Chapter II: Introduction

The whole of this chapter contains an original record, being a distinct narrative of the discovery of America by COLUMBUS, written by his own son, who accompanied him in his latter voyages. It has been adopted into the present work from the Collection of Voyages and Travels published at London in 1704, by Awnsham and John Churchill, in four volumes folio; in which it is said to have been translated from the original Italian of Don Ferdinand Columbus, expressly for the use of that work. The language of that translation is often obscure and ungrammatical, as if the work of a foreigner; but, having no access to the original, has necessarily been adopted for the present occasion, after being carefully revised and corrected. No farther alteration has been taken with that version, except a new division into sections, instead of the prolix and needlessly minute subdivision of the original translation into a multitude of chapters; which change was necessary to accommodate this interesting original document to our plan of arrangement; and except in a few rare instances, where uninteresting controversial argumentations have been somewhat abridged, and even these chiefly because the original translator left the sense obscure or unintelligible, from ignorance of the language or of the subject.

It is hardly necessary to remark, that the new grand division of the world which was discovered by this _great navigator_, ought from him to have been named COLUMBIA. Before setting out upon this grand discovery, which was planned entirely by his own transcendent genius, he was misled to believe that the new lands he proposed to go in search of formed an extension of the _India_, which was known to the ancients; and still impressed with that idea, occasioned by the eastern longitudes of Ptolemy being greatly too far extended, he gave the name of _West Indies_ to his discovery, because he sailed to them westwards; and persisted in that denomination, even after he had certainly ascertained that they were interposed between the Atlantic ocean and Japan, the Zipangu, or Zipangri of Marco Polo, of which and Cathay or China, he first proposed to go in search.

Between the _third_ and _fourth_ voyages of COLUMBUS, _Ojeda_, an officer who had accompanied him in his _second_ voyage, was surreptitiously sent from Spain, for the obvious purpose of endeavouring to curtail the vast privileges which had been conceded to Columbus, as admiral and viceroy of all the countries he might discover; that the court of Spain might have a colour for excepting the discoveries made by others from the grant which had been conferred on him, before its prodigious value was at all thought of. Ojeda did little more than revisit some of the previous discoveries of Columbus: Perhaps he extended the knowledge of the coast of Paria. In this expedition, Ojeda was accompanied by an Italian named _Amerigo_ or _Almerico Vespucci_, whose name was Latinized, according to the custom of that age, into _Americus Vespucius_. This person was a Florentine, and appears to have been a man of science, well skilled in navigation and geography. On his return to Europe, he published the first description that appeared of the newly discovered continent and islands in the west, which had hitherto been anxiously endeavoured to be concealed by the monopolizing jealousy of the Spanish government. Pretending to have been the first discoverer of the _continent_ of the _New World_, he presumptuously gave it the appellation of _America_ after his own name; and the inconsiderate applause of the European literati has perpetuated this usurped denomination, instead of the legitimate name which the new quarter of the world ought to have received from that of the real discoverer.

Attempts have been made in latter times, to rob COLUMBUS of the honour of having discovered _America_, by endeavouring to prove that the _West Indies_ were known in Europe before his first voyage. In some maps in the library of St Mark at Venice, said to have been drawn in 1436, many islands are inserted to the _west_ of Europe and Africa. The most _easterly_ of these are supposed in the first place to be the Azores, Madeira, the Canaries and Cape Verds. Beyond these, but at no great distance towards the _west_, occurs the _Ysola de Antillia_; which we may conclude, even allowing the date of the map to be genuine, to be a mere gratuitous or theoretic supposition, and to have received that strange name, because the obvious and natural idea of _Antipodes_ had been anathematized by Catholic ignorance. Still farther to the _north-west_, another fabulous island is laid down, under the strange appellation of _Delaman Satanaxia_, or the land created by the hand of Satan. This latter may possibly have some reference to an ignorant position of Iceland. Both were probably theoretic, for the fancied purpose of _preserving a balance_ on the globe with the continents and islands already known; an idea which was transferred by learned theorists, and even persisted in for a considerable part of the eighteenth century, under the name of the _Terra Australis incognita_; and was only banished by the enlightened voyages of scientific discovery, conducted under the auspices of our present venerable sovereign.

