288 DEVELOPMENT OF THE CAETOGRAPHY OF AMERICA. 



erii Eouiaiiish nations — the Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese. Here, 

 too, an Italian, Giov. Verrazzano, in 1524, was the i^ioneer. The voy- 

 age of the first Frenchman, Jacques Cartier, followed ten years later, 

 and altlioiigii none of his original drawings have been preserved, the 

 results of his first voyages of discovery shown upon the chart of the 

 world by Nicolas Deslien of Dieppe, 1541, constitute the oldest French 

 cartographic publications known to us. The latter is preserved in the 

 Eoyal Library at Dresden. 



But it was no longer possible for French cartography to exert a 

 decided influence; on the contrary, their cosmographers showed them- 

 selves dependent, in many respects, upon Germany. The earliest 

 marine chart, in a modern sense, in nautical use, the celebrated map 

 of the world by Mercator, appeared in 1569, and consequently at the 

 close of the period here under discussion. The uncertainty which pre- 

 vailed for a decade in the delineation of the newly discovered coasts 

 was chiefly due to inexact astronomical calculations. Calculations of 

 latitude were naturally more easily determined than those of longi- 

 tude. And when it is remarked that in the middle of the Kew World 

 and in West Indian waters, where alone the Spaniard was enterpris- 

 ing, vacillation prevailed longest, while north and south, in New- 

 foundland and Brazil, whither in the same year, 1500, came Portuguese 

 vessels, long before the geographical latitude was clearly determined, 

 we necessarily reach the conclusion that the Portuguese were greatly 

 in advance of the Spaniards in their nautical skill and ability. 



Columbus himself did not rise above the companions of his voyages 

 in knowledge and address. Information which comes to us, second- 

 hand, of his observations of latitude betrays a vacillation and hesi- 

 tancy between his own tendencies and the chart of Toscanelli, which 

 he blindly followed. H. Harrisse in his latest work (Discovery of 

 North America, p. 401), adopts, however, the conclusion of Humboldt, 

 that Columbus did not have on board a chart of Toscanelli, for he 

 would otherwise have crossed the ocean under the parallel of Lisbon. 

 I consider, however, this assumption as untenable, for the rich terri- 

 tories of Eastern Asia, the goal of his western voyages, must first be 

 sought in the torrid zone, or in the vicinity of that zone; and it is ques- 

 tionable whether it would not have been more advisable to navigate 

 seas that were known, those for example, from Spain to the Canaries, 

 on the borders of the Tropics, than to seek a fresh route thither on the 

 unknown waters of Eastern Asia. In the second place, according to 

 the chart, as may be seen on Behaim's copy, two very desirable anchor- 

 ages were to be anticipated at Antilia and Zipangu, on the western 

 route, from the Canaries to Zayton, under rather similar conditions, 

 whereby a sea voyage of indefinite length was broken in a very wel- 

 come manner. In the third place, it is manifest from the daybook of 

 the Admiral that he hoped to reach these points. Antilia he desired to 

 visit upon his return voyage, since he did not find it precisely where he 



