Chapter V

THE SEARCH FOR THE INDIES. WESTWARD OR SPANISH ROUTE.

Sources of information concerning the life of Columbus; Las Casas and Ferdinand Columbus 335 The Biblioteca Colombina at Seville 336, 337 Bernaldez and Peter Martyr 338 Letters of Columbus 338 Defects in Ferdinand's information 339, 340 Researches of Henry Harrisse 341 Date of the birth of Columbus; archives of Savona 342 Statement of Bernaldez 343 Columbus's letter of September, 1501 344 The balance of probability is in favour of 1436 345 The family of Domenico Colombo, and its changes of residence 346, 347 Columbus tells us that he was born in the city of Genoa 348 His early years 349-351 Christopher and his brother Bartholomew at Lisbon 351, 352 Philippa Moñiz de Perestrelo 352 Personal appearance of Columbus 353 His marriage, and life upon the island of Porto Santo 353, 354 The king of Portugal asks advice of the great astronomer Toscanelli 355 (p. xxx) Toscanelli's first letter to Columbus 356-361 His second letter to Columbus 361, 362 Who first suggested the feasibleness of a westward route to the Indies? Was it Columbus? 363 Perhaps it was Toscanelli 363, 364 Note on the date of Toscanelli's first letter to Columbus 365-367 The idea, being naturally suggested by the globular form of the earth, was as old as Aristotle 368, 369 Opinions of ancient writers 370 Opinions of Christian writers 371 The "Imago Mundi" of Petrus Alliacus 372, 373 Ancient estimates of the size of the globe and the length of the Œcumene 374 Toscanelli's calculation of the size of the earth, and of the position of Japan (Cipango) 375, 376 Columbus's opinions of the size of the globe, the length of the Œcumene, and the width of the Atlantic ocean from Portugal to Japan 377-380 There was a fortunate mixture of truth and error in these opinions of Columbus 381 The whole point and purport of Columbus's scheme lay in its promise of a route to the Indies shorter than that which the Portuguese were seeking by way of Guinea 381 Columbus's speculations on climate; his voyages to Guinea and into the Arctic ocean 382 He may have reached Jan Mayen island, and stopped at Iceland 383, 384 The Scandinavian hypothesis that Columbus "must have" heard and understood the story of the Vinland voyages 384, 385 It has not a particle of evidence in its favour 385 It is not probable that Columbus knew of Adam of Bremen's allusion to Vinland, or that he would have understood it if he had read it 386 It is doubtful if he would have stumbled upon the story in Iceland 387 If he had heard it, he would probably have classed it with such tales as that of St. Brandan's isle 388 (p. xxxi) He could not possibly have obtained from such a source his opinion of the width of the ocean 388, 389 If he had known and understood the Vinland story, he had the strongest motives for proclaiming it and no motive whatever for concealing it 390-392 No trace of a thought of Vinland appears in any of his voyages 393 Why did not Norway or Iceland utter a protest in 1493? 393 The idea of Vinland was not associated with the idea of America until the seventeenth century 394 Recapitulation of the genesis of Columbus's scheme 395 Martin Behaim's improved astrolabe 395, 396 Negotiations of Columbus with John II. of Portugal 396, 397 The king is persuaded into a shabby trick 398 Columbus leaves Portugal and enters into the service of Ferdinand and Isabella, 1486 398-400 The junto at Salamanca, 1486 401 Birth of Ferdinand Columbus, August 15, 1488 401 Bartholomew Columbus returns from the Cape of Good Hope, December, 1487 402, 403 Christopher visits Bartholomew at Lisbon, cir. September, 1488, and sends him to England 404 Bartholomew, after mishaps, reaches England cir. February, 1490, and goes thence to France before 1492 405-407 The duke of Medina-Celi proposes to furnish the ships for Columbus, but the queen withholds her consent 408, 409 Columbus makes up his mind to get his family together and go to France, October, 1491 409, 410 A change of fortune; he stops at La Rábida, and meets the prior Juan Perez, who writes to the queen 411 Columbus is summoned back to court 411 The junto before Granada, December, 1491 412, 413 Surrender of Granada, January 2, 1492 414 Columbus negotiates with the queen, who considers his terms exorbitant 414-416 Interposition of Luis de Santangel 416 (p. xxxii) Agreement between Columbus and the sovereigns 417 Cost of the voyage 418 Dismay at Palos 419 The three famous caravels 420 Delay at the Canary islands 421 Martin Behaim and his globe 422, 423 Columbus starts for Japan, September 6, 1492 424 Terrors of the voyage:—1. Deflection of the needle 425 2. The Sargasso sea 426, 427 3. The trade wind 428 Impatience of the crews 428 Change of course from W. to W. S. W 429, 430 Discovery of land, October 12, 1492 431 Guanahani: which of the Bahama islands was it? 432 Groping for Cipango and the route to Quinsay 433, 434 Columbus reaches Cuba, and sends envoys to find a certain Asiatic prince 434, 435 He turns eastward and Pinzon deserts him 435 Columbus arrives at Hayti and thinks it must be Japan 436 His flag-ship is wrecked, and he decides to go back to Spain 437 Building of the blockhouse, La Navidad 438 Terrible storm in mid-ocean on the return voyage 439 Cold reception at the Azores 440 Columbus is driven ashore in Portugal, where the king is advised to have him assassinated 440 But to offend Spain so grossly would be imprudent 441 Arrival of Columbus and Pinzon at Palos; death of Pinzon 442 Columbus is received by the sovereigns at Barcelona 443, 444 General excitement at the news that a way to the Indies had been found 445 This voyage was an event without any parallel in history 446 (p. xxxiii) CHAPTER VI. THE FINDING OF STRANGE COASTS.

