A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 02 · Chapter 8Chapter I. (3)
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[8] More correctly in lat. 20° 54' N. There is another Cape Blanco in Morocco in lat. 33° 10' N. and this more southerly cape on the great desert is named Branca in our best charts.--E.
In 1445, Gonsalvo de Syntra, an esquire belonging to Don Henry, went captain of a bark into these parts; and landing on the coast, was taken by the natives, with six or seven of his people The place where he was cut off got the name of Angra de Gonsalvo de Syntra from him; and this was the first loss sustained by the Portuguese in their discoveries. In 1446, three caravels were sent out under Antonio Gonsales, Diego Aloizio, and Gomes Perez; who were ordered to refrain from going to Rio de Oro, to carry themselves peaceably to the natives, to traffic with them peaceably, and to endeavour to convert as many infidels as possible to Christianity; but in this they had no success. In the same year, Dennis Fernandes of Lisbon, an esquire to the king, entered upon these discoveries, more to acquire fame than for profit. In the course of his voyage he discovered the river Sanaga or Senegal, between 15 and 16 degrees of latitude[9]; and proceeding onwards, discovered Cape Verde, in 14 degrees[10], upon which he erected a wooden cross, and then returned, much elated at the success of his voyage. In 1447 Nunnez Tristan passed beyond Cape Verde to Rio Grande, and went beyond that river to another in twelve degrees[11]. He was here taken and slain, with eighteen other Portuguese, and the ship was brought home in safety by four or five of the crew who escaped the hands of the negroes.
[9] The mouth of the Senegal is in lat. 15° 45' N.--E.
[10] More correctly, 14° 45' N.--E.
[11] It is difficult to ascertain these two rivers: The Rio Grande here meant is properly named Gambia. The river in 12° N. may be the Casamansa, the Santa Anna, or the St Dominico: which last is exactly in 12° N. the two others a little farther north, and nearer the Gambia. --E.
In this year 1447, a Portuguese ship, in coming through the Straits of Gibraltar, was forced a great way to the westwards by a violent tempest, and came to an island having seven cities, the inhabitants of which spoke the Portuguese language, and they inquired of our mariners if the Moors still infested Spain, whence their ancestors had fled to avoid the distresses which occurred subsequent to the death of Don Roderigo, king of Spain. The boatswain of this ship brought home some of the sand from this island, and sold it to a goldsmith in Lisbon, who procured from it a good quantity of gold. Don Pedro, who then governed the realm, being made acquainted with this circumstance, caused the whole to be recorded in the house of justice[12]. Some think that this island belonged to what is now called the Antilles or New Spain; but though their reasons for this opinion are good, I omit them here, as not connected with my present purpose.
[12] This is one of the many palpable and clumsy fables which were advanced to defraud Columbus of the honour of having discovered the new world, and is even more ridiculous, if possible, than the voyages of Zeno, adverted to in our First Part.--E.
In the year 1449, King Alphonso granted license to his uncle, Don Henry, to colonize the Açores, which had been formerly discovered. In the year 1458, this king went into Africa, where he took the town of Alcaçer; and in the year 1461, he commanded Signior Mendez to build the castle of Arguin, in the island of that name, on the coast of Africa. In the year 1462, three Genoese gentlemen, of whom Antonio de Noli was the chief, the others being his brother and nephew, got permission from Don Henry to take possession of the Cape de Verde islands, which some believe to be those called Gorgades, Hesperides, and Dorcades, by the ancients. But they named them Mayo, Saint Jago, and Saint Philip, because discovered on the days of those saints. Some call them the islands of Antonio. In the year following, 1463, that excellent prince, Don Henry, died; having discovered, by his exertions, the whole coast of Africa, from Cape Non to the mountain of Sierra Liona, which is on this side of the line, in lat. 8° 30' N. where no man had been before.
