THE 



EDINBURGH ENCYCLOPAEDIA. 



C/OLUMBUS, or Colon, Christopher, the well- 

 known discoverer of America. He was a citizen of the 

 republic of Genoa, and born in the year 1447. The 

 exact place of his birth has not been ascertained ; * and 

 it is only by inference from certain statements made by 

 Columbus himself, in the letters which he addressed to 

 Ferdinand and Isabella, the rulers of Spain, that the 

 date of his nativity has been obtained with any measure 

 of correctness. These letters are preserved in the life 

 of the Genoese navigator, written by Don Ferdinand 

 his son. In one of them Columbus informs the exalted 

 persons to whom he addressed himself, that at the time 

 he wrote A. D. 1501, he had been engaged nearly forty 

 years in the profession and life of a seaman; and in 

 another letter he states, that he went to sea so early as 

 the age of fourteen. The statements in both instances 

 are deliberately made by Columbus himself; there is no 

 reason therefore to doubt their accuracy, or to dispute 

 the inference that this illustrious navigator was born in 

 the year 1447. 



The family from which Columbus was sprung had be- 

 taken themselves, for several generations, to a sea- faring 

 life, and, as it appears, with very little emolument or suc- 

 cess ; for the immediate parents of the navigator seem to 

 have been in indigent circumstances at the time of his 

 birth. They were able, however,.in one way or another, 

 to give to Columbus such an education, as fitted him for 

 the profession, in which, after the example of his ances- 

 tors, he was about to engage. Besides the more neces- 

 sary branches, they had him instructed in geometry, 

 astronomy, and cosmography, and in the art of draw- 

 ing ; in every thing, in short, which was held to be re- 

 quisite or proper at that time, to form a skilful and suc- 

 cessful adventurer upon the seas. Such an education 

 must have been attended with considerable expence; 

 but so little of the early life of this extraordinary man 

 is known, that we have not the means of ascertaining 

 how the expence was defrayed, whether by assistance 

 of wealthy relatives, or whether the young Columbus 

 was so fortunate as to meet with a patron, at once 

 decerning enough to mark the indications of his genius, 



and able as well as willing to support him, during the Columbus, 

 prosecution of his studies. — - y~ m *' 



Columbus was not one of those whose abilities remain 

 concealed till late in life, and who, after a youth spent 

 in idleness or vice, or sleepy stupidity, have awakened, 

 at a more advanced age, in all the ardour and activity of 

 genius. Having chosen his profession, he hastened to 

 qualify himself for the honourable discharge of its du- 

 ties. He is said to have imbibed the instructions of his 

 teachers with a surprising quickness : He speedily mas- 

 tered the Latin tongue, and attained to a competent 

 knowledge of geometry, astronomy, and the theory of 

 navigation. At the age of fourteen, as we have already 

 stated, he went to sea. He made his first voyages to 

 those parts of the Mediterranean which were frequent- 

 ed by his countrymen the Genoese, trading with the 

 inhabitants, and satisfied, as it seems, for a time, with 

 the gains of reputable merchandise. But the ardour of 

 his mind was not to be repressed, and a prouder career 

 and a higher destiny awaited him. When not older 

 than twenty, he undertook a voyage of curiosity, or ra- 

 ther of discovery; for so perhaps we might be permitted 

 to call it, as one object which he had in view undoubt- 

 edly was, to ascertain whether the frigid zone was ha- 

 bitable. Accordingly he stretched into the northern 

 seas, ran along a part of the coast of Iceland, the limit 

 and extremity of former enterprises, and pushed int0 

 the otfean which lies beyond the arctic circle. " In Fe- 

 bruary 1 647," says he, in a memorandum upon the sub- 

 ject, " I sailed 100 leagues beyond Thule or Iceland, 

 the northern pai*t of which is 73 degrees distant from 

 the equinoctial, and not 63 degrees as some suppose; 

 neither does it lie upon the line where Ptolemy begins 

 the west, but considerably more to the westward. To 

 this island, which is as large as England, the English 

 carry on a trade, especially from the port of Bristol. 

 When I was there the sea was not frozen, but the tides 

 were so great, that in some places they rose and fell 26 

 braccios (about 45 feet). I have likewise been in the 

 Portuguese fort of St George del Mina, under the equi- 

 noctial, and can witness that it is not uninhabitable, as 



Before Columbus received his commission from Ferdinand and Isabella, he usually designed himself Columbus rfe Terra Rubiti. 



VOL. VJI. PART I. A 



