Produced by Marc D'Hooghe
THE COLONIZATION OF NORTH AMERICA
1492-1783
BY
HERBERT EUGENE BOLTON, Ph.D.
PROFESSOR OF AMERICAN HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
AND
THOMAS MAITLAND MARSHALL, Ph.D.
PROFESSOR OF HISTORY IN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1920
PREFACE
This book represents an attempt to bring into one account the story of
European expansion in North America down to 1783. Text-books written in
this country as a rule treat the colonization of the New World as the
history, almost solely, of the thirteen English colonies which formed
the nucleus of the United States. The authors have essayed to write a
book from a different point of view. It has been prepared in response to
a clear demand for a text written from the standpoint of North America
as a whole, and giving a more adequate treatment of the colonies of
nations other than England and of the English colonies other than the
thirteen which revolted. This demand is the inevitable result of the
growing importance of our American neighbors and of our rapidly growing
interest in the affairs of the whole continent, past as well as present.
The book is divided into three main parts: I. The Founding of the
Colonies; II. Expansion and International Conflict; III. The Revolt of
the English Colonies. The keynote is expansion. The spread of
civilization in America has been presented against a broad European
background. Not only colonial beginnings but colonial growth has been
traced. This method accounts for the development of all geographical
sections, and shows the relation of each section to the history of the
continent as a whole. When thus presented the early history of
Massachusetts, of Georgia, of Arkansas, of Illinois, or of California is
no longer merely local history, but is an integral part of the general
story. The colonies of the different nations are treated, in so far as
practicable, in the chronological order of their development, the desire
being to give a correct view of the time sequence in the development of
the different regions.
A principal aim of the authors has been to make the book comprehensive.
The activities of the Dutch and Swedes on the Atlantic mainland are
given a large setting in both Europe and the New World. The account of
French expansion in North America has been extended beyond the
conventional presentation to embrace the West Indies, the founding of
Louisiana, and the advance of the French pioneers across the Mississippi
and up its tributaries, and up the Saskatchewan to the Rocky Mountains.
The story of English expansion embraces not only the thirteen colonies
which revolted, but also the Bermudas, the West Indies, Hudson Bay,
Canada, and the Floridas. The treatment of the new British possessions
between 1763 and 1783 aims to present in one view the story of the
expansion of the whole English frontier, from Florida to Hudson Bay.
The Spanish colonies of North America, in particular, have been accorded
a more adequate treatment than is usual in textbooks. To writers of
United States history the Spaniards have appeared to be mere explorers.
Students of American history in a larger sense, however, know that Spain
transplanted Spanish civilization and founded vast and populous
colonies, represented to-day by some twenty republics and many millions
of people. The notion, so widely current in this country, that Spain
"failed" as a colonizer, arises from a faulty method. In treating
Spain's part in the New World it has been customary, after recounting
the discovery of America, to proceed at once to territory now within the
United States--Florida, New Mexico, Texas--forgetting that these regions
were to Spain only northern outposts, and omitting the wonderful story
of Spanish achievement farther south. This book being a history of the
colonization of North America, Spain's great colonies in South America,
now powerful nations, fall beyond our geographical limits.
When approached from a new viewpoint many familiar things appear in a
new light. Hitherto, for example, the inter-colonial wars in North
America have been regarded mainly as a struggle between France and
England, and as confined chiefly to the Canadian border. By following
the larger story of European expansion, however, it becomes plain that
there was an Anglo-Spanish and a Franco-Spanish, as well as a
Franco-English struggle for the continent, not to mention the ambitions
and efforts of Dutch, Swedes, Russians, and Danes. In nearly all the
general inter-colonial wars the Caribbean area and the Carolina-Florida
frontier were scenes of frequent conflicts quite as important as those
waged on the Canadian border. Between France and Spain a border contest
endured for more than a century and extended all the way from the Lesser
Antilles to the Platte River. The Anglo-French contest ended in 1763;
but the Anglo-Spanish conflict, which began in the sixteenth century,
endured to the end of the eighteenth and, in the hands of the American
offspring of Spain and England, to the middle of the nineteenth century.
