Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- CHAP. I COLUMBUS
- CHAP. II COLUMBUS AND AMERIGO VESPUCCI
- CHAP. III EARLY DISCOVERIES IN AMERICA
- CHAP. IV SPANISH DISCOVERIES, AND FIRST CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF THE EARTH
- CHAP. V FERNANDO CORTEZ
- CHAP. VI CONQUEST OF PERU
- CHAP. VII CONQUESTS OF THE SPANIARDS
- CHAP. VIII CONQUESTS OF THE PORTUGUESE
- CHAP. IX FERDINAND MENDEZ PINTO
- CHAP. X VOYAGES TO THE NORTH
- CHAP. XI VOYAGES TO THE NORTH
- CHAP. XII VOYAGES TO THE NORTH
- CHAP. XIII SETTLEMENTS IN THE EAST
- CHAP. XIV SETTLEMENTS IN NORTH AMERICA
- CHAP. XV ESTABLISHMENTS IN AFRICA
- CHAP. XVI VOYAGES TO THE SOUTH SEA
- CHAP. XVII VOYAGES TO THE SOUTH SEA
- CHAP. XVIII VOYAGES IN THE PACIFIC, AND DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA
- CHAP. XIX EXPEDITIONS OF THE BUCCANEERS IN THE SOUTH SEAS
- CHAP. XX VOYAGES OF PRIVATEERS AND OTHERS TO THE SOUTH SEA
- CHAP. XXI DISCOVERIES OF THE RUSSIANS
- CHAP. XXII DISCOVERIES OF THE RUSSIANS
CHAP. II - COLUMBUS AND AMERIGO VESPUCCI
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- CHAP. I COLUMBUS
- CHAP. II COLUMBUS AND AMERIGO VESPUCCI
- CHAP. III EARLY DISCOVERIES IN AMERICA
- CHAP. IV SPANISH DISCOVERIES, AND FIRST CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF THE EARTH
- CHAP. V FERNANDO CORTEZ
- CHAP. VI CONQUEST OF PERU
- CHAP. VII CONQUESTS OF THE SPANIARDS
- CHAP. VIII CONQUESTS OF THE PORTUGUESE
- CHAP. IX FERDINAND MENDEZ PINTO
- CHAP. X VOYAGES TO THE NORTH
- CHAP. XI VOYAGES TO THE NORTH
- CHAP. XII VOYAGES TO THE NORTH
- CHAP. XIII SETTLEMENTS IN THE EAST
- CHAP. XIV SETTLEMENTS IN NORTH AMERICA
- CHAP. XV ESTABLISHMENTS IN AFRICA
- CHAP. XVI VOYAGES TO THE SOUTH SEA
- CHAP. XVII VOYAGES TO THE SOUTH SEA
- CHAP. XVIII VOYAGES IN THE PACIFIC, AND DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA
- CHAP. XIX EXPEDITIONS OF THE BUCCANEERS IN THE SOUTH SEAS
- CHAP. XX VOYAGES OF PRIVATEERS AND OTHERS TO THE SOUTH SEA
- CHAP. XXI DISCOVERIES OF THE RUSSIANS
- CHAP. XXII DISCOVERIES OF THE RUSSIANS
Summary
While the ambition of Columbus was in this manner thwarted, and his rightful authority superseded, in the very countries which he had discovered, his spirit did not languish in inactivity, nor did he relinquish his former purpose of penetrating by the west to those rich countries of India described by Marco Polo and other travellers. He begged to be placed again at the head of an expedition; and events had recently occurred which added weight to his entreaties. About a year before his return from Hispaniola, Vasco de Gama had arrived at Lisbon, after accomplishing the voyage to India by the Cape of Good Hope, and had brought back such an account of those rich and populous countries as inflamed the desire of every European state to open an intercourse with them. The reputation of Columbus as a learned and sagacious cosmographer was now established beyond dispute, and he offered to conduct a fleet to the Indies by a snorter route than that followed by De Gama. He had traced the coast of Caraccas a long way to the west; he had also surveyed the southern shores of Cuba, which he supposed to be the continent, in the same direction; he therefore concluded that the ocean extended between those limits, and that the strait leading into those Indian seas which had been visited by the Portuguese lay somewhere in the direction of Darien.
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- The History of Maritime and Inland Discovery , pp. 13 - 29Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010