There Is Nothing Between The
Azores And Japan, Except The Fabulous Islands Of Aulitia And St. Brandon;
No Mention Of It Is Made In The Archives Of That City Or In His Numerous
Letters, Which Are Still Preserved.
The date of the Nuremberg globe is
1492, the very year in which Columbus first reached the West Indies:
Behaim
therefore cannot be supposed to have contributed to this discovery. It is
said, however, that he made a long voyage in 1483 and 1484: but this voyage
was in an easterly direction, for it is expressly stated to have been to
Ethiopia; probably to Congo, and the cargo he brought home, which consisted
of an inferior kind of pepper, proves that he had not visited America.
Besides, if he had visited any part of America in 1483 or 1484, he would
have laid it down in his globe in 1492, whereas, as we have remarked, no
country appears on it to the west of St. Brandon. We may, therefore, safely
conclude that he did not himself discover any passage round the south point
of America.
But all the other great discoveries of the Portuguese and Spaniards (except
that of Diaz in 1486) were made between 1492, the date of the Nuremberg
Globe, and 1506, the date of the death of Behaim, and between these
periods, he constantly resided at Fayal. It is much more probable that he
inserted this strait in his chart on supposition, thinking it probable
that, as Africa terminated in a cape, so America would. That Magellan did
not himself believe the strait was laid down in Behaim's chart from any
authority is evident, from a circumstance mentioned by Pigafetta, who
expressly informs us, that Magellan was resolved to prosecute his search
after it to latitude 75 deg., had he not found it in latitude 52 deg.. Now, as
Behaim undoubtedly was the greatest cosmographer of the age, and had been
employed to fit the astrolobe as a sea instrument, it is not to be supposed
that, if he had good authority for the existence of a passage round South
America, he would have left it in any chart he drew, with an uncertainty of
23 degrees.
Magellan sailed from Spain in 1519, with five ships: he explored the river
Plate a considerable way, thinking at first it was the sea, and would lead
him to the west. He then continued his voyage to the south, and reached the
entrance of the straits which afterwards received his name, on the 21st
October, 1520, but, in consequence of storms, and the scarcity of
provisions, he did not clear them till the 28th of November. He now
directed his course to the north-west: for three months and twenty days he
saw no land. In 15 south, he discovered a small island; and another in 9
south. Continuing his course still in the same direction, he arrived at the
Ladrones, and soon afterwards at the Phillippines, where he lost his life
in a skirmish.
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