Chapter 3: , page 89 (9)

Fernando Magellan, or Magalhaes, was "a disaffected Portuguese
gentleman who had served his country for five years in the Indies
under Albuquerque, and understood well the secrets of the
Eastern trade. In 1517, conjointly with his geographical and
astronomical friend, Ruy Falerio, another unrequited
Portuguese, he offered his services to the Spanish court. At
the same time these two friends proposed, not only to prove
that the Moluccas were within the Spanish lines of
demarkation, but to discover a passage thither different from
that used by the Portuguese. Their schemes were listened to,
adopted and carried out. The Straits of Magellan were
discovered, the broad South Sea was crossed, the Ladrones and
the Phillipines were inspected, the Moluccas were passed
through, the Cape of Good Hope was doubled on the homeward
voyage, and the globe was circumnavigated, all in less than
three years, from 1519 to 1522. Magellan lost his life, and
only one of his five ships returned [under Sebastian del Cano]
to tell the marvelous story. The magnitude of the enterprise
was equalled only by the magnitude of the results. The globe
for the first time began to assume its true character and size
in the minds of men, and the minds of men began soon to grasp
and utilize the results of this circumnavigation for the
enlargement of trade and commerce, and for the benefit of
geography, astronomy, mathematics, and the other sciences.
This wonderful story, is it not told in a thousand books? …
The Portuguese in India and the Spiceries, as well as at home,
now seeing the inevitable conflict approaching, were
thoroughly aroused to the importance of maintaining their
rights. They openly asserted them, and pronounced this trade
with the Moluccas by the Spanish an encroachment on their
prior discoveries and possession, as well as a violation of
the Papal Compact of 1494, and prepared themselves
energetically for defense and offense. On the other hand, the
Spaniards as openly declared that Magellan's fleet carried the
first Christians to the Moluccas and by friendly intercourse
with the kings of those islands, reduced them to Christian
subjection and brought back letters and tribute to Cæsar.
Hence these kings and their people came under the protection
of Charles V. Besides this, the Spaniards claimed that the
Moluccas were within the Spanish half, and were therefore
doubly theirs. … Matters thus waxing hot, King John of
Portugal begged Charles V. to delay dispatching his new fleet
until the disputed points could be discussed and settled.
Charles, who boasted that he had rather be right than rich,
consented, and the ships were staid. These two Christian
princes, who owned all the newly discovered and to be
discovered parts of the whole world between them by deed of
gift of the Pope, agreed to meet in Congress at Badajos by
their representatives, to discuss and settle all matters in
dispute about the division of their patrimony, and to define
and stake out their lands and waters, both parties agreeing to
abide by the decision of the Congress. Accordingly, in the
early spring of 1524, up went to this little border town
four-and-twenty wise men, or thereabouts, chosen by each
prince. They comprised the first judges, lawyers,
mathematicians, astronomers, cosmographers, navigators and
pilots of the land, among whose names were many honored now as
then—such as Fernando Columbus, Sebastian Cabot, Estevan
Gomez, Diego Ribero, etc. … The debates and proceedings of
this Congress, as reported by Peter Martyr, Oviedo, and
Gomara, are very amusing, but no regular joint decision could
be reached, the Portuguese declining to subscribe to the
verdict of the Spaniards, inasmuch as it deprived them of the
Moluccas. So each party published and proclaimed its own
decision after the Congress broke up in confusion on the last
day of May, 1524. It was, however, tacitly understood that the
Moluccas fell to Spain, while Brazil, to the extent of two
hundred leagues from Cape St. Augustine, fell to the
Portuguese. … However, much good resulted from this first
geographical Congress. The extent and breadth of the Pacific
were appreciated, and the influence of the Congress was soon
after seen in the greatly improved maps, globes, and charts."

_H. Stevens,
History and Geographical Notes, 1453-1530._

{63}

"For three months and twenty days he [Magellan] sailed on the
Pacific and never saw inhabited land. He was compelled by
famine to strip off the pieces of skin and leather wherewith
his rigging was here and there bound, to soak them in the sea
and then soften them with warm water, so as to make a wretched
food; to eat the sweepings of the ship and other loathsome
matter'; to drink water gone putrid by keeping; and yet he
resolutely held on his course, though his men were dying
daily. … In the whole history of human undertakings there is
nothing that exceeds, if indeed there is anything that equals,
this voyage of Magellan's. That of Columbus dwindles away in
comparison. It is a display of superhuman courage, superhuman
perseverance."

_J. W. Draper,
History of the Intellectual Development of Europe,
chapter 19._

"The voyage [of Magellan] … was doubtless the greatest feat
of navigation that has ever been performed, and nothing can be
imagined that would surpass it except a journey to some other
planet. It has not the unique historic position of the first
voyage of Columbus, which brought together two streams of
human life that had been disjoined since the Glacial Period.
But as an achievement in ocean navigation that voyage of
Columbus sinks into insignificance by the side of it, and when
the earth was a second time encompassed by the greatest
English sailor of his age, the advance in knowledge, as well
as the different route chosen, had much reduced the difficulty
of the performance. When we consider the frailness of the
ships, the immeasurable extent of the unknown, the mutinies
that were prevented or quelled, and the hardships that were
endured, we can have no hesitation in speaking of Magellan as
the prince of navigators."

