will make no apology for offering them as, in his own view, an
appropriate introduction to a work chiefly designed for the benefit of
the rising generation.
[Illustration]
PART I.
UNITED STATES.
I.--EARLY DISCOVERIES.
[Illustration]
I. NORTHMEN. Claims for the Northmen--Voyage of
Biarné--Leif--Thorwald--Thorfinn--Helge and Finnboge.
II. COLUMBUS. Birth and Education of Columbus--Unsuccessful
application to several European Courts--Patronized by
Isabella--Sails from Palos--Early Discontent of his
crew--Expedients by which they are quieted--Discovery of
Land--First appearance of the Natives--Cuba and Hispaniola
discovered--Columbus sets sail on his return--Incidents of the
voyage--Marks of consideration bestowed upon him--Second
Voyage--Further Discoveries--Complaints against him--Third
Voyage--Discovery of the Continent--Persecuted by
Enemies--sent home in Chains--Kindness of Isabella--Fourth
Voyage--Return and Death.
III. SEBASTIAN CABOT. Discovery of the North American Continent by
Sebastian Cabot.
I. NORTHMEN.
No event, in the history of modern ages, surpasses in interest the
discovery of the American Continent. It has scarcely any parallel,
indeed, in the annals of the world; whether we consider the difficulty
of the undertaking or the magnitude of its consequences. Without any
serious question, the honor of the discovery belongs solely to
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. Mankind, hitherto, have so awarded it, and
posterity will doubtless confirm the judgment. As, however, a claim to
a prior discovery by the _Northmen_ has been brought forward in recent
times, it becomes the impartiality of history to notice it, and to
give such an account of the circumstances on which the claim is
founded, as they may appear to deserve. Whether or not, at the
distance of some four or five centuries, the trans-Atlantic continent
had been discovered by the Scandinavian voyagers, the merits of the
great Italian are far from being affected by the fact.
[Illustration: Northmen leaving Iceland.]
The prominent incidents in this alleged ante-Columbian discovery, it
seems, are given on the authority of certain Icelandic manuscripts, the
genuineness, and even the existence of which, have formerly been doubted
by many; but which, there is now reason to suppose, are entitled to
credence. The general story may be received as probable. In the details,
there is often something too vague, if not too extraordinary, to entitle
it to any historical importance. The adventurous spirit, and even the
naval skill of the Northmen, are not a matter of doubt with any who are
acquainted with the history of the times to which reference is here
made. The seas and the coasts of Europe were the scenes of their
exploits--their piracies, their battles, or their colonization.
According to the Icelandic statements, Eric the Red, in 986, emigrated
from Iceland to Greenland, and formed there a settlement. Among his
companions was Herjulf Bardson, who fixed his residence at a place which
was called after him, Herjulfsness. Herjulf had a son, whose name was
Biarné, who, with his father, was engaged in trading between Iceland and
Norway. Biarné was absent on a trading voyage, when his father
accompanied Eric, on the emigration of the latter to Greenland. The son
returning to Iceland in a few months, and finding that Herjulf was
absent, sailed in pursuit of him. In the course of the sail, having been
enveloped in the fogs, he was carried to some unknown distance; but
after the fogs were dispersed, land was seen. As, however, it did not
answer the description given respecting Greenland, the party did not
steer for it. During a sail of several days, they came in sight of land
at two different times in succession; and at last, tacking about, and
carried by brisk and favorable winds in a north-west direction, they
reached the coast of Greenland. This tradition of Biarné's voyage,
allowing it to be authentic, would seem to indicate that he was carried
far down on the coast of America, and passed on his return the shores of
_Newfoundland_ and _Labrador_.
[Illustration: Discovery of Labrador.]
In consequence of this adventure, and the interest which the account
of it excited, a voyage of exploration was projected, and at length
put into effect. It was conducted by Leif, a son of Eric the Red, an
adventurous rover, who selected a company as adventurous as himself,
among whom was a German named Tyrker. It was in the year 1000 that the
voyage was made. After finding a shore in a direction similar to that
in which Biarné took, they landed, calling the region _Helluland_,
which was most probably _Labrador_. It was an iceberg-lined shore,
without grass or verdure. From this spot they put out to sea, and,
steering south, they came to another coast, low like the first, but
covered with thick wood, except the portion immediately skirting the
sea, which consisted of white sand. It was probably _Nova Scotia_,
named by them, however, _Markland_, or _Woodland_. They pursued their
voyage for two days, under the favor of a north-east wind, when they
discovered land for the third time. Here they disembarked on a part of
the coast, which was sheltered by an island. The face of the country
was found to be undulating, covered with wood, and bearing a growth of
fine fruits and berries. Taking to their vessel again, they proceeded
west in search of a harbor, which they were so fortunate as to find.