Some teachers may for special reasons wish to treat the development of
the colonies of a single nation as a continuous movement, or in longer
periods, less frequently broken by happenings in the colonies of other
nations. This can be done conveniently by grouping the chapters in the
desired order. A continuous account of Spanish expansion is given in
Chapters II, III, XIII, XVI, and XXI. A connected story of French
America is told in Chapters IV, XIV, XV, XX. By omitting these and
Chapter IX a continuous narrative of English expansion is obtained.
August, 1920.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
THE FOUNDING OF THE COLONIES
I. THE BACKGROUND AND THE DISCOVERY
Growth of Geographical Knowledge
Portuguese Discoveries
Columbus and the Discovery of America
II. THE FOUNDING OF NEW SPAIN (1492-1543)
Spain during the Conquest
The Occupation of the West Indies
Beginnings of Colonial Administration and Policy
Exploration of the Mainland Coasts and the Search for a Strait
The Mayas and the Nahuas
The Conquest of Central America
The Conquest of the Valley of Mexico
The Spread of the Conquest
Explorations in the Northern Interior and on the Pacific
The Establishment of the Viceroyalty of New Spain
III. THE EXPANSION OF NEW SPAIN (1543-1609)
Old and New Spain under Philip II
The Mines of Northern Mexico
The Settlement of the Atlantic Seaboard
Foreign Intrusions in the Atlantic
The Philippines and California
The Founding of New Mexico
Spanish Achievements in the 16th Century
IV. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE FRENCH COLONIES (1500-1700)
The French Background
Early Explorations and Colonizing Efforts
Acadia
The St. Lawrence Valley
Reorganization and the Iroquois Wars
The West Indies
Opening the Upper Lake Region and the Mississippi Valley
V. THE BEGINNINGS OF ENGLISH EXPANSION (1485-1603)
The Tudor Period
Commercial Expansion
The Elizabethan Sea-dogs
The Search for a Northwest Passage
Attempts at Colonization
VI. THE CHESAPEAKE BAY AND INSULAR COLONIES (1603-1640)
England under the Early Stuarts, 1603-1640
The Colonial Administrative System of the Early Stuarts
The Founding of Virginia
The Founding of Maryland
The Bermudas
Guiana
The Lesser Antilles
The Providence Island Company
VII. THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND (1606-1640)
The Puritan Movement in England
The Plymouth Colony
Colonizing Activities on the New England Coast
The Massachusetts Bay Colony
Expansion of the Massachusetts Bay Colony
Rhode Island
Settlements in the Connecticut Valley
VIII. THE ENGLISH COLONIES DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD (1640-1660)
Politics, Administration, and Expansion
New England Development
Virginia and Maryland
IX. THE DUTCH AND SWEDISH COLONIES (1609-1664)
Dutch Expansion
New Netherlands
The Dutch and the Swedes on the Delaware
Absorption of New Netherlands by the English
X. THE OLD ENGLISH COLONIES UNDER THE LATER STUARTS (1660-1689)
Colonial Policy and Administration
Machinery of Government
Misrule and Rebellion in Virginia
Discontent in Maryland
Royal Interference in New England
XI. EXPANSION UNDER THE LATER STUARTS (1660-1689)
New York
The Jerseys
Pennsylvania
The Insular Colonies
The Carolinas
Western Trade and Exploration
Hudson's Bay Company
XII. THE ENGLISH MAINLAND COLONIES AT THE CLOSE OF THE SEVENTEENTH
CENTURY
New England
New York and East New Jersey
Colonies along Delaware River and Bay
The Chesapeake Bay Region
South Carolina
EXPANSION AND INTERNATIONAL CONFLICT
XIII. THE SPANISH ADVANCE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
Spain and the Colonies in the Seventeenth Century
Frontier Administration
The Missions
The Jesuits in Sinaloa and Sonora
Efforts to Occupy Lower California
The Settlement of Chihuahua
New Mexico in the Seventeenth Century
Coahuila Occupied
First Attempts in Eastern Texas
The Struggle with Rivals in the West Indies
The Struggle with the English on the Carolina Border
XIV. THE WARS OF THE ENGLISH AND SPANISH SUCCESSIONS (1684-1713)
The Preliminary Struggle for the Northern Fur Country.
