XV.

It is doubtful whether either of the young men engaged in revising Ptolemy had ever heard of Columbus. It is quite certain that they knew nothing about the services which he had performed for Spain, and they were ignorant of the fact that but for him the new Western world would still have been undiscovered. But just before coming to Saint Dié, Ringmann had picked up in Paris a little pamphlet, which had quickened his interest in the wonderful events that were then transpiring. It was a French translation of a letter written from Cape de Verde, in June, 1501, to Lorenzo de' Medici, in Florence. The writer of the letter was a native of Florence, in the service of King Emanuel of Portugal, and his name was Amerigo Vespucci, or, as it is Latinized, Americus Vespucius.* It was simply a brief account of the enterprise upon which Vespucius had just entered,-namely, a voyage to the "Land of Parrots" (Brazil), in the new world beyond the Atlantic, with brief references to two other voyages in which he had taken an unimportant part. Ringmann was so deeply interested in the pamphlet that he proceeded at once to translate it into Latin, -the language of all scholars,-and it was soon afterward published at Strasburg, under the title of "De Ora Antarctic per regem Portugalliæ pridem inventa."

XVI.

Who was this Vespucci, or Vespucius? As has been already stated, he was an Italian, a Florentine, and he was born about the year 1451. At the time that Columbus was engaged in preparing for his first voyage, he was in Cadiz, probably as an agent of Lorenzo de' Medici.† He was afterward in the service of another Florentine, one Juonato Berardi by whom the second expedition of Columbus was fitted out. Upon the death of Berardi in 1495, he seems to have succeeded to his business, and was commissioned to fit out twelve ships for the use of discoverers sailing in the service of the King of Spain. Two years later, on the 10th of May, 1497, he embarked with one of these discoverers upon a voyage of adventure and exploration to the Western world. It seems that he was

*See E. B., Vol. XXIV. 192, article "Amerigo Vespucci."

†See E. B., Vol. XV. 785, article "Medici."

not a man of any great importance in this expedition, and it is doubtful whether he had any official connection with it whatever. The voyage, however, if we accept his account of it, was a remarkable one. It embraced an exploration of the coast from the Bay of Campeachy to Cape Sable in Florida, and thence northward almost to Cape Hatteras. According to later computations the ship must have touched the mainland of America eighteen days before Sebastian Cabot,* sailing under the English flag, discovered it at a more northerly point, and thirteen months before Columbus first sighted it near the mouth of the Orinoco. Yet even if this were true, Vespucius, being only a subordinate in the expedition, could make no sort of claim as the discoverer of the continent.

In 1499 he sailed on a second voyage, this time in a fleet of three ships, commanded by Alonzo de Ojeda. They touched the coast of South America somewhere near Surinam, from whence they skirted the shore as far as to the Gulf of Maracuibo and then, sailing among the Lesser Antilles, proceeded to the Spanish colony of San Domingo. It does not appear that Vespucius held any important position in this expedition or had any special influence with its commander. Nevertheless, he must have been a man of considerable note, whose skill as a navigator was beyond question; for, almost immediately upon his return to Europe, he was invited by King Emanuel of Portugal to enter his service. as the leader of an expedition to Brazil.S It was with reference to the objects of this expedition that he wrote the letter to Lorenzo de' Medici, which had so attracted the attention of Matthias Ring

expression of theories a thousand years old and in many cases utterly at variance with known facts. And now another circumstance occurred which changed their plans and resulted in making the name of an obscure adventurer immortal. It appears that Americus Vespucius had returned from a fourth voyage, and he had written a series of letters to his former schoolfellow, Soldereni, the chief magistrate of Florence, giving an account of the lands which he had visited. A French translation of these letters, or of some of them, had fallen into the hands of René II., Duke of Lorraine, who imagined that they contained much matter of scientific value. He lost no time, therefore, in sending them, by a trusty messenger, to his friend, Guatrin Lud, at Saint Dié, with the suggestion that it might be of some use to the young men who were preparing the new edition of Ptolemy.

