Chapter III

1474-1492.

The success attending the voyages of the Portuguese along the coast of Africa suggested to Cristoforo Colombo[105] (or Christopher Columbus, as he is more commonly called by those speaking English), the possibility of sailing by a shorter way to India in another direction. Ferdinand Columbus, in his history of the life and achievements of his father,[106] makes no attempt to conceal this fact from publicity. With an apparent intention to give all the information which might be desired concerning the great discoverer’s first thoughts respecting the practicability of reaching Asia by sailing in a westerly direction, he frankly tells what originated them in the mind of the admiral. “As one thing leads to another, and one thought to another, in this way, while the admiral was in Portugal, he began to infer that as the Portuguese sailed so far southward, it was also feasible to steer westward, and that land might likely be found in this direction. In order to be more assured and satisfied in this matter, he began to review the cosmographies which he had read, and to note what astronomical reasons would support this theory.[107] That he might be more enlightened concerning his assumption, he paid attention to what was said by people respecting it, especially by seamen. His diligent investigations soon led him to conclude that there were many lands west of the Canaries and the Cape Verd Islands, and that it was practicable to sail to and discover them.”[108]

The remarkable aptitude displayed by Columbus in forming his conclusions that the Atlantic Ocean was navigable, and that ships might pass across its unexplored expanse to Cathay, was the natural expression of his peculiar passion for geographical knowledge. In a letter written to their Spanish majesties, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, in 1501, he says: “I went to sea when quite young, and have continued my sea-faring until now; and this profession makes those who follow it eager to discover the secrets of this globe. It is now forty years that I have been sailing to all those places which are at present visited, and I have dealt and talked with learned people, ecclesiastics as well as laymen, Latins, Greeks, Indians, Moors, and many other people of different nations, and our Lord has favored this inclination, and I have received from him the spirit of understanding. He has made me very skillful in navigation, and to know much in astronomy, in geometry, and mathematics. God has given me the knowledge and the ability to portray the globe, and also to delineate cities, rivers, islands, and ports in their proper situation. During my life I have examined and endeavored to see all books of cosmography, history, and philosophy, and of the other sciences, so that our Lord has sensibly opened my mind in order that I may sail from here to the Indies, and has made me extremely anxious to do it.”[109]

Columbus’s irrepressible desire to possess all the information he could acquire respecting the navigable water-ways of the Atlantic also led him to sail over the sea-path to Iceland and to the south coast of Africa, at the equator. In his geographical work, written “to show that all the five zones are habitable,” he says: “‘In February, 1467, I sailed myself a hundred leagues beyond Thule, the northern part of which is seventy degrees distant from the equator, and not sixty-three degrees as some will have it to be; nor does it lie upon the line where Ptolemy’s West begins, but much more to the westward, and to this island, which is as large as England, the English trade, especially those from Bristol.[110] At the time I was there the sea was not frozen, but the tides were so great that in some places it swelled twenty-six fathoms and fell as much.’ The truth is, that the Thule of which Ptolemy speaks lies where he says, and this is called by the moderns Frizeland.” Again he says: “I have followed sea-faring for twenty-three years without being on shore any space of time worth mentioning, and I have seen all the East and all the West, and have been to the North where England is situated, and even to Guinea.” He also says that he went to sea when fourteen years old, and ever after that led a sea-faring life.[111]