The War of the English Succession
The War of the Spanish Succession
The Peace of Utrecht
XV. THE FRENCH IN LOUISIANA AND THE FAR NORTHWEST (1699-1762)
The Founding of Louisiana
Louisiana under the Company of the Indies
Louisiana under the Royal Governors
The Trans-Mississippi West
The Advance Toward New Mexico
The Far Northwest
XVI. TEXAS, PIMERIA ALTA, AND THE FRANCO-SPANISH BORDER CONFLICT
(1687-1763)
Northeastward Advance of the Spanish Frontier
The Founding of Texas
War with France
The Expansion of Texas
The Franco-Spanish Border
Pimeria Alta
The Jesuits in Lower California
XVII. THE ENGLISH ADVANCE INTO THE PIEDMONT (1715-1750)
The Westward Movement
Defence of the Northern Frontier
Reorganization of the Carolinas
The Founding of Georgia
The German and Swiss Migration
The Scotch-Irish
Significance of the Settlement of the Piedmont
XVIII. ENGLISH COLONIAL SOCIETY IN THE MIDDLE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
General Features
New England Industry
The Middle Colonies
The Southern Colonies
Labor Systems
Features of Society
Barbados, the Leeward Isles, and Jamaica
XIX. THE ENGLISH COLONIAL SYSTEM (1689-1763)
The First Reorganization of William III
William's Second Reorganization
The Colonial System During the Reign of Anne
The Colonial System Under the Whigs
XX. A QUARTER-CENTURY OF CONFLICT: THE EXPULSION OF THE FRENCH
(1715-1763)
Spain and the Powers, 1715-1739
The War of Jenkins' Ear
The War of the Austrian Succession
The Approach of Another Conflict
The French and Indian War
XXI. THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE: THE OCCUPATION OF ALTA CALIFORNIA AND
LOUISIANA BY SPAIN (1763-1783)
Readjustment in Spanish North America
The Russian Menace
The Founding of Alta California
Northern Explorations
Louisiana under Spain, 1762-1783
XXII. THE NEW BRITISH POSSESSIONS (1763-1783)
Provisions for Defence, Government, and the Fur Trade
The Occupation of the Floridas
Military Occupation of the Illinois Country
Land Speculation and Plans for Western Colonies
Trans-Alleghany Settlement
The Province of Quebec
The Northern Fur Traders
THE REVOLT OF THE ENGLISH COLONIES
XXIII. THE CONTROVERSY OF THE ENGLISH COLONIES WITH THE HOME
GOVERNMENT (1763-1775)
The Background of the Contest
Reforms of the Grenville Ministry
Repeal of the Stamp Act
The Townshend Acts
Beginning of Organized Resistance
The Tea Controversy
Lord North's Coercive Policy
The First Continental Congress
XXIV. FROM LEXINGTON TO INDEPENDENCE (1775-1776)
The Opening of Hostilities
The Second Continental Congress
Progress of the War
The Loyalists
The Declaration of Independence
XXV. THE STRUGGLE FOR THE MIDDLE STATES (1776-1777)
The Contest for New York
The New Jersey Campaign
The Struggle with Burgoyne
The Contest for Philadelphia
XXVI. THE WAR AS AN INTERNATIONAL CONTEST (1778-1781)
The French Alliance
The War in the West
Spain in the War
The War on the Sea and the Dutch Alliance
XXVII. THE CLOSING YEARS OF THE REVOLUTION (1778-1783)
The War in the South
The Yorktown Campaign
The Treaty of Peace
XXVIII. GOVERNMENTAL DEVELOPMENT DURING THE REVOLUTION
The Second Continental Congress
Financial Affairs
State Governments during the Revolution
The Articles of Confederation
Governmental Reorganization
LIST OF MAPS
Portuguese Expansion and Magellan's Voyage
The Four Voyages of Columbus
The Unification of Spain
The Development of the West Indies, 1492-1519
The Development of Central America, 1500-1543
The Development of Southern Mexico, 1519-1543
Explorations in the Northern Interior, 1513-1543
The Advance into Northern Mexico, 1543-1590
Spanish Florida
Explorations on the California Coast, 1542-1603
New Mexico in Onate's Time
Cartier's Explorations, 1534-1542
The French in Canada in the Seventeenth Century
The Caribbean Area in the Seventeenth Century
La Salle's Colony on the Texas Coast, 1684-1689
Settlements in Virginia, 1634
Settlements in Maryland, 1634
The Bermudas
