1513. Vasco Nunez De Balboa, Descried The Pacific Ocean, Or Great
South Sea, And Waded Into The Waves, Taking Formal Possession For The
Crown Of Spain; And Even Embarked On That Ocean In A Canoe, As A More
Formal Act Of Conquest.
In the same year, Florida was first discovered by Ponce de Leon, a
Spanish officer.
1515. The continent of South America was explored down to the Rio de
la Plata.
1519. Cortez began the conquest of Mexico, which he accomplished in
1521.
About the same time, Magalhaens, usually named Magellan, explored the
Pacific Ocean.
1526. Pizarro visited the coast of Peru, which he invaded in 1530,
and afterwards conquered.
[1] Churchills Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. II. 479.
[2] From Pinkertons Modern Geography.
* * * * *
THE AUTHORS PREFACE.
Because admiral DON CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, my father, was a person most
worthy to be held in eternal remembrance, it seems reasonable that I his
son, who sailed some time along with him, should to my other performances
add this my chiefest work: The history of his life, and of his wonderful
discovery of the West Indies.
In consequence of his great and continual sufferings, and the diseases he
long laboured under, my father had not time to reduce his own notes and
observations into historical order; and these having fallen to me, enable
me to execute the present undertaking. Knowing that many others had
undertaken to execute this task, I long delayed its performance. But,
having read those other narratives, I found that they exaggerated many
circumstances, had passed lightly over other matters of importance, and
had even entirely omitted much that was deserving of particular notice.
From these considerations I have been induced to publish this work;
thinking it more becoming that I should undergo the censure of wanting
skill, rather than to permit the truth respecting my noble father to
remain in oblivion. Whatever may be the faults in this performance, these
will not be owing to my ignorance of the truth; for I pledge myself to set
down nothing which I do not find in his own papers or letters, or of which
I have not actually been a witness.
In the following work, the reader will find a faithful record of all the
reasons which induced the admiral to enter upon his great and glorious
and successful enterprize, and will learn how far he personally proceeded
in his four several voyages to the New World. He will see what great
and honourable articles were conceded to him, before going upon his great
discovery, by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, how basely all these
were violated, and he most unworthily and inhumanly treated, after
performing such unparalleled services; how far he established the affairs
of Hispaniola, the first settlement of the Spaniards in the New World;
and what care he took that the Indians should not be oppressed, but
rather prevailed on by kind usage and good example, to embrace the
Catholic faith. In this work, likewise, will be found a faithful picture
of the manners and customs of the Indians, an account of their opinions
and practices respecting religion, and every thing that can reasonably be
looked for in a work like the present: The foundation for which was laid
by the great discoverer, and the superstructure raised by me his own son,
who possessed every advantage derivable from a liberal education and the
possession of authentic original documents, to fit me for executing a
work of such importance.
SECTION I.
Of the Country, Original, and Name of Admiral Christopher Columbus; with
other particulars of his Life previous to his arrival in Portugal.
It is a material circumstance in the history of a great man to make known
his country and original, as those are best esteemed in the world who are
derived from noble cities and born of illustrious parents. Wherefore some
would have engaged me to prove that the admiral my father was honourably
descended, although his parents, through the fickleness of fortune, had
fallen into great poverty. Those persons required me to prove that his
ancestors descended from Junius Colomus, who, as Tacitus relates,
brought Mithridates a prisoner to Rome, for which service he was raised
by the Roman people to the consulate. They would likewise have induced me
to give an account at large of the two illustrious Colomi his
predecessors, who gained a great victory over the Venetians, as recorded
by Sabellius, and which shall be mentioned in this work. But considering
that my father seemed to have been peculiarly chosen by the Almighty for
the great work which he performed, and may be considered in some measure
as an apostle of the Lord by carrying the gospel among the heathen; and
that the other apostles were called upon from the sea and the rivers, and
not from courts and palaces, by him whose progenitors were of the royal
blood of the Jews, yet who was pleased that they should be in a low and
unknown estate: And seeing that God had gifted my father with those
personal qualities which so well fitted him for so great an undertaking,
he was himself inclined that his country and original might remain hidden
and obscure.
Some who would throw a cloud upon his fame, have alleged that he was from
Nerni, others from Cuguero, and others from Bugiesco, all small towns in
the Riviera of Genoa: While others again, who were disposed rather to
exalt his origin, say that he was a native of Savona, others of Genoa,
and some more vain, make him to have been a native of Placentia, where
there are some honourable persons of the name, and several tombs having
the arms and inscriptions of the family of Columbus, which was the usual
sirname of his predecessors; but he, in compliance with the country where
he went to reside, modelled the name in resemblance of the ancients to
Colon, thereby distinguishing the direct descent from the collateral
lines.
Many names have been given by secret impulse, to denote the effects those
persons were to produce; and as most of my fathers affairs were guarded by
some special providence, his name and sirname were not without some
mysterious significations.
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