[IV-2] Ferdinand Columbus, or as he is more commonly called Fernando Colon, was an illegitimate son of Christopher Columbus, by a lady of respectable family. He was born at Córdova, and in 1494, after his father became famous, was brought with his elder brother to court, where he was placed as page to Prince Juan. Upon the death of the heir apparent young Fernando served Queen Isabella in the same capacity, thereby securing an excellent education. During this perilous voyage he was an object no less of comfort than of anxiety to his father, now infirm and troubled in spirit, and his conduct throughout merited and received paternal commendation. 'El ha salido y sale de muy buen saber,' writes the fond father, 'bien que él sea niño en dias, no es assi en el entendimiento.' Cartas de Colon, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, i. 341 and 344. See also Zúñiga, Anales de Sevilla. His manhood fulfilled the promise of his youth. He cultivated literature with considerable success, and became, as Muñoz, Hist. Nuevo Mundo, i. viii., expresses it, 'doctísimo para su siglo, y de grandes pensamientos en materias literarias, segun demostraré á su tiempo.' He travelled extensively in Europe, in the train of Charles V., probably visited Africa and Asia, and is said to have made two voyages to America after his father's death. He formed a collection of over 20,000 printed books and manuscripts, which went to the cathedral of Seville. He neither married, nor left any recognized progeny. He was the author of several works which have not been preserved, the inscription on his tomb mentioning one in four divisions relating partly to the New World and his father's voyages. Antonio de Leon Pinelo, Epitome, 565, 633 and 711, speaks of a work, Apuntamientos sobre la Demarcacion del Maluco, preserved in manuscript at Simancas. The only printed book of Fernando Colon is a history of the admiral, his father. The original title is not known, the manuscript disappearing before its publication in Spanish. Luis Colon, duke of Veraguas, and grandson of the admiral, brought the manuscript to Genoa about 1568, and delivered it to one Fornari, an old man who, according to Barcia, began to print it in Spanish, Italian, and Latin. Others assert that it passed into the hands of Marini, who caused it to be translated into Italian by Alfonso de Ulloa. Spotorno, Codice Diplomatico, 1823, lxiii. Ulloa's translation, badly made from a bad copy—'sans doute d'après un texte assez fautif,' Humboldt, Exam. Crit., i. 13,—was printed in Venice, in 1571, under the title, Historie del Fernando Colombo; Nelle quali s'ha particolare, & vera relatione della vita, & de' fatti dell' Ammiraglio D. Christoforo Colombo, suo padre, etc. It was reprinted in Italian some six or eight times. A French translation was published in 1680-1, and an English translation has gone the rounds, appearing in Churchill's Col. Voy., ii. 480-604; Kerr's Col. Voy., iii. 1-242; and Pinkerton's Col. Voy., xii. 1-155. It was carelessly retranslated from the Italian into Spanish by Andrés Gonzalez de Barcia, and printed in his Historiadores Primitivos de las Indias Occidentales, 3 vols., Madrid, 1749, comprising pp. 1-128, tom. i., of that series, and entitled, La Historia de D. Fernando Colon, en la qual se da Particular, y verdadera relacion de la vida, y hechos de el Almirante D. Christoval Colon, su Padre, etc. This is the edition most commonly used, and to this I refer, although I have before me an Italian copy of the edition of 1709. Fernando Colon had peculiar advantages for writing his father's history. Himself an actor in the events described, he was moreover personally acquainted with his father's friends, and held possession of his father's papers. All agree that he made good use of his opportunity, and that he has given a clear statement of events which even in his own time began to be distorted. If he was silent touching his father's family, country, and birth, we must remember that poverty and obscurity were a disgrace in those days, and that the son Fernando was a Spaniard. Those who should best know the merits of this author pay him the highest tribute. Of his work says Muñoz, Hist. Nuevo Mundo, i. viii., 'Confieso deberle mucho;' and the author Navarrete, Col. de Viages, i. lxx., remarks, 'habló siempre con verdad y exactitud, salvo alguna equivocacion fácil de discernir en buena crítica ... y por tanto pueden aun estas leves faltas ser efecto de la incuria ó poca inteligencia de ambos traductores.' Attempts have been made to deny to Fernando the authorship, but this, if correct, does not materially affect its value, since it is allowed to have been written from his documents and under his supervision. The vicissitudes to which the work has been subjected and the mutilation it has suffered afford grounds for caution not to be disregarded by the historian. Still, the general tenor and details of the narrative, and the literary bent of the reputed author, present in themselves sufficient evidence of its authenticity.
