The Discovery of America Vol. 1 (of 2) / with some account of Ancient America and the Spanish Conquest

by John Fiske

CHAPTER III.
EUROPE AND CATHAY.

• Why the voyages of the Northmen were not followed up [256]
• Ignorance of their geographical significance [257]
• Lack of instruments for ocean navigation [257]
• Condition of Europe in the year 1000 [258], [259]
• It was not such as to favour colonial enterprise [260]
• The outlook of Europe was toward Asia [261]
• Routes of trade between Europe and Asia [262]
• Claudius Ptolemy and his knowledge of the earth [263]
• Early mention of China [264]
• The monk Cosmas Indicopleustes [265]
• Shape of the earth, according to Cosmas [266], [267]
• His knowledge of Asia [268]
• The Nestorians [268]
• Effects of the Saracen conquests [269]
• Constantinople in the twelfth century [270]
• The Crusades [270]-274
• Barbarizing character of Turkish conquest [271]
• General effects of the Crusades [272]
• The Fourth Crusade [273]
• Rivalry between Venice and Genoa [274]
• Centres and routes of mediæval trade [275], [276]
• Effects of the Mongol conquests [277]
• Cathay, origin of the name [277]
• Carpini and Rubruquis [278]
• First knowledge of an eastern ocean beyond Cathay [278]
• The data were thus prepared for Columbus; but as yet nobody reasoned from these data to a practical conclusion [279]
• The Polo brothers [280]
• Kublai Khan's message to the Pope [281]
• Marco Polo and his travels in Asia [281], [282]
• First recorded voyage of Europeans around the Indo-Chinese peninsula [282]
• Return of the Polos to Venice [283]
• Marco Polo's book, written in prison at Genoa, 1299; its great contributions to geographical knowledge [284], [285]
• Prester John [285]
• Griffins and Arimaspians [286]
• The Catalan map, 1375 [288], 289
• Other visits to China [287]-291
• Overthrow of the Mongol dynasty, and shutting up of China [291]
• First rumours of the Molucca islands and Japan [292]
• The accustomed routes of Oriental trade were cut off in the fifteenth century by the Ottoman Turks [293]
• Necessity for finding an "outside route to the Indies" [294]

CHAPTER IV.
THE SEARCH FOR THE INDIES.
EASTWARD OR PORTUGUESE ROUTE.

• Question as to whether Asia could be reached by sailing around Africa [295]
• Views of Eratosthenes [296]
• Opposing theory of Ptolemy [297]
• Story of the Phœnician voyage in the time of Necho [298]-300
• Voyage of Hanno [300], [301]
• Voyages of Sataspes and Eudoxus [302]
• Wild exaggerations [303]
• Views of Pomponius Mela [304], [305]
• Ancient theory of the five zones [306], [307]
• The Inhabited World, or Œcumene, and the Antipodes [308]
• Curious notions about Taprobane (Ceylon) [309]
• Question as to the possibility of crossing the torrid zone [309]
• Notions about sailing "up and down hill" [310], [311]
• Superstitious fancies [311], [312]
• Clumsiness of ships in the fifteenth century [312]
• Dangers from famine and scurvy [313]
• The mariner's compass; an interesting letter from Brunetto Latini to Guido Cavalcanti [313]-315
• Calculating latitudes and longitudes [315]
• Prince Henry the Navigator [316]-326
• His idea of an ocean route to the Indies, and what it might bring [318]
• The Sacred Promontory [319]
• The Madeira and Canary islands [320]-322
• Gil Eannes passes Cape Bojador [323]
• Beginning of the modern slave-trade, 1442 [323]
• Papal grant of heathen countries to the Portuguese crown [324], [325]
• Advance to Sierra Leone [326]
• Advance to the Hottentot coast [326], [327]
• Note upon the extent of European acquaintance with savagery and the lower forms of barbarism previous to the fifteenth century [327]-329
• Effect of the Portuguese discoveries upon the theories of Ptolemy and Mela [329], [330]
• News of Prester John; Covilham's journey [331]
• Bartholomew Dias passes the Cape of Good Hope and enters the Indian ocean [332]
• Some effects of this discovery [333]
• Bartholomew Columbus took part in it [333]
• Connection between these voyages and the work of Christopher Columbus [334]

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]
• 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]
• 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]
• 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]

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]
• 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]
• 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]