_J. Fiske,
The Discovery of America,
chapter 7 (volume 2)._

ALSO IN
_Lord Stanley of Alderley,
The First Voyage Round the World (Hakluyt Society, 1874)_.

_R. Kerr,
Collection of Voyages,
volume 10._

AMERICA: A. D. 1519-1525.
The Voyages of Garay and Ayllon.
Discovery of the mouth of the Mississippi.
Exploration of the Carolina Coast.

In 1519, Francisco de Garay, governor of Jamaica, who had been
one of the companions of Columbus on his second voyage, having
heard of the richness and beauty of Yucatan, "at his own
charge sent out four ships well equipped, and with good
pilots, under the command of Alvarez Alonso de Pineda. His
professed object was to search for some strait, west of
Florida, which was not yet certainly known to form a part of
the continent. The strait having been sought for in vain, his
ships turned toward the west, attentively examining the ports,
rivers, inhabitants, and everything else that seemed worthy of
remark; and especially noticing the vast volume of water
brought down by one very large stream. At last they came upon
the track of Cortes near Vera Cruz. … The carefully drawn
map of the pilots showed distinctly the Mississippi, which, in
this earliest authentic trace of its outlet, bears the name of
the Espiritu Santo. … But Garay thought not of the
Mississippi and its valley: he coveted access to the wealth of
Mexico; and, in 1523, lost fortune and life ingloriously in a
dispute with Cortes for the government of the country on the
river Panuco. A voyage for slaves brought the Spaniards in
1520 still farther to the north. A company of seven, of whom
the most distinguished was Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon, fitted out
two slave ships from St. Domingo, in quest of laborers for
their plantations and mines. From the Bahama Islands they
passed to the coast of South Carolina, which was called
Chicora. The Combahee river received the name of Jordan; the
name of St. Helena, whose day is the 18th of August, was given
to a cape, but now belongs to the sound." Luring a large
number of the confiding natives on board their ships the
adventurers treacherously set sail with them; but one of the
vessels foundered at sea, and most of the captives on the
other sickened and died. Vasquez de Ayllon was rewarded for
his treacherous exploit by being authorized and appointed to
make the conquest of Chicora. "For this bolder enterprise the
undertaker wasted his fortune in preparations; in 1525 his
largest ship was stranded in the river Jordan; many of his men
were killed by the natives; and he himself escaped only to
suffer from the consciousness of having done nothing worthy of
honor. Yet it may be that ships, sailing under his authority,
made the discovery of the Chesapeake and named it the bay of
St. Mary; and perhaps even entered the bay of Delaware, which,
in Spanish geography, was called St. Christopher's."

_G. Bancroft,
History of the United States,
part 1, chapter 2._

ALSO IN
_H. H. Bancroft,
History of the Pacific States,
volume 4, chapter 11, and volume 5, chapters 6-7._

_W. G. Simms,
History of South Carolina,
book 1, chapter 1._

AMERICA: A. D. 1523-1524.
The Voyages of Verrazano.
First undertakings of France in the New World.

"It is constantly admitted in our history that our kings paid
no attention to America before the year 1523. Then Francis I.,
wishing to excite the emulation of his subjects in regard to
navigation and commerce, as he had already so successfully in
regard to the sciences and fine arts, ordered John Verazani,
who was in his service, to go and explore the New Lands, which
began to be much talked of in France. … Verazani was
accordingly sent, in 1523, with four ships to discover North
America; but our historians have not spoken of his first
expedition, and we should be in ignorance of it now, had not
Ramusio preserved in his great collection a letter of Verazani
himself, addressed to Francis I. and dated Dieppe, July 8,
1524. In it he supposes the king already informed of the
success and details of the voyage, so that he contents himself
with stating that he sailed from Dieppe in four vessels, which
he had safely brought back to that port. In January, 1524, he
sailed with two ships, the Dauphine and the Normande, to
cruise against the Spaniards. Towards the close of the same
year, or early in the next, he again fitted out the Dauphine,
on which, embarking with 50 men and provisions for eight
months, he first sailed to the island of Madeira."