They were indeed of some use. To Waldseemüller and Ringmann they were as a treasure of great price, too precious to withhold from the world, too distinctively modern to be incorporated with the works of antiquity. The zealous young men decided, at the risk of greatly delaying the Ptolemy, to prepare and bring out an original treatise on cosmography, a small work explaining such topics as are nowadays often treated in the first pages of school geographies, -and to issue in connection with it, as an important appendix, or second part, a Latin translation of the letters of Vespucius. Having explained this plan to Guatrin Lud and the learned society of which he was the head, it was approved; and while Waldseemüller and Ringmann proceeded to formulate their little treatise and to prepare a globe and planisphere to be used in connection with it, a third scholar, Jean Basin, a canon of the Abbey of Saint Dié, undertook the translation of Vespucius's narrative into scholarly Latin.

These letters of Vespucius were not the only works that had come from his pen. After his return from his fourth voyage he had published a diary called Le Quattre Giornale; but whether any portion of this was included in the collection of papers presented by Duke René, it is doubtful. Certain it is, however, that no fragment of it is now in ex

istence, nor was any of it included in the volume which was soon issued from Guatrin Lud's press. The account which Vespucius gave of his adventures and observations in the new world, as it was now called for the first time, was full of interest. Although nearly fifteen years had elapsed since Columbus opened the way to the mysterious regions beyond the ocean, no other printed description of the newly discovered lands had yet been published. The narrative, as one would naturally suppose, was devoted chiefly to the exploits of its author, including a brief account of his first two voyages; of his third voyage in the service of King Emanuel; of his adventures on the coast of Brazil; of his discovery of Rio Janeiro Bay* on New Year's day, 1502; of his return to Lisbon; of his fourth voyage in the following year in a fleet commanded by Coelho; of the separation of his ship from the remainder of the fleet; and of his subsequent adventures at Bahia and Cape Frio. At no point in the course of his story did he fail to give to himself, Amerigo Vespucci, all the honor that Florentine modesty would permit. There is little wonder that the two bookish scholars, in their quiet retirement of Saint Dié, were persuaded that to this adventurer belonged the honor of adding a new continent to the known world.

XVIII.

On the 25th of April, 1507, just about one year after the death of Columbus, the Cosmographia Introductio, as it was called, was issued from the press of Guatrin Lud. It was a small quarto volume of fifty-two leaves, and a folding leaf containing a map of the hemispheres. Its complete title, turned into English, was as follows:

"An Introduction to Cosmography, with some principles of geometry and astronomy necessary to the purpose. A description of universal geography, steriometrical and planometrical, including what was unknown to Ptolemy, and has lately been discovered. Neither earth nor stars contain aught greater than God or Cæsar; for God rules the stars, and Cæsar the climes of the earth."

* See F. B., Vol. XX. 563, article "Rio de † See E. B., Vol. III. 239, article "Bahia."

The chapters on cosmography, of which there were nine, were the work of Martin Walseemüller. In the ninth, or last, chapter occurred the passage but for which both author and book, and Americus Vespucius himself, would long ago have been forgotten. Translated into English, it read as follows:

But now that these parts (Europe, Asia, and Africa,) have been more widely explored and another fourth part has been discovered by Americus Vespucius, I do not see why we can with justice refuse to call it America, after its discoverer, Americus, a man of sagacious mind, since both Europe and Asia derived their names from women."

In another place the writer speaks of "a fourth part of the world which, since Americus found it, we may call Americus, or America.*

It is strange that a suggestion of this kind, issuing from a source remote from the centers of worldly activity, should have been so readily adopted. Stranger is it still that the world at large, to whom the vain pretensions of Vespucius must have been known, so readily and genererally agreed to call a continent by the name of a man who in no respect deserved such honor. But so it was. In a somewhat pretentious work entitled Globus

TALKS ABOUT COMMERCE

FOURTH PAPER

XXIII.

IT would be interesting to know by what means the merchantsailors of Phoenicia and other ancient maritime nations guided their vessels from port to port or across wide stretches of sea to some desired haven on the further shore. We are told that they steered by the north star, and that they made observations of the sun and other heavenly bodies in order to determine the course to pursue across the trackless deep. This was all very well in fair weather and on a smooth sea, but what did they do when Eurokylont swept down upon them

*See E. B., Vol. XXIV. 192, article "Amerigo Vespucci."