In 1469, the king of Portugal let out the trade of Guinea, afterwards called the Minas, to Fernan Gomez, for five years, at the yearly rent of 200,000 rees[13]; and under the express condition that he was every year to discover 100 leagues farther along the coast of Africa to the south. In 1470, this king went into Africa, accompanied by his son Prince John, where he took the town of Arzila; and the inhabitants of Tangier having fled from fear, he took possession of it also. In the year 1471, John de St Aren and John de Scovar, under the orders of Fernan Gomez, continued the discovery of the coast of Guinea as far as St George del Mina, in lat. 5° N. and 2° W. long.; the coast from Cape Verde to Cape Palmas trending S.E. after which it goes to the east, with even a small northerly inclination for about twelve degrees of longitude. In 1472, one Fernando da Poo discovered the island now called after his name, beyond Cape Formosa, in lat. 3° 40' N. and about the same time the islands del Principe and St Thomas were discovered, the latter of which is situated under the equinoctial line. The firm land also was explored at the same time, all the way from the kingdom of Benin to Cape St Catherina, in lat. 1° 40' S. This last discovery was made by Sequetra, a person in the king's immediate service. Many suppose that then were these countries and islands discovered which had never been before known since the flood.
[13] Equal to L.138: 17: 9-1/4 d. English money.--Halk.
In the year 1480, the valiant King Don Alphonzo died, and was succeeded by his son Don John II. who, in 1481, gave orders to Diego d'Azambuxa to construct the castle of St George del Mina, on the African coast. In 1484, Diego Caon, a knight belonging to the court, discovered the coast as far as the river Congo, on the south side of the line, in seven or eight degrees of latitude[14], where he erected a stone pillar, with the royal arms and titles of Portugal, with the date of his discovery. He proceeded southwards from thence along the coast, all the way to a river near the tropic of Capricorn, setting up similar stone pillars in convenient places. He afterwards returned to Congo, the king of which country sent ambassadors by his ship into Portugal. In the next year, or the year following, John Alonzo d'Aveiro brought home from Benin pepper with a tail[15], being the first of the kind ever seen in Portugal.
[14] Only 6° 45' S.--E.
[15] Mr Clarke explains this as long pepper ; but besides that this by no means answers the descriptive name in the text, long pepper certainly is the production of the East Indies. The article here indicated was probably one of the many species, or varieties of the Capsicum; called Guinea pepper, Cayenne pepper, Bird pepper, and various other names. --E.
In 1487, King John sent Pedro de Covillan and Alphonzo de Payva, both of whom could speak Arabic, to discover India by land. They left Lisbon in the month of May, and took shipping in the same year at Naples for the island of Rhodes, and lodged there in the hotel of the Knights of St John of Jerusalem, belonging to Portugal. From thence they went to Alexandria and Cairo, and then along with a caravan of Moors to the haven of Toro. There they embarked on the Red Sea, and proceeded to Aden, where they separated; de Payva going into Ethiopia, while Covillan proceeded to India. Covillan went to the cities of Cananor and Calicut, and thence to Goa, where he took shipping for Sofala, on the eastern coast of Africa. He thence sailed to Mosambique, and the cities of Quiloa, Mombaza, and Melinda, returning back to Aden, where he and Payva had formerly separated. Thence he proceeded to Cairo, where he hoped to have rejoined his companion; but he here learnt by letter from the king his master, that de Payva was dead, and he was farther enjoined by the king to travel into the country of Abyssinia[16] He returned therefore, from Cairo to Toro, and thence to Aden; and hearing of the fame of Ormuz, he proceeded along the coast of Arabia by Cape Razalgate to Ormuz. Returning from the Gulf of Persia to the Red Sea, he passed over to the realm of the Abyssinians, which is commonly called the kingdom of Presbyter John, or Ethiopia, where he was detained till 1520, when the ambassador, Don Roderigo de Lima, arrived in that country. This Pedro de Covillan was the first of the Portuguese who had ever visited the Indies and the adjacent seas and islands.
[16] In the original this is called the country of Prester or Presbyter John. We have formerly, in the First Part of this work, had occasion to notice the strange idea of a Christian prince and priest, who was supposed to have ruled among the pagan nations of eastern Tartary. Driven from this false notion, by a more thorough knowledge of Asia, the European nations fondly transferred the title of Prester John to the half Christian prince or Negus of the semi-barbarous Abyssinians. --E.
