CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS FROM HIS OWN ... - University …

1 THE LIFE OFCHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS FROM HIS OWN LETTERS AND JOURNALS-- AND -- OTHER DOCUMENTS OF HIS TIME. BYEDWARD EVERETT HALE AUTHOR OF"THE MAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY," "IN HIS NAME," "TENTIMES ONE IS TEN," "THE LIFE OF WASHINGTON,""FRANKLIN IN FRANCE," "HOW TO DO IT,""CHAUTAUQUA HISTORY OF THEUNITED STATES."CHICAGO:G. L. HOWE & Copyrighted HOWE, & book contains a life of COLUMBUS , written with the hope of interesting all classes of life has often been written, and it has sometimes been well written. The great book of ourcountryman, Washington Irving, is a noble model of diligent work given to a very difficult I think every person who has dealt with the life of COLUMBUS since Irving's time, has expressedhis gratitude and respect for the to the custom of biographers, in that time and since, he includes in those volumes thewhole history of the West India islands, for the period after COLUMBUS discovered them till his also thinks it his duty to include much of the history of Spain and of the Spanish court.

2 I do notmyself believe that it is wise to attempt, in a book of biography, so considerable a study of the historyof the time. Whether it be wise or not, I have not attempted it in this book. I have rather attempted tofollow closely the personal fortunes of CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS , and, to the history around him, I havegiven only such space as seemed absolutely necessary for the illustration of those have followed on the lines of his own personal narrative wherever we have it. And where this islost I have used the absolutely contemporary authorities. I have also consulted the later writers, thoseof the next generation and the generation which followed it. But the more one studies the life ofColumbus the more one feels sure that, after the greatness of his discovery was really known, theaccounts of the time were overlaid by what modern criticism calls myths, which had grown up in theenthusiasm of those who honored him, and which form no part of real history.

3 If then the reader failsto find some stories with which he is quite familiar in the history, he must not suppose that they areomitted by accident, but must give to the author of the book the credit of having used some discretionin the choice of his I visited Spain in 1882, I was favored by the officers of the Spanish government with everyfacility for carrying my inquiry as far as a short visit would permit. Since that time Mr. Harrisse haspublished his invaluable volumes on the life of COLUMBUS . It certainly seems as if every documentnow existing, which bears upon the history, had been collated by him. The reader will see that I havemade full use of this congress of Americanistas, which meets every year, brings forward many curious studies on thehistory of the continent, but it can scarcely be said to have done much to advance our knowledge ofthe personal life of determination of the people of the United States to celebrate fitly the great discovery which hasadvanced civilization and changed the face of the world, makes it certain that a new interest hasarisen in the life of the great man to whom, in the providence of God, that discovery was due.

4 Theauthor and publishers of this book offer it as their contribution in the great celebration, with the hopethat it may be of use, especially in the direction of the studies of the E. HALE. ROXBURY, MASS.,June 1st, OF LIFE OF Birth and Birth--place--His Early Education--His experience at Sea--His Marriage andResidence in Lisbon-- His Plans for the Discovery of a Westward Passage to the Indies 13-30 CHAPTER PLANS FOR Leaves Lisbon, and Visits Genoa--Visits Great Spanish Dukes --For Six Years is atthe Court of Ferdinand and Isabella--The Council of Salamanca--His Petition is at Last Granted-- Squadron Made Ready 31-48 CHAPTER GREAT Squadron Sails--Refits at Canary Islands--Hopes and Fears of the Voyage --The Doubts ofthe Crew-- Land Discovered 49-63 CHAPTER Landing on the twelfth of October --The Natives and their Neighbors --Search for Gold--Cuba Discovered COLUMBUS Coasts Along its Shores 64-87 CHAPTER on Cuba -- The Cigar and Tobacco -- Cipango and the Great Khan --From Cuba toHayti--Its Shores and Harbors 88-100 CHAPTER of Hayti or Hispaniola --The Search for Gold-- Hospitality and Intelligence of theNatives--Christmas Day --A Shipwreck--Colony to be Founded -- COLUMBUS Sails East andMeets Martin Pinzon-- The Two Vessels Return to Europe --Storm --The Azores-- Portugal --Home 101-125 CHAPTER

5 Is Called to Meet the King and Queen -- His Magnificent Reception --Negotiationswith the Pope and with the King of Portugal--Second Expedition Ordered --Fonseca --ThePreparations at Cadiz 126-139 CHAPTER Second Expedition Sails From Cadiz--Touches at Canary Islands -- Discovery of Dominicaand Guadeloupe --Skirmishes with the Caribs --Porto Rico Discovered --Hispaniola --The Fateof the Colony at La Navidad 140-168 CHAPTER New Colony-- Expeditions of Discovery -- Guacanagari-- Search for Gold--Mutiny in theColony--The Vessels Sent Home-- COLUMBUS Marches Inland-- Collection of Gold--Fortress ofSt. Thomas--A New Voyage of Discovery--Jamaica Visited --The South Shore of CubaExplored -- Return -- Evangelista Discovered -- COLUMBUS Falls Sick --Return to Isabella 169-197 CHAPTER THIRD to the King and Queen--Discovery of Trinidad and Paria -- Curious Speculation as to theEarthly Paradise -Arrival at San Domingo -- Rebellions and Mutinies in that Island-Roldan andHis Followers--Ojeda and His Expedition--Arrival of Bobadilla -- COLUMBUS a Prisoner 198-224 CHAPTER , 1500.