Among the motives influencing him to think that he could sail to Cathay by the way of the Atlantic Ocean were the statements of geographical writers. By them it was said “that a great part of the globe had already been travelled over, and there only remained to be discovered and made known the space lying between the eastern limits of India, known to Ptolemy and Marinus, and the West, where are the islands Azores[112] and those of Cape Verd,[113] the most western lands yet discovered.[114] ... He considered that this space, lying between the eastern limits [of India] known to Marinus and the islands of the Cape Verd group, could not be more than a third part of the great circumference of the globe, since Marinus had gone toward the East fifteen hours of the twenty-four into which the circumference of the earth is divided, and therefore to go [still farther eastwardly] to reach the Cape Verd Islands there were nine hours, [of the circumference to be passed over], as it is said that Marinus began his investigations in the West.... He conceived that since Marinus had given in his cosmography an account of fifteen hours or parts of the globe eastwardly, and had not reached the limits of the East, it followed that its bounds must be much beyond, and consequently the farther the land of the East extended eastwardly, the nearer this land was to the Cape Verd Islands in the West, and that if the space were chiefly water it might easily be sailed in a few days, and if it were mainly land it would sooner be discovered by sailing westward, because it would be nearer to the Cape Verd Islands.[115] ... The fifth reason, which induced him to believe that the distance this way was short, was the opinion of Alfragranus and his followers, who make the circumference of the globe much less than all other writers and cosmographers, allowing fifty-six miles and two-thirds to a degree.[116] Whence he inferred that as the entire circumference of the globe was of such an extent, the third part was small, which Marinus left unknown.... And Seneca, in his first book of nature, who considers the knowledge of this world as nothing when compared with that which is acquired in the next life, says a ship may sail in a few days with a fair wind from the coast of Spain to that of India. And if it be true, as some believe, that Seneca wrote tragedies, we may infer that he speaks of the same thing in the chorus of his Medea:

‘Venient annis
Saecula seris, quibus Oceanus
Vincula rerum laxet, et ingens
Pateat tellus, Typhysque novos
Detegat orbes, nec sit terris
Ultima Thule.’

“‘In the last years there will come an age in which Ocean shall loosen the bonds of things; and a great land will be accessible; and another Tiphys shall discover new worlds, and Thule shall no longer be the extremity of the earth.’[117] This prediction may be considered really fulfilled in the person of the admiral.... Marco Polo, the Venetian, and John Mandeville, in their travels say that they went much farther eastward than Ptolemy and Marinus mention, who, although they do not speak of the Eastern Sea, yet by the account they give of the East it may be assumed that India is not far distant from Africa and Spain.”[118]

Ferdinand Columbus further says that his father expected to find, “before he came to India, a very convenient island or continent, from which he might pursue with more advantage his main design. This hope was grounded upon the statements of many wise men and philosophers, who believed that the greatest part of this terraqueous globe was land, or that there was more land than water, which, if true, he assumed that between the coast of Spain and the limits of India then known, there were many islands and a considerable extent of main-land.... A pilot of the king of Portugal, named Martin Vicente, told him that, being at one time four hundred and fifty leagues westward of Cape St. Vincent, he found and picked up in the sea a piece of wood ingeniously carved, but not with iron, which led him to believe, as the wind had been blowing from the west for several days, that the piece of wood had drifted from some island lying toward the west. Then one Pedro Correa, who had married the sister of the admiral’s wife, told him that at the island of Porto Santo[119] he had seen another piece of wood, brought by the same winds, as nicely carved as the piece already mentioned, and that canes had been found there so thick that each joint would hold more than four quarts of wine, which reports he said he communicated to the king of Portugal while talking to him about these matters. The pieces of cane were shown to him. There being no place in our parts where such cane grew, he inferred it to be true that the wind had brought the cane from some neighboring islands or else from India. For Ptolemy, in the first book of his geography, in the seventeenth chapter, says there is such cane in the eastern parts of India. And some of the people living on the islands, particularly on the Azores, told him that when the west wind blew for a long time the sea drifted some pieces of pine-wood upon those islands, particularly on the islands Gratiosa and Fayal, there being no pine-wood in all those parts, and that the sea cast upon the island of Flores, another of the Azores, the bodies of two dead men, who were very broad-faced and different in appearance from Christians. At Cape Verd and thereabouts they said that they once saw some covered canoes or boats which the people believed were driven there by stress of weather while the persons in them were going from one island to another. Nor were these the only grounds he then had which seemed reasonable, for there were those who told him that they had seen some islands in the western ocean.... These persons he did not believe, because he discovered from their own words and statements that they had not sailed one hundred leagues to the westward, and that they had been deceived by some rocks, thinking them to be islands; or else, perhaps, they were some of those floating islands which are drifted about by the waves, and which the sailors call _aguados_....

