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[Illustration: CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS]
Life Stories for Young People
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS
Translated from the German of
JOACHIM HEINRICH CAMPE
by
George P. Upton
Translator of “Memories,” “Immensee,” etc.
With Five Illustrations
[Illustration: A. C. McCLURG & CO.]
Chicago
A. C. McClurg & Co.
1911
Copyright
A. C. McClurg & Co.
1911
Published September, 1911
The · Plimpton · Press
[W · D · O]
Norwood · Mass · U · S · A
Translator’s Preface
There are five representatives of the Columbus family more or less
famous in the history of exploration, _viz._, Christopher, the
discoverer of America; Bartolomeo, brother of Christopher, governor of
Isabella and founder of San Domingo; Diego, brother of Christopher, who
accompanied him on his second voyage and subsequently entered the
priesthood; Diego, son of Christopher, and his successor as governor of
Hispaniola; Ferdinand, illegitimate son of Christopher, who accompanied
his father on his fourth voyage and became his biographer; and Colon,
grandson of Christopher, who was made Duke of Veraqua, Marquis of
Jamaica, and Captain-general of Hispaniola; but all of them shine in the
reflected light of Christopher, except his brother Bartolomeo, who,
while not as skilful a navigator and explorer as his brother, was a
great soldier, an experienced administrator, and the principal support
of Christopher in his many difficulties and hardships.
The story of Columbus, apart from his discovery of America and his many
thrilling adventures in the West Indies, should be one of absorbing
interest to youth. It is the story of a man who in his youthful days
conceived a vast project, for his time, adhered to it with inflexible
resolution though confronted with obstacles which would have discouraged
any ordinary man, suffered privations and hardships of the most trying
kind, meeting threats against his life, shipwreck, physical ailments,
poverty, malicious attacks of bitter enemies, shameful calumnies, the
disgrace of being sent to Spain in fetters by Bobadilla, his jealous and
cruel rival, and the ingratitude and dishonesty of the King of Spain,
and yet accomplished a purpose even greater than that which first
inspired him, for he died not knowing that he had discovered a new
continent. He supposed to the last that the region he had found was the
East Indies. The great navigator, seaman, and explorer passed his last
days in poverty and neglect, and the rewards which the King had promised
were enjoyed not by him but by his son Diego. But his fame is immortal.
G. P. U.
Chicago, _July, 1911_.
Contents
Chapter Page
I Portuguese Voyages of Discovery—The Youth of Columbus—His
Arrival at Lisbon 11
II Columbus’ Scheme Rejected in Lisbon—He Goes to Madrid and Has
an Interview with Ferdinand and Isabella, after which he
Endures Bitter Disappointments 22
III Three Vessels Fitted Out for Columbus—The First Voyage of
Discovery is Made from Palos, August 3, 1492—Columbus on
the Open Sea 30
IV Ocean Phenomena, Unknown to Columbus and his Crew, Increase
the Fear of the Latter 35
V “Land, Land!” 38
VI Columbus Discovers Several Islands, among them Guanahani,
Cuba, and Haiti—Traffic with the Natives 44
VII Prince Guakanahari—The Admiral’s Vessel Wrecked—Forty-three
Men Remain Behind—The Return Voyage Begins 52
VIII The Return Voyage—Storm on the Way—Arrival at the Azores,
Lisbon, and Palos 60
IX Columbus’ Second Journey in 1493—Several Islands
Discovered—The Spaniards Find their Fort Destroyed and
the Colonists Dead 67
X New Discoveries—Columbus in Great Danger—Uprising of the
Natives 75
XI The Natives are Subjugated—Columbus is Traduced in Spain—He
Returns to Europe and Suffers Many Hardships on the
Voyage 82
XII Columbus is Graciously Received by Ferdinand and
Isabella—His Enemies Unable to Shake their Confidence in
Him—The Third Voyage in 1498—Discovery of the Island of
Trinidad at the Mouth of the Orinoco 87
XIII Wretched Condition of the Colony—Vasco da Gama Sails around
the Cape of Good Hope to the East Indies—Ojeda’s
Undertaking—Cabral Discovers Brazil 93
XIV Columbus Again Calumniated at the Spanish Court—Bobadilla is
Ordered to San Domingo on a Tour of Investigation—He
Sends Columbus Back to Spain in Fetters—Columbus
Vindicated by his Sovereigns—Ovando Sails to the New
Countries with a Fleet of Thirty-two Vessels 101