_Father Charlevoix,
History of New France
(translated by J. G. Shea),
book 1._

{64}

"On the 17th of January, 1524, he [Verrazano] parted from the
'Islas desiertas,' a well-known little group of islands near
Madeira, and sailed at first westward, running in 25 days 500
leagues, with a light and pleasant easterly breeze, along the
northern border of the trade winds, in about 30° North. His track
was consequently nearly like that of Columbus on his first
voyage. On the 14th of February he met 'with as violent a
hurricane as any ship ever encountered.' But he weathered it,
and pursued his voyage to the west, 'with a little deviation
to the north;' when, after having sailed 24 days and 400
leagues, he descried a new country which, as he supposed, had
never before been seen either by modern or ancient navigators.
The country was very low. From the above description it is
evident that Verrazano came in sight of the east coast of the
United States about the 10th of March, 1524. He places his
land-fall in 34° North, which is the latitude of Cape Fear." He
first sailed southward, for about 50 leagues, he states,
looking for a harbor and finding none. He then turned
northward. "I infer that Verrazano saw little of the coast of
South Carolina and nothing of that of Georgia, and that in
these regions he can, at most, be called the discoverer only
of the coast of North Carolina. … He rounded Cape Hatteras,
and at a distance of about 50 leagues came to another shore,
where he anchored and spent several days. … This was the
second principal landing-place of Verrazano. If we reckon 50
leagues from Cape Hatteras, it would fall somewhere upon the
east coast of Delaware, in latitude 38° North, where, by some
authors, it is thought to have been. But if, as appears most
likely, Verrazano reckoned his distance here, as he did in
other cases, from his last anchoring, and not from Cape
Hatteras, we must look for his second landing somewhere south
of the entrance to Chesapeake Bay, and near the entrance to
Albemarle Sound. And this better agrees with the 'sail of 100
leagues' which Verrazano says he made from his second to his
third landing-place, in New York Bay. … He found at this
third landing station an excellent berth, where he came to
anchor, well-protected from the winds, … and from which he
ascended the river in his boat into the interior. He found the
shores very thickly settled, and as he passed up half a league
further, he discovered a most beautiful lake … of three
leagues in circumference. Here, more than 30 canoes came to
him with a multitude of people, who seemed very friendly. …
This description contains several accounts which make it still
more clear that the Bay of New York was the scene of these
occurrences."—Verrazano's anchorage having been at Gravesend
Bay, the river which he entered being the Narrows, and the
lake he found being the Inner Harbor. From New York Bay
Verrazano sailed eastward, along the southern shore of Long
Island, and following the New England coast, touching at or
describing points which are identified with Narragansett Bay
and Newport, Block Island or Martha's Vineyard, and
Portsmouth. His coasting voyage was pursued as far as 50° North,
from which point he sailed homeward. "He entered the port of
Dieppe early in July, 1524. His whole exploring expedition,
from Madeira and back, had accordingly lasted but five and a
half months."

_J. G. Kohl,
History of the Discovery of Maine
(Maine Historical Society Collection, 2d Series, volume 1),
chapter 8._

ALSO IN

_G. Dexter,
Cortereal, Verrazano, &c.
(Narrative and Critical History of America,
volume 4, chapter 1)._

_Relation of Verrazano
(New York Historical Society Collection,
volume 1, and N. S., volume 1)_.

_J. C. Brevoort,
Verrazano the Navigator._

AMERICA: A. D. 1524-1528.
The Explorations of Pizarro and Discovery of Peru.

"The South Sea having been discovered, and the inhabitants of
Tierra Firme having been conquered and pacified, the Governor
Pedrarias de Avila founded and settled the cities of Panama
and of Nata, and the town of Nombre de Dios. At this time the
Captain Francisco Pizarro, son of the Captain Gonzalo Pizarro,
a knight of the city of Truxillo, was living in the city of
Panama; possessing his house, his farm and his Indians, as one
of the principal people of the land, which indeed he always
was, having distinguished himself in the conquest and
settling, and in the service of his Majesty. Being at rest and
in repose, but full of zeal to continue his labours and to
perform other more distinguished services for the royal crown,
he sought permission from Pedrarias to discover that coast of
the South Sea to the eastward. He spent a large part of his
fortune on a good ship which he built, and on necessary
supplies for the voyage, and he set out from the city of
Panama on the 14th day of the month of November, in the year
1524. He had 112 Spaniards in his company, besides some Indian
servants. He commenced a voyage in which they suffered many
hardships, the season being winter and unpropitious." From
this unsuccessful voyage, during which many of his men died of
hunger and disease, and in the course of which he found no
country that tempted his cupidity or his ambition, Pizarro
returned after some months to "the land of Panama, landing at
an Indian village near the island of Pearls, called Chuchama.
Thence he sent the ship to Panama, for she had become