With regard to the use of certain proper names encountered thus far in this history I would say a word. The question presents difficulties in whatsoever aspect viewed. There are Spanish names of places and persons which custom has so anglicized as to give to their use in the original the appearance of affectation—instance Castilla, for Castile; Sevilla, Seville; Fernando and Isabel, Ferdinand and Isabella; Cárlos V., Charles V.; Felipe II., Philip II. On the other hand, in writing in English of Spanish affairs, the attempt to continue indefinitely the anglicizing of Spanish names would be as impossible as absurd. The two chief objects with me have been to adopt the best forms, and to preserve consistency; I do not claim eminent success in either attempt. The result, however, has been the adoption of the following method, if it may be called a method: The prominent places and persons of Spain, whose names are invariably given in their anglicized form in current English literature, I write in the same way; but those same names, as well as all others, appearing in the New World, where no prominent English writers have made them familiar in an English form, I present in the original as written by the best Spanish scholars. Thus the name of the great Genoese I give in its common latinized form, Christopher Columbus, while in the use of those of his less eminent brothers and sons, who soon became almost or altogether Spaniards, I adopt the forms employed by Spaniards.
[IV-3] Instance the title-page of the first work published on the New World, in 1493:—Epistola Christofori Colom: cui etas nostra multũ a debet: de Insulis Indie supra Gangem nuper inuentis. Ad quas perquirendas octauo antea mense auspiciis et ere inuictissimi Fernandi Hispaniarum Regis missus fuerat: ad Magnificum dum Raphaelem Sanxis: eiusdem serenissimi Regis Tesaurariũ missa: quam nobilis ac litteratus vir Aliander de Cosco ab Hispano ideomate in latinum conuertit: tertio kal's Maij. M.cccc.xciij. Pontificatus Alexandri Sexti Anno Primo. Letter of Christopher Colom, to whom our age is greatly indebted, respecting the Islands of India beyond the Ganges, lately discovered. In search of which he was sent eight months since, under the auspices and at the expense of the most invincible Ferdinand, king of the Spains. Sent to the magnificent lord Raphael Sanxis, treasurer of the same most serene king, and which the noble and learned man, Aliander de Cosco, translated from the Spanish idiom into Latin. The third day of the Calends of May, 1493. Pontificate of Alexander VI., Year One.
[IV-4] Guanaja is the most easterly of a group called the Bay Islands. To the west of Guanaja, in the order here named, lie Barbaretta, Helena, Morat, Ruatan, the largest, and Utila. On Peter Martyr's map, India beyond the Ganges, 1510, Guanaja is written guanasa. On map iv., Munich Atlas, supposed to have been drawn by Salvat Pilestrina in 1515, Guanaja is called sam fir.co, San Francisco; Ruatan, todo samto; and Utila, I:lhana. Fernando Colon locates on his map, 1527, y:llana, s:francisco, and todos sanctos, and between the last two, sancta ffe. On the map of Diego de Ribera, 1529, are s:franco, to stõs, la llana, and s∴ fe. Vaz Dourado, 1571, map x., Munich Atlas, calls Guanaja, lla ganaxa; Ruatan, aguba; and Utila, dotila. Mercator's Atlas, 1574, gives Guanaxos; Ogilby's Map, 1671, Guanaja, Guajama, Roatan, and Vtila; Laet, Novvs Orbis, 1633, the same; Jefferys' Voyages, 1776, Guanaja or Bonaka, Guajama or Rattan, and Utila. Of Guanaja, Diego de Porras in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, i. 283, remarks:—'es pequeña, bojará veinte leguas, no tiene cosa de provecho.' Utila is low and level; hence the name, La Llana. In his remarks on the two oldest maps of America, Kohl says of Guanaja:—'Das Columbus sie schon gesehen hat, ist zu bezweifeln, da er wohl nicht so weit westwärts segelte oder blickte. Vielleicht sahen sie jedoch Pinzon und Solis 1508. Gewiss ist es, dass sie schon 1516 von einer spanischen Expedition, die zum Menschenraub von Cuba nach Süden ausgelaufen war, besucht wurde.' Fernando Colon complains that Solis and Pinzon, visiting these regions in 1508, re-named many localities, claiming to be the first discoverers, and thus causing much confusion in the charts of the times.