In the year 1490, the king sent Gonzalo de Sosa to Congo with three ships, carrying back with him the ambassador of the king of Congo, who had been brought over to Portugal in 1484, by Diego Caon. During his residence in Portugal, this ambassador and others of his company had been instructed in the Christian religion, and baptized. Gonzalo de Sosa died during the outward-bound voyage; and Ruy de Sosa, his nephew, was chosen to the command of the expedition in his stead. Arriving in Congo, the king of that country received them with much joy, and soon yielded himself and the greater part of his subjects to be baptized; to the infinite satisfaction of the Portuguese, who by these means converted so many infidels from paganism to Christianity.
SECTION III.
Summary of Discoveries made by the Spaniards and Portuguese, from the Era of Columbus, in 1492, to the year 1555 .
In the year 1492, when Don Ferdinand king of Castile[1] was engaged in the siege of Granada, he sent one Christopher Columbus, a Genoese, with three ships, for the discovery of Nova Spagna. This Columbus had first offered his service lot a western discovery to John king of Portugal, who refused to employ him. Being sufficiently furnished for his enterprize, Columbus set out from the town of Palos on the third of August 1492, having with him, as captains and pilots, Martin Alionzo Pinzon, Francis Martinez Pinzori, Vincent Yannes Pinzon, and Bartholomew Columbus his brother[2] with an hundred and twenty other persons in the three ships. Some persons affirm, that this was the first voyage which was ever conducted by the observation of latitudes[3]. They took the Canaries in their way, whence shaping their course for Cipango, or towards Japan, they were much amazed to find the sea all full of weeds, and with great fear arrived at the Antilles on the tenth day of October; the first island they descried, called Guanahany by the natives, they named San Salvador. This island is in 25° N. latitude. After that they found many islands, which they called the Princes. The savages of those parts call these islands by the name of Lucaios, having indeed several names for them, and they stand on the north side of the line, almost under the tropic of Cancer. The island of St James, or Jamaica, lies between the 16th and 17th degrees of northern latitude[4]. Thence they went to the island which the natives call Cuba, named Ferdinando by the Spaniards, after the king, which is in 22 degrees; from whence they were conducted by the Indians to another island called Hayti, named Isabella by the Spaniards, in honour of the queen of Castile, and afterwards Hispaniola, or Little Spain.
[1] Ferdinand was hereditary king of Arragon; but, by marrying Isabella, queen of Castile, had united the several monarchies of Spain, under one government. Ferdinand had no share whatever in the honour of sending out Columbus, the sole charge being defrayed by his consort, Isabella, hereditary queen of Castile and Leon; and who had even to borrow money for the purpose. The contemptuous notice of one Christopher Columbus, must be pardoned to the patriotic rivalry of a Portuguese.--E.
[2] Galvano is here inaccurate: It will be seen in the sequel, that Bartholomew Columbus did not accompany his brother in this voyage, being then in England.--E.
[3] It is certainly possible, that Columbus may have used that mode in his course to the Canaries: But as his run across the Atlantic was nearly on a parallel, he must have kept that part of his voyage by what is called dead reckoning, or by the log.--E.
[4] The middle of Guanahana is in lat. 24° 30' N. The centre of Jamaica in 18° 10' N. The latitudes of Galvano are generally inaccurate; and he never pretends to assign any longitudes whatever. The series, likewise, in which he arranges the discoveries of Columbus is very inaccurate. --E.
In that island the admirals ship was wrecked, and Columbus caused a fort to be constructed of her timbers and planks, in which he left Roderigo de Arana with a garrison of thirty-eight men, to learn the language and customs of the country. Columbus then returned to Spain, carrying with him samples of gold and pearls, and other productions of the country, with ten Indians, six of whom died on the voyage; the rest were brought to Spain and baptized. On their way home, Columbus touched at the Açores; and on the fourth of March 1493, entered the port of Lisbon. This discovery gave much discontent to the king of Portugal. Immediately on his arrival, Columbus went into Castile, where he informed the king of his discoveries and of the dissatisfaction of the king of Portugal. On this he and his queen Isabella sent word of the recent discovery to Pope Alexander VI, at which information he and all the Italians were much astonished, as they marvelled that there should be any land besides what had been known to the Romans. Alexander made a grant of all these countries to the crowns of Castile and Leon, under condition that they should labour to extirpate idolatry, and establish the holy faith of Christ among the natives.