unseaworthy by reason of the teredo; and all that had befallen
was reported to Pedrarias, while the Captain remained behind
to refresh himself and his companions. When the ship arrived
at Panama it was found that, a few days before, the Captain
Diego de Almagro had sailed in search of the Captain Pizarro,
his companion, with another ship and 70 men." Almagro and his
party followed the coast until they came to a great river,
which they called San Juan [a few miles north of the port of
Buenaventura, in New Granada]. … They there found signs of
gold, but there being no traces of the Captain Pizarro, the
Captain Almagro returned to Chuchama, where he found his
comrade. They agreed that the Captain Almagro should go to
Panama, repair the ships, collect more men to continue the
enterprise, and defray the expenses, which amounted to more
than 10,000 castellanos. At Panama much obstruction was caused
by Pedrarias and others, who said that the voyage should not
be persisted in, and that his Majesty would not be served by
it. The Captain Almagro, with the authority given him by his
comrade, was very constant in prosecuting the work he had
commenced, and … Pedrarias was forced to allow him to engage men.
{65}
He set out from Panama with 110 men; and went to
the place where Pizarro waited with another 50 of the first
110 who sailed with him, and of the 70 who accompanied Almagro
when he went in search. The other 130 were dead. The two
captains, in their two ships, sailed with 160 men, and coasted
along the land. When they thought they saw signs of
habitations, they went on shore in three canoes they had with
them, rowed by 60 men, and so they sought for provisions. They
continued to sail in this way for three years, suffering great
hardships from hunger and cold. The greater part of the crews
died of hunger, insomuch that there were not 50 surviving, and
during all those three years they discovered no good land. All
was swamp and inundated country, without inhabitants. The good
country they discovered was as far as the river San Juan,
where the Captain Pizarro remained with the few survivors,
sending a captain with the smaller ship to discover some good
land further along the coast. He sent the other ship, with the
Captain Diego de Almagro to Panama to get more men. At the
end of 70 days, the exploring ship came back with good
reports, and with specimens of gold, silver and cloths, found
in a country further south. "As soon as the Captain Almagro
arrived from Panama with a ship laden with men and horses, the
two ships, with their commanders and all their people, set out
from the river San Juan, to go to that newly-discovered land.
But the navigation was difficult; they were detained so long
that the provisions were exhausted, and the people were
obliged to go on shore in search of supplies. The ships
reached the bay of San Mateo, and some villages to which the
Spaniards gave the name of Santiago. Next they came to the
villages of Tacamez [Atacames, on the coast of modern
Ecuador], on the sea coast further on. These villages were
seen by the Christians to be large and well peopled: and when
90 Spaniards had advanced a league beyond the villages of
Tacamez, more than 10,000 Indian warriors encountered them;
but seeing that the Christians intended no evil, and did not
wish to take their goods, but rather to treat them peacefully,
with much love, the Indians desisted from war. In this land there
were abundant supplies, and the people led well-ordered lives,
the villages having their streets and squares. One village had
more than 3,000 houses, and others were smaller. It seemed to
the captains and to the other Spaniards that nothing could be
done in that land by reason of the smallness of their numbers,
which rendered them unable to cope with the Indians. So they
agreed to load the ships with the supplies to be found in the
villages, and to return to an island called Gallo, where they
would be safe until the ships arrived at Panama with the news
of what had been discovered, and to apply to the Governor for
more men, in order that the Captains might be able to continue
their undertaking, and conquer the land. Captain Almagro went
in the ships. Many persons had written to the Governor
entreating him to order the crews to return to Panama, saying
that it was impossible to endure more hardships than they had
suffered during the last three years. The Governor ordered
that all those who wished to go to Panama might do so, while
those who desired to continue the discoveries were at liberty
to remain. Sixteen men stayed with Pizarro, and all the rest
went back in the ships to Panama. The Captain Pizarro was on
that island for five months, when one of the ships returned,
in which he continued the discoveries for a hundred leagues
further down the coast. They found many villages and great
riches; and they brought away more specimens of gold, silver,
and cloths than had been found before, which were presented by
the natives. The Captain returned because the time granted by
the governor had expired, and the last day of the period had
been reached when he entered the port of Panama. The two
Captains were so ruined that they could no longer prosecute
their undertaking. … The Captain Francisco Pizarro was only
able to borrow a little more than 1,000 castellanos among his
friends, with which sum he went to Castile, and gave an
account to his Majesty of the great and signal services he had
performed."

