Who Then Reigned In England, To Whom He Presented
A Map Of The World, On Which The Following Verses And Inscription Were
Written:
Terrarum quicunque cupis feliciter oras
Noscere, cuncta decens docte pictura docebit,
Quando Strabo affirmat, Ptolomaeus, Plinius, atque
Isiodorus, non una tamen sententia quisque.
Pingitur hic etiam nuper sulcata carinis
Hispanis zona illa, prius incognita genti,
Torrida, quae tandem minet est notissima multis.
Pro Auctore, sive Pictore.
Janua cui patria est nomen, cui Bartholomaeus
Columbus de Terra-rubra, opus edidit istud,
Londiniis Ann. Dom. 1480, atque insuper anno,
Octavo decimaque die cum tertia mensis
Februarii. Laudes Christi cantentur abunde.
The sense of the first verses is to this effect: "Whosoever thou art who
desirest to know the coasts of countries, must be taught by this draught
what has been affirmed by Strabo, Ptolemy, Pliny, and Isiodorus; although
they do not in all things agree. Here is also set down the formerly
unknown torrid zone, lately visited by vessels from Spain, and now well
known to many." The second inscription has the following signification:
"As to the author or painter of this chart; he is Bartholomew Columbus of
the red earth, a Genoese, who published this work at London on the 21st of
February in the year 1480. Praised be Christ abundantly."
It may be observed here, that I have seen some subscriptions of my father,
the admiral, in which he designs himself Christopher Columbus de
Terra-rubra; but this was before he acquired his title of admiral. But to
return to Bartholomew: The king of England graciously received the map;
and having favourably listened to the admirals proposals, which my uncle
had laid before him, readily agreed to the conditions demanded, and
ordered my father to be invited into England. But Providence had
determined that the advantage of this great discovery should belong to
Castile; and by this time my father had gone upon his first voyage, from
which he was already returned with success, as shall be shewn in its
proper place.
About the end of the year 1484 the admiral stole away privately from
Lisbon with his son James, as he was afraid of being detained by the king
of Portugal. For, being sensible of the misconduct of the people whom he
had sent in the caravel already mentioned, the king was desirous to
restore the admiral to favour, and to renew the conferences respecting the
proposed discovery. But as he did not use as much diligence in executing
this new resolution as the admiral did in withdrawing himself, he lost the
opportunity, and the admiral got into Castile, where better fortune
awaited him. Leaving therefore his son James in the monastery of La Rabida
at Palos, he went to the court of their Catholic majesties at Cordova.
Being of affable manners and pleasant conversation, he soon acquired the
intimacy of such persons as he found best inclined to favour his views,
and fittest to persuade the king to embrace his proposed undertaking.
Among these was Lewis de Santangel an Arragonese gentleman, who was clerk
of the allowances in the royal household, a man of great prudence and
reputation. But, as a matter of such importance required to be learnedly
investigated, and not merely by empty words and the favourable reports of
courtiers, their majesties referred it to the consideration of the prior
of Prado, afterwards archbishop of Granada; ordering him to take the
assistance of some cosmographers, and after a full investigation of the
whole affair, to make a report of their opinion on its practicability.
There were few cosmographers then in Spain, and those who were convened on
this occasion were far from skilful: And besides, warned by the trick
which had been attempted in Portugal, the admiral did not explain himself
so fully as he might, lest he should lose his reward. On these accounts,
the report which they gave to their Catholic majesties was as various as
their several judgments and opinions, and by no means favourable to the
projected enterprize.
Some alleged, that since so many skilful sailors, during the many thousand
years which had elapsed from the creation of the world, had not acquired
any knowledge whatever of these countries, it was not at all probable that
he should know more of the matter than all who had gone before or who now
existed. Others, pretending to ground their opinion upon cosmographical
arguments, said that the world was of such prodigious size that they
questioned if it were possible to sail in three years to the eastern
extremity of India, whither he proposed to go; and they endeavoured to
confirm this opinion by the authority of Seneca, who says in one of his
works, "That many wise men disagreed about whether the ocean were of
infinite extent, and doubted whether it were navigable, and whether
habitable lands existed on its other side; and, even if so, whether it
were possible to go to these." They added, that only a small proportion of
this terraqueous globe, which had remained in our hemisphere above the
water, was habitable; and that all the rest was sea, which was not
sussceptible of being navigated, except near the coasts and rivers; and
that wise men denied the possibility of sailing from the coast of Spain to
the farthest parts of the west. Others argued nearly in the same manner as
had been formerly done by the Portuguese in regard to the navigation along
the western coast of Africa: That if any one should sail due westwards, as
proposed by the admiral, it would certainly be impossible to return again
to Spain; because whoever should sail beyond the hemisphere which was
known to Ptolemy, would then go downwards upon the rotundity of the globe,
and then it would be impossible to sail up again on their return, which
would necessarily be to climb up hill, and which no ship could accomplish
even with the stiffest gale. Although the admiral gave perfectly valid
answers to all these objections; yet, such was the ignorance of these
people, that the more his reasons were powerful and conclusive so much the
less were they understood:
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