On the report of this discovery, so universal a desire of travelling arose among the Spaniards, that they were ready as it were to leap into the sea, that they might swim if possible to the newly discovered islands. After receiving the authority of the Pope, King Ferdinando sent Columbus a second time to the newly-discovered country, of which he made him admiral, giving him many other honours, and a particular coat of arms, having this motto,
For Castile and for Leon A new world discovered Colon[A].
[A] Gomara, I. 1. c. 15.
Columbus set out on his second voyage to the Antilles on the 25th October 1493, taking his course from Cadiz, with seventeen ships and fifteen hundred men, accompanied by his brothers Bartholomew and Diego Columbus, with many other knights, gentlemen of the law, and priests; having chalices, crosses, and other rich religious ornaments, and with great power and dignity from the Pope. The tenth day after commencing their voyage, they reached the Canaries; and from thence, in twenty-five or thirty days, they sailed to the Antilles, the first island they saw being in 14° N. due west from Cape de Verd in Africa. They called this island Deseada[5], or the desired island , which is said to be 800 leagues from the Canaries. They afterwards discovered many more islands, which they called the Virgins, but which are named the Caribbee islands by the natives, from a nation of that name, who are bold warriors, and excellent marksmen with bows and arrows. They poison their arrows with the juice of a certain herb, and whoever is wounded with these is sure to die, biting himself like a mad dog. From thence they went to the principal island in these parts, named Boriquen by the natives, and St John by the Spaniards; and thence to Hispaniola, or Isabella, where they found all the men dead whom they had left on returning from the former voyage. Columbus left most of his people here to establish a colony, under the command of his brothers; and went with two ships to continue his discovery of Cuba and Jamaica. All these islands are between 16 and 20 degrees of northern latitude[6]. While the admiral was sailing in quest of discoveries, his brethren and those who were left in Hispaniola, were much incommoded by an insurrection among the savages; and Columbus went back to Spain, to give an account of his proceedings to the king and queen.
[5] Cape de Verd is in 14° 30' N. Deseada in 16° 30' N. a difference of two degrees of latitude. Dominica, in 15° 30' is the first land said to have been discovered by Columbus in his second voyage, in the authentic original narrative by his son, which will be found in the sequel.--E.
[6] Counting from Dominica to the north side of Cuba, between 15° 30' and 23° 15'.--E.
In January 1494, a congress of ambassadors from Spain and Portugal was held at Tordesillas, for the settlement of all disputes between the two countries respecting the new discoveries. The plenipotentiaries from Spain were Don Henry Henriques, Don John de Cardenas, and the Doctor Maldonado; those from Portugal, Ruy de Sosa, his son Don John, and the doctor Ayres de Almada. After some conference, these plenipotentiaries divided the world between the two crowns, by a meridian line drawn from north to south, 300 leagues to the west of the islands of Cape Verd, all to the east of this line being appropriated to Portugal, and all to the west to Spain; leaving, however, the liberty of navigation equally to both[7]. In 1495, John II. King of Portugal, died, and was succeeded by his cousin Emanuel.
[7] The negociators of the two crowns, as here related, seem to have been ignorant that this loose division of the globe gave the whole reciprocally to each of the parties.--E.
In the year 1496, a Venetian named John Cabota, or Gabota, went to England; and having acquired a knowledge of the new discoveries, and perceiving by the globe that the islands of the Antilles were almost in the same latitude with his own country, and lay much nearer to England than Spain and Portugal, he acquainted Henry VII. with this circumstance, and offered his services to make discoveries for the crown of England. Henry was much pleased with the proposal, and furnished him with two ships and three hundred men, with which he set sail in the spring of that year, and sailed west till he came in sight of land, in lat. 45°N. Whence he sailed northwards till he came into the latitude of 60 degrees, where the day is 18 hours long, and the night is very clear and bright. He there found the air very cold, with great islands of ice, and found no bottom with a line of 100 fathoms. From thence, finding the land turn eastwards, he coasted along it, discovering all the bay and river named Deseado[8], to see if it passed on to the other side of the land. Cabot afterwards sailed down the coast to the lat. of 38°N. though some people allege that he reached Cape Florida, in 25°N.