Principal Settlements in Massachusetts, 1630
Settled Areas in New England, about 1660
Settled Areas in Virginia and Maryland, about 1660
Van Der Donck's Map of New Netherland, 1656
New Sweden
The Delaware River Region, 1665-1774
The Southern Colonies, 1607-1735
Hudson's Bay Company Posts
Settled Areas in New England and on Long Island, about 1700
Settled Areas in the Middle Colonies, about 1700
Settled Areas in the Southern Colonies, about 1700
Sinaloa and Sonora in the Seventeenth Century
A Dutch Map Illustrating the Insular Theory of California's Geography
(1624-1625)
New Mexico in the Seventeenth Century
The Beginnings of Coahuila and Texas
The Intercolonial Wars
The French in Louisiana and the Far Northwest
Texas in the 18th Century
Father Kino's Map of Pimeria Alta
Mainland Regions occupied by the English, 1700-1760
Principal Areas of German Settlement before 1763
The Areas Largely Populated by Scotch-Irish before 1763
The Western English Frontier, 1763
Alta California Settlements
The Spanish Frontier in the Later Eighteenth Century
The New British Possessions, 1763-1783
Boston with Environs During the Revolution
Northern New Jersey, New York and Its Environs during the Revolution
The Region of Burgoyne's Invasion (1777)
Morristown, New Jersey, to Head of Elk, Maryland (1777)
The War in the South (1778-1781)
THE COLONIZATION OF NORTH AMERICA
THE FOUNDING OF THE COLONIES
CHAPTER I
THE BACKGROUND AND THE DISCOVERY
The fifteenth century witnessed the culmination of the Renaissance, the
rise of the Turkish Empire, the shifting of the commercial center from
the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, the discovery of America and the
opening of the Cape route to India. Portugal and Spain started on their
careers as great commercial and colonizing nations, the former destined
for a time to control the commerce of the Far East, the other to possess
more than half of the Americas and to dominate the Pacific.
GROWTH OF GEOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE
Classical ideas of the world.--The discoveries of the century completely
transformed the conceptions of geography. Greek and Roman scholars had
agreed that there were three continents, Europe, Asia, and Africa,
encircled by the ocean. Aristotle, Strabo, and others accepted the
theory that the earth was a sphere, but they usually underestimated its
size. Ptolemy, the greatest of the ancient geographers, made two
fundamental errors, which most of the Arab and Christian scholars
accepted. He depicted the Indian Ocean as an inland sea, and greatly
extended Africa until it filled the entire southern hemisphere, China
and Africa being connected.
Arab theories and Christian scholars.--The Arabs believed that the earth
was a disc or ball, which was the center of the universe. The center of
the earth's surface they called Arim, meaning the cupola of the earth.
At the eastern extremity stood the pillars of Alexander, at the western
the pillars of Hercules, while the north and south poles were equally
distant from Arim. The Ptolemaic idea of Africa was accepted by most of
the Arabs, but many of their later map makers decreased its size,
cutting it off in the neighborhood of Cape Bojador on the African coast,
and calling the region beyond the "Green Sea of Darkness." Others
sketched in a great southern continent below Africa. The "Green Sea of
Darkness" was filled with terrors, whirlpools ready to destroy the
adventurous mariner, a sea of mist, fog, and vapor, peopled by monsters.
If he escaped these as he ventured southward, he would come to a zone of
torrid heat where no man could survive. Roger Bacon, the great Christian
scientist, accepted the Arabian theories but supplemented them by a
study of the classics. He believed that the habitable world was more
than half of the whole circuit, an idea which was repeated in the _Imago
Mundi_ of Pierre d'Ailly, a work which may have influenced Columbus.
