JOHN CABOrS VOYAGES 



conceived the' idea before the first voyage of Columbus, we do 

 not know for certain, but it is not improbable; the thought was 

 latent in the age, and many must have come near it. Another 

 force impelling men to the western voyage, and perhaps 

 as powerful a one as these scientific speculations, was the 

 belief in the mythical world of enticing islands that lay out 

 in the ocean to the west of Europe and Africa; the Isles of 

 the Blest of the Greeks and the Atlantis of Plato, conceptions, 

 originally derived from the East, which were still alive, though 

 in other forms. There lay Antillia, the Isle of the Seven 

 Cities, mythical islands of the Arabs, and the Irish legendary 

 world, Brandan's isles, and many others; some of them had 

 had a part in creating the Norse idea of Wineland and the 

 White Men's Land; now they were given a fresh lease of 

 life, and power over the imagination of western Europe. 

 Possibly in connection with echoes of tales of the Norsemen's 

 discoveries — coming from Iceland to Bristol, and thence to 

 the continent — these mythical islands helped to form a wide- 

 spread belief in countries in the far west across the ocean. 

 The fact that the Portuguese, as has been said, really found 

 islands, the Azores, out in the Atlantic, in 1427, also con- 

 tributed to establish this belief. From these islands many 

 expeditions set out in the course of the fifteenth century 

 to search for new lands farther west.^ 



From the beginning of the fifteenth century Bristol was in 

 frequent communication with Iceland, both for the fishery 

 and for trade. As already pointed out, this was certainly 

 due in no small degree to the number of Norwegians who had 

 settled in the town. Sailors and merchants returning from 

 voyages to Iceland doubtless brought thence many tales of 

 marvels and of unknown islands and countries out in the ocean; 

 legends of the Icelanders' voyages to Greenland and Wine- 

 land may have served to entertain the winter evenings in 

 Bristol.2 It was therefore surely not an accident that attempts 



1 Cf. Harrisse, 1892, pp. 655 f. 



2 As is well known, the possibility has been suggested that during his visit 



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