BACKGROUND OF EARLY COLONIZATION 23 



foundland before 1497, but there is no positive evidence 

 that such voyages were made. "If in the original Basque, 

 "baccalaas is the word for codfish, and if Cabot found it 

 in use among the inhabitants of Newfoundland, it is hard 

 to escape the conclusion that Basques had been there be- 

 fore him. ' ' * Granting, then, that voyages were made be- 

 fore Columbus, no practical good that we are aware of 

 ever came from them, either in connection with European 

 commerce or with the development of the fisheries. 



In 1500, Gaspar Cortereal, in the service of the king 

 of Spain, made a voyage to the northeast coast of America, 

 and again in 1501, he made a more extensive one with his 

 brother, Miguel. In each of the two following years, ex- 

 peditions were sent out under the direction of the Cor- 

 tereal family, but they failed to find either the Northwest 

 passage, or the lost members of previous expeditions. 



In these voyages the Cortereals had been unsuccessful 

 in their attempt to reach the Indies by a new route; but 

 they inflamed their countrymen with zeal to prosecute the 

 fisheries in American waters, in consequence of which the 

 business grew to large proportions and produced consider- 

 able revenue for the State. 2 The influence of the early 

 Portuguese voyages is seen in the names of Cape Race, 

 Fortune Bay, and Island of Codfish (Y dos Bocalhas), 

 these with other names appearing in the chart made by the 

 Portuguese pilot Reinal, and ascribed to the year 1503. 8 



The fishermen of Dieppe, Saint Mario and other ports 

 of France were quick to follow in the track of the Cabots 

 and Cortereals. Very soon they became skillful and power- 

 ful in the American fisheries. The first authentic record 

 we have of the ships of Brittany at Newfoundland is as 

 early as 1504. The French found the fishing on the 



1 Parkman, Pioneers of France in the New World, pp. 171-172. 



2 Winsor, IV, p. 4. 



8 Winsor, From Cartier to Frontenac, p. 5. 



