THE WORLD CIRCUMNAVIGATED 33 account of the new continent south of what was still supposed to be India. Columbus's letter describing his discovery of 1497 was not published in Latin until 1508, whereas Vespucci's sec- The Name ond letter, in which all his alleged discoveries were des64 'America." cribed, was published in Latin in 1507. The story of the Florentine, therefore, first published in the language of learned men, alleged to belong to the year 1497, and told in an attractive style, created the false impression that he and not Columbus discovered the great unknown mainland, and in his honor the name "America," from the Latin form of his Christian name, was given to that region but not at first to the region north of the Isthmus of Panama.1 The order of development is something like this: first we have "America" south of the isthmus and "India" north of it; next, "America" south of the isthmus and "North America" north of it finally; "South America" in the south and "North America" in the north. The first person to use the name "America" - although others earlier used Mundus Novus" for South America was Martin Waldseemüller, a professor of geography at St. Dié, who müller. in a book of his own published Columbus's second letter in 1507. Thoroughly under the influence of Vespucci's narrative he described this newly discovered land and added, since "Americus discovered it, it may be called Amerige; in other words, the land of Americus, or America." He said further that he preferred the form "America," since both Europe and Asia were named for women. A map which accompanied his book used the name, which was soon in general popular use in most of Europe outside of Spain, where the term "Indies" was used long after its absurdity was recognized. Waldseemüller later changed his mind about the name, and in a map which he made in 1513 substituted the term "Terra Incognita"; but it was too late to overtake the error of 1507. -- Waldsee Magellan's But one more discovery was now needed to make the New World stand in clear relief before the eye of the old — and that was made by Magellan in 1519-1522. Although a Portuguese, he sailed under Spanish authority with five ships manned by unwilling and mutinous crews. He spent the first winter on the eastern shore of South America, forty-nine degrees south, where the climate was like that of Newfoundland. Here he put down a mutiny by his individual courage, and in the spring resumed his journey. October 21, in the Antarctic spring, he entered the straits which now bear his name a channel from two to five miles wide and three hundred and twenty-five miles long. Its last half passes between high rocky banks with impressive mountains on each side. The little fleet passed through fearsomely, not knowing what mysterious terror the next league ahead might present. At length the cliffs receded and 1 The arguments in this connection are admirably given in Bourne, Spain in America, ch. vii. D the straits opened to a broad ocean which Magellan called "Mare Pacificum." He struck out boldly to the northwest, and after much suffering came at last to the rich islands of the East. He was killed in battle with the natives in the island of Matau, one of the Philippines. A single ship survived the perils of the sea and reached Spain, having proved the truth of Columbus's dream. Next to Spain, Portugal took prominent part in American explorations. Her West African voyages throughout the fifteenth century Portuguese gave her a prestige which the immense activity of Spain at Explorations. the close of the century threatened to discredit. Spurred Vasco da by this thought she sent out Vasco da Gama in 1497. He Gama. went first to the Cape Verde Islands, then striking into the great South Atlantic, sailed without signs of land till he came to thirty degrees south latitude, when he turned to the southeast, and after a long time reached the coast at a point one hundred miles north of Cape of Good Hope. His course represented two sides of a triangle, to cover which he took ninety-three days, out of sight of land; whereas Columbus on his first voyage took only thirty-five days from the Canaries to Guanahani. Passing then around the cape, which had been unvisited since Bartholomew Diaz was blown past it in 1487, he sailed on to India, where, indeed, the lands of spices and gems lay before him. His return to Lisbon brought the glow of old-time pride to the hearts of his compatriots. It shows in a letter the king sent to Ferdinand and Isabella, announcing that a Portuguese captain had reached the real India where there were real pepper and real rubies. The Corte- In 1500 another Portuguese navigator sailed into the unknown seas, going as boldly into the north as da Gama went into the south. This was Gaspar Corte-Real, who sailed many days and found "a land which was very cool and with great woods," but not otherwise described. In 1501, with three ships he sailed