The globe of Martin Behaim, in 1492, repeats the island of _Antillia_, and inserts beyond it to the _west_, the isle of St Brandan or Ima, from a fabulous work of the middle ages. Occasion has already occurred to notice two other ancient pretended discoveries of the New World: the fabulous voyages of the Zenos, another Venetian tale; and the equally fabulous Portuguese island of the _Seven Churches_, abounding in gold, and inhabited by Spanish or Portuguese Christians. Britain even had its Madoc prince of North Wales; and a _white_ nomadic nation in North America, speaking _Welsh_, is still among the puerile fancies of this nineteenth century.

All these pretended proofs of any previous knowledge of the _western_ world, resolve into complete demonstrations of perfect ignorance, even in the art of deception and forgery. Not only is the world indebted to COLUMBUS for this great and brilliant discovery, but every subsequent improvement in navigation, geography and hydrography, is justly attributable to his illustrious example. Much and deservedly as our COOK and his coadjutors and followers have merited from their country and the world, they are all to be considered as pupils of the truly great archnavigator COLUMBUS; himself a worthy scholar from the nautical academy of the truly illustrious and enlightened father of discoveries, DON HENRY. All other discoveries, whether nautical or by land, dwindle into mere ordinary events, when compared with his absolutely solitary exertion of previous scientific views. The sagacious and almost prophetic induction, persevering ardour, cosmographical, nautical, and astronomical skill, which centered in COLUMBUS, from the first conception to the perfect completion of this great and important enterprize, the discovery of a large portion of the globe which had lain hid for thousands of years from the knowledge of civilization and science, is altogether unexampled. He was incontestibly the first bold and scientific mariner who ever dared to launch out into the trackless ocean, trusting solely to the guidance of the needle and the stars, and to his own transcendent skill and intrepidity.

There can be no doubt that Greenland, in some measure an appendage of America, was discovered in 982, by the Norwegians or their Icelandic colony; and that the same people accidentally fell in with Newfoundland, or a part of Labradore, in 1003; of which early real discoveries particular notices have been taken in the first part of this work. But these were entirely accidental, and were lost to the world long before COLUMBUS began his glorious career; and do not in the least degree detract from the merit or originality of his discovery.

The name even of the great COLUMBUS has of late been fastidiously endeavoured to be rejected, in favour of the Spanish appellation _Colon_, which he adopted on entering into that service, which repaid him with base ingratitude and cruel injuries for his transcendent services. It will be seen, however, from the authority of his own son, that the original name of his family was _Colombi_; though some branches in other parts of Italy had adopted the modern or middle age Roman name of _Collona_. COLUMBUS, therefore, ought certainly to remain in our language as the Latinized original name of this illustrious person.

In supplement to the history of Columbus by his son, we have chosen to give an account of the first Discovery of America, by _Herrera_ the royal historiographer of Spain. To some readers this may appear superfluous: But, as _Don Ferdinand Columbus_ may naturally enough be supposed to have written under a degree of partial attachment to the glory of his immortal father, it seems fortunate that we possess an authentic early history of the same unparalleled event, from a more certainly impartial and well informed author, having access to the public archives. That portion of our work is given as an original record, almost without any remark; leaving it to the ingenious industry of such of our readers as may be so disposed, to make a critical comparison between the work of _Don Ferdinand Columbus_, a rare and valuable monument of filial piety, and that of _Antonio de Herrera_. We have only to regret, that the transcendent genius, who possessed the unexampled sagacity to devise, and the singular good fortune, perseverance, capacity, and conduct, to succeed in _Discovering the Western Hemisphere_, had not sufficient health and leisure to have favoured the world with his own _commentaries_ of this greatest enterprise that was ever achieved by man.--_Ed_.

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_Abridged Series of the Epochs of American Discovery_[2].

A.D. 982. East Greenland discovered by the Norwegians or Icelanders, who planted a small colony. This was long afterwards shut in by the accumulation of arctic ice, and entirely lost.

1003. Winland, either Newfoundland or Labradore, was discovered by the Icelanders, but soon abandoned and forgotten.

1492, August 3d. COLUMBUS commenced his first voyage. 12th October discovered _Guanahani_, one of the _Bahama_ group, which he named _St Salvador_, now named _Cat Island_. In this voyage, besides several others of the Bahama islands, he discovered _Cuba_ and _Hispaniola_, leaving a colony in the latter, which was cut off by the natives. He returned to Spain from this voyage on the 4th March 1493.