“He says, moreover, that in the year 1484, a man came to Portugal from the island of Madera[120] to beg a caraval of the king to discover a country which he affirmed he saw every year, and always after the same manner, he agreeing with others who said they had seen the island from the Azores. On this account the Portuguese placed some islands thereabouts on the charts and maps made at that time; and also because Aristotle, in his book of wonderful things, affirms that it was reported that some Carthaginian merchants had sailed over the Atlantic Ocean to a most fruitful island.... This island the Portuguese inserted in their maps, calling it Antilla, and though they did not give it the same situation designated by Aristotle, yet none placed it more than two hundred leagues due west from the Canaries and the Azores. Some believe it to be the island of the Seven Cities peopled by the Portuguese at the time that Spain was conquered by the Moors, in 714, at which time, they say, seven bishops with their people embarked and sailed to this island, where each of them built a city; and in order that none of their people might think of returning to Spain, they burnt the ships, tackle, and all things necessary for sailing.[121] ... It was also said that in the time of Prince Henry of Portugal, a Portuguese ship was driven by stress of weather to this island of Antilla, where the men went on shore, and were conducted by the islanders to their church to learn whether or not they were Christians and acquainted with the Roman ceremonies. After perceiving that they were, the people of the island importuned them to remain till their king came, who was then absent, and who would be delighted to see them and would give them many presents.... But the master and the seamen were afraid of being detained, suspecting these people did not wish to be discovered and might for this reason burn their ship.

“On this account they returned to Portugal, hoping to be rewarded by the prince for what they had done. He reproved them severely and bid them return at once to the island, but the master through fear ran away from Portugal with the ship and men. It is reported that while the seamen were at church on the island the ship-boys gathered sand for the cook-room, the third part of which they found to be pure gold.... Seneca, in his fourth book, tells us that Thucydides[122] speaks of an island called Atlantica, which in the time of the Peloponnesian war was entirely, or the greater part of it, submerged; whereof Plato also makes mention in his Timæus.”[123]

While Columbus resided at Lisbon obtaining information from geographers and seamen respecting the feasibility of sailing westward to Cathay, he entered into correspondence with Paolo Toscanelli, a Florentine physician and astronomer.[124] The latter sent him a copy of a letter which he had written in Latin to Ferdinand Martinez, a prebendary of Lisbon. The communication addressed to Columbus, is dated Florence, June 25, 1474. As translated the letter is as follows:

“To Christopher Colon, Paul, the physician, wishes health.

“I apprehend your noble and earnest desire to sail to those parts where spices grow, and therefore, in answer to your letter, I send another, which some time ago I wrote to a friend of mine, in the service of the king of Portugal, before the wars of Castile, in answer to one he wrote me by his highness’s command, upon the same subject. I also send you a sea-chart similar to the one I sent him, which may satisfy your inquiries. The copy of that letter is the following:

“To Ferdinand Martinez, canon of Lisbon, Paul, the physician, wishes health.

