Van Eyck, to whom is attribut ed the invention of oil-painting. 1370-1441. John and sixty. The expedition consisted of 120 men, all told, divided between three ships, the Santa Maria, the Pinta, and the Nina. They touched at the Canary 1450. Invention Islands, and had thence a prosperous of printing. passage across the unknown sea. After meeting with a variety of experiences, a light in the of fing was first seen by Columbus himself on the evening of October 11, and the next day land was hailed by one of the sailors. It proved to be an island (one of the Bahamas), to which, on landing, Columbus gave the name of San Salvador. After discovering several other islands in the vicinity, one of which he called Hispaniola, or Little Spain (now Hayti), Columbus set sail (January, 1493) for home, leaving about one-fourth of his men as a colony in Hispaniola. In years following he made several other voyages to the New World. 1497. John Cabot. In May, John Cabot of uncertain nativity, first known as a Venetian, but afterwards resident in England, having obtained a charter from Henry VII., set sail from Bristol, with his son Sebastian, in a single ship, for the New World. Late in June he reached what is now known as Labrador, and is supposed to have sailed thence southward along the coast for nearly 1000 miles. He made a landing, planted the flags of England and Venice on the soil, and returned to England in August. 1497. Amerigo Vespucci. In this same year probably Amerigo Vespucci, otherwise known as Americus Vespucius, a native of Florence, joined an expedition from Spain to the New World, which penetrated to the mainland, coasted along the northern part of South America, and returned the following year to Spain (1499-1500 are preferred by some as the dates of this voyage). Vespucci afterward made other voyages to the same quarter, and in 1507 a geographer of Freiburg, Germany, who supposed him to have been the true discoverer of the continent, is said to have given it his name, Americi Terra, or Land of Americus; whence America.* For this appellation [assuming the truth of the tradition] Amerigo does not seem to have been in any wise responsible. He was a friend of Columbus. 1500. Gaspar Cortereal, a Portuguese, crossed the ocean this year at the head of an expedition, and explored the more northern shores of North America, giving the name Labrador (laborer) to the country now thereby known. From a subsequent voyage to the same regions he never returned. 1500. Savanarola and Macchiavelli at Florence. 1502. Fourth Voyage of Columbus. Columbus set sail from Cadiz on his fourth and last voyage to the New World, having it for his special object to discover a short passage to the East Indies; and, returning in 1504, soon after died. 1512. Ponce de Leon, who had accompanied Columbus on his second voyage, and been made Governor of the island of Porto Rico, sailed thence, March 3d, in search of land said to contain a fountain capable of restoring and perpetuating youth and beauty. Early in April he sighted the mainland; on the 8th disembarked near the site of the present city of St. Augustine; took possession of the country in the name of the King of Spain; and because of its luxuriant vegetation named it Florida. In 1513, De Leon was appointed Governor of Florida, and, some years * This theory as to the origin of the name America has been disputed by some recent writers, who hold that the word is native to the soil. later, in attempting to conquer his province from the Indians, was wounded, and died in Cuba. 1513. Vasco Nunez de Balboa, a Spanish adventurer who had fled to Hispaniola for refuge from his creditors, being a member of an expedition engaged in the 1517. Luther's exploration of the Isthmus of Darien, discovered from one of its mountains the Pacific Ocean. opposition to Papal indulgences opens the Reformation. This was on the 26th of September. He planted a cross on the spot, and took possession of the territory, as usual, in the name of Spain. 1445-1520. Leonardo da Vinci. 1483-1520. RaPhái. 1519. Hernando Cortes, a native of Spain, but for several years a resident of Hispaniola, landed in Mexico in March, in command of an expedition for the conquest of that country. After a prolonged campaign, marked by many battles and varying fortunes, he finally captured the City of Mexico and completed the subjugation of the people. His character and policy were such, however, as to surround him with enemies, and though he was made Governor of Mexico, his administration was brief and far from prosperous or peaceful. In 1536 he explored parts of California, and of Vasa accepts the the gulf since called by the same name, title of King of and, returning to Spain, died in 1547 in Sweden. comparative obscurity. 1519-1521. First voyage round the world, made by Magellan, a Portuguese navigator. 1523. Gustavus 1524. Verrazzani, sent out by France, coasted from North Carolina northward as far as the present harbors of New York and Newport, returning with glowing accounts of the wonders and 1471-1528. Albert Durer. beauties of the New World. 1531-1533. Pizarro's Conquest of Peru. Fran 1532. John Calvin active in promoting the Reformation in France. cisco Pizarro, the conqueror of Peru, was a Spanish adventurer, who toward the close of the fifteenth, or early in the sixteenth, century, came over to the New World in search of his fortunes, and joined Balboa in his expeditions in Central America. Afterwards, in company with Diego de Almagro, he explored the coast of New Granada. Learning of the riches of Peru, he returned to Spain to obtain authority and means for its subjugation, and in 1530 recrossed the Atlantic for that purpose at the head of a small force, accompanied by four of his brothers. In 1531 he advanced upon Peru by way of Panama, routed the opposing armies, entered the capital, Cuzco, and founded the city of Lima. The military government which he set up over the vanquished empire was a severe and cruel one, and he finally died by assassins led by young Almagro, whose father had been put to death in consequence of a quarrel with Pizarro. Pizarro was an avaricious, heartless, and ignorant man, but a bold and skilful soldier. III. PERIOD OF SETTLEMENT. 1534-1640. 1534. Cartier in Canada. In April, Jacques Cartier sailed at the head of the first of four French expeditions, the total result of which was the pretty thorough exploration of the waters about the mouth of 1535. Henry VIII. of England excommunicated by the Pope. 1540. Ignatius the St. Lawrence, and of that river itLoyola founds the order of the self, and the commencement of the colJesuits. onization of Canada. 1541. De Soto and the Mississippi. Fernando De Soto was a Spanish adventurer, who, having made a previous expedition to Central America, and, later, accompanied Pizarro in the conquest of Peru, set sail from Spain in April, 1538, at the head of an expedition bent on the conquest of Florida. He reached what is now Tampa Bay in May, 1539, and began a march into the interior, which, after many hardships and adventures, brought him to the Mississippi in the summer of 1541. After a détour still further to the west, in attempting to descend the great 1555. Persecu- river he had discovered, he died by fetion of English ver. To conceal the fact of his death, Protestants. his followers sunk his body at midnight in the middle of the stream. Ridley and Lat imer burned to death. Slowly and with much suffering, the latter, greatly reduced in numbers, then made their escape from the wilderness, by way of Mexico. 1558. Queen Elizabeth ascends the Eng lish throne. 1564. Death of 1562-1564. Coligny and the Huguenots. Coligny, the noble and heroic leader of the persecuted Protestants of France, who afterwards perished in the Massacre of St. Bartholomew, sought to open an John Calvin and asylum in Florida for his suffering folMichael Angelo; lowers, and actually succeeded through birth of Shakespeare and Ga- agents in planting colonies there. lileo. Through the intolerance of the Spaniards, the effort proved finally a failure. In September, 1564, Melendez, who was especially charged with the duty of driving back the Huguenot exiles, founded the present city of St. Augustine, the oldest city in the United States. |