serie iii.
p. 671.
I here present reductions of two maps of the time to illustrate the
explorations on the north-west coast, with which I close this sketch.
The first was made by the pilot Castillo in 1541, and is taken from
_Cortés_, _Hist. Nueva-España_, edited by Lorenzana, Mexico, 1770, p.
325.
[Illustration: CASTILLO'S MAP, 1541.]
[Sidenote: CALIFORNIA AND ARIZONA DISCOVERED.]
A similar chart is mentioned by Señor Navarrete as existing in the
hydrographic archives in Madrid. The second, from the _Munich Atlas_,
no. vi., is of uncertain date. Peschel places it between 1532 and 1540;
and it was certainly made about that time, as Yucatan is represented as
an island, and California as a peninsula, although later it came again
to be considered an island, as at its first discovery.
[Illustration: MANUSCRIPT MAP, AUTHOR UNKNOWN, SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN
DRAWN BETWEEN 1532 AND 1510.]
This, then, was Discovery. And in the progress of discovery we may
trace the progress of mind. We can but wonder now, when we see our
little earth belted with steam and lightning, how reluctantly the infant
intellect left its cradle to examine its surroundings. Wrapped in its
Mediterranean swaddlings, it crept forth timidly, tremblingly, slowly
gaining courage with experience, until, throwing off impediments, it
trod the earth in the fearless pride of manhood. Like all science,
philosophy, and religion, cosmography was at first a superstition.
Walled within narrow limits, as we have seen, by imaginary frost and
fire, shaken from fear of heaven above and hell beneath, there is little
wonder that the ancients dared not venture far from home; nor that, when
men began to explore parts unknown, there should appear that romance
of geography so fascinating to the Greek mind, that halo thrown by the
dimness of time and distance over strange seas and lands. From this time
to that of the adaptation of the magnet to purposes of navigation, about
a score of centuries, there was little progress in discovery.
Is it not strange how the secrets of nature, one after another, reveal
themselves according to man's necessities? Who would have looked for
the deliverance of pent-up humanity from certain mysterious qualities
in magnetic iron ore, which floated toward the north that side of a
cork on which it was placed? When Vasco da Gama and Columbus almost
simultaneously opened to Europe oceanic highways through which were
destined to flow the treasures of the eastern and the western Indies,
then it was that a new quality was discovered in the loadstone; for in
addition to its power to take up iron, it was found to possess the rare
virtue of drawing gold and silver from distant parts into the coffers
of European princes; then it was that paths were marked out across the
Sea of Darkness, and ships passed to and fro bearing the destroyers of
nations, and laden with their spoils.