Thence, just at first, arose disappointment in Spain. But later, as the treasures in gold and silver and gems of the new land were brought over and became known and appreciated, there was ever growing joy and triumph over the El Dorado—the Golden Land—which had thus surprisingly been added to the Spanish Crown. There were new riches, without limit, to be brought home, new souls, beyond number, to be saved. Priests went out with the conquerors. It was a spiritual, as well as a material conquest. Immense treasure was taken when in 1521 Cortez made himself master of Mexico, and twelve years later the yet greater wealth of Peru was added by the conquest of Pizarro.
And it was a conquest and a source of riches with which at first no other country interfered. We have seen, however, that Columbus in the first instance, sailing west, had supposed himself to arrive on the eastern shore of Asia and of India—the eastern shore, that is to say, of the very land at which the Portuguese arrived by sailing east. It was apparent then that if these voyagings were prolonged far enough the ships must meet, or at least must cross each other's path. Therefore the two nations came to an agreement between themselves for the amicable partition of the world. It was arranged that Spain should have all lands, that she should conquer from any non-Christian peoples, to the west of a line drawn from north to south half-way between the Azores and the West Indies, and that Portugal should have the lands that she might similarly conquer to the east of that line. Each country would establish the Christian Church in its conquered territories; and the division was sanctioned by the Pope in a "Bull," as the Papal pronouncement is called, dated as early as 1493.
The northern nations of Europe paid only a partial respect to the Bull. Before the close of the fifteenth century Henry VII. of England had given a charter to a Venetian seaman—he had learnt his seamanship in Venice, though he, like Columbus, was a Genoese by birth—Cabot and his three sons to claim as England's possession any non-Christian lands that they might discover in the West. This charter, however, was expressly stated to apply to the northern, western, and eastern seas, but not the southern, a restriction which obviously shows that the rights of Spain and Portugal in the south were observed.
America
Long years before this, Northmen, as is told in the Saga of Eric the Red, sailing from Iceland and going west, had come to a land which they had called Vineland the Good. It is supposed to have been either Newfoundland or the mainland of North America. Very likely they touched both. There is a small grape that grows there which might justify the name. They tried to form a settlement there, but the settlers were all murdered by the natives, and the attempt was not repeated. From the port of Bristol there was commerce with Iceland. There can be no doubt that sailors brought the account of this enterprise, and of this Vineland, to Bristol. When the Cabots went westward it is likely that it was this land which they had a mind to seek.
The result of their expedition was that they reached and explored the western coasts of Newfoundland and of Labrador, but found nothing of such promise as tempted them to bring back any glowing reports of the new-found land. Its effect was indeed to extinguish the interest of England in these western voyages for many years.
In the very last year of the century the coast of South America was touched by two expeditions, one Spanish, the other Portuguese. The former had on board that Amerigo Vespucci who later wrote an account of the voyage and after whom America has its name. The expedition with which Amerigo sailed touched the coast of what we now call Brazil, and it seems to have been a surprise to discover that this part of the continent lay within the north and south line which had been drawn on the chart to define the westernmost possession of the Portuguese.
A circumnavigation
Within the first quarter of the following century the Spaniards exploring northward had proved the continuity of the great continent with that land which Cabot had reached. Southward a Portugee, Magellan, had sailed through the straits which bear his name, had rounded Cape Horn and come out into the Pacific. This boldest perhaps of all seamen, in an age of bold seamen, pressed still westward over the ocean, to meet his death from the spear of a native in the far west islands of the Philippines. He had, in fact, made real the vision of Columbus—to reach the East by sailing west. His ship, the Victoria, returned safely to Europe, being the first to accomplish a circumnavigation, or voyage round the world, in 1522. The voyage had occupied three years all but a fortnight.