It was at the mouth of a river proceeding from a lake. They first made
the river and then the lake; in the latter they cast anchor. In this
spot they erected huts in which to pass the winter. When thus
established, Leif made a division of his company into two parties, for
the purpose, on the one hand, of watching the settlement, and, on the
other, of exploring the country.
In performing the latter service it happened, on one occasion, that the
German Tyrker, above named, failed to return at night. After much
anxiety and search, he was discovered, having found during his
wanderings a region which afforded an abundance of grapes. The country,
from this incident, was named _Vinland_ or _Wineland_. From the mention
which they made of the rising and the setting of the sun, at the
shortest day, it has been inferred that the island was _Nantucket_, and
the region called Vinland embraced the coast of _Massachusetts_ and
_Rhode Island_. They returned to Greenland the following season.
Thorwald, a brother of Leif, next undertook to make a voyage, to the
newly discovered land beyond the ocean. This was in 1002. We need not
mention the particulars, but may state generally that the adventurers
continued in Vinland till the year 1004, and that the expedition
terminated unfortunately in the death of Thorwald. He was killed in a
skirmish with certain Esquimaux, with whom the party came in contact in
three several boats. Before breathing his last, he gave directions as to
the spot where they should inter him. The rest returned to Greenland.
Following this adventure, the third son of Eric, named Thornstein,
embarked with his wife Gudrida, in search of the body of Thorwald. But
he never reached the country. He was eventually driven back to
Greenland, where he died.
The next expedition seems to have been a project to colonize the
country. The vessels were three in number, on board of which one hundred
and forty men embarked, who took with them all kinds of live stock. The
leaders on this occasion were Thorfinn, who married the widow of
Thornstein, Biarné Grimolfson, and Thorhall Gamlason. The enterprise
appears to have been attended with a measure of success. They erected
their tents, and fortified them in the best manner they were able, as a
protection against the natives. An incident of some interest is
mentioned as having occurred in their trade with the latter. These were
eager for arms, but as they were not suffered to become an article of
barter, one of the natives seized an axe, and, in order to test its
efficacy, struck a companion with it, who was killed on the spot. The
affair shocked them exceedingly; but in the midst of the confusion, the
axe having been seized by one who appeared to be a chief, was critically
inspected for a while, and then violently cast into the sea.
[Illustration: An Incident in the Camp of the Northmen.]
The period of their continuance in Vinland was three years. They found
it a beautiful country, while residing in it. Thorfinn had a son born to
him, whom he named Snorre, the first child of European descent born on
this continent, the ancestor of many distinguished personages now
living. Among them is the noted sculptor Thorwaldsen. Thorfinn and a
part of his company returned at length to Iceland. The remainder still
continued in Vinland, where they were afterwards joined by an expedition
led by two brothers, Helge and Finnboge, from Greenland. But this latter
enterprise ended tragically, a large number of the colonists having been
killed in a quarrel, which a wicked female adventurer in the expedition
had excited. A few other voyages to Vinland, either accidental or
designed, were made by the Northmen during the eleventh and twelfth
centuries, some of them connected with attempts to propagate
Christianity among the natives, but no interesting results are spoken
of, and the whole project of colonizing the new region seems to have
been not only abandoned, but to have passed from the minds of men. On
the supposition that the records are true, which in general may be
admitted, the colony could not have had a long continuance, and it is
certain that no remains of it have ever appeared, unless some
questionable accounts of the Jesuists, or the more questionable
inscriptions on Dighton-rock. It was not until the era of Columbus that
the world was awakened to the enterprise, or even to the thought of
discovering land beyond the Western ocean. Whether he knew or did not
know, respecting the adventures of the Scandinavians in those northern
seas, it is hardly to be supposed that he could have the remotest
conception that the country they called Vinland was the same as the
Indies, which he proposed to reach by sailing due west. The honor, first
of his theory, and then of his achievement, is therefore, in no degree
diminished, by the facts above narrated, so far as they may be believed
to be facts. He after all stands prëeminent among men, as the discoverer
of the new world. It was certainly, at that period, new to European
knowledge and adventure.