_F. de Xeres (Sec. of Pizarro),
Account of the Province of Cuzco;
translated and edited by C. R. Markham
(Hakluyt Society, 1872)._

ALSO IN:
_W. H. Prescott,
History of the Conquest of Peru,
book 2, chapters 2-4 (volume 1)._

AMERICA: A. D. 1525.
The Voyage of Gomez.

See CANADA (NEW FRANCE): THE NAMES.

AMERICA: A. D. 1526-1531.
Voyage of Sebastian Cabot and attempted colonization of La Plata.

See PARAGUAY: A. D. 1515-1557.

AMERICA: A. D. 1528-1542.
The Florida Expeditions of Narvaez and Hernando de Soto.
Discovery of the Mississippi.

See FLORIDA: A. D. 1528-1542.

AMERICA: A. D. 1531-1533.
Pizarro's Conquest of Peru.

See PERU: A. D. 1528-1531, and 1531-1533.

AMERICA: A. D. 1533.
Spanish Conquest of the Kingdom of Quito.

See ECUADOR:

AMERICA: A. D. 1534-1535.
Exploration of the St. Lawrence to Montreal by Jacques Cartier.

"At last, ten years after [the voyages of Verrazano], Philip
Chabot, Admiral of France, induced the king [Francis I.] to
resume the project of founding a French colony in the New
World whence the Spaniards daily drew such great wealth; and
he presented to him a Captain of St. Malo, by name Jacques
Cartier, whose merit he knew, and whom that prince accepted.
Cartier having received his instructions, left St. Malo the 2d
of April, 1534, with two ships of 60 tons and 122 men. He
steered west, inclining slightly north, and had such fair
winds that, on the 10th of May, he made Cape Bonavista, in
Newfoundland, at 46° north. Cartier found the land there still
covered with snow, and the shore fringed with ice, so that he
could not or dared not stop; He ran down six degrees
south-southeast, and entered a port to which he gave the name
of St. Catharine. Thence he turned back north. … After
making almost the circuit of Newfoundland, though without
being able to satisfy himself that it was an island, he took a
southerly course, crossed the gulf, approached the continent,
and entered a very deep bay, where he suffered greatly from
heat, whence he called it Chaleurs Bay. He was charmed with
the beauty of the country, and well pleased with the Indians
that he met and with whom he exchanged some goods for furs.
… On leaving this bay, Cartier visited a good part of the
coasts around the gulf, and took possession of the country in
the name of the most Christian king, as Verazani had done in
all the places where he landed.
{66}
He set sail again on the 15th of August to return to France,
and reached St. Malo safely on the 5th of September. … On
the report which he made of his voyage, the court concluded
that it would be useful to France to have a settlement in that
part of America; but no one took this affair more to heart
than the Vice-Admiral Charles de Mony, Sieur de la Mailleraye.
This noble obtained a new commission for Cartier, more ample
than the first, and gave him three ships well equipped. This
fleet was ready about the middle of May, and Cartier …
embarked on Wednesday the 19th." His three vessels were
separated by violent storms, but found one another, near the
close of July, in the gulf which was their appointed place of
rendezvous. "On the 1st of August bad weather drove him to
take refuge in the port of St. Nicholas, at the mouth of the
river on the north. Here Cartier planted a cross, with the
arms of France, and remained until the 7th. This port is
almost the only spot in Canada that has kept the name given by
Cartier. … On the 10th the three vessels re-entered the
gulf, and in honor of the saint whose feast is celebrated on
that day, Cartier gave the gulf the name of St. Lawrence; or
rather he gave it to a bay lying between Anticosti Island and
the north shore, whence it extended to the whole gulf of which
this bay is part; and because the river, before that called
River of Canada, empties into the same gulf, it insensibly
acquired the name of St. Lawrence, which it still bears. …
The three vessels … ascended the river, and on the 1st of
September they entered the river Saguenay. Cartier merely
reconnoitered the mouth of this river, and … hastened to
seek a port where his vessels might winter in safety. Eight
leagues above Isle aux Coudres he found another much larger
and handsomer island, all covered with trees and vines. He
called it Bacchus Island, but the name has been changed to
Isle d'Orleans. The author of the relation to this voyage,
printed under the name of Cartier, pretends that only here the
country begins to be called Canada. But he is surely mistaken;
for it is certain that from the earliest times the Indians
gave this name to the whole country along the river on both
sides, from its mouth to the Saguenay. From Bacchus Island,
Cartier proceeded to a little river which is ten leagues off,
and comes from the north; he called it Rivière de Ste Croix,
because he entered it on the 14th of September (Feast of the
Exaltation of the Holy Cross); but it is now commonly called
Rivière de Jacques Cartier. The day after his arrival he
received a visit from an Indian chief named Donnacona, whom
the author of the relation of that voyage styles Lord of
Canada. Cartier treated with this chief by means of two
Indians whom he had taken to France the year before, and who
knew a little French. They informed Donnacona that the
strangers wished to go to Hochelaga, which seemed to trouble
him. Hochelaga was a pretty large town, situated on an island
now known under the name of Island of Montreal. Cartier had
heard much of it, and was loth to return to France without
seeing it. The reason why this voyage troubled Donnacona was
that the people of Hochelaga were of a different nation from
his, and that he wished to profit exclusively by the
advantages which he hoped to derive from the stay of the
French in his country." Proceeding with one vessel to Lake St.
Pierre, and thence in two boats, Cartier reached Hochelaga
Oct. 2. "The shape of the town was round, and three rows of
palisades inclosed in it about 50 tunnel shaped cabins, each
over 50 paces long and 14 or 15 wide. It was entered by a
single gate, above which, as well as along the first palisade,
ran a kind of gallery, reached by ladders, and well provided
with pieces of rock and pebbles for the defence of the place.
The inhabitants of the town spoke the Huron language. They
received the French very well. … Cartier visited the
mountain at the foot of which the town lay, and gave it the
name of Mont Royal, which has become that of the whole Island
[Montreal]. From it he discovered a great extent of country,
the sight of which charmed him. … He left Hochelaga on the
5th of October, and on the 11th arrived at Sainte Croix."
Wintering at this place, where his crews suffered terribly
from the cold and from scurvy, he returned to France the
following spring. "Some authors … pretend that Cartier,
disgusted with Canada, dissuaded the king, his master, from
further thoughts of it; and Champlain seems to have been of
that opinion. But this does not agree with what Cartier
himself says in his memoirs. … Cartier in vain extolled the
country which he had discovered. His small returns, and the
wretched condition to which his men had been reduced by cold
and scurvy, persuaded most that it would never be of any use
to France. Great stress was laid on the fact that he nowhere
saw any appearance of mines; and then, even more than now, a
strange land which produced neither gold nor silver was
reckoned as nothing."

_Father Charlevoix,
History of New France,
(translated by J. G. Shea),
book 1._

ALSO IN:
_R. Kerr,
General Collection of Voyages,
part 2, book 2, chapter 12 (volume 6)_.

_F. X. Garneau,
History of Canada,
volume 1, chapter 2._

AMERICA: A. D. 1535-1540.
Introduction of Printing in Mexico.

See PRINTING, &c.: A. D. 1535-1709.

AMERICA: A. D. 1535-1550.
Spanish Conquests in Chile.

See CHILE: A. D. 1450-1724.

AMERICA: A. D. 1536-1538.
Spanish Conquests of New Granada.

See COLOMBIAN STATES: A. D. 1536-1731.

AMERICA: A. D. 1541-1603.
Jacques Cartier's last Voyage.
Abortive attempts at French Colonization in Canada.

