would
ever again, in the way of trade, sail west from Spain for the spice
islands; for between the Indies of Columbus and the Indies which he had
hoped to find lay an uncharted and boundless ocean which reduced the
Atlantic to the measure of familiar inland waters; and between the two
seas, dimly perceived as yet, stretched the continent which was indeed a
_Mondo Novo_--the New World of America.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

An excellent brief account of the discovery of America is in Channing's
_History of the United States_, I, chs. I-II. For the relations of
Europe and Asia, and the Portuguese explorations, see Cheyney's
_European Background of American History_, chs. I, II, IV. An excellent
brief sketch of the life of Columbus is in _Ency. Brit._, 11th ed. Marco
Polo is most conveniently found in _Everyman's Library_ (Dutton). The
standard edition is that of Henry Yule, 2 vols., London, 1903. Azurara's
_Chronicle of the Discovery and Conquest of Guinea_ is printed by the
Hakluyt Society, 2 vols., London, 1896. Chapter VII gives five reasons
for Prince Henry's interest in African exploration. In recent years
Henry Vignaud has maintained with much learning and critical ability
that the famous Toscanelli letter is a forgery, and that Columbus's
first voyage to the west was for the purpose of discovering new
countries, but that he had no intention of reaching the Indies. The
first point he has probably established, but as much cannot be said for
the second. See Vignaud, _Toscanelli and Columbus_. Dutton, New York,
1902.

CHAPTER II

THE PARTITION OF THE NEW WORLD

_The time approacheth and now is, that we of England may share and
part stakes, both with the Spaniard and the Portingale, in part of
America, and other regions yet undiscovered._ RICHARD HAKLUYT.

I

No feeling of exultation accompanied the discovery of America. The
Portuguese alone were well content to see rising on the western horizon
a new continent blocking the way to India. It was more than thirty years
before the Spanish explorers found the rich cities which Columbus
sought; and a century after the voyage of Magellan the vain hope of
reaching the South Sea by some middle or northwest passage still
inspired the activities of French and English adventurers. In 1534
Verrazano, in the service of Francis I, skirted the coast from Cape Fear
to Sandy Hook seeking the way to China. Fifty years later Sir Humphrey
Gilbert's _Discourse