II. COLUMBUS.
[Illustration: Columbus.]
It is not ascertained in what year the birth of this illustrious
individual occurred. Some authorities have placed it in 1446, others
have removed it back eight or ten years farther. As he died in 1506,
and was said by Bernaldez, one of his cotemporaries and intimates, to
have departed "in a good old age of seventy, a little more or
less,"[1] it would seem, abating the vagueness of the expression, that
about 1436 was the period. The place of his birth also has been a
subject of controversy, but the evidence is decidedly in favor of
Genoa. His parentage was humble, though probably of honorable descent.
It is generally believed that his father exercised the craft of a
wool-carder or weaver. Christopher was the eldest of four children,
having two brothers, Bartholomew and Diego, and one sister, who was
obscurely connected in life. In his early youth he was instructed at
Pavia, a place then celebrated for education, and is said there to
have acquired that taste for mathematical studies in which he
afterwards excelled. Of geographical science he was particularly
enamored, as it became also to be the favorite study of an adventurous
age. It doubtless gave a direction, in some measure, to the course
which Columbus pursued in life. At the early age of fourteen years, he
began to follow the seas, and after continuing this profession for
more than sixteen years, he proceeded to Portugal, the country of
maritime enterprise at that era. Hither the adventurous spirits of
Europe repaired, where they sought their fortunes in this department
of business. Columbus mingled in the exciting scenes of the country
and the times. Sailing from thence, he continued to make voyages to
the various then known parts of the world, and while on shore, he
occupied his time in the construction and sale of maps and charts.
Thus furnished with all the nautical science of the times, and with a
large fund of experience, he was prepared to enter upon those
speculations, respecting the possibility of lands lying beyond the
western waters, the result of which, when put into practice, proved to
be so auspicious to the interests of mankind. What will not a single
thought, when pursued as it may be, sometimes effect! In our hero, it
brought to light the existence of a new world. His single object
appeared to be, to find the eastern shores of Asia, or some unknown
tract, by sailing due west.
How far that idea was original with him, it is not very material to
ascertain. If not the first individual to conceive it, he was the
first to carry it into execution. That land existed beyond the
Atlantic, was a conjecture merely of the ancients. Seneca comes the
nearest to a direct intimation, though as a poetic fancy it claims no
serious consideration. As the idea is given by Frenau, he says:
"The time shall come when numerous years are past,
The ocean shall dissolve the band of things,
And an extended region rise at last:
And Typhis shall disclose the mighty land,
Far, far away, where none have roamed before:
Nor shall the world's remotest region be
Gibraltar's rock, or Thule's savage shore,"
Ferdinand Columbus informs us, that his father's conviction of the
existence of land in the west was founded on--1, natural reason, or
the deductions of science; 2, authority of writers, amounting,
however, to vague surmises; 3, testimony of sea-faring persons, or
rather popular rumors of land, described in western voyages, embracing
such relics as appeared to be wafted from over the Atlantic to Europe.
What particular intimations he may have received, either from authors
or sailors, do not appear; since, in his voyage to Iceland, no mention
is made of his having learned the story of the Scandinavian voyages to
the northern portion of America. It is possible, however, that he may
have been informed of them; and the reason why no mention was made by
him was, as M. Humboldt conjectures, that he had no conception that
the land discovered by the Northmen had any connection with the region
of which he was in pursuit. The traditions which he may have met with,
and the speculations of the times, were realized in his view. So
strong was the conviction which had been wrought in his mind, from
whatever cause, he was willing to jeopard life and fortune to put it
to the test of experiment.