[8] The apparent object seems to have been in search of a passage to the East Indies by way of the north-west, a chimera long and anxiously sought after. It is needless to make any observations on these indistinct notices, as the voyage of Cabot will be afterwards given at full length.--E.
In the year 1497, Columbus was again sent out on discovery, with six ships furnished by the crown of Spain, and two others fitted out at his own expence. Sending his brother before, he sailed from Cadiz, taking his son Don Diego along with him. It was then reported, that he meant to take the island of Madeira, because he distrusted the Frenchmen, and therefore sent three ships thither; others say, that his object was for the Canaries. However this may be, he went with four ships to the Cape de Verd islands, whence he ran along a parallel, finding great rains and calms, and the first land he came to in the Antilles was an island in nine degrees of north latitude, called Trinidada,[9] which lies close to the main land. Here he entered the Gulf of Paria, and came out by the Bocca de Dragone, or Dragons-mouth. Holding his course westwards along the coast of Paria, he came to the islands called Los Testigos, or the Witnesses, beyond which is the island of Cubagua, where there is a great fishing for pearl-muscles, and where also there is a well of rock oil. Beyond that he came to the Frailes islands, named Roques, Aruba, and Curaçoa, and other small islands, along the coast of the main land, and to the point of land named Cabo de Vela, having discovered 200 leagues of coast. He thence crossed over the Caribbean Sea, directly north for Hispaniola, passing by the island Beata.
[9] The centre of Trinidada is in 10° 30'N. its S.W. point in 10° 12', and the N.E. cape in 10º 45' N.--E.
In this same year[10] 1497, on the 20th day of June[11], King Emanuel sent a squadron of three ships for India, commanded by one Vasques de Gama, having under his command his brother Paulus de Gama and Nicolas Coello, as captains of the other two ships, the whole having a complement of 120 men. They were accompanied by a fourth ship laden with provisions. In fourteen days they reached the island of St Jago, one of the Cape Verds, whence they went along the coast beyond the Cape of Good Hope, erecting pillars of stone in proper places, as marks of discovery and possession, and came to Mosambique in lat. 15° S. After staying only a short time there, de Gama went to Mombaza and Melinda, the king of which last place gave him pilots, who conducted him to India, in which passage he discovered Los Baxos do Padua, or the Flats of Padua. In the month of May 1498, de Gama came to anchor before the city of Calicut, and Panama [12], where they remained till the first day of September, when they sailed towards the north, discovering all the coast till they came to the island of Angediva, on the western side of India, in 15° N. where they came to an anchor in the beginning of October. They remained here till February 1499, when they departed on their voyage homewards; coming first to Melinda, and so by Mosambique and along the coast to the Cape of Good Hope, and by the islands of Cape de Verd, and lastly to the city of Lisbon, in September of that year, having been absent on their voyage for twenty- six months.
[10] De Barros, Dec. I. 1. 4. c. 2. and to the end of ch. 11.--Hakl.
[11] Osorius says this voyage commenced on the 9th of July.--Clark.
[12] This Panama seems a blunder of some ignorant copyist, for Panarame. --E.
On the 13th of November 1499, Vincent Yannez Pinzon, who had sailed with Columbus in his first voyage of discovery, and his nephew Aries Pinzon, departed from the port of Palos with four well appointed ships, fitted out at their own cost, having a license from the king of Spain to prosecute discoveries in the new world, but with express orders not to touch anywhere that had been visited by Columbus. Going first to the islands of Cape de Verd, they passed the line and stood over towards the new world, which they fell in with at Cape St Augustine, in lat. 8° 30' S. where they carved on the barks of trees the date of their arrival, and the names of the king and queen of Spain. They had several skirmishes with the inhabitants of Brazil, but got no advantage. Following the coast westwards[13], they entered the river named Maria Tambal, by which time they had made above thirty prisoners. The chief places where they touched were Cape St Augustine, Cape St Luke, Tierra de los Humos; the rivers of Marannon and of the Amazons, and the Rio Dolce, or Sweet river[14], and other places along the coast. At last, being come to 10° N. they lost two of their ships with their crews, and returned home, after having employed ten months and fifteen days in their voyage.