1494, September 25th. Second voyage of COLUMBUS began; in which he discovered the _Carribbee_ islands, and founded a permanent colony in _Hispaniola_ or Haiti. He returned from this voyage in 1496.

1497. _Giovanni Gabotta_, a Venetian, employed by Henry VII. of England, discovered _Newfoundland_, and traced the eastern coast of North America as far south as _Virginia_.

1498. Third voyage of COLUMBUS, in which he discovered _Trinidad_ and the coast of Paria in _South America_; now called the _Spanish Main_ by the English. He was _sent home in irons_ from Hispaniola in 1500.

1499. _Ojeda_ was sent from Spain to interfere with the great privileges granted to COLUMBUS; but did very little more than retrace some of his previous discoveries. In this voyage, as already mentioned, Ojeda was accompanied by _Americus Vespucius_, who usurped the right of giving the _New World_ his own name _America_, which still continues universal.

1500. _Cabral_, a Portuguese admiral, while on a voyage to India, accidentally discovered Brazil.

In this year likewise, _Corte de Real_, a Portuguese navigator, discovered Labradore, while in search of a _north-west_ passage to India.

1502. _Fourth_, voyage of COLUMBUS, in which he discovered the continental coast, from _Honduras_ to near the Isthmus of _Darien_.

1513. _Vasco Nunez de Balboa_, descried the _Pacific Ocean_, or great _South Sea_, and waded into the waves, taking formal possession for the crown of Spain; and even embarked on that ocean in a canoe, as a more formal act of conquest.

In the same year, _Florida_ was first discovered by _Ponce de Leon_, a Spanish officer.

1515. The continent of _South America_ was explored down to the _Rio de la Plata_.

1519. _Cortez_ began the conquest of _Mexico_, which he accomplished in 1521.

About the same time, _Magalhaens_, usually named Magellan, explored the _Pacific Ocean_.

1526. _Pizarro_ visited the coast of _Peru_, which he invaded in 1530, and _afterwards conquered_.

[1] Churchills Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. II. 479.

[2] From Pinkertons Modern Geography.

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THE AUTHORS PREFACE.

Because admiral DON CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, my father, was a person most worthy to be held in eternal remembrance, it seems reasonable that _I his son_, who sailed some time along with him, should to my other performances add this my chiefest work: _The history of his life, and of his wonderful discovery of the West Indies_.

In consequence of his great and continual sufferings, and the diseases he long laboured under, my father had not time to reduce his own notes and observations into historical order; and these having fallen to me, enable me to execute the present undertaking. Knowing that many others had undertaken to execute this task, I long delayed its performance. But, having read those other narratives, I found that they exaggerated many circumstances, had passed lightly over other matters of importance, and had even entirely omitted much that was deserving of particular notice. From these considerations I have been induced to publish this work; thinking it more becoming that I should undergo the censure of wanting skill, rather than to permit the truth respecting my noble father to remain in oblivion. Whatever may be the faults in this performance, these will not be owing to my ignorance of the truth; for I pledge myself to set down nothing which I do not find in his own papers or letters, or of which I have not actually been a witness.

In the following work, the reader will find a faithful record of all the reasons which induced the admiral to enter upon his great and glorious and successful enterprize, and will learn how far he personally proceeded in his _four_ several voyages to the New World. He will see what great and honourable articles were conceded to him, before going upon his great discovery, by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, how basely all these were violated, and he most unworthily and inhumanly treated, after performing such unparalleled services; how far he established the affairs of Hispaniola, the first settlement of the Spaniards in the New World; and what care he took that the _Indians_ should not be oppressed, but rather prevailed on by kind usage and good example, to embrace the Catholic faith. In this work, likewise, will be found a faithful picture of the manners and customs of the Indians, an account of their opinions and practices respecting religion, and every thing that can reasonably be looked for in a work like the present: The foundation for which was laid by the great discoverer, and the superstructure raised by me his own son, who possessed every advantage derivable from a liberal education and the possession of authentic original documents, to fit me for executing a work of such importance.