Early Asiatic contact with America.--Some scholars believe that the
western coast of North America was visited by Asiatics long before the
eastern shores were reached by Europeans. In 499 a Buddhist priest
returned from a voyage claiming to have been to a country called Fusang,
lying far to the east. The location of Fusang has interested numerous
students, whose conjectures have been marshalled by Vining to prove that
it was Mexico. Some have attributed the remarkable sporadic growth of
cypress trees below Monterey, California, to this episode. The trend of
opinion accepts ethnographic and linguistic similarities as of greater
conclusiveness than recorded Chinese history. Belief in early Japanese
contact with America rests on a similar basis.
The Northmen.--The first Europeans to venture far out on the Atlantic
were the Northmen, a people but little touched by classical, Arabic, or
Christian culture before their great period of expansion. The western
sea to them had no terrors. Near the close of the eighth century they
appeared in England; in 860 they sighted Iceland and in 874 commenced
its colonization. Three years later they discovered Greenland, but it
was not until 986 that Eric the Red colonized it. In the year 1000,
Leif, the son of Eric, went in quest of a land to the west, of which he
had heard report. The result of the voyage was the discovery of
Vinland, the exact whereabouts of which has been one of the puzzles of
history, some scholars claiming it to have been Nova Scotia, others New
England. Wherever it may have been, it probably played no part in the
Columbian discovery of America, for though the settlements in Greenland
continued until early in the fifteenth century, scientists and mariners
remained in almost complete ignorance of the far-off activities of the
Northmen.
Mediaeval travelers.--During the period of the Crusades, travel became
more and more extensive. Returning crusaders told of their adventures
and of the lands which they had visited. Pilgrims returning from the
East increased the store of geographical knowledge and repeated
marvelous tales of Russia, China, and India, although none of them had
first-hand knowledge. But during the thirteenth century accurate
information was obtained. John de Plano Carpini, a Neapolitan
Franciscan, went as a legate of Pope Innocent IV to the Great Khan in
Tartary. His _Book of the Tartars_ is the first reliable account of the
empire of the Great Mogul. A few years later William de Rubruquis was
sent by St. Louis of France to the same court, and returned to tell a
tale of wonders.
Between 1255 and 1265 two Venetians, Nicolo and Matteo Polo, were
trading in southern Russia, and eventually they visited the court of
Kublai Khan in Mongolia, later returning to Europe. In 1271 they again
visited the Far East, this time accompanied by their nephew, Marco,
whose account of their journeyings is the most famous book of travel.
Marco became an official at the Mongol court and was sent on various
missions which carried him over a large part of China. He also learned
of the wonders of Cipango or Japan. In 1292 the Polos left China,
visited Java, India, and Ceylon, and eventually returned to Europe.
Their travels made known a vast region which had previously lain almost
outside the reckoning of geographers, and gave to Europeans a fairly
accurate as well as a fascinating account of the Far East.
Early maritime activities on the African coast.--While the Polos were in
Asia, mariners were beginning to explore outside the Pillars of
Hercules. In 1270 the Canaries were discovered by Malocello and a few
years later Genoese galleys reached Cape Nun. In 1341 the Canaries were
again visited, this time by an expedition from Lisbon, and in 1370 an
Englishman, Robert Machin, who had eloped from Bristol with Anne
d'Arfet, was driven from the French coast in a storm and came to Madeira
where they both died from exposure. Some of the crew, however, returned
to tell the tale. In 1402 a Norman, De Bethencourt, reached the Canaries
and several of the islands were soon colonized.
Advance of maritime science.--As sea voyaging progressed, maritime
science was also advancing. A large number of coast charts called
Portolani were made, which plotted with remarkable accuracy the coast
lines of Europe and northern Africa. Over four hundred of these charts
are still in existence. Their accuracy was largely due to the use of the
compass and astrolabe, which are known to have been invented before
1400.
PORTUGUESE DISCOVERIES
The rise of Portugal.--In the work of geographical and commercial
expansion Portugal now took the lead. The little kingdom, from a small
territory to the north of the Douro, had gradually extended its domain
to the southward by driving out the Moors. Its commercial importance
began by the opening of a trade with England. From 1383 to 1433 Portugal
was ruled by John the Great, and during his reign the oversea expansion
of the country began.
Henry the Navigator.--The greatness of Portugal was largely due to one
of King John's sons, Prince Henry. He was born in 1394 and at an early
age became interested in furthering trade with the interior of Africa.