[13] The coast here is nearly N. and S. and their course must have been to the north.--E.
[14] The Marannon and Amazons are the same river. Perhaps by the Rio Dolce the Orinoco may be meant; but in these slight notices of discovery it is impossible at times to ascertain the real positions, through the alteration of names.--E.
In March 1500, Pedro Alvarez Cabral sailed from Lisbon with thirteen ships for India, being ordered not to go near the coast of Africa, that he might shorten the voyage. Losing sight of one of his ships, he deviated from his course in hopes to rejoin it, and sailed till he unexpectedly fell in with the coast of Brazil, where he sent a bark in, search of a safe harbour, which they found in 17° S. and called it Puerto Seguro. From thence they made sail for the Cape of Good Hope and Melinda, whence they crossed over to the river of Cochin, which was not before known. Here they loaded with pepper; and on their return Sancho de Thovar discovered the city of Sofala, on the eastern coast of Africa.
It is reported, that in the year 1500, one Gaspar Cortereal got a general license from King Emanuel to make discoveries in the new world. He fitted out two stout ships at his own cost, from the island of Tercera, and sailed to that part of the new world which is in 50° N. which has been since known by his name, and came home in safety to Lisbon. In a second voyage, his own immediate vessel was lost, and the other came home. Upon this, his brother Michael Cortereal went to seek him with three ships, fitted out at his own charges; and finding many creeks and rivers on the coast, the ships divided for the more effectual search, agreeing that they should all meet again at an appointed time and place. The other two ships did so; but after waiting a reasonable rime for Michael Cortereal, it was concluded that he was also lost, on which the other two ships returned to Lisbon, and no news was ever afterwards heard of the two brothers; but the country where they were lost is still called the land of Cortereal[15].
[15] From the latitude indicated by Galvano, the land of Cortereal may have been somewhere on the eastern side of Newfoundland.--E.
In March 1501, John de Nova sailed from Lisbon with four ships for India. In his outward-bound voyage he discovered an island in the Atlantic, in lat. 8° S. to which he gave the name of Ascension[16]. On his return from India, he fell in with another island in the Atlantic in 17° S. called St Helena, which, though very small, is yet of great importance from its situation. In the month of May of the same year 1501, three ships were sent from Lisbon by King Emanuel, to make a discovery of the coast of Brazil, which had been accidentally fallen in with, by Cabral: Passing by the Canaries, they stopped for refreshments at the town of Bezequiche in the Cape Verds; and passing southwards from thence beyond the line, they fell in with Brazil in five degrees of south latitude, at Cape St Roquo, and sailed along the coast southwards, till they reckoned themselves to have reached 32° S. Finding the weather cold and tempestuous, they turned back in the month of April 1502, and got to Lisbon In September of that year, having been out fifteen months on their voyage.
[16] Barros, Dec. 1. I. 5. c. 10.
In the same year 1502, Alfonso Hojeda went to discover the Terra Firma, and followed its coast till he came to the province of Uraba I7. In 1503, Roderigo Bastidas of Seville went with two caravels at his own cost, to the Antilles, where he first came to the Isla Verde, or the Green island, close by Guadaloupe; whence he sailed westwards to Santa Martha and Cape do la Vela, and to the Rio Grande or Great river. He afterwards discovered the haven of Zamba, the Coradas, Carthagena, the islands of S. Bernard de Baru, the Islas de Arenas, Isla Fuerta, and the Point of Caribana, at the end of the Gulf of Uraba, where he had sight of the Farrallones, close by the river of Darien. From Cape de la Vela to this last place, which is in lat. 9° 40' N. is 200 leagues. From thence he stood over to Jamaica for refreshments. In Hispaniola he had to lay his ships on the ground to repair their bottoms, because a certain species of worms had eaten many holes in the planks. In this voyage Bastidas procured four hundred marks [18] of gold; though the people were very warlike, and used poisoned arrows.