"Jean François de la Roque, lord of Roberval, a gentleman of
Picardy, was the most earnest and energetic of those who
desired to colonize the lands discovered by Jacques Cartier.
… The title and authority of lieutenant-general was
conferred upon him; his rule to extend over Canada. Hochelaga,
Saguenay, Newfoundland, Belle Isle, Carpon, Labrador, La Grand
Baye, and Baccalaos, with the delegated rights and powers of
the Crown. This patent was dated the 15th of January, 1540.
Jacques Cartier was named second in command. … Jacques
Cartier sailed on the 23d of May, 1541, having provisioned his
fleet for two years." He remained on the St. Lawrence until
the following June, seeking vainly for the fabled wealth of
the land of Saguenay, finding the Indians strongly inclined to
a treacherous hostility, and suffering severe hardships during
the winter. Entirely discouraged and disgusted, he abandoned
his undertaking early in the summer of 1542, and sailed for home.
{67}
In the road of St. John's, Newfoundland, Cartier met his tardy
chief, Roberval, just coming to join him; but no persuasion
could induce the disappointed explorer to turn back. "To avoid
the chance of an open rupture with Roberval, the lieutenant
silently weighed anchor during the night, and made all sail
for France. This inglorious withdrawal from the enterprise
paralyzed Roberval's power, and deferred the permanent
settlement of Canada for generations then unborn. Jacques
Cartier died soon after his return to Europe." Roberval
proceeded to Canada, built a fort at Ste Croix, four leagues
west of Orleans, sent back two of his three ships to France,
and remained through the winter with his colony, having a
troubled time. There is no certain account of the ending of
the enterprise, but it ended in failure. For half a century
afterwards there was little attempt made by the French to
colonize any part of New France, though the French fisheries
on the Newfoundland Bank and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence were
steadily growing in activity and importance. "When, after
fifty years of civil strife, the strong and wise sway of Henry
IV. restored rest to troubled France, the spirit of discovery
again arose. The Marquis de In Roche, a Breton gentleman,
obtained from the king, in 1598, a patent granting the same
powers that Roberval had possessed." But La Roche's
undertaking proved more disastrous than Roberval's had been.
Yet, there had been enough of successful fur-trading opened to
stimulate enterprise, despite these misfortunes. "Private
adventurers, unprotected by any special privilege, began to
barter for the rich peltries of the Canadian hunters. A
wealthy merchant of St. Malo, named Pontgravé, was the boldest
and most successful of these traders; he made several voyages
to Tadoussac, at the mouth of the Saguenay, bringing back each
time a rich cargo of rare and valuable furs." In 1600,
Pontgravé effected a partnership with one Chauvin, a naval
captain, who obtained a patent from the king giving him a
monopoly of the trade; but Chauvin died in 1602 without having
succeeded in establishing even a trading post at Tadoussac. De
Chatte, or De Chastes, governor of Dieppe, succeeded to the
privileges of Chauvin, and founded a company of merchants at
Rouen [1603] to undertake the development of the resources of
Canada. It was under the auspices of this company that Samuel
Champlain, the founder of New France, came upon the scene.

_E. Warburton,
The Conquest of Canada,
volume 1, chapter 2-3._

ALSO IN:
_F. Parkman,
Pioneers of France in the New World: Champlain,
chapter 1-2._

AMERICA: A. D. 1562-1567.
The slave trading Voyages of John Hawkins.
Beginnings of English Enterprise in the New World.

"The history of English America begins with the three
slave-trading voyages of John Hawkins, made in the years 1562,
1564, and 1567. Nothing that Englishmen had done in connection
with America, previously to those voyages, had any result
worth recording. England had known the New World nearly
seventy years, for John Cabot reached it shortly after its
discovery by Columbus; and, as the tidings of the discovery
spread, many English adventurers had crossed the Atlantic to
the American coast. But as years passed, and the excitement of
novelty subsided, the English voyages to America had become
fewer and fewer, and at length ceased altogether. It is easy
to account for this. There was no opening for conquest or
plunder, for the Tudors were at peace with the Spanish
sovereigns: and there could be no territorial occupation, for
the Papal title of Spain and Portugal to the whole of the new
continent could not be disputed by Catholic England. No trade
worth having existed with the natives: and Spain and Portugal
kept the trade with their own settlers in their own hands. …
As the plantations in America grew and multiplied, the demand
for negroes rapidly increased. The Spaniards had no African
settlements, but the Portuguese had many, and, with the aid of
French and English adventurers, they procured from these
settlements slaves enough to supply both themselves and the
Spaniards. But the Brazilian plantations grew so fast, about
the middle of the century, that they absorbed the entire
supply, and the Spanish colonists knew not where to look for
negroes. This penury of slaves in the Spanish Indies became
known to the English and French captains who frequented the
Guinea coast; and John Hawkins, who had been engaged from
boyhood in the trade with Spain and the Canaries, resolved in
1562 to take a cargo of negro slaves to Hispaniola. The little
squadron with which he executed this project was the first
English squadron which navigated the West Indian seas. This
voyage opened those seas to the English. England had not yet
broken with Spain, and the law excluding English vessels from
trading with the Spanish colonists was not strictly enforced.
The trade was profitable, and Hawkins found no difficulty in
disposing of his cargo to great advantage. A meagre note …
from the pen of Hakluyt contains all that is known of the
first American voyage of Hawkins. In its details it must have
closely resembled the second voyage. In the first voyage,
however, Hawkins had no occasion to carry his wares further
than three ports on the northern side of Hispaniola. These
ports, far away from San Domingo, the capital, were already
well known to the French smugglers. He did not venture into
the Caribbean Sea; and having loaded his ships with their
return cargo, he made the best of his way back. In his second
voyage … he entered the Caribbean Sea, still keeping,
however, at a safe distance from San Domingo, and sold his
slaves on the mainland. This voyage was on a much larger
scale. … Having sold his slaves in the continental ports
[South American], and loaded his vessels with hides and other
goods bought with the produce, Hawkins determined to strike
out a new path and sail home with the Gulf-stream, which would
carry him northwards past the shores of Florida. Sparke's
narrative … proves that at every point in these expeditions
the Englishman was following in the track of the French. He
had French pilots and seamen on board, and there is little
doubt that one at least of these had already been with
Laudonnière in Florida. The French seamen guided him to
Laudonnière's settlement, where his arrival was most opportune.
They then pointed him the way by the coast of North America,
then universally know in the mass as New France, to
Newfoundland, and thence, with the prevailing westerly winds,
to Europe.
{68}
This was the pioneer voyage made by Englishmen along coasts
afterwards famous in history through English colonization. …
The extremely interesting narrative … given … from the pen
of John Sparke, one of Hawkins' gentlemen companions …
contains the first information concerning America and its
natives which was published in England by an English
eye-witness." Hawkins planned a third voyage in 1566, but the
remonstrances of the Spanish king caused him to be stopped by
the English court. He sent out his ships, however, and they
came home in due time richly freighted,—from what source is
not known. "In another year's time the aspect of things had
changed." England was venturing into war with Spain, "and
Hawkins was now able to execute his plans without restraint,
He founded a permanent fortified factory on the Guinea coast,
where negroes might be collected all the year round. Thence he
sailed for the West Indies a third time. Young Francis Drake
sailed with him in command of the 'Judith,' a small vessel of
fifty tons." The voyage had a prosperous beginning and a
disastrous ending. After disposing of most of their slaves,
they were driven by storms to take refuge in the Mexican port
of Vera Cruz, and there they were attacked by a Spanish fleet.
Drake in the "Judith" and Hawkins in another small vessel
escaped. But the latter was overcrowded with men and obliged
to put half of them ashore on the Mexican coast. The majority
of those left on board, as well as a majority of Drake's crew,
died on the voyage home, and it was a miserable remnant that
landed in England, in January, 1569.

