Cahofs Estimate of Columbus. . 19 



west. North America and South America are connected, and the 

 Austral continent is shown south of the straits of Magellan. 



There was no map published until after the sixteenth century 

 that gave a correct delineation of the seacoast of America. It is 

 no wonder that Columbus never comprehended the nature or ex- 

 tent of his discoveries. Tlie more we study the history and geog- 

 raphy of the times, the influence of the church, the difficulty of 

 determining longitude, the ignorance of the movements of the 

 mariners' compass and of the distance to Cipango, the greater 

 will be our admiration for Columbus. Yet a recent writer speaks 

 of the discovery of Columbus as a blunder, and others say, as if 

 in disparagement of his work, that he knew of the discoveries of 

 the Northmen and was only following their track ; that the chart 

 of Toscanelli which Columbus took on his first voyage indicated 

 clearl}'' his route ; that Columbus died in the belief tliat he had 

 discovered Cipango and Cathay, never realizing that it was tlie 

 new world, and that Americus Vespucius is entitled to the greater 

 credit. 



Let us hear the opinion of a contemporary of Columbus, Sebas- 

 tian Cabot : " When news was brought that Don Christopher 

 Colon, the Genoese, had discovered the coasts of India, whereof 

 was great talke in all tlie court of King Henr37^ the VII, who then 

 reigned, all men with great admiration affirmed it to be a thing 

 more divine than humane to saile by the west into the easte, 

 where tlie spices growe, by a chart that was never before 

 kuowen." 



It is very doubtful if Columbus knew anything of the voyages 

 of the Northmen, nor would such knowledge have been of much 

 value, for Greenland was then believed to be a part of Europe and 

 joined to Norway. If Columbus had known of the discoveries 

 and sought the countries they had found, he would have sailed 

 northwestward instead of westward. 



Many before Toscanelli and Columbus believed the world to 

 be round, and that by sailing westward Asia might be reached, 

 Columbus not only believed but proved it. He made no blunder, 

 for he sought land the other side of the Atlantic, and he found 

 it. Vespucius knew little more than Columbus of the new world, 

 and never realized tliat Nortli America and South America were 

 one continent. The maps show that learned geographers long 

 after the discoveries of Columbus, Vespucius, Cabot and Magel- 

 lan did not understand the geography of the new world. 