“I am gratified to hear of your intimacy with the most serene and magnificent king. Although I have often spoken of the short distance by water from here to the Indies where spices grow, which way, in my opinion, is shorter than that taken along the coast of Guinea, yet you inform me that his highness would have me explain and demonstrate it in order that it may be comprehended and tested. Although I could better elucidate the configuration of the earth with a globe in my hand, nevertheless, I will make the matter more easy and intelligible by exhibiting the route on such a chart as is used in navigation. I therefore send one to his majesty, made and drawn with my own hand, on which are delineated the extreme limits of the West, from Iceland, in the north, to the farthest part of Guinea, in the south, with all the intermediate islands. Opposite, in the West, the beginning of the Indies is delineated, with the islands and places to which you may go, representing how far you may steer from the north pole toward the equator, and for how long a time, that is, how many leagues you may sail before you come to those places where are to be found all kinds of spices and precious stones. Do not think it strange if I call the country where spices grow West, since they are generally known to be produced in the East, because those who shall sail westward will always find those places in the west, and they who travel by land eastward, will always find those places in the east. The straight lines which are drawn lengthwise on the chart show the distance from west to east, and those which cross the former show the distance from north to south. I have also marked down on the chart several places in the Indies where ships might put in during a storm or contrary winds, or any other unlooked-for accident. Moreover, to give you ample information concerning all the places of which you desire to know something, you must understand that only traders live or reside on these islands, and that you will find there as large a number of ships and sea-faring people engaged in merchandizing as in any other part of the world, particularly in the famous port of the city called Zacton, where, every year, a hundred large ships carrying pepper, are loaded and unloaded, besides many other vessels freighted with different kinds of spices.[125] This country is an exceedingly populous one, and there are many provinces, kingdoms, and innumerable cities in it under the rule of a sovereign called the Grand Khan, signifying king of kings, who generally resides in the province of Cathay. His predecessors greatly desired to have the commerce and the friendship of Christians, and two hundred years ago they sent embassadors to the pope, to ask him to send them many learned men and doctors to teach them our religion, but on account of some obstacles the embassadors met with, they returned without coming to Rome. Besides, there came an embassador to Pope Eugene IV., who informed him of the great affection which their princes and people bore toward the Christians. I talked with him a long time concerning the magnificence of the royal palaces, the greatness of the country, the length and breadth of the rivers. He told me many wonderful things respecting a great number of towns and cities built on the banks of the rivers, and that there were two hundred cities on a single river, with marble bridges over it of great length and breadth, and sustained by many pillars. This country deserves to be made known as well as any other, and there may not only be great profits realized and many things of value obtained, but also gold, silver, all kinds of precious stones, and spices in abundance, which are not brought into our parts. And it is certain that many wise men, philosophers, astronomers, and other persons skilled in the arts, and very ingenious men govern this vast country and command its armies. On the chart, from Lisbon directly westward to the great and famous city of Quisay, are twenty-six spaces, each measuring two hundred and fifty miles. The city is one hundred miles, or thirty-five leagues in circuit, and within its limits are ten marble bridges. The name Quisay signifies city of heaven.[126] Wonderful things are reported of the ingenuity of its inhabitants, its buildings and revenues. The space previously mentioned is almost a third part of the circumference of the globe.[127] The city is in the province of Mango, bordering on that of Cathay, where the king usually resides. From the island Antilla (which you call the Seven Cities, and of which you have some knowledge), to the great island of Cipango,[128] are ten spaces, which include two thousand five hundred miles, or two hundred and twenty-five leagues.[129] The island abounds with gold, pearls, and precious stones; and you should know that they cover their temples and palaces with plates of pure gold. All these things are hidden and concealed, because the way to them is unknown, and yet it may be sailed with safety.

“Much more might be said, but having told you that which is most important, and as you are learned and have good judgment, I am satisfied that you will understand what I have written without my adding any thing further to these statements. This may satisfy your curiosity, it being as much as my time and business permit me now to write. However, I remain ever ready to satisfy and serve his highness to the utmost in all the commands that he shall lay upon me.”[130]

“The admiral, now believing that his opinion was excellently well grounded,” says Ferdinand Columbus, “resolved to be governed by it, and to sail across the western ocean in quest of those countries. But being aware that such an undertaking was only becoming a monarch to espouse and to accomplish, he determined to propose it to the king of Portugal, because he was the latter’s subject. And though King John, then reigning, gave ear to the admiral’s proposals, yet he hesitated to accept them on account of the great burden and expense attending the exploration and conquest of the western coast of Africa, called Guinea. Little success had thus far rewarded this undertaking, nor had he been able to double the Cape of Good Hope, which name, some say, was given it instead of Agesingue, its proper designation, because that was the farthest they hoped to extend their explorations and conquests, or, as others will have it, because this cape gave them the expectation of better countries and navigation. However, the king had but little inclination to invest any more money in discoveries; and if he gave any attention to the admiral, it was in consequence of the excellent reasons he advanced to support his opinion, which arguments so far convinced the king that he had nothing else to do but to accept or to reject the terms which the admiral proposed. For the admiral, being a noble and magnanimous man, wished to make an agreement that would be of some personal benefit and honor to himself, so that he would leave behind him a notable reputation and a respected family, such as became his achievements and memory. For this reason the king, by the advice of one Doctor Cazadilla,[131] whom he greatly esteemed, determined to send a caravel secretly to attempt that which the admiral had proposed to him; for if those countries were in this way discovered, he thought that he would not be obliged to bestow any great reward which might be demanded. Having quickly equipped a caravel, he sent it the way the admiral had proposed to go, for the vessel was carrying supplies to the islands of the Cape Verd group. But those he sent had not the knowledge, perseverance, and energy of the admiral. After wandering many days on the sea, they turned back to the islands of Cape Verd, laughing at the undertaking, and saying that it was unreasonable to think there should be any land in those waters. This being told to the admiral, ... he determined to go to Castile [Spain].... But fearing that, if the king of Castile should not favor his undertaking, he would be forced to propose it to some other monarch, thereby consuming much time, he sent his brother Bartolomé Columbus, who was with him, to England.... On his way to England, Bartolomé happened to fall into the hands of pirates, who stripped him and his companions. For this reason, and being sick and poor in that country, it was a long time before he could deliver his message. It was not until he had obtained some money by making sea-charts that he began to make certain proposals to King Henry VII., then reigning, to whom he presented a map of the world.... The king of England, having seen the map and heard what the admiral offered to do for him, readily accepted the overture and ordered him to be sent for....

