204 Wisconsi7i Academy of Sahices, Arts, and Letters. 



Such, during three centuries, were the ideas prevalent 

 regarding the naming of America. 



Within the last generation, however, the researches of 

 Humboldt in his Examen critique of the Geography of the Fif- 

 teenth Century, 1835-9 ; of Henry Harries in his Bihlioiheca 

 Americana Vetustissima, (New York, 1866) ; of Varnhagen in 

 his monograph on Amerigo Vespucci, (Lima, 1865), and of 

 others, have vindicated the character of Americus, demon- 

 strated that he discovered more of America than any other 

 man, and even rendered it probable that he set foot on this 

 continent (June 17, 1497,) before either Columbus (August 1, 

 1498,) or Cabot (June 24, 1497,) while his name was bestowed 

 on his discoveries not only without his instigation but without 

 his knowledge. 



It ought to be here said, in passing, that but for aids minis- 

 tered by the Library of our State Historical Society, the fol- 

 lowing paper could not have been prepared in Wisconsin. 

 There is no possibility of finding elsewhere, within the limits 

 of our state, the documents to which every original investi- 

 gator of my theme must betake himself. 



The earliest charge against Americus, and that the mother 

 of a myriad others, — -fons et origo malorum, — originated twenty- 

 one years after his death, and a thousand miles from his home. 

 These circumstances stamp it with suspicion, and the more 

 since no contemporary trace of similar aspersions can be de- 

 tected in Spain, where he lived and labored. 



It was in 1533, and in Nuremberg, that John Schoner re- 

 marked in a geography he issued then and there {Opusculum 

 Geographicum), that "Americus sailing westward from Spain 

 and coasting Asia, believed a region which belongs to upper 

 India to be an island, which he appointed to be called by his 

 own name." 



Schoner's words were : " Americus Yesputius maritima loca 

 Indian superioris, ex Hispaniis navigio ad occidentem perlus- 

 trans, earn partem quae superioris Indiiv est, credidit esse insu- 