XV Ovando Calls the Audacious Bobadilla to Account—Columbus
Undertakes his Fourth Voyage in 1502 108
XVI Columbus Vainly Attempts to Find the Passage between the
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans 115
XVII Columbus Abandons the Hope of Discovering a Passage to the
Pacific and Returns to Jamaica, where his Vessels are
Exposed to Great Danger—Two Boats are Sent to Haiti for
Help 122
XVIII Conspiracy against Columbus at Jamaica—He Returns to Spain
and Vainly Seeks Reinstatement—He Dies at Valladolid in
1506 131
XIX Diego, Columbus’ Son, Secures the Rights Coming to him from
his Father—The Spaniards Extend their Authority in
Central America and Rule Cruelly—Ponce de Leon’s
Discovery of Florida 144
Appendix 154
Illustrations
Page
Christopher Columbus _Frontispiece_
Columbus Planning the Discovery of America 28
In Sight of the New World 42
Landing of Columbus 44
The Return of Columbus from his First Voyage 68
Christopher Columbus
Chapter I
Portuguese Voyages of Discovery—The Youth of Columbus—His Arrival at
Lisbon
The ancient Greeks were not the only nation which imagined there was a
region in the Atlantic Ocean, an island beyond the Pillars of Hercules,
the sea highway, now called the Straits of Gibraltar. The traditions of
other people tell of a land where only happy mortals dwell. Greek poetry
assigned this region to the ocean, which was supposed to surround the
world as it was known at that time. The Romans also believed in this
distant western land, and in the Christian Middle Ages these same
traditions were carefully preserved. It was told that many an adventurer
sought these Islands of the Blest but never returned home.
The seafarers of the Middle Ages must have been timid navigators for
they never reached the open sea but contented themselves with cruising
along its shore. At last the Genoese and Venetians, whose cities were
very prosperous in the fourteenth century, because of their expanding
commerce, ventured out of the Straits of Gibraltar. Their course,
however, was not southward but north of the straits which connect the
Mediterranean Sea with the ocean, for it is well known that the
Venetians in 1318 reached Antwerp by vessel.
Simultaneously with these efforts of the Italians to reach the north,
the Portuguese were striving to discover a passage to the rich Indies in
vessels manned almost entirely by Italian sailors. The Genoese also
undertook independent voyages of discovery. Two ships which passed
through the Straits of Gibraltar at the close of the thirteenth century
never came back. A Genoese expedition at the beginning of the fourteenth
century discovered the Canary Islands, but the explorers declared they
were not the Islands of the Blest. Before the year 1335 a Portuguese
vessel returned to Lisbon from the Canaries with products of the soil
and kidnapped natives. In July, 1341, two large and well armed vessels,
under command of a Genoese and a Florentine, reached the Canaries in
five days from Lisbon. They held possession of the islands until
November. It is also known that Europeans stopped for some time at
Teneriffe,[1] where they found almost naked but fierce natives who lived
in stone houses, tilled the soil, and worshipped idols. About the close
of the fourteenth century thirteen friars attempted the conversion of
the natives of the larger Canaries but were massacred by the savages.
About this time the islands of Madeira and the Azores were discovered
but they were uninhabited. The Canaries alone had inhabitants, called
Guanches.[2] These Guanches lived upon seven islands, but, as there were
no means of communication between them, they knew little of each other.
Their dialects indeed were so different that they could not understand
one another. Wheat and barley were cultivated. The natives on the
islands of Gomera and Palma went naked, lived in caves, and subsisted
upon roots and goats’ milk, and were dangerous enemies with their stone
weapons and horn-tipped spears. The natives on the larger Canaries were
the most civilized and had two large cities and thirty-three
communities. Their two kings were at constant variance. The warlike
Guanches were only subjugated after fierce encounters, for they climbed
with the ease of goats and were such fleet runners that they could
overtake the hare. When asked about their origin, they replied: “After
the submission of our ancestors the gods placed us in these islands,
left us here, and forgot us.”