for the same coasts. One of the vessels was lost with the commander aboard, but the others returned with fifty captive Eskimos. Surviving stories and contemporary maps show that he visited Labrador and explored Newfoundland. In 1502 his brother, Miguel Corte-Real, went out to find the lost Gaspar and was himself cast away. A year later the king sent out an expedition to find the two brothers, but it was futile. These northern explorations are only geographically important: Portugal founded no territorial claims on them. Cabral. More important were her attempts on the Brazilian coast. In 1500, a few months before Gaspar Corte-Real sailed, one of her captains, Cabral, with thirteen ships dropped down to the Cape Verde Islands, and, like da Gama, stood thence out into the But he turned farther west, where the ocean is narrowest, and reached land in eighteen degrees south latitude and took possession in the name of Portugal. He sent one ship to report his discovery and ocean. WORK OF THE CABOTS 35 with the others sought to pass beyond this land to India. Storms impeded his progress and he was forced to turn back. English Explorations. John Cabot. While Spain and Portugal explored and acquired portions of the New World, England, through no inclination of her own rulers, explored and secured title to the portion she was later to colonize. John Cabot, born in Genoa, but a naturalized citizen of Venice, after unsuccessful attempts in Spain and Portugal, came to England, where the king, Henry VII, in 1496 gave him such lands as he might discover beyond the sea to hold the same in the English name. In a ship no larger than Columbus's Niña, with a crew of eighteen, he sailed in May, 1497, and four hundred leagues west of Ireland come to land, probably Newfoundland. He skirted the coast southward for three hundred leagues and returned to England, where the thrifty king rewarded him with a gift of ten, and an annual pension of twenty, pounds. A year later be sailed on a second voyage the detailed results of which we do not know; but from various sources it seems probable that on this expedition he explored the Atlantic coast from Long Island to South Carolina. With this voyage he disappears completely; probably he perished on it. He was not an educated man, like Columbus, and the English were not interested in discoveries. Accordingly we have in England only the barest documentary evidence in regard to the voyages. Both this meager record and the fact that English explorations were not notably continued show how little interest our mother country had in the lands beyond the sea. But the agents of the Spanish and Italian governments then in England felt a lively interest. They reported to their superiors all they heard about Cabot's achievements, and from this source we get most of our scanty information. John Cabot had a son, Sebastian, for thirty-six years Chief Hydrographer of Spain and after that adviser in matters of navigation to the English admiralty. He was highly esteemed by his contemporaries and posterity. An inscription on his Cabot. picture and another on a map which he made in 1544 assert Sebastian that he was with his father when, in 1497, land was discovered in the north. Sebastian talked freely in Spain to persons who have reported his words. From these three sources grew the impression that Sebastian was a great discoverer. Some of the statements in the story are contradicted by the scant contemporary records which refer to John Cabot, and the result is a lowering in later years of the fame of the son; but it is impossible to come to a satisfactory conclusion in the matter. England forgot the Cabots for a century. But in the days of Raleigh and Hakluyt she recalled them to mind, and these voyages became the basis of her claim to the North Atlantic coast. France, through the efforts of two men, took part in American exploration. In 1524 Giovanni da Verrazano tried to find a passage to India by the northwest. It is difficult to determine from his narra plorations. Verra zano. tive how much of the Atlantic coast he explored; but it seems that he entered New York harbor and the Hudson river and penetrated Narragansett Bay, after which he sailed north as far as French Ex- Newfoundland. In 1534 Jacques Cartier, a Breton, sailed with two ships on what proved a more important voyage. He explored the Gulf of St. Lawrence and was forced home by stormy weather. Next year he came again to the same place, took up his labors where he suspended them in 1534, and went up the St. Lawrence as far as what is now Quebec. Then he took rowboats, with which he reached the Indian vilCartier. lage of Hochelaga at the site of Montreal. The rapids which here stopped his search for a passage through the continent were later called “La Chine" in ridicule, it is said, of his attempt to find China through this river. Cartier's exploration was the basis of French title to Canada. It was followed