AMERICAN ANNALS. PART I. EUROPEAN DISCOVERIES AND SETTLEMENTS. PERIOD I. FROM THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA, IN 1492, TO THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO, IN 1521. CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, a native of Genoa, having formed a just idea of the figure of the earth, had several years entertained the design of finding a passage to India by the western ocean. He made his first proposal of attempting this discovery to the republic of Genoa, which treated it as visionary. He next proposed his plan to John II. king of Portugal, who, at that time, was deeply engaged in prosecuting discoveries on the African coast, for the purpose of finding a way to India. In this enterprise the Portuguese king had been at so vast an expense, with but small success, that he had no inclination to listen to the proposal. By the advice, however, of a favourite courtier, he privately gave orders to a ship, bound to the island of Cape de Verd, to attempt a discovery in the west; but the navigators, through ignorance and irresolution, failing in the design, turned the project of Columbus into ridicule. Indignant at this dishonourable artifice, Columbus left Portugal; and, having previously sent his brother Bartholomew into England to solicit the patronage of Henry VII, repaired to Ferdinand and Isabella, king and queen of Spain. It was not till he had surmounted numerous obstacles, and spent seven years in painful solicitation, that he obtained what he sought. To the 1492. honour of Isabella, and of her sex, the scheme of Columbus was first countenanced by the queen. Through the influence of Juan Perez, a Spanish priest, and Lewis Santangel, an officer of the king's household, she was persuaded to listen to his request; and, after he had been twice repulsed, to recall him to court. She now offered to pledge her jewels, to defray the expense of the proposed equipment, amounting to no more than two thousand five hundred crowns; but this sum was advanced by Santangel, and the queen saved from so mortifying an expedient.1 sails from Spain. On the 17th day of April, 1492, an agreement was made by Columbus with their Catholic majesties: That, if he should make any discoveries, he should sustain the office of viceroy by land, and admiral by sea, with the advantage of the tenth part of the profits, accruing from the productions and commerce of all the countries discovered; and these dignities and privileges were not to be limited to his own person, but to be hereditary in his family.2 On Friday, the 3d day of August, 1492, Columbus set sail August 3. Columbus from Palos in Spain, with three vessels and ninety men, on a voyage the most daring and grand in its design, and the most extensive and important in its result, of any that had ever been attempted. He, as admiral, commanded the largest ship, called Santa Maria; Martin Alonzo Pinzon was captain of the Pinta; and Vincent Yañez Pinzon, captain of the Niña. Arriving at the Canaries, he on the 12th of August sent his boat ashore at Gomera, one of the most westerly of those islands, in the hope of obtaining a vessel to take the place of the Pinta, which had been damaged in the passage from Palos. Not succeeding in this design, he refitted his ships at the Grand Canary; and, having laid in provisions, he sailed from Gomera on the 6th of September, upon the voyage on the ocean.3 When Sept. 6. from Gomera. 1 See NOTE II. 2 Life of Columbus, c. 44. Hazard's Historical Collections, i. 1-3. Muñoz, Hist. New World, b. 2. Memorials of Columbus, p. xlviii. and Documents II, III, by which it appears, that the Privileges and Prerogatives were "granted and expedited" by the king and queen "in the town of Santa Fè, in the plain of Granada, the 17th day of April, a. D. 1492," and completed at Granada on the 30th of the same month. Though the name of Ferdinand appears connected with that of Isabella in this compact, he refused to take any part in the enterprise, as king of Arragon. The whole expense of the expedition was to be defrayed by the crown of Castile; and Isabella reserved for her subjects of that kingdom an exclusive right to all the benefits that should accrue from its success. Throughout this transaction the conduct of Isabella was magnanimous ; and though she did not, like the Tyrian queen, conduct the great enterprise in person, yet she is entitled to similar honour: Dux fæmina facti. 