_E. J. Payne,
Voyages of the Elizabethan Seamen to America,
chapter 1._

ALSO IN:
_The Hawkins Voyages;
edited by C. R. Markham
(Hakluyt Society, Number 57)_.

_R. Southey,
Lives of the British Admirals,
volume 3._

AMERICA: A. D. 1572-1580.
The Piratical Adventures of Drake and his Encompassing of the
World.

"Francis Drake, the first of the English Buccaneers, was one
of the twelve children of Edward Drake of Tavistock, in
Devonshire, a staunch Protestant, who had fled his native
place to avoid persecution, and had then become a ship's
chaplain. Drake, like Columbus, had been a seaman by
profession from boyhood; and … had served as a young man, in
command of the Judith, under Hawkins, … Hawkins had confined
himself to smuggling: Drake advanced from this to piracy. This
practice was authorized by law in the middle ages for the
purpose of recovering debts or damages from the subjects of
another nation. The English, especially those of the west
country, were the most formidable pirates in the world; and
the whole nation was by this time roused against Spain, in
consequence of the ruthless war waged against Protestantism in
the Netherlands by Philip II. Drake had accounts of his own to
settle with the Spaniards. Though Elizabeth had not declared
for the revolted States, and pursued a shifting policy, her
interests and theirs were identical; and it was with a view of
cutting off those supplies of gold and silver from America
which enabled Philip to bribe politicians and pay soldiers, in
pursuit of his policy of aggression, that the famous voyage
was authorized by English statesmen. Drake had recently made
more than one successful voyage of plunder to the American
coast." In July, 1572, he surprised the Spanish town of Nombre
de Dios, which was the shipping port on the northern side of
the Isthmus for the treasures of Peru. His men made their way
into the royal treasure-house, where they laid hands on a heap
of bar-silver, 70 feet long, 10 wide, and 10 high; but Drake
himself had received a wound which compelled the pirates to
retreat with no very large part of the splendid booty. In the
winter of 1573, with the help of the runaway slaves on the
Isthmus, known as Cimarrones, he crossed the Isthmus, looked
on the Pacific ocean, approached within sight of the city of
Panama, and waylaid a transportation party conveying gold to
Nombre de Dios; but was disappointed of his prey by the
excited conduct of some of his men. When he saw, on this
occasion, the great ocean beyond the Isthmus, "Drake then and
there resolved to be the pioneer of England in the Pacific;
and on this resolution he solemnly besought the blessing of
God. Nearly four years elapsed before it was executed; for it
was not until November, 1577, that Drake embarked on his
famous voyage, in the course of which he proposed to plunder
Peru itself. The Peruvian ports were unfortified. The
Spaniards knew them to be by nature absolutely secured from
attack on the north; and they never dreamed that the English
pirates would be daring enough to pass the terrible straits of
Magellan and attack them from the south. Such was the plan of
Drake; and it was executed with complete success." He sailed
from Plymouth, December 13, 1577, with a fleet of four vessels,
and a pinnace, but lost one of the ships after he had entered
the Pacific, in a storm which drove him southward, and which
made him the discoverer of Cape Horn. Another of his ships,
separated from the squadron, returned home, and a third, while
attempting to do the same, was lost in the river Plate. Drake,
in his own vessel, the Golden Hind, proceeded to the Peruvian
coasts, where he cruised until he had taken and plundered a
score of Spanish ships. "Laden with a rich booty of Peruvian
treasure he deemed it unsafe to return by the way that he
came. He therefore resolved to strike across the Pacific, and
for this purpose made the latitude in which this voyage was
usually performed by the Spanish government vessels which
sailed annually from Acapulco to the Philippines. Drake thus
reached the coast of California, where the Indians, delighted
beyond measure by presents of clothing and trinkets, invited
him to remain and rule over them. Drake took possession of the
country in the name of the Queen, and refitted his vessel in
preparation for the unknown perils of the Pacific. The place
where He landed must have been either the great bay of San
Francisco [per contra., see CALIFORNIA: A. D. 1846-1847] or
the small bay of Bodega, which lies a few leagues further
north. The great seaman had already coasted five degrees more
to the northward before finding a suitable harbour. He
believed himself to be the first European who had coasted
these shores; but it is now well known that Spanish explorers
had preceded him. Drake's circumnavigation of the globe was
thus no deliberate feat of seamanship, but the necessary
result of circumstances. The voyage made in more than one way
a great epoch in English nautical history." Drake reached
Plymouth on his return Sept. 26, 1580.

