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 Española (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 Española 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 Española. 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.