In 1410 or 1412 he is said to have sent caravels down the coast. In 1415
he assisted in the capture of the Moorish stronghold of Ceuta, where he
gained great military renown. In 1419 he was made governor of Algarve,
the southern province of Portugal. He established himself at Sagres, on
Cape St. Vincent, where he enlarged the old naval arsenal, built a
palace, chapel, study, and observatory, and here it was that he spent
the greater portion of his life.
Henry had three main objects: first, to open trade with the interior of
Africa; second, to found a colonial empire; third, to spread the
Christian faith. A tale was current that somewhere in Africa lived a
Christian king called Prester John, who was cut off from the world by
Islam. To find his kingdom and unite with him in the overthrow of the
Mohammedans was a natural ambition in a prince who had already assisted
in the capture of Ceuta.
Henry gathered about him a group of trained mariners, some of whom were
Italians, made a study of geography and navigation, instructed his
captains, and sent them out from Lagos to find new markets. Between 1420
and 1430 Cape Blanco was discovered and the first slaves were brought
back, this being the beginning of an extensive traffic. Four years later
Cape Verde was reached, and in 1455 the Cape Verde Islands were
discovered and the coast of Senegal explored. The results of the
Portuguese explorations under Prince Henry were incorporated in a map of
the world, made by Fra Mauro in the convent of Murano, near Venice.
Discovery of a route to India.--During the sixty years which followed
the death of Prince Henry, 1460-1520, the Portuguese completed the
exploration of the west coast of Africa, discovered a route to India,
explored a considerable part of the eastern coast of North and South
America, and founded a colonial empire. In 1486 Bartholomew Diaz passed
the Cape of Good Hope and in 1498 Vasco da Gama, spurred on by the
discoveries of Columbus, crossed the Indian Ocean to Calicut.
It has been customary to ascribe the diversion of trade from the eastern
Mediterranean to the Cape of Good Hope route to the rise of the Turkish
Empire, which was supposed to have cut the old lines of communication to
the Far East. Recent investigation has shown that such is not the case.
As Professor Lybyer says, "They [the Turks] were not active agents in
deliberately obstructing the routes.... Nor did they make the discovery
of new routes imperative. On the contrary they lost by the discovery of
a new and superior route." This superiority was due to the fact that the
Cape route was an all-water route which did not require the rehandling
of goods and expensive caravan transportation. Not the Turk, but cheap
freight rates, diverted trade from the Mediterranean to the Cape route.
[Illustration: Portuguese Expansion and Magellan's Voyage.]
COLUMBUS AND THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA
Early life of Columbus.--Meanwhile America had been discovered by
Christopher Columbus, in the service of Spain. Much that was formerly
believed to be true concerning the early life of Columbus recent
research has proved to be false or to rest upon doubtful evidence. He
was born at or near Genoa, probably in 1452, and was the son of a woolen
weaver. Little is known of his education, but in some manner he acquired
a knowledge of Latin, read the principal geographical works then
accessible, and acquired a wide knowledge of navigation. Three books
which he studied with care were the _General History and Geography_ by
AEneas Sylvius, the _Imago Mundi_ of Pierre d'Ailly, and the _Travels_ of
Marco Polo.
He entered the marine service of Portugal, probably lived for a time on
the island of Porto Santo, one of the Madeiras, visited the coast of
Guinea, and sailed as far north as England. He married Felipa Moniz, a
niece of Isabel Moniz, whose husband was Bartholomew Perestrello, who
served under Prince Henry. It is probable that a correspondence occurred
between Columbus and the Florentine geographer, Toscanelli, who is said
to have suggested to the navigator the possibility of reaching the
Indies by sailing west and to have sent him a copy of a chart which he
had prepared. The Toscanelli map has not come down to us, the so-called
reproduction of it being an adaptation of Behaim's globe of 1492.
Through these various influences Columbus conceived the plan of seeking
new lands in the Atlantic and became convinced of the feasibility of
opening a western route to the Indies.