_E. J. Payne,
Voyages of the Elizabethan Seamen,
pages 141-143._

ALSO IN
_F. Fletcher,
The World Encompassed by Sir F. Drake
(Hakluyt Society, 1854)_.

_J. Barrow,
Life of Drake._

_R. Southey,
Lives of British Admirals,
volume 3._

{69}

AMERICA: A. D. 1580.
The final founding of the City of Buenos Ayres.

See ARGENTINE REPUBLIC; A. D: 1580-1777.

AMERICA: A. D. 1583.
The Expedition of Sir Humphrey Gilbert.
Formal possession taken of Newfoundland.

In 1578, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, an English gentleman, of
Devonshire, whose younger half-brother was the more famous Sir
Walter Raleigh, obtained from Queen Elizabeth a charter
empowering him, for the next six years, to discover "such
remote heathen and barbarous lands, not actually possessed by
any Christian prince or people," as he might be shrewd or
fortunate enough to find, and to occupy the same as their
proprietor. Gilbert's first expedition was attempted the next
year, with Sir Walter Raleigh associated in it; but
misfortunes drove back the adventurers to port, and Spanish
intrigue prevented their sailing again. "In June, 1583,
Gilbert sailed from Cawsund Bay with five vessels, with the
general intention of discovering and colonizing the northern
parts of America. It was the first colonizing expedition which
left the shores of Great Britain; and the narrative of the
expedition by Hayes, who commanded one of Gilbert's vessels,
forms the first page in the history of English colonization.
Gilbert did no more than go through the empty form of taking
possession of the island of Newfoundland, to which the English
name formerly applied to the continent in general … was now
restricted. … Gilbert dallied here too long. When he set
sail to cross the Gulf of St. Lawrence and take possession of
Cape Breton and Nova Scotia the season was too far advanced;
one of his largest ships went down with all on board,
including the Hungarian scholar Parmenius, who had come out as
the historian of the expedition; the stores were exhausted and
the crews dispirited; and Gilbert resolved on sailing home,
intending to return and prosecute his discoveries the next
spring. On the home voyage the little vessel in which he was
sailing foundered; and the pioneer of English colonization
found a watery grave. … Gilbert was a man of courage, piety,
and learning. He was, however, an indifferent seaman, and
quite incompetent for the task of colonization to which he had
set his hand. The misfortunes of his expedition induced Amadas
and Barlow, who followed in his steps, to abandon the
northward voyage and sail to the shores intended to be
occupied by the easier but more circuitous route of the
Canaries and the West Indies."

_E. J. Payne,
Voyages of the Elizabethan Seamen,
pages 173-174._

"On Monday, the 9th of September, in the afternoon, the
frigate [the' Squirrel'] was near cast away, oppressed by
waves, yet at that time recovered; and giving forth signs of
joy, the general, sitting abaft with a book in his hand, cried
out to us in the 'Hind' (so oft as we did approach within
hearing), 'We are as near to heaven by sea as by land,'
reiterating the same speech, well beseeming a soldier resolute
in Jesus Christ, as I can testify he was. On the same Monday
night, about twelve o'clock, or not long after, the frigate
being ahead of us in the 'Golden Hind,' suddenly her lights
were out, whereof as it were in a moment we lost the sight,
and withal our watch cried the General was cast away, which
was too true; for in that moment the frigate was devoured and
swallowed up by the sea. Yet still we looked out all that
night and ever after, until we arrived upon the coast of
England. … In great torment of weather and peril of drowning
it pleased God to send safe home the 'Golden Hind,' which
arrived in Falmouth on the 22d of September, being Sunday."

_E. Hayes,
A Report of the Voyage by Sir Humphrey Gilbert
(reprinted in Payne's Voyages)._

ALSO IN
_E. Edwards,
Life of Raleigh,
volume 1, chapter 5._

_R. Hakluyt,
Principal Navigations;
edited by E. Goldsmid,
volume 12._

AMERICA: A. D. 1584-1586.
Raleigh's First Colonizing attempts and failures.