A NEW WORLD has been discovered, which has been receiving inhabitants from the old, more than three hundred years. A new empire has arisen, which has been a theatre of great actions and stupendous events. That remarkable discovery, those events and actions, can now be accurately ascertained, without recourse to such legends, as have darkened and disfigured the early annals of most nations. But, while local histories of particular portions of America have been written, no attempt has been made to give even the outline of its emire history. To obtain a general knowledge of that history, the scattered materials, which compose it, must be collected, and arranged in the natural and lucid order of time. Without such arrangement, effects would often be placed before causes; contemporary characters and events disjoined; actions, having no relation to each other, confounded; and much of the pleasure and benefit, which History ought to impart, would be lost. If history however, without chronology, is dark and confused; chronology, without history, is dry and insipid. In the projection therefore of this work, preference was given to that species of historical composition, which unites the essential advantages of both, It has been uniformly my aim to trace facts, as much as possible, to their source. Original authorities therefore, when they could be obtained, have always had preference. Some authors, of this character, wrote in foreign languages; and this circumstance may be an apology for the occasional introduction of passages, that will not be generally understood. While originals possess a spirit, which cannot be infused into a translation, they recite facts with peculiar clearness and force. Quotations however in foreign languages ar always inserted in the marginal notes. There also are placed those passages in English, which are obsolete, either in their orthography, or their style. To some persons they may, even there, be offensive; but they may gratify the historian, and the antiquary. The one may be pleased with such marks of authentic documents; the other, with such vestiges of antiquity. The numerous references may have the appearance of superfluity, perhaps of ostentation. The reason for inserting so many authorities was, that the reader, when desirous of obtaining more particular information, than it was consistent with the plan of these Annals to give, might have the advantage of consulting the more copious histories for himself. Should these volumes serve as an Index to the principal sources of American history, they may render a useful though humble service to the student, who wishes to obtain a thorough knowledge of the history of his country. It is Professions of impartiality are of little significance. Although not conscious of having recorded one fact, without such evidence, as was satisfactory to my own mind, or of having suppressed one, which appeared to come within the limits of my design; yet I do not flatter myself with the hope of exemption from error. but just however to observe, that, had I possessed the requisite intelligence, more names of eminence would have been introduced; more ancient settlements noticed; and the States in the Federal Union more proportionally respected. For any omissions, or other faults, which have not this apology, the extent of the undertaking may obtain some indulgence. Cambridge, Massachusetts, 10 October, 1805. AMERICAN ANNALS. CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, a na tive of Genoa, having formed a just idea of the figure of the earth, had several years entertained the design of finding a passage to India by the western ocean.' He made his first proposal of attempting this discovery to the republic of Genoa, which treated it as visionary. He next proposed his plan to John II, king of Portugal, who, at that time, was deeply engaged in prosecuting discoveries on the African coast, for the purpose of find ing a way to India. In this enterprise the Portu guese king had been at so vast an expense, with but small success, that he had no inclination to listen to the proposal. By the advice, however, of a favourite courtier, he privately gave orders to a ship, bound to the island of Cape de Verd, to attempt a discovery in the west; but the navigators, through ignorance and want of enterprise, failing in the design, turned the project of Columbus into ridicule. Indignant at this dishonourable artifice, Columbus left Portugal; and, having previously sent 1 Some Spanish authors have ungenerously insinuated, that Columbus was led to this great enterprise by information, which he received, of a country, discovered far to the west, with the additional advantage of a journal of the voyage, in which the discovery was made by a vessel, driven from its course by easterly winds. It is affirmed, however, with entire credibility, that "Columbus had none of the West Islands set foorth unto him in globe or card, neither yet once mentioned of any writer (Plato excepted and the commentaries upon the same) from 942 yeeres before Christ, untill that day; neither understood he of them by