And here as well as elsewhere I may speak of a work from which I have derived no inconsiderable advantage in tracing the metamorphoses of names from those originally given to those finally established. Believing that much curious and valuable historical information might be obtained by instituting a close comparison of the nomenclature employed by the earlier makers of charts at their respective dates, in 1873 I directed Mr Goldschmidt to bring out and arrange for convenient reference all such relevant maps as my library contained. Beginning then with the earliest, we entered on paper prepared for the purpose the names of all the principal places contained within our territory. And so with the next, and the next, through the successive periods of discovery, following the coast on one side from Darien to Texas, and on the other from Panamá to Alaska, and along the Arctic seaboard to the Mackenzie River. Inland names were included, but their number was small as compared with those along the ocean. Some 200 maps, each original authority for its time and place, were thus examined, and the names which had been applied at various times and by various persons to the several important geographical points along this vast shore line, and throughout the inland area, were brought together so that comparisons might be made, and the nomenclatural history of the several places be quickly and correctly traced. All of the authorities I cannot mention here, but they will severally be referred to in their proper places during the course of this history. The result of this labor at the end of six months, Mr Goldschmidt working alone after the first fortnight, was three folio manuscript volumes, entitled Cartography of the Pacific Coast of North America, and of the Eastern Coasts of Mexico and Central America. The maps more particularly examined in writing this volume are as follows. Passing the sea charts of Nicolo and Antonio Zeno, made about 1390, and used by Frobisher; the ocean and islands between western Europe and eastern Asia from the globe of Martin Behaim, 1492; the chart of Juan de la Cosa, 1500, showing the West India Islands, but omitting the coast of Central America; and the map of Johann Ruysch, 1508,—we have, in part most important, the following: Map of India beyond the Ganges, drawn by Peter Martyr in 1511, and showing a coast line from Brazil to the middle of Yucatan. Along this line, in the order here given, from east to west, are vraba, tariene, el mamol, beragua, c gra de dios, guanasa, b de lagartos. North of Cuba is a section of the continental shore line lettered isla de beimini, parte. In Ptolemy's Cosmography, 1513, the coast between Brazil and Florida is given, but without names. The Atlantic is called Oceanus Occidentalis; and South America, Terra Incognita. By Reisch, in Margaritha Philosophica, 1515, the map is called Typvs Vniversalis Terre Ivxta. Two only of the islands are given and both called Isabella. South of Oceanus Occidentalis is a large continent called Paria sev Prisilia, Paria or Brazil. There are no names on the line of Central America, and the only lettering on the small portion of the northern continent are the mysterious words Zoana Mela, which have given rise to much discussion. In 1859 was published at Munich, by the Royal Bavarian Academy of Sciences, from manuscripts in the university library and army archives, under the auspices of Friedrich Kunstmann, Karl von Spruner, and Georg M. Thomas, and as supplementary to the text of Kunstmann's Die Entdeckung Amerikas, a collection of fac-similes of thirteen early maps of America, entitled Atlas zur Entdeckungsgeschichte Amerikas. This work I shall cite briefly as the Munich Atlas. Parts of the Pacific States are shown on maps numbers iv. v. vi. vii. viii. ix. x. xii. and xiii., which will be further mentioned in their several places. Map iv. was drawn by Salvat de Pilestrina probably in 1515. It shows none of the main-land above Yucatan, which is a peninsula. The northern coast of Central America is given, and the southern seaboard only of the Isthmus. No names are written on the southern coast. The South Sea is called Mar Visto pelos castelhanos, Sea seen by the Spaniards. Map v. is supposed to be by Visconte de Maiollo, 1519. It shows the northern coast of the continent only from Cape Camaron to about 30° south latitude. In a book entitled