ith the Greek tradition that the
Indies might be reached by sailing west from the Pillars of Hercules, he
was probably familiar, even if he had not read the famous statement of
Aristotle in Roger Bacon's _Opus Majus_, or in the _Imago Mundi_ of
Pierre d'Ailly; familiar also he certainly was with the persistent
mediaeval legends of islands in the western Atlantic,--Atlantis, and the
Seven Cities, and Isles of St. Brandan.

Here in Lisbon, poring over old maps, by fortunate miscalculation
underestimating the size of the earth, noting, as expedition after
expedition returned, the indefinite southern extension of the African
coast, Columbus became convinced that the Portuguese had chosen the
longer route to the East, and that "the Indies in the east might in the
Earth's Globositie be as readily found out by the west, following the
sun in his daily journey." To reach the Indies by sailing west, and to
discover, for the king who should authorize him, such new lands as might
fall his way, became henceforth the consuming ambition of his life. It
was a project which he had already, about 1484, laid before the King of
Portugal. Repulsed, and at the same time betrayed, he went to Spain,
where he was encouraged by the Count Medina Celi and the Cardinal
Mendoza, only to have his plan rejected by the Council to which it was
referred. The queen was not unfavorably disposed, but the Moorish wars
occupied her days and depleted her treasury. Weary with following the
court about, it must have been with profound discouragement that
Columbus heard of the success of Diaz in 1488. For the time was short;
Diaz had all but reached the goal, and one more voyage might bring the
Portuguese to India before Columbus could induce the Spanish sovereigns
to try the better plan.

But the Portuguese did not follow up their advantage, and after four
more years of waiting, when the Moorish wars were successfully concluded
by the conquest of Granada, Columbus at last obtained a favorable
hearing from Ferdinand and Isabella. By the King and Queen of Spain
Christopher Columbus was authorized to "discover and acquire certain
islands and mainland in the ocean"; to appropriate for himself a tithe
of the precious metals which might be found there, and to be "Admiral of
the said islands and mainland, and Admiral and Viceroy and Governor
therein." Within three months all was ready, and on Friday, August 3,
1492, the famous expedition, about ninety men in three sma