His sojourn in Spain.--After unsuccessfully urging his views in
Portugal, in 1484 Columbus went to Spain, where he presented himself at
the court and made the acquaintance of many influential persons. He also
sent his brother Bartholomew to obtain assistance in western exploration
from Henry VII of England. Columbus met with slight encouragement in
Spain, and decided to seek French aid, but just as he was making his
departure he was recalled, Queen Isabella having been brought to a
favorable decision by Fray Juan Perez, a former confessor, by Luis de
Santangel, the treasurer of Aragon, by the Count of Medina-Celi, and by
the Marquesa de Moya.
His commission.--Columbus was given a commission authorizing him to
explore and trade. It said nothing of a route to the Indies. The
enterprise of discovery was essentially a new one, and it was natural
that the first patent should contain only general provisions. Indeed,
the document was so brief and incomplete that many supplementary orders
had to be issued before the expedition was ready. In return for services
and to provide a representative of Spanish authority in anticipated
discoveries, Columbus was ennobled and made admiral, viceroy, and
governor-general in such lands as he might add to the Castilian realm.
These offices were patterned after well-known institutions then in use
in Spain. The titles were to be hereditary in Columbus's family. The
admiral was to have a tenth of the net profits of trade and precious
metals within his discoveries. By contributing an eighth of the expense
of commercial ventures, he was entitled to an additional eighth of the
profits from trade. To encourage the expedition all duties on exports
were remitted.
Outfitting the expedition.--The story that Isabella pawned her jewels to
equip the expedition is now disproved, the royal share of the money
apparently being loaned to the Castilian treasury by Luis de Santangel.
The total cost of outfitting was probably somewhat less than $100,000,
of which Columbus or his friends furnished an eighth. Three vessels, the
_Santa Maria_, the _Pinta_, and the _Nina_, were provided. The number
who sailed is variously estimated at from ninety to one hundred and
twenty men.
The discovery.--In August, 1492, the three vessels sailed from Palos to
the Canaries, those islands then being a possession of Spain which she
had acquired from Portugal in 1479. During the entire colonial period
they were an important factor in navigation, being a place for refitting
before the long trans-Atlantic voyage. The vessels left the Canaries on
September 6 and sailed almost due west. They met with fair weather, but
the length of the voyage caused much complaint, which resulted in a plot
to get rid of Columbus. The Admiral succeeded in quelling the mutiny,
however, and shortly afterward land was sighted.
On the evening of October 11 a light in the distance was twice seen by
the commander, and before morning the moonlight disclosed to the lookout
of the _Pinta_ a sandy beach. The landfall was a small coral island of
the Bahamas, which Columbus named San Salvador and which was probably
the one now called Watling's Island. Believing that he had reached the
Indies, he called the inhabitants Indians, a name which has clung ever
since to American aborigines.
[Illustration: The Four Voyages of Columbus.]
Sojourn in the West Indies.--Through all of his sojourn in the West
Indies, Columbus was filled with the idea that he had found the Indies.
Hearing of Cuba and believing that it was Cipango, he planned to visit
the mainland and go to the city of Guisay, the Quinsai of Marco Polo.
From the Bahamas he proceeded to Cuba and explored the eastern third of
its northern coast. He despatched an interpreter to the Grand Khan, but
instead of a mighty city, an Indian village was discovered. There
Europeans first saw the smoking of tobacco. From Cuba the expedition
went to Haiti, which Columbus named Espanola (Little Spain), corrupted
in English to Hispaniola, and there the _Santa Maria_ was wrecked.
The return voyage.--Having built a fort on the northern shore of
Espanola not far from its westernmost point, which he named La Navidad
(the Nativity) because the neighboring harbor was entered on Christmas
day, Columbus left forty-four of the crew with ample provisions,
implements, and arms, and began the return voyage on January 4, 1493.
Two violent storms were encountered, but both were weathered, and on
March 4 the vessels came to anchor in the mouth of the Tagus.
His reception.--In Lisbon the news of the discovery created great
excitement. The King of Portugal invited Columbus to court and
entertained him royally. On March 13 he sailed for Spain, arriving at
Palos two days later. The citizens adjourned business for the day; bells
were rung, and at night the streets were illumined with torches. From
there he proceeded to Seville and then to the court at Barcelona, where
the greatest honors were bestowed upon him. He was allowed to be seated
in the presence of the sovereigns, who showed the keenest interest in
his specimens of flora and fauna, pearls and golden trinkets, but
especially in the Indians whom he had brought from Espanola. The theory
that he had reached the outlying parts of the Indies was readily
accepted, and the sovereigns at once prepared to take possession of the
newly discovered lands.