“I will not now relate how Bartolomé Columbus conducted himself in England, but will return to the admiral, who, about the end of the year 1484, stole secretly out of Portugal with his son Diego for fear of being detained by the king; for the king having seen how unsuited they were whom he had sent with the caravel, was inclined to restore the admiral to his favor, and desired that he should renew his proposals; but the king was not as eager to undertake their consideration as the admiral was to get away; therefore the king lost that good opportunity and the admiral entered Castile to try his fortune which was there to favor him. Leaving his son in a monastery, called La Rabida, near Palos, he went at once to the court of the catholic king, which was then at Cordova, where, being affable and an entertaining talker, he made friends of such persons as were most favorably inclined to his undertaking and fitted to persuade the king to espouse it. Among these was Luis de Santángel, an Aragonian gentleman, clerk of the allowances in the king’s household, a man of great prudence and reputation. As the undertaking demanded an examination by enlightened men, and not meaningless words and favor, their highnesses intrusted the matter to the prior of Prado, afterward archbishop of Granada, and ordered him, together with some cosmographers, to make a thorough investigation of the project and to report their opinions respecting it.[132] But there was only a small number of cosmographers at that time, and those who were called together were not as enlightened as they should have been, nor would the admiral wholly explain his plans, for fear he might be served as he had been in Portugal and be deprived of his reward. For this reason the answers they gave their highnesses were as different as their judgments and opinions. Some said that inasmuch as no information concerning those countries had been obtained by the great number of experienced sailors living since the creation, which was many thousand years ago, it was not likely that the admiral should know more than all the seamen that were living or that had lived before that time. Others, who were more influenced by cosmographical reasons, said the world was so prodigiously great that it was incredible that a voyage of three years would carry him to the end of the East, where he proposed to go, and to substantiate this opinion they brought forward the statement of Seneca, who, in one of his works, by way of argument, asserts that many wise men disagreed about this question, whether or not the ocean were boundless, and doubted if it could be traversed; and if it were navigable, whether habitable lands would be found on the other side of the globe, and whether they could be reached. They added that only a small part of this terraqueous globe was inhabited, and that this was in our hemisphere, and that all the remainder was sea, and only navigable near the coasts and rivers.

“Some admitted that learned men said it was possible to sail from the coast of Spain to the farthest part of the West. Others argued, as the Portuguese had done, about sailing to Guinea, saying that if any man should sail directly westward, as the admiral proposed, that he would not be able to return to Spain on account of the roundness of the globe, confidently believing that whosoever should go out of the hemisphere known to Ptolemy would go downward, and that then it would be impossible to return, affirming that it would be like climbing a hill, which ships could not accomplish in the stiffest gale. Although the admiral properly answered all these objections, yet the more cogent his explanations were the less they comprehended him on account of their ignorance, for when a man grows familiar with false principles in mathematics for a long time he cannot perceive the true, because of the erroneous impressions which were first imprinted on his mind. In short, all of these men were governed by the Spanish saying, St. Augustine doubts it; for this holy man, in his twenty-first book, chapter ninth, on the city of God, asserts and considers that it is unreasonable to believe that there are antipodes, or any passage from one hemisphere to another.[133]

