From the fact that Yucatan is represented as a peninsula, though not named, while the discoveries of Grijalva and Cortés are not shown, the date of 1518 may be ascribed to the map. Stevens believes it to have been made some time about 1514; Kohl about 1520; Kunstmann some time after 1511. Unexplored coasts are left out instead of being laid down from old Asiatic maps; as for example the United States coast from Newfoundland (Bacalnaos) to Florida (Bimini), and the Gulf coast from Florida to Yucatan. In the central region the names 'Terram Antipodum' and 'Antilhas de Castela' are used without any means of deciding to exactly what parts they are to be applied. The South Sea discovered by Balboa in 1513 is here shown for the first time with the inscription 'Mar visto pelos Castelhanus.' To South America the name 'Brasill' is given. The presence of two Mahometan flags in locations corresponding to Honduras and Venezuela, shows that the compiler still had no doubt that he was mapping parts of Asia. Kunstmann, Entdeckung Am., pp. 129 et seq.; Munich Atlas, no. iv., from which I take my copy; Kohl's Hist. Discov., pp. 179-82, pl. x.; Stevens' Notes, pp. 17, 53, pl. v. Pomponius Mela's Libri de situ orbis, Vienna, 1518, contains a commentary by Vadianus, written however in 1512, in which the name America is used in speaking of the New World. Other editions appeared in 1522 and 1530.
Map in Munich Atlas, supposed to have been Drawn about 1518.
[1519.] Stobnicza's Ptolemy of 1519 alludes to the New World discovered by Vespucci and named after him.
Enciso, Suma de geografia, Seville, 1519, is the first Spanish work known which treats of the new regions. The author was a companion of Ojeda in his unfortunate attempt to found a colony on Tierra Firme. Another edition appeared in 1530.
CONQUEST OF MEXICO.
On February 18, 1519, Hernan Cortés set sail from Cuba to undertake the conquest of the countries discovered by Córdoba and Grijalva. After spending some time on the island of Cozumel, where he rescued Gerónimo de Aguilar from his long captivity (see [p. 129]), he followed the coast to Rio de Grijalva, where he defeated the natives in battle, and took possession of the land in the name of the Catholic sovereigns. From this place he continued his voyage sailing near the shore to Vera Cruz, where he landed his forces and began the conquest of Montezuma's empire, the history of which forms part of a subsequent volume of this series.
Francisco de Garay, governor of Jamaica, prompted by the reports of Ponce de Leon, Córdoba, and Grijalva, despatched four vessels in 1519, under Alonso Alvarez Pineda, who sailed northward to a point on the Pánuco coast (where, according to Gomara, an expedition had been sent during the preceding year, under Camargo). Prevented by winds and shoals from coasting northward as he desired, he sailed along in sight of the low gulf shores until he reached Vera Cruz, where he found the fleet of Cortés. Troubles between the commanders arose from this meeting which will be narrated hereafter.