The line of Demarcation.--The king of Portugal, jealous of Spain's
triumph, is said to have planned to send a fleet across the Atlantic to
dispute the Spanish claims. Ferdinand and Isabella hurried a messenger
to Rome asking the pope to confirm their rights to the new discoveries.
Accordingly, on May 4, 1493, Pope Alexander VI assigned to Spain all
lands west of a meridian one hundred leagues west of the Azores and Cape
Verde Islands. King John was not satisfied, and a year later, by the
treaty of Tordesillas, a division line was fixed at 370 leagues west of
Cape Verde Islands. This change gave Portugal title to her later
discoveries on the Brazilian coast, though it lessened her possessions
in the Orient.
READINGS
GROWTH OF GEOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE
Beazley, C.R., _The Dawn of Modern Geography; Prince Henry the
Navigator_, 1-105; Fischer, J., _The Discoveries of the Northmen in
America_; Fiske, John, _The Discovery of America_, I, 151-255, 363-381;
Hovgaard, W., _The Voyages of the Norsemen to America_, 221-255; Marco
Polo, _The Book of Ser Marco Polo the Venetian_, Yule ed.; Olson, J.E.,
and Bourne, E.G., eds., _The Northmen, Columbus, and Cabot (Original
Narratives of Early American History)_, 3-84; Vining, E.J., _An
Inglorious Columbus; or evidence that Hwi Shan ... discovered America in
the Fifth Century_; Winsor, Justin, _Narrative and Critical History of
America_, I, 1-58; Fossum, A., _The Norse Discovery of America_;
Steensby, H.P., _The Norsemen's Route to Wineland_; Larson, L.M., "The
Church in North America (Greenland) in the Middle Ages," in _The
Catholic Historical Review_, V, 175-194.
PORTUGUESE DISCOVERIES
Beazley, C.R., _Prince Henry the Navigator_, 123-307; Bourne, E.G.,
"Prince Henry the Navigator," in _Essays in Historical Criticism_,
173-189; Cheyney, E.P., _European Background of American History_,
60-70; Helps, Arthur, _The Spanish Conquest in America_, I, 1-54; Jayne,
K.G., _Vasco da Gama and his Successors_, 7-240; Lybyer, A.H., "The
Ottoman Turks and the Routes of Oriental Trade," in _The English
Historical Review_, XXX, 577-588; Major, R.H., The Discoveries of Prince
Henry the Navigator; Martins, J.P.O., _The Golden Age of Prince Henry
the Navigator_, 66-84, 205-231; Stephens, H.M., _Portugal_, 115-248;
Vander Linden, H., "Alexander VI., and the Demarcation of the Maritime
and Colonial Dominions of Spain and Portugal," in _American Historical
Review_, XXII, 1-20.
COLUMBUS
Biggar, H.P., "The New Columbus," in Am. Hist. Assoc., _Ann. Rpt.,
1912_, pp. 97-104; Bourne, E.G., _Spain in America_, 8-32; Channing,
Edward, History of the United States, I, 14-25; Hart, A.B., _American
History told by Contemporaries_, I, 28-48; Helps, Arthur, _The Spanish
Conquest in America_, I, 55-88; Herrera, Antonio, _Historia General_;
Las Casas, Bartholomew, _Historia de las Indias_; Major, R.H., _Select
Letters of Columbus_; Markham, Clements, _Life of Columbus_; Navarrete,
M.F., _Coleccion de los Viages y Descubrimientos_; Olson, J.E., and
Bourne, E.G., eds., _The Northmen, Columbus, and Cabot (Original
Narratives)_, 80-383; Peter Martyr, _De Orbe Novo_ (F.A. McNutt,
trans.); Richman, L.B., _The Spanish Conquerors_, 1-63; Thacher, J.B.,
_Columbus_; Vignaud, Henry, _Toscanelli and Columbus_: Winsor, Justin,
_Columbus_.