Remarkable success crowned the explorations of the Portuguese owing to
the enterprise and zeal of the Infante, Henry,[3] third son of King John
the First, who was surnamed by posterity “The Navigator.” His lean,
angular person hardly bespoke his real greatness. His perseverance and
indomitable resolution were apparent alone in his clear, open look. He
was a man of great abstemiousness. Wine never passed his lips. He spent
his revenues upon exploration and conquests on the west coast of Africa.
The voyages of the Portuguese discoverers began in the Autumn of 1415
but the first navigators returned after reaching Cape Bajador, for they
dared not venture out into the open sea because of the breakers and
dangerous ledges. Four years later two explorers, driven out to sea by a
storm, reached the island of Porto Santo, previously discovered by the
Italians, and from there went to Madeira, or the “Forest Island,” as it
was called. It was not until 1434 that Cape Bajador was circumnavigated
by a daring man who had offended the Infante and by this exploit
regained his favor. He brought back flowers in earthen vessels to prove
that floral beauty was not lacking on the other side of the dreaded
cape.
Further attempts were made in succeeding years. The Portuguese
continually advanced and once brought home fish nets which they had
taken from the natives to prove that the lands beyond the Cape were
inhabited. Soon they penetrated to regions where they found gold-dust
and other valuable products, which were taken in honor of the Infante.
In consideration of the tremendous expense and the incalculable exertion
involved in these voyages the matter of profit was alone taken into
account. Naturally no heed was paid to their scientific importance.
Explorations beyond the Cape at last proved very profitable and many
vessels returned with large cargoes of slaves, for Europeans at that
time were not ashamed of man-stealing. They hunted their human victims
openly and even used dogs to run down their prey. Slavery was not
abhorrent to them. They thought it natural that God should reward their
man-stealing with success. A chronicle of the year 1444 says: “At last
it pleased God to compensate them for their great suffering in His
service with a glorious day’s efforts, for altogether, in men, women,
and children, they captured one hundred and sixty-five head.”
An important discovery in the year 1445 removed many erroneous
conceptions. Dinas Diaz in that year sailed farther south than any
navigator had gone before. He passed Cape Blanco, reached the southern
line of the Great Desert, and found a region green with palms, and
people with black skins. The spot he discovered was called the “Green
Cape.” He proved that the theory that the tropics were uninhabitable was
false. Aristotle had maintained that the tropical regions must be
unpeopled because the overpowering heat of the sun’s rays would destroy
all vegetation. Other scholars, among them Ptolemy, were of the same
opinion. The theory indeed was so universally accepted at the beginning
of the fifteenth century that many a bold adventurer was deterred from
making explorations in that direction.
In the same year, however, the Senegal, which Diaz had passed
unobserved, was discovered on a second voyage. The river was declared to
be a branch of the Egyptian Nile. In the following year the Portuguese
met with a serious disaster on the African coast. Two vessels, owing to
the misplaced confidence of their commanders in the negroes, ventured
too near and were greeted by a shower of poisoned arrows. The wounded
explorers died after reaching Lisbon, two months later, without having
seen anything but sky and water. This disaster, however, did not deter
other brave navigators from undertaking further explorations beyond the
Green Cape, though they dreaded the poisoned arrows of the natives more
than any hardships or perils of the sea.
About this time the Azores were colonized by the Portuguese, for these
islands had been so little disturbed by man that even the birds could
easily be taken by the hand. Henry, the Infante, bestowed the islands
upon the explorers as an hereditary tenure.
In the second half of the fifteenth century, during the reign of Alfonso
the Fifth, we have very inadequate reports of the progress of Portuguese
exploration. We know, however, that the explorers advanced along the
rivers of West Africa, especially the Gambia, which stream they ascended
to transact business with caravans from the Soudan. It was at that time
the European world began traffic in the great and rich resources of
Central Africa. On the thirteenth of November, 1460, the Infante died,
and the prosperity which had attended Portuguese explorations
languished. History has honored him with the surname “Navigator,” though
he took no personal part in exploration. Under his encouragement, the
Portuguese, who before his time had timidly returned home from Cape
Bajador, became bold seafarers. Discoveries rapidly advanced in his
lifetime but Alfonso the Fifth wasted his inheritance. He gave no
thought to new explorations for those already made were yielding him
rich returns. The sugar plantations in Madeira brought him large
profits, slaves were exchanged for horses, and the coast supplied great
store of gold-dust, musk, ivory, and ginger. Notwithstanding their
discouragement, the explorers pushed farther south. Before the close of
the fifteenth century they found the Zaira, the Congo of our maps. King
John the Second, like “Navigator” Henry, was greatly interested in sea
voyages and the sciences. Under his patronage Bartholomew Dias, in 1486,
left Lisbon with two small vessels and a supply boat, sailed south, and
passed the mouth of the Congo. As the wind was contrary he put out to
sea but was so driven about by storms that at last he found the coast of
Africa on his left. He had rounded the southern extremity of the Dark
Continent and, finding land, he kept on in a northerly direction.[4] His
sailors, however, refused to go farther and insisted he should return.