“They further opposed the arguments of the admiral by quoting those current fables respecting the five zones, and other fictions, which they believed were true. They therefore determined to condemn the enterprise as foolish and impracticable, and to declare that it did not become the state and dignity of such great sovereigns to be misled by such weak information. Therefore, after much time had been spent in considering the project, their highnesses answered the admiral that they were then engaged in too many wars and conquests, and especially in the conquest of Granada, which was then occupying their attention, and therefore it was not convenient for them to espouse this new enterprise at that time; nevertheless, another opportunity might be given them when they could more satisfactorily examine and accomplish that which he proposed.”[134]

Chagrined as he may have been by this second disappointment, Columbus, with that noble enthusiasm which the personal consciousness of being in the right begets, “determined to apply to the king of France, to whom he had already written concerning the project, intending, if he were not admitted to an audience there, to go to England afterward to search for his brother, from whom he had not yet received any intelligence. With this resolution he set out for the monastery of La Rabida, to send his son Diego, whom he had left there, to Cordova, and then proceed on his journey. But in order that the thing which God had decreed should come to pass, it was put in the heart of Friar Juan Perez, guardian of that house, to befriend the admiral, and to be so captivated with his project that he became deeply concerned respecting his resolution and the loss Spain would sustain by his departure. Therefore he entreated the admiral not to proceed any farther, for he would himself go to the queen, hoping that, as he was her father-confessor, she would be governed by what he should say to her. Although the admiral was disappointed and disgusted with the discreditable action and judgment of the counsellors of their highnesses, yet, being on the other hand very desirous that Spain should reap the benefits of his undertaking, he complied with the friar’s desire and request, for he considered himself a Spaniard, as he had long resided in Spain prosecuting his undertaking and had begotten children there, which was the reason for his rejection of the offers made him by other sovereigns, as he declares in a letter written to their highnesses [of Spain] in these words: “That I might serve your highnesses, I have refused to undertake with France, England, and Portugal; the letters from the sovereigns of which your highnesses may see in the hands of Doctor Villalan.”

“The admiral departed with Friar Juan Perez from the monastery of La Rabida, near Palos, and went to the camp of Santa Fé, where their catholic majesties were carrying on the siege of Granada. The friar then had an interview with the queen and so entreated her, that she consented that the conferences respecting the discovery should be renewed. But the opinions of the prior of Prado and those of his followers were discouraging, besides Columbus desired to be made admiral and viceroy, and to have other compensations deemed too considerable to be granted, because if he succeeded in doing what he proposed, they thought his demands were too exorbitant, and in case he did not accomplish any thing, they considered it foolish to bestow such titles; consequently the matter received no favorable decision.... These things being of such importance, and their highnesses refusing to grant them, the admiral took leave of his friends, and proceeded toward Cordova to make preparations for his journey to France, for he had determined not to return to Portugal, although the king had written to him....

“It was in the month of January, in the year 1492, when the admiral departed from the camp of Santa Fé. On that same day also Luis de Santángel, previously mentioned, who did not approve of his going away, but was very desirous to prevent it, went to the queen, and using such words as his thoughts suggested to persuade and enlighten her, said, he was surprised that her highness, who had always a great fondness for all matters of moment and consequence should now be timid in favoring this undertaking, where so little was hazarded that might contribute in many ways to the glory of God and the propagation of religion.... The queen, knowing the sincerity of Santángel’s words, answered, thanking him for his good advice and saying she was willing to accept the proposals upon the condition that the undertaking should be delayed until she had more leisure after the war, and yet, if he thought differently, she was satisfied that as much money as was required to fit out a fleet, should be borrowed on her jewels. But Santángel, perceiving that the queen had condescended upon his advice to do what she had refused all other persons, replied that there was no need of pawning her jewels, for he would do her highness that small service by lending his money. Thereupon the queen at once sent an officer post-haste to bring the admiral back, who found him upon the bridge of Pinos, two leagues from Granada. Although the admiral was much disheartened by the disappointments and delays he had met with in this undertaking, nevertheless, being informed of the queen’s wish and intention, he returned to the camp of Santa Fé, where he was graciously entertained by their catholic majesties, and his commission and stipulations were intrusted to their secretary, Juan de Coloma, who, by the command of their highnesses, under their hand and seal, granted him all the conditions and provisions which, as already mentioned, he had demanded, without altering or subtracting any thing in them.”[135]