24 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



and gave hiin command of the '-Nina," with the additional rank of mas- 

 ter chart-maker. It is very remarkable that Columbus adhered until 

 his death to the opinion that Cuba was a promontory of Asia, but La 

 Cosa on his map portrayed it as an island. On this second voj^age La 

 Cosa with the other masters and pilots of the expedition was compelled 

 fey Columbus to sign a solemn notarial declaration that Cuba was part of 

 the main continent, an unusual proceeding and one suggestive of the 

 ■existence of doubt. La Cosa returned to Spain in 1406, and for a short 

 time resumed his former life as a sailor and shipowner. 



In 14:99, Alonzo Ojeda obtained permission to lit out an expedition 

 of discovery, and he at once secured La Cosa as chief pilot. Amerigo 

 Vespucci was on this expedition as chief cosmographer and Herrera 

 claims for La Cosa the honour of being, rather than Vespucci, the true 

 discoverer of the mainland of America, which discovery he says was 

 really made on this expedition, although it is now known that the 

 admiral discovered the coast of Venezuela in August, 1498, on his third 

 voyage. By a giim irony of fate the new world has received its name 

 not from Columbus, nor from Cabot, nor from La Cosa, nor even from 

 any professional sailor or veritable discoverer, but from Amerigo 

 Vespucci, a Florentine merchant and contractor, who became an amateur 

 sailor in middle life under the stimulus of the achievements of the great 

 navigators whom he associated with during his residence in Seville. 



The expedition of Ojeda returned to Spain in 1500, and in the autumn 

 of that year La Cosa made, for their Catholic Majesties of Castile and 

 Aragon, the map now so celebrated. In the following year (1501) 

 he sailed again to America with a trading expedition, having been 

 engaged, as Herrera says, as ''being the best pilot in existence for 

 "tho.se seas, and one who had been trained by the admiral." On the 

 return voyage many ships of the fleet were lost, but he escaped ship- 

 wreck. 



In ] 504 he sailed as ca]>tain-general of four ships sent by royal orders 

 to America, and, after man}' adventures, returned to Spain in 150t!, where 

 the government employed him in matters of geography and navigation, 

 and in 1507 Ferdinand summoned him to court at Burgos, together with 

 .Juan Diez Soils, Vincente Pinzon and Amerigo Vespucci, to a council, at 

 which new expeditions were decided on. Pinzon and Solis sailed first, 

 and, later on, in 1507, La Cosa sailed ; but before sailing he made what 

 was called the padroji, or standard chart, for the marine department at 

 Seville, on which all discoveries were entered as they were reported. 

 From this expedition he returned in 1508. 



In 1509 he sailed on his seventh and last expedition, with the rank 

 of lieutenant for the king. It was a disastrous attempt to settle a colony 

 on the mainland, and La Cosa was killed by Indians on the coast of 

 Venezuela. 



His reputation as a navigator, cosmographer and map-maker stood 

 second only to that of the great admiral. He was a favourite of the 

 Spaniyli monai'chs, and the Spanish historians often mention him as a 

 great pilot. Peter Martyr says his charts were esteemed before all others, 

 and Las Casas calls him the best of pilots. Fonseca, bishop of Burgos, 

 who had been president of the marine board of trade (Casa de Contra- 

 tacion), had one of his maps — spoken of by Peter Martyr, in 1514, as 

 very beautiful. The more .sanguine would fain think that this is the 

 same map, but there is no proof either way. 



