stion
already has aroused considerable jealous opposition among the Italians
of New York, who claim all the glory for Columbus, a statement of what
was really discovered by the two great explorers will be of interest at
the present time.
No writer of the present day has shed a clearer light upon this question
than John Fiske, and it may be incidentally added, no student has done
more than he to relieve Amerigo Vespucci from the reproach which has
been fastened upon his reputation as an explorer, by critics, who, as
Mr. Fiske clearly shows, have been misled by the sources of their
authority and have judged him from erroneous standpoints. In making a
statement of what the two explorers really discovered, the _Tribune_
follows on the lines of Prof. Fiske's investigation as the clearest,
most painstaking, and most authoritative that has yet been made.
Christopher Columbus made four voyages. On the first he sailed from
Palos, Friday, August 3, 1492, and Friday, October 12th (new style,
October 21st), discovered land in the West Indies. It was one of the
islands of the Bahamas, called by the natives Guanahani, and named by
him San Salvador; which name, after the seventeenth century, was applied
to Cat Island, though which one of the islands is the true San Salvador
is still a matter of dispute.
After spending ten days among the Bahamas Columbus (October 25th)
steered south and reached the great Island of Cuba. He cruised around
the east coast of the big island, and December 6th landed at Haiti,
another immense island. A succession of disasters ended his voyage and
he thereupon returned to Spain, arriving there March 15, 1493.
Columbus sailed on his second voyage September 25, 1493, and November 3d
landed at Dominica in the Caribbean Sea. During a two-weeks' cruise he
discovered the islands of Marigalante, Guadaloupe, and Antigua, and
lastly the large Island of Puerto Rico. April 24th he set out on another
cruise of discovery. He followed the south coast of Cuba and came to
Jamaica, the third largest of the West Indies, thence returning to Cuba,
and from there to Spain, where he arrived June 11, 1494. On his third
voyage he sailed May 30, 1498. Following a more southerly course, he
arrived at Trinidad, and in coasting along saw the delta of the Orinoco
River of South America and went into the Gulf of Paria. Thence he
followed the north coast of Venezuela and finally arrived at Santo
Domingo.
The story of his arrest
|