3 This may be accounted the first setting out" on the grand voyage. Life of Columbus, c. 18. One of the vessels had a deck; the other two, called caravels, had none. They are thus described by Peter Martyr: "Ex regio fisco destinata sunt tria navigia; unum onerarium caveatum, alia duo levia mercatoria sine caveis, quæ ab Hispanis caravelæ vocantur." De Orbe Novo. This contemporary writer, and, since his time, Giustiniani and Muñoz, say that the whole pass excites about 200 leagues to the west of the Canary islands, Columbus 1492. observed that the magnetic needle in the compasses did not point exactly to the polar star, but varied toward the west. This Vanistion discovery made an alarming impression on his pilots and mari- of the comners; but his fertile genius helped him to assign a plausible alarm. reason for this strange appearance, and to dispel their fears. Expedients, however, at length lost their effect. The crew, with loud and insolent clamour, insisted on his return, and some of the most audacious proposed to throw him into the sea. When his invention was nearly exhausted, and his hope nearly abandoned, the only event that could appease the mariners happily occurred. A light, seen by Columbus at ten in the night of the eleventh of October, was viewed as the harbinger of the wished for land; and early the next morning, land was distinctly seen. The voyage from Gomera had been 35 days; a longer time Oct. 12. than any man had ever been known to be out of sight of Land dis land. At sunrise, all the boats were manned and armed, and the adventurers rowed toward the shore with warlike music and other martial pomp. The coast, in the mean time, was covered with people, who were attracted by the novelty of the spectacle, and whose attitudes and gestures strongly expressed their astonishment. They appeared in primitive simplicity, entirely naked. Columbus, richly dressed and holding a naked sword in his Columbus hand, went first on shore, and was followed by his men, who, and his men kneeling down with him, kissed the ground with tears of joy, and go on shore. returned thanks for the success of the voyage. The land was one of the islands of the New World, called by the natives, Guanahani. Columbus, assuming the title and authority of ad number of persons in the three vessels was 120. Muñoz mentions, a physician, a surgeon, a few servants, and some other adventurers, in all 120 persons." D. Spotorno, in his Historical Memoir of Christopher Columbus, prefixed to the "Memorials," says, "it is probable that the smaller number [90] included only the persons aboard the royal caravels; the third being Columbus's private property." 1 Journal of Columbus, in Navarrete's Colleccion. Stow erroneously ascribes the discovery of the variation of the compass to Sebastian Cabot, five years after this voyage of Columbus. With the correction of name and date, the remark of the venerable antiquary is just: "Before his time, ever since the first finding of the magneticall needle, it was generallie supposed to lie precisely in place of the meridian, and crosse the equator at right angels, respecting with the points dulie north and south." Stow's Chronicle, p. 811. 2 Herrera, d. 1. lib. 1. c. 12.-" como gente que parecia de la primera simplicidad, ivan desnudos, hombres y mugeres, como nacieron." Many of the American natives thus appeared; though some of them had cinctures of wrought cotton. Muñoz, b. 3. c. 10, 18. In other instances, these girdles were composed of feathers. Such of late Columbus found th' American, so girt Milton, Paradise Lost, b. 9. covered. See NOTE III. 1492. miral, called it San Salvador; and, by setting up a cross, took possession of it for their Catholic majesties.1 Oct. 15. 27. Cuba discovered. Many of the natives stood around, and gazed at the strange ceremony in silent admiration. Though shy at first through fear, they soon became familiar with the Spaniards. The admiral, perceiving that they were simple and inoffensive, gave them hawksbells, strings of glass beads, and red caps, which, though of small intrinsic worth, were by them highly valued. The reason assigned for their peculiar estimation of these baubles is, that, confidently believing these visitants had come down from heaven, they ardently desired to have something left them as a memorial. In return, they gave the Spaniards such provisions as they had, and some cotton yarn, which was the only valuable commodity they could produce.2 Columbus, after visiting the coasts of the island, proceeded to make farther discoveries, taking with him several of the natives of San Salvador. He saw several islands, and touched at three of the largest of them, which he named St. Mary of the Conception, Fernandina, and Isabella. On the 27th of October, he discovered the island of Cuba, which, in honour of the prince, the son of the Spanish king and queen, he called Juanna. Entering the mouth of a large river with his squadron, he staid here to careen his ships, sending, in the mean time, some of his people with one of the natives of San Salvador, to view the interior parts of the country. Returning to him on the 5th of November, Bel 1 Life of Columbus, c. 16-23. Peter Martyr, De Orbe Novo, 2. Herrera, Historia General de las Indias Ocidentales, decada, 1. lib. 1. cap. 11, 12. Purchas, Pilgrimage, i. 729, 730. Muñoz, New World, b. 3. c. 2. Robertson's History of America, b. 2. European Settlements in America, Part