With this grand object before him, he first submitted his theory of a
western route to the Indies, to John the Second, king of Portugal. He
met with no countenance from this quarter. His project, in its
vastness, was in advance of the comprehension of the age. John was not
unwilling clandestinely to avail himself of information communicated
to him by Columbus, but he would enter into no stipulation to aid him
in the enterprise. Leaving the court of Lisbon in disgust, in the
latter part of 1484, Columbus repaired to the Spanish sovereigns,
Ferdinand and Isabella. The time of the application was peculiarly
unfavorable, as the nation was then in the midst of the Moorish war,
and needed for its prosecution all the pecuniary resources of the
state. The persons of influence also in the court, were destitute of
those enlarged views, which are essential to a just appreciation of
the scheme that fired the great mind of Columbus. With these causes of
discouragement, and the submission of his proposal on the part of the
sovereigns to a council chiefly of ecclesiastics, he had little reason
to expect a favorable issue. After waiting years in the most agitating
suspense and doubt (for the council would come to no decision), he was
preparing to abandon the suit. Pressing the court for a definite
answer at that juncture, they at last gave him to understand, that his
scheme was "vain, impracticable, and resting on grounds too weak to
merit the support of the government." In deep despondency he quitted
the court, and took his way to the south, as if in desperation, to
seek other patronage in other quarters.
From the period of his application to the Spanish court, to that at
which we are now arrived in his history, it would seem that he made
several attempts to interest other distinguished personages in his
scheme, particularly the citizens of his native Genoa; but the early
authorities so disagree among themselves, that the chronology of his
movements, previously to his first voyage, cannot be determined with
precision. It is certain, however, that while in the act of leaving
Spain, probably for the court of the French king, from whom he had
received a letter of encouragement, he was purposely detained by a
friend, Juan Perez, (who had formerly been a confessor of Isabella,)
for the purpose of trying the effect of another application to the
Spanish sovereigns. This measure, seconded by the influence of several
distinguished individuals, and occurring just at the triumphant
termination of the Moorish war, had well nigh proved successful at
once; but Columbus was again doomed to disappointment. The single
obstacle in the way now, was not the disinclination of Ferdinand and
Isabella, but what were deemed the extravagant demands of Columbus
himself. He would not consent to engage in the undertaking, except on
the condition that he and his heirs should receive the title of
admiral and viceroy over all lands discovered by him, with one-tenth
of the profits. This demand was the means of breaking up the
negotiations, and that at the moment when he seemed to be on the point
of realizing the visions which he had fondly indulged, through long
years of vexation, trouble, and disappointment. That he would consent
to dash those bright visions, rather than surrender one of the rewards
due to his service, is, in the language of our Prescott, "the most
remarkable exhibition in his whole life, of that proud, unyielding
spirit which sustained him through so many years of trial, and enabled
him to achieve his great enterprise, in the face of every obstacle
which man and nature had opposed to it."
[Illustration: Columbus before Ferdinand and Isabella.]
Columbus again having turned his back from the scene of the
negotiations, had proceeded only a few leagues distant, when he was
recalled by the royal message. The queen in the meanwhile had yielded
to the dictates of her own noble and generous nature, having been
convinced of the importance of the enterprise, by the powerful
representations of the friends of our hero. She said at once in
answer, "I will assume the undertaking for my own crown of Castile,
and will pledge my private jewels to raise the necessary funds, if the
means in the treasury should be found inadequate." The money, however,
was furnished by the receiver of the revenues of Arragon, and
subsequently refunded at the instance of Ferdinand.[2] The conditions
on which Columbus had insisted, in the event of discovery, were
finally granted. He was constituted by the united sovereigns, their
admiral, viceroy, and governor-general, of all such countries as he
should discover in the Western ocean. He was to be entitled to
one-tenth of the products and profits, within the limits of his
discoveries. These, with other privileges of a like kind, not
necessary to name here, were settled on him and his heirs for ever.
Thus possessing the royal sanction, Columbus immediately entered upon
the arrangements required to prosecute the voyage. Isabella urged it
forward to the extent of her power. Delay, however, unavoidably
occurred, on account of the opposition or indifference of the local
magistrates and the people where the equipment was to be made. This
obstacle was at length removed, by stern edicts on the part of the
government and by the energy of Columbus. The fleet consisted of three
vessels, one furnished by himself, through the assistance of his
friends, and was to sail from the little port of Palos in Andalusia.
Two of the vessels were caravels--that is, light vessels without
decks--the other was of a larger burden, though not amounting even to
an hundred tons. How such craft could survive the waves and storms of
the Atlantic, is one of the marvelous circumstances of the
undertaking. The number of men received on board amounted to one
hundred and twenty. The preparations having been finished, the
undaunted navigator set sail on the morning of the 3d of August, 1492,
having first with his whole crew partaken of the sacrament.
[Illustration: Columbus sets sail.]