† See E. B. Vol. XV. 340, article "Malta."

Mundi, published at Strasburg in 1509, the name "America" appears as though it had already been generally accepted. In Leonardo da Vinci's Mappe Monde, published, it is thought, in 1514, the name is printed across the map of the southern part of the continent as it was at that time known to Europeans.

XIX.

Such is the most probable story of the origin of the name America as applied to the Western continent. A distinguished French savant, M. Jules Marcou,* has endeavored to show that the name was derived from a tribe of Indians living in Honduras; and it has been suggested that Vespucius was nicknamed Americus on account of his having discovered, or perhaps only given, an overwrought and glowing description of these natives. The theory, in spite of the known facts above narrated, has gained quite a number of adherents, and a badly written book has recently been published in this country in support of its claims. It would be pleasant to know that the continent really did not derive its name from that of an unprincipled Italian adventurer, but it must be confessed that the weight of historical evidence tends to the opposite theory.

from the northeast, and Boreast buffeted them on the larboard, and they were driven in the darkness and storm entirely beyond their reckonings. It is very evident that without the aid of charts and maps, a voyage from the Levant by way of the Pillars of Hercules to the tin mines of the Cassiterides would be a long and dangerous undertaking for which the uncertain chances of profit scarcely offered an adequate compensation. When we consider the extent of their commerce, however, we are almost forced to believe that these ancient navigators possessed not only carefully prepared sea

*See E. B. 1049, sup.

† See E. B. Vol. IV. 53, article "Boreas." See E. B. Vol. X. 585, article "Gibraltar."

charts, but possibly some kind of a compass by which to guide their course when out of sight of land and unable to observe the stars. This idea, although unsupported by any historical evidence, seems all the more probable when we learn that the compass was known to the Chinese* as early as the year 2600 B. C., and was certainly used by them for the purpose of navigation in the fifth century B. C.†

In

But, whatever may have been the knowledge of the ancients with respect to the science of navigation, their secrets -if such they were-perished with them. For many centuries the sending of merchandise by ships from one country to another was an undertaking fraught with the greatest uncertainty and danger. It was a matter of much risk for vessels in cloudy weather to sail out of sight of land, and hence, throughout the Middle Ages, merchantmen seldom ventured to send their goods to distant ports. deed, up to the time of the Portuguese exploring expeditions sent out by Prince Henry in the early part of the fifteenth century, navigation had been conducted in the most rude, uncertain, and dangerous manner it is possible to conceive. The various enterprises of Prince Henry had been made possible by the invention, or rather the utilization, of the mariner's compass by Flavio Gioja, of Amalfi, more than a hundred years before. Previous to that time the sailor's appliances for guidance across the seas were few and rude.

His only instrument was a "crossstaff" for measuring altitudes, his only tables a correction of the altitude of the pole star, and figures showing the declination of the sun.§ Soon after the discovery of the magnetic needle, however, sailors began the construction of nautical charts. In this work the Italians, at that time the foremost navigators of the world, excelled. These sea-maps were constructed with the aid of the compass, and took the name of compass-maps because they were covered with the figure of a compass from which numerous straight lines radiated in all directions over the sheet.

*See E. B. Vol. X. 179, article "Geography." †See E. B. Vol. VI. 226, article "Compass." See E. B., Vol. XV. 518, article "Map." See E. B., Vol. XVII. 250, article "Navigation."

The next step in the making of seacharts was suggested by Prince Henry the Navigator,* who substituted lines of longitude and latitude for the compass lires used by the Italians. From this time progress in map-making was rapid. A correct representation of the coasts and of the contours of the several countries was very soon secured, and by the middle of the fifteenth century the coast-maps had developed into maps of countries, with trade routes, pictorial figures, and numerous inscriptions.

XXIV.

But what had all this to with commerce?

It had much to do. Upon the discovery of the mariner's compass and the perfection of the art of map-making, the development of modern commerce entirely depended. These two inventions, if such they may be called, made the present vast system of international trade possible.