The Discovery of America was a gradual process 447, 448 The letters of Columbus to Santangel and to Sanchez 449 Versification of the story by Giuliano Dati 450 Earliest references to the discovery 451 The earliest reference in English 452 The Portuguese claim to the Indies 453 Bulls of Pope Alexander VI. 454-458 The treaty of Tordesillas 459 Juan Rodriguez Fonseca, and his relations with Columbus 460-462 Friar Boyle 462 Notable persons who embarked on the second voyage 463 Departure from Cadiz 464 Cruise among the Cannibal (Caribbee) islands 465 Fate of the colony at La Navidad 466 Building the town of Isabella 467 Exploration of Cibao 467, 468 Westward cruise; Cape Alpha and Omega 468-470 Discovery of Jamaica 471 Coasting the south side of Cuba 472 The "people of Mangon" 473 Speculations concerning the Golden Chersonese 474-476 A solemn expression of opinion 477 Vicissitudes of theory 477, 478 Arrival of Bartholomew Columbus in Hispaniola 478, 479 Mutiny in Hispaniola; desertion of Boyle and Margarite 479, 480 The government of Columbus was not tyrannical 481 Troubles with the Indians 481, 482 Mission of Juan Aguado 482 Discovery of gold mines, and speculations about Ophir 483 Founding of San Domingo, 1496 484 The return voyage to Spain 485 Edicts of 1495 and 1497 486, 487 Vexatious conduct of Fonseca; Columbus loses his temper 487 (p. xxxiv) Departure from San Lucar on the third voyage 488 The belt of calms 489-491 Trinidad and the Orinoco 491, 492 Speculations as to the earth's shape; the mountain of Paradise 494 Relation of the "Eden continent" to "Cochin China" 495 Discovery of the Pearl Coast 495 Columbus arrives at San Domingo 496 Roldan's rebellion and Fonseca's machinations 496, 497 Gama's voyage to Hindustan, 1497 498 Fonseca's creature, Bobadilla, sent to investigate the troubles in Hispaniola 499 He imprisons Columbus 500 And sends him in chains to Spain 501 Release of Columbus; his interview with the sovereigns 502 How far were the sovereigns responsible for Bobadilla? 503 Ovando, another creature of Fonseca, appointed governor of Hispaniola 503, 504 Purpose of Columbus's fourth voyage, to find a passage from the Caribbee waters into the Indian ocean 504, 506 The voyage across the Atlantic 506 Columbus not allowed to stop at San Domingo 507 His arrival at Cape Honduras 508 Cape Gracias a Dios, and the coast of Veragua 509 Fruitless search for the strait of Malacca 510 Futile attempt to make a settlement in Veragua 511 Columbus is shipwrecked on the coast of Jamaica; shameful conduct of Ovando 512 Columbus's last return to Spain 513 His death at Valladolid, May 20, 1506 513 "Nuevo Mundo;" arms of Ferdinand Columbus 514, 515 When Columbus died, the fact that a New World had been discovered by him had not yet begun to dawn upon his mind, or upon the mind of any voyager or any writer 515, 516 ILLUSTRATIONS page Portrait of the author Frontispiece View and ground-plan of Seneca-Iroquois long house reduced from Morgan's Houses and House-Life of the American Aborigines 66 View, cross-section, and ground-plan of Mandan round house, ditto 80 Ground-plan of Pueblo Hungo Pavie, ditto 86 Restoration of Pueblo Hungo Pavie, ditto 88 Restoration of Pueblo Bonito, ditto 90 Ground-plan of Pueblo Peñasca Blanca, ditto 92 Ground-plan of so-called "House of the Nuns" at Uxmal, ditto 133 Map of the East Bygd, or eastern settlement of the Northmen in Greenland, reduced from Rafn's Antiquitates Americanæ 160, 161 Ruins of the church at Kakortok, from Major's Voyages of the Zeni, published by the Hakluyt Society 222 Zeno Map, cir. 1400, ditto 232, 233 Map of the World according to Claudius Ptolemy, cir. A. D. 150, an abridged sketch after a map in Bunbury's History of Ancient Geography Facing 265 Two sheets of the Catalan Map, 1375, from Yule's Cathay, published by the Hakluyt Society 288, 289 Map of the World according to Pomponius Mela, cir. A. D. 50, from Winsor's Narrative and Critical History of America 304 Map illustrating Portuguese voyages on the coast of Africa, from a sketch by the author 324 Toscanelli's Map, 1474, redrawn and improved from a sketch in Winsor's America Facing 357 (p. xxxvi) Annotations by Columbus, reduced from a photograph in Harrisse's Notes on Columbus 373 Sketch of Martin Behaim's Globe, 1492, preserved in the city hall at Nuremberg, reduced to Mercator's projection and sketched by the author 422, 423 Sketch of Martin Behaim's Atlantic Ocean, with outline of the American continent superimposed, from Winsor's America 429 Map of the discoveries made by Columbus in his first and second voyages, sketched by the author 469 Map of the discoveries made by Columbus in his third and fourth voyages, ditto 493 Arms of Ferdinand Columbus, from the title-page of Harrisse's Fernand Colomb 515

THE CRITICAL PERIOD AMERICAN HISTORY 1783–1789 By John Fiske "I am uneasy and apprehensive, more so than during the war." Jay to Washington, June 27, 1786. CONTENTS