244 The Progress of Geographical Discovery. 



ing of his discoveries. In spite of all subsequent discoveries, to Col- 

 umbus the world deservedly awards the highest honor. The New 

 World was discovered when from the Greek traditions, and from the 

 legendary lore of the sailormen of his own day, and from books and 

 maps at home he made up his mind that there was a New World to 

 discover. All the rest was mechanical and could have been accom- 

 plished by a common sailor. His adventurous spirit had thrown open 

 the doors to a new continent, and others rushed in to reap the honors. 

 Amerigo Vespucius, for one, who with Ojeda in 1497, under the Span- 

 ish flag, was the first to discover the continent of South America; 

 John Cabot, for another, who in the same year sent out in the interest 

 of England under Henry the VHth, was the first to discover the conti- 

 nent of North America at Labrador and Newfoundland, followed in 

 the next year by his son Sebastian Cabot, who sailed along the coast 

 from Newfoundland southward, and, as some claim, as far as CapeHat- 

 teras, and thus laid foundation for England's claim to the northern 