6 Cordial Reception in Spain-- COLUMBUS Favorably Received at Court--New Interest inGeographical Discovery--His Plans for the Redemption of the Holy Sepulchre--Preparations fora Fourth Expedition 225-239 CHAPTER Instructions Given for the Voyage--He is to go to the Mainland of the Indies--A ShortPassage -- Ovando Forbids the Entrance of COLUMBUS into Harbor Bobadilla's Squadron and ItsFate -- COLUMBUS Sails Westward --Discovers Honduras, and Coasts Along Its Shores --TheSearch for Gold -- Colony Attempted and Abandoned --The Vessels Become Unseaworthy --Refuge at Jamaica -- Mutiny Led by the Brothers Porras- - Messages to San Domingo -- TheEclipse -- Arrival of Relief -- COLUMBUS Returns to San Domingo, and to Spain 240-272 CHAPTER Sad Years- - Isabella's Death -- COLUMBUS at Seville-- His Illness -- Letters to the King --journeys to Segovia --Salamanca and Valladolid- - His Suit There--;-- Philip and Juana -- COLUMBUS Executes His Will--Dies--His Burial and the Removal of His Body -- His Portraits--His Character 273-291 APPENDIX A.

7 293-303 APPENDIX B .. 304-309 APPENDIX C .. 309-312 THE LIFE OF LIFE OF BIRTH AND BIRTH-PLACE--HISEARLY EDUCATION--HIS EXPERIENCEAT SEA--HIS MARRIAGE ANDRESIDENCE IN LISBON--HIS PLANS FORTHE DISCOVERY OF A WESTWARDPASSAGE TO THE COLUMBUS was born in the Republic of Genoa. The honor of his birth-place has beenclaimed by many villages in that Republic, and the house in which he was born cannot be nowpointed out with certainty. But the best authorities agree that the children and the grown people of theworld have never been mistaken when they have said: "America was discovered in 1492 byChristopher COLUMBUS , a native of Genoa."His name, and that of his family, is always written Colombo, in the Italian papers which refer to them,for more than one hundred years before his time. In Spain it was always written Colon; in France it iswritten as Colomb; while in England it has always kept its Latin form, COLUMBUS .

8 It has frequentlybeen said that he himself assumed this form, because Columba is the Latin word for "Dove," with afanciful feeling that, in carrying Christian light to the West, he had taken the mission of the , he had first found land where men thought there was ocean, and he was the messenger of theHoly Spirit to those who sat in darkness. It has also been assumed that he took the name ofChristopher, "the Christ-bearer," for similar reasons. But there is no doubt that he was baptized" CHRISTOPHER ," and that the family name had long been Columbo. The coincidences of name are buttwo more in a calendar in which poetry delights, and of which history is COLUMBUS was the oldest son of Dominico Colombo and Suzanna Fontanarossa. Thisname means Red-fountain. He bad two brothers, Bartholomew and Diego, whom we shall meet is the Spanish way of writing the name which we call seems probable that CHRISTOPHER was born in the year 1436, though some writers have said that hewas older than this, and some that he was younger.

9 The record of his birth and that of his baptismhave not been father was not a rich man, but he was able to send CHRISTOPHER , as a boy, to the University ofPavia, and here he studied grammar, geometry, geography and navigation, astronomy and the Latinlanguage. But this was as a boy studies, for in his fourteenth year he left the University and entered, inhard work, on "the larger college of the world." If the date given above, of his birth, is correct, thiswas in the year 1450, a few years before the Turks took Constantinople, and, in their invasion ofEurope, affected the daily life of everyone, young or old, who lived in the Mediterranean this time, for fifteen years, it is hard to trace along the life of COLUMBUS . It was the life of anintelligent young seaman, going wherever there was a voyage for him. He says himself, "I passedtwenty-three years on the sea. I have seen all the Levant, all the western coasts, and the North.

10 I haveseen England; I have often made the voyage from Lisbon to the Guinea coast." This he wrote in aletter to Ferdinand and Isabella. Again he says, "I went to sea from the most tender age and havecontinued in a sea life to this day. Whoever gives himself up to this art wants to know the secrets ofNature here below. It is more than forty years that I have been thus engaged. Wherever any one hassailed, there I have sailed."Whoever goes into the detail of the history of that century will come upon the names of two relativesof his--Colon el Mozo (the Boy, or the Younger) and his uncle, Francesco Colon, both celebratedsailors. The latter of the two was a captain in the fleets of Louis XI of France, and imaginativestudents may represent him as meeting Quentin Durward at court. CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS seems tohave made several voyages under the command of the younger of these relatives. He commanded theGenoese galleys near Cyprus in a war which the Genoese had with the Venetians.