in 1541 by an attempt to plant a colony, Roberval having the command and Cartier showing the way. A fort was built near Quebec, but the Indians drove off the garrison, and killed or discouraged the colonists so that they gladly escaped to France. The earliest maps after the discovery of America show us how Europe gradually came to realize the shape of the new continent. The first preserved was by Juan de la Cosa (1500). He was Early Maps. with Columbus in 1492 and 1493, and with Hojeda in 1499. He was informed about the other discoveries and accounted for them on his map. He shows the coast line of North and South America in the shape of a great letter U which lies on one side. The discoveries of Cabot represent the upper leg and the Spanish discoveries in the northern part of South America represent the lower leg. The curved interior takes the place of the shores of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, within which the Antilles are correctly placed. North and south of the terminus of each leg the shores go off at right angles. Opposite the upper one and well out in the ocean he places the land discovered for Portugal by Corte-Real, not knowing it was nearly identical with Cabot's discovery. These Spanish, English, and Portuguese lands are located with approximate correctness, but the lines which connect them, the inner curved part of the figure, were drawn without experimental knowledge, probably by guess. A map made for Cantino, an Italian envoy in Portugal, about 1502, adheres more closely to known facts. Unknown parts of the coast are entirely blank, the northern part takes a vertical position, Florida and the shore north of it comes into a semblance of itself, and the same is true of South America from the Gulf of Uraba to the Tropic of Capricorn. A map by Stobnicza, 1512, has the parts of coast line omitted from the Cantino map, and one by Waldseemüller, 1513, gives an outline of the two continents with a suggestion of accuracy. A French globe, about 1527, shows Asia connected with South America. SPAIN IN CENTRAL AMERICA EXPLORING THE INTERIOR Spanish Ex plorations in the Interior. Cortez. The second stage of exploration was directed into the interior and it went hand in hand with colonization, Spain taking the lead. First Hayti (1494) and then Cuba (1508) were settled. These two islands soon developed a number of vigorous Spanishborn grandees who were willing to attempt adventures on the unexplored mainland. Such a one was Hernando Cortez, who in 1519 sailed to conquer Mexico, the wealth and advanced culture of which was previously reported to the whites. He took with him five hundred and fifty Spaniards, two hundred and three Indians, one negro, and sixteen horses. He destroyed his ships when he landed at Vera Cruz, and announced to his men his determination to conquer Mexico or die. At that time the Mexicans expected the return of a culture hero, Quetzalcoatl, who, tradition said, would come back to bless the people. Some of them considered the arrival of the Spaniards the fulfillment of the prophecy. Cortez was quick enough to use this opportunity, but his main reliance was his sword. His firearms, armor, and horses gave him an advantage, but the vast numbers of his enemies would have outweighed it had he been less capable or his enemies been well united. He forced his way to the Aztec city of Mexico, where the superstitious natives received him darkly. Fearing an outbreak he seized Montezuma, the Mexican ruler, and when the capital flew to arms withdrew for the time and established a siege which was finally successful. After two and a half years of severe struggle he and his little army were masters of Mexico. Another explorer of the interior was Balboa. He was a bankrupt planter who left Santo Domingo secretly to escape his creditors, and joined an expedition which was trying to plant a col- Balboa. ony near the Isthmus of Panama. Small, ugly, and poor, he nevertheless was born to command and was soon the leading spirit in an otherwise failing enterprise. By his resolution he resisted all attempts to supplant him and finally performed a feat which made him famous. When some Spaniards were disputing over a bit of gold, an Indian told them he could show them a great water over which came quantities of the yellow metal. Balboa remembered the words, and with about two hundred Spaniards set out to find this sea. His march of forty-five miles was through a tropical tangle of jungle to penetrate which required the labor of eighteen days. At length he neared the sea. Halting his men he climbed the last impeding ridge so that he alone might first see the object of his search. Then this bankrupt adventurer, stern ruler of men, heartless betrayer of benefactors, and relentless victor over his personal enemies, knelt and thanked "God and all the Heavenly Host who had reserved the prize of so great a thing unto him, being a man but of small wit and 377 |