Being able now to navigate unknown seas, and, by means of an infallible clue, to find their way home again, shipmasters no longer hesitated to take long voyages. The spirit of discovery was aroused, and an impetus to mercantile enterprise was given, such as was never known before. In 1431, the islands of the Azores were discovered. In 1486 Bartholomew Diaz rounded the southern point of Africa, which he called the Cape of Storms; but the King of Portugal, foreseeing in this achievement the realization of the longsought passage to India, gave it the enduring name of the Cape of Good Hope.† Twelve years later Vasco da Gama only doubled the land's-end of Africa, but, steering boldly across the Indian Ocean, reached the long-wished-for goal, and cast anchor in the harbor of Calicut, on the Malabar coast.§ Only a short time before a Portuguese traveler had penetrated India by the old time-honored way of Suez and the Red Sea; and the land which tradition and imagination had invested with fabulous wealth and splendor seemed at last to have been made

not

real to the European world, and brought within comparatively easy access.

Why was it that during the latter years of the fifteenth century the energies of Europe were directed so earnestly toward the accomplishment of a single object the finding of an oceanic passage to India? It was certainly not for the sake merely of discovery; it was not, as was sometimes claimed, for the sake merely of carrying the cross into heathen lands. Had it not been for the spirit of commercial activity pointing to the acquisition of great wealth, both national and individual, the various enterprises of discovery which characterized the period would never have been undertaken. It was the hope of monopolizing the rich trade with the Indies that induced Portugal to send out one expedition after another along the African coast, until they had gradually felt their way around the continental barrier and had reached the open waterway beyond. The same hope, and the desire of thwarting the schemes of Portugal by discovering a shorter route to the golden East, induced the Spanish sovereigns to lend their aid to Columbus in the prosecution of a seemingly hopeless undertaking. Had it not been for the spirit of commercial enterprise, promising great gain to individuals and stirring up competition between rival nations, the maritime route to India might have remained unknown and the continent of America undiscovered.

To reach India by way of the Cape of Good Hope required a long and tedious voyage a voyage which could not have been accomplished previous to the discovery of the mariner's compass. But the route was much safer than that by way of the Mediterranean and the caravan roads across western Asia. Indeed, the latter route had been for a long time practically closed to European merchants, and India had for centuries been almost unapproachable, and shut out by impassable barriers from the rest of the world. The Mediterranean waters swarmed with the piratical craft of Moors, Algerines, and Turks. Even Venice, the most powerful commercial nation of the period, was unable to protect her merchantmen against these robbers of the seas. For Spain, or Portugal, or even the Italian republics, to have attempted to carry on trade with India by the most direct route, would have been not only folly but an impossi

bility. Yet, there, in Eastern Asia, lay the rich prize, the land of spices and gold and fine merchandise, offering fabulous wealth to the first Europeans that should be able to establish easy communication with it. One can readily understand, therefore, the joy with which the news of the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope route was received; and one can also appreciate the persistent efforts that, for a century thereafter, were made by the other nations of western Europe to find some shorter passage to the goal of the commercial world.

The discovery of America was only an accident resulting from this search for an easy way to India. The vast continent which lay as a barrier to any westward route was quite unlike the land of wealth and ancient splendor which its discoverers had set out to find. Yet it was full of material resources which needed only to be developed; and certain portions of it were rich in gold and silver and many other products to tempt the cupidity of national robbers and whet the enterprise of speculators and traders. Thus India and America were made accessible to Europe at the same time. Two new worlds, with their boundless wealth and their varied resources, invited commerce into their ports. The Atlantic ocean was the medium of both; and the waves of the Atlantic beat into all the bays and tidal rivers of western Europe. "The center of commercial activity was thus physically changed; and the formative power of trade over human affairs was seen in the subsequent phenomena, the rise of great seaports on the Atlantic seaboard, and the ceaseless activity of geographical exploration, manufactures, shipping, and emigration, of which they became the outlets."'*

XXV.

The pioneer in the promotion and advancement of modern commerce was Portugal. The advantages which accrued to her from her discovery and preëmption of the maritime route to India were recognized and tenaciously retained. Twelve years after Da Gama's first visit to the Malabar coast the Portuguese obtained a permanent foothold in that country by seizing upon Goa, the chief emporium of trade in western India. This

*See E. B. Vol. VI. 202, article "Commerce."