the report of any other that had seene them; but only comforted himselfe with this hope, that the land had a beginning where the sea had an ending." HakLayt, iii. 23. Robertson, i. Note xvii. B his brother Bartholomew into England to solicit the patronage of Henry VII, repaired to Ferdinand and Isabella, king and queen of Spain. It was not till he had surmounted numerous obstacles, and spent seven years in painful solicitation, that he ob tained what he sought. To the honour of Isabella, and of her sex, the scheme of Columbus was first countenanced by the queen. Through the influence of Juan Perez, a Spanish priest, and Lewis Santangel, an officer of the king's household, she was persuaded to listen to his request; and, after he had been twice repulsed, to recall him to court. She now offered to pledge her jewels, to defray the expense of the proposed equipment, amounting to no more than two thousand five hundred crowns' but this sum was advanced by Santangel, and the queen saved from so mortifying an expedient.* On the seventeenth day of April, 1492, an agreement was made by Columbus with their Cath olic majesties: That, if he should make any discoveries, he should sustain the office of viceroy by land, and admiral by sea, with the advantage of the tenth part of the profits, accruing from the productions and commerce of all the countries discovered; and these dignities and privileges were not to be limited to his own person, but to be hereditary in his family. 3 I This denomination of money, used by most historians, may, without explanation, essentially mislead the reader. They were doubtless gold crowns. Vega [Commentaries of Peru, 423.] says, the expense was "six millions of maravadies, making the sum of 16000 ducats." A Spanish ducat of exchange is equal to 4s. 11d. 1-2, and lacks therefore but a half penny of being equal to an English crown. If the 16000 ducats of Vega be estimated as equal to so many English crowns, they make exactly £4000 sterling; and this is the very sum, which, Dr. Robertson says, the expense of the equipment "did not exceed." 2 Life of Columbus, c. xi, xii, xv, with the principal authorities, cited under A. D. 1492. 3 Harris' Voyages, i. 5. The instrument, containing the terms of this agreement, is inserted entire in Hazard's Collections, i. 1-3; but it is there dated April 30, 1492. Though the name of Ferdinand appears connected with that of Isabella in this compact, he refused to take any part in the enterprise, as king of Arragon. The whole expense of the ex 1492. 3 Columbus from COLUMBUS, on the third day of August,' set August 3. sail from Palos in Spain, with three vessels and also ninety men, on a voyage the most daring and grand Spain. in its design, and the most important in its result, of any, that had ever been attempted. He, as admiral, commanded the largest ship, called Santa Maria; Martin Alonzo Pinzon was captain of the Pinta; and Vincent Yanez Pinzon, of the Nigna. When the fleet was about two hundred leagues to the west of the Canary islands, Columbus observed that the magnetic needle in the compasses did not point exactly to the polar star, but varied toward the west.3 This discovery made an alarming impression on his pilots and mariners; but his fer- Sept. 14. tile genius helped him to assign a plausible reason of the comfor this strange appearance, and to dispel their pass excites fears. Expedients, however, at length lost their effect. The crew, with loud and insolent clamour, insisted on his return, and some of the most audacious proposed to throw him into the sea. When his invention was nearly exhausted, and his hope nearly abandoned, the only event, that could ap pedition was to be defrayed by the crown of Castile, and Isabella reserved for her subjects of that kingdom an exclusive right to all the benefits, that should accrue from its success. Robertson, i. book ii. Throughout this transaction, the conduct of Isabella was truly magnanimous; and though she did not, like the Tyrian queen, conduct the great enterprise in person, yet she has strong claim to similar honour: Dux fæmina facti. 1 He sailed from Gomera, one of the most westerly of the Canary islands, on the 6th of September, “which may be accounted the first setting out upon the voyage on the ocean." Life of Columbus, c. xviii. 2 One of these vessels had a deck; the other two, called Caravels, had none. They are thus described by Peter Martyr: "Ex regio fisco destinata sunt tria navigia: unum onerarium caveatum, alia duo levia mercatoria sine caveis, quæ ab Hispanis caravelæ vocantur." De Nov. Orb. p. 2. 3 Stow erroneously ascribes this discovery to Sebastian Cabot, five years after this voyage of Columbus. It unquestionably was made in this first voyage. With the correction of the name and date, the remark of this venerable antiquarian is just: "Before his time, ever since the first finding of the magneticall needle, it was generallie supposed to lie precisely in place of the meridian, and crosse the equator at right angels, respecting with the points dulie north and south." Stow's Chronicle, p.811. Variation alarm. |