As he could not conciliate them, he began the home voyage reluctantly,
passing again the mysterious cape, which he named Tormentoso, the name
being subsequently changed by John the Second to Good Hope, and reached
Lisbon in December, 1487, after an absence of sixteen months and
seventeen days. Dias was poorly rewarded for his great discovery. He was
not given command of a fleet a second time, but served as a simple
captain under Cabral,[5] the discoverer of Brazil, and, in rounding the
Cape of Good Hope during a fearful storm, May 23, 1500, was drowned.
Even before Dias had found the Cape of Good Hope an Italian explorer,
named Cristoforo Colombo, appeared at the court of John the Second. When
subsequently he made Spain his home, he was called Colon.[6] He is best
known by his Latin name, Columbus. This extraordinary man was born at
Genoa in the year 1456.[7] Genoese contemporaries assure us his father,
Domenico, was a wool-comber. Domenico had four children: three sons,
Cristoforo, Bartolomeo, and Giacomo (Diego),[8] and one daughter, of
whom it is only known that she married an Italian innkeeper. From his
earliest youth Christopher loved the sea. As a lad he showed promise of
being a skilful sailor and brave man. He was active and courageous, had
no delight in indolence or effeminate luxuries, and despised all
delicacies which tickle the palate and weaken the health. His highest
ambition was to secure all the knowledge he could so as to be of some
service to his fellow men. In a short time he learned the Latin
language, in which all the scientific books of the time were written,
and, although a boy in those days could learn but very little of the
sciences, compared with what can be done to-day, yet he acquired
sufficient knowledge of them to become an authority. His father, who was
comfortably well off, sent him to the University of Pavia where he
studied geography, geometry, astronomy, and drawing. At fourteen he had
made such advances that he was qualified to become a ship captain and go
to sea. He exerted his utmost effort to investigate the ocean and its
routes. The saying, “as the twig is bent, the tree’s inclined,” well
applies to him. He determined to become a great seafarer and from his
earliest youth adhered to the determination until it was fully realized.
Our young hero had his first experience in the Mediterranean Sea, for
the voyages of his people at that time did not extend farther. It was
much too confined a sphere, however, for a spirit which burned with the
desire to accomplish unprecedented achievements. After a voyage to the
northern ocean, during which he reached Iceland and gathered valuable
experience, he entered the service of a kinsman, a sea-captain, who had
fitted out a few vessels at his own expense, with which he cruised at
one time against the Venetians, at another against the Turks, seeking to
capture their galleys. Upon one of their cruises, the young Columbus
would have lost his life had not Providence preserved it for high
purposes. In a stubborn fight with the Venetians, in which our young
hero performed prodigies of valor, his ship as well as those with which
it was engaged took fire. Columbus found himself in a desperate
situation but even with death staring him in the face he had no fear. He
boldly plunged into the sea, clutched a floating oar, and with its help
swam safely to the shore, two miles distant. He landed upon the
Portuguese coast and, as soon as he had rested, made his way to Lisbon.
This event had a marked influence upon his future career, for in the
Portuguese capital his knowledge and ability were of great service in
securing friends among seafarers, with whom plans were discussed for the
discovery of a passage to the East Indies. An event soon happened which
greatly promoted the ambitious purpose of his life. He married Felipa
Perestrelli, daughter of a sea-captain, one of the early colonists and
first governor of Porto Santo. This gave him possession of the diaries
and charts of his experienced father-in-law, and as he studied them day
and night his desire to visit these newly discovered islands grew
stronger. He once more went on shipboard, made a voyage to Madeira, and
for some time carried on a lucrative business, visiting the Canaries,
the African coast, and the Azores in the meantime.