i. c. I. knap's American Biography, Art. COLUMBUS. Alcedo, Geographical and Historical Dictionary of America, Art. SALVADOR. Memorials of Columbus, Introductory Historical Memoir. Guanahani is one of the West India islands called Lucayos, or Bahamas, lying in 25° north latitude, above 3000 miles to the west of Gomera; but which of those islands, is questioned to this day. Muñoz conjectured, that it was Watling's island; and Navarrete infers from the Journal of Columbus, that it was Turk's island-del Gran Turco. "Sus circunstancias conforman con la descripcion que Colon hace de ella. Su situacion es por el paralelo de 21° 30′, al Norte de la mediania de la isla de Santo Domingo."Primer Viage de Colon, p. 20, N. 4. It has generally been supposed, that Guanahani is the island now called St. Salvador, or Cat island. The origin of the last name does not appear in our historians; but it may be of the same derivation as Catwater, near Plymouth in England, which signifies a place for vessels to anchor; a harbour for xara, or ships. See Bryant's Ancient Mythology, iii. 550. 2 Life of Columbus, c. 23, 24. Robertson, b. 2. Herrera, d. 1. lib. 1. c. 13. P. Martyr says, "gentem esse missam è cœlo autumant." The natives long retained the belief, that these visitants descended from heaven. Columbus observed it after his return to Spain: "Veniunt modo mecum qui semper putant me desiluisse e cœlo, quamvis diu nobiscum versati fuerint hodieque versentur. et hi erant primi qui id quocumque appellabamus nunciabant: alii deinceps aliis elata voce dicentes, Venite, venite, et videbitis gentes ethereas." Letter of Columbus (Latin version) in his "Life" by Bossi. In the original it is, "Venite, venite, e vedrete gli vomini scesi dal cielo." they reported, that they had travelled above sixty miles from the 1492. shore; that the soil was richer and better than any they had hitherto discovered; and that, beside many scattering cottages, they found one village of fifty houses, containing about a thousand inhabitants. Sailing from Cuba on the 5th of December, Dec. 6. he arrived the next day at an island, called by the natives Hayti, Hispaniola which, in honour of the kingdom by which he was employed, discovered. he named Hispaniola.2 On the shoals of this island, through the carelessness of his sailors, he lost one of his ships. The Indian cazique,3 or prince, Guacanahari, receiving intelligence of this loss, expressed much grief, and sent all his people with their canoes, to save what they could from the wreck. "We lost not the value of a pin," says the admiral, "for he caused all our clothes to be laid together near his palace, where he kept them till the houses, which he had appointed for us, were emptied. He placed armed men, to keep them, who stood there all day and all night; and all the people lamented, as if our loss had concerned them much." 24. ships lost One of the The port, where this misfortune happened, Columbus called Navidad [the Nativity], because he entered it on Christmas day. Resolving to leave a colony here, he obtained liberty of the cazique to erect a fort, which he accordingly built with the tim- Columbus ber of the ship that was wrecked; and, leaving it in the hands of three officers and thirty-eight men, prepared to return to Spain.1 builds a fort. Columbus returns to COLUMBUS, having taken every precaution for the security of 1493. his colony, left Navidad on the 4th of January; and, after discovering and naming most of the harbours on the northern coast Jan. 16. of Hispaniola, set sail, on the 16th, for Spain, taking with him six of the natives. On the 14th of February, he was overtaken Spain. by a violent tempest, and, in the extremity of danger, united with the mariners in imploring the aid of Almighty God, mingled with supplications to the Virgin Mary, and accompanied by 1 Herrera says, a whole generation lived in a house-" porque en una casa mora todo un linage." 2 « Ab Hispania... diminutivè Hispaniola." P. Martyr. 3 This title, which signifies lord or prince, is rightly applied to the princes of Hayti; for, according to Clavigero, "it is derived from the Haitin tongue, which was spoken in the island of Hispaniola." But it was afterwards inaccurately applied to the nobles of Mexico, who, though divided into several classes, with appropriate titles to each, "were confounded together by the Spaniards under the general name of caziques." Hist. Mexico, i. 346. 4 Life of Columbus, c. 27-36. Herrera, d. 1. lib. 1. Muñoz, lib. 3. § 32. Purchas, i. 730. Univ. Hist. xli. 487. Robertson, b. 2. In the Life of Columbus, the port is said to be named Navidad: but Herrera, and Robertson after him, say, that this name was given to the fort. This fortification was finished in ten days; the poor natives unwarily helping it forward; "that simple race of men," to use the words of Dr. Robertson, "labouring with inconsiderate assiduity in erecting this first monument of their own servitude." |