Apiano, Cosmographia, 1575, a copy of a map supposed to have been drawn by Peter Apianus in 1520, and the first upon which I have seen the name 'America.' The northern part is long and narrow, of a horseshoe shape, and lettered Baccalearum. A large continent is placed north of a strait running round the northern end of North America. Evidently Master Apianus was determined no one during his time should out-north him in map-delineation of a region of which absolutely nothing was known, either then or for a long time after. On a map of North America from the globe of Johann Schöner, 1520, the name 'America' likewise appears, the lettering on the globe being placed in Brazil, and being in these words:—America Vel Brasilia Sive Papagalli Terra. The northern and southern continents are separated by a strait at the Isthmus. It is to be regretted that Master Schöner had not the making of the world, so that it should agree with his map, and save canal-cutting. The western line of the northern continent runs north and south; the western line of the southern continent north-west and south-east. The extreme northern end of the northern continent is called Terra de Cuba. Along the western shore are the words Ultra mondv lustratum. West of the northern continent lie the large island of Zipangri and a multitude of islets. The north Pacific is called Orientalis Oceanus. Cortés' chart of the Gulf of Mexico, 1520, is a rough draft of oval shape with several names along the coast, many of which are obsolete. Yucatan is represented as an island. In 1860 J. G. Kohl published at Weimar a dissertation on two of the oldest general maps of America, with the origin of the names on each. The maps were those of Fernando Colon, 1527, and Diego Ribero, 1529, then in the grand-ducal library at Weimar. The text accompanying these fac-similes is entitled Die Beiden Ältesten General-Karten von Amerika. Ausgeführt in den Jahren 1527 und 1529, auf Befehl Kaiser Karl's V. The maps being full of names, concerning many of which there has been much discussion, 185 royal folio pages are devoted to their explanation. Beside a critical review of nomenclature is given much information, both geographical and historical. Colon's map shows the eastern coasts of North and South America, and the southern shores of the Isthmus and Central America to about Nicaragua. Ribero's map contains more names than Colon's, and a section of the Peruvian coast; otherwise they are not unlike. Continuing the present list we have all of South America, and part of North America, given in 1527 by Robert Thorne; and the western side of the New World in 1528 by Bordone. Ptolemy, in Munster, Cosmography, 1530, gives the two Americas entirely surrounded by water, with Yucatan an island; in the interior of Mexico Chamaho, and Temistitan; and near Zipangu Archipelagus 7448 insularum, counted in all probability specially for this map. Orontius Fine's globe, 1531, unites the southern continent, which it calls America, by the isthmus dariena to the northern, which extends toward the north-west across the ocean and forms part of Asia, with a continuous coast line to Japan. The Atlantic is Alanticum, and the Pacific Mar del Sur. Yucatan is an island. It is difficult to tell where Mexico ends and Asia begins. Temistitan is just south of Catay, and Mexican and Asiatic names promiscuously occur. Grynæus, in 1532, gives America in two parts, divided by a strait at the Isthmus; the western end of the northern continent is called Terra de Cuba. Map vi., Munich Atlas, 1532-40, shows the Pacific coast from Peru to California, which is represented as a peninsula. The gulf of California is called the Red Sea. Yucatan is an island. Baptista Agnese, 1536, gives North America in the shape of a horseshoe, with Yucatan an island. Map vii., Munich Atlas, is supposed to be by Baptista Agnese, 1540-50. It shows the whole of the Atlantic coast, and the Pacific coast from Peru to Mexico. Ramusio, Viaggi, iii. fol. 455-56, 1565, lays down about half the Pacific coast. Maps ix. x. and xii., Munich Atlas, are supposed to have been drawn by Vaz Dourado in 1571. The first delineates South America, and a small part of the Isthmus; the second both shores of Central America, and the Gulf of Mexico; the third the Pacific coast only from Mexico to Anian Strait. On map x. is a large lake north of Mexico, in latitude 40° to 43°, and under it in large letters, Bimenii Regio. Gerard Mercator, Atlas sive cosmographicæ, 1569, and another edition 1574, represents the world on two globes, and surrounds the two Americas with water, beside capping either pole with a huge continent. In the north-eastern corner of Asia, map iv., is Americæ pars. There are also Anian reg, Quiuira reg, Tuchano, a city, and El freto de Anian. On map v. the strait of Magellan separates the southern continent from another large continent to the south of it, on which is placed Terra del fuego. Luckily this antarctic polar continent is labeled Terra Avstralis nondvm cognita, lest the author be embarrassed by questions about it. After well passing the strait of Magellan, El Mar Pacifico is entered, though as the tropics are reached it becomes Mar del Zur. The northern part of this map v., the two Americas, is quite interesting, and will be explained elsewhere. This cartographical monstrosity Michael Lock, Hakluyt's Divers Voy., 1582, endeavored, and with very fair success, to exceed. Map xiii., Munich Atlas, by Thomas Hood, 1592, gives the Gulf of Mexico, the Islands, and the eastern coast of North America. In Drake's World Encompassed, 1595, another source of information not remarkable for reliability, Hondius traces the western coast to Bering Strait. Hondius' map, 1625, in Purchas, His Pilgrimes, iv. 857, gives North America to the mythical strait of Anian. Ioanne de Laet, Novvs Orbis, 1633, has at p. 220 a map of Nveva España, Nveva Galicia, and Gvatimala, and at p. 346 a map of Tierra Firma. A map of the world in the atlas of Jacob Colom, 1663, will require mention hereafter. Ogilby's America, 1671, gives the northern continent to Anian Strait with Nova Albion in the northern part, and California as an island; and a map at p. 222 shows parts of Mexico and Central America. There is a map of the middle part of America in Dampier's Voyages, i. 44, 1699. Beside these, I shall have occasion to mention others, such as the maps in the Buccaniers of America, 1704; Funnell's Voyage, 1707; the Dutch collection of voyages by Pieter Van der Aa; the German collection of Gottfried; Voyages de François Coreal, 1722; Anson's Voyage, 1756; Morden's Geography Rectified, 1693; Harris, Harleian, Oxford, Rogers, Shelvocke, Jefferys, and other collections of voyages. I may also mention incidentally in this volume maps and charts relating more especially to another part of the Pacific States and described more fully in a succeeding volume.
[IV-5] Cacique, lord of vassals, was the name by which the natives of Cuba designated their chiefs. Learning this, the conquerors applied the name generally to the rulers of wild tribes, although in none of the dialects of the continent is the word found. Peter Martyr says that 'in some places they call a king Cacicus, in other places they call him Quebi, and somewhere Tiba.'
[IV-6] 'Porque,' says Herrera, 'auia muchos arboles, cuya fruta es vnas mançanillas buenas de comer.' Navarrete calls the place Punta Castilla y Puerto de Trujillo, and the coast La Costa de Trujillo. The name Honduras was applied first to the cape and afterward to a long stretch of shore. Fernando Colon, Hist. Almirante, 103, Barcia, i., gives 'Cabo de Onduras.' In Oviedo, lib. iii. cap. ix., is written 'el cabo de Higueras;' this chronicler also employs the word Honduras; Galvano's Discov., 100, 'the Cape of Higueras, and vnto the Islands Gamares, and to the Cape of Honduras, that is to say, the Cape of the Depthes;' Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nvovo, 28, 'Prouincia grande, che da' paesani è nominata Iguera, è da' Spagnuoli Capo di Fonduri;' Gomara, Hist. Ind., 31, 'cabo de Higueras.'
[IV-7] Named by Columbus Rio de la Posesion, now known as Rio Tinto.
[IV-8] For full descriptions of the several peoples inhabiting this region at the coming of the Europeans, their physique, character, customs, myths, and languages, I must refer the reader to my [Native Races of the Pacific States], 5 vols., passim.
[IV-9] This name has never changed. On Peter Martyr's India beyond the Ganges, 1510, it is put down as c. gr̃a de dios; Maiollo, 1519, writes C de gratia dios; Fernando Colon, 1527, C. de gracias, á dios; Ribero, 1529, C∴ de grãc a dios; Maps vi. and vii., Munich Atlas, 1532-50, C. de gracia dios; Vaz Dourado, C∴ de grasias adios; Mercator, C. de Gracias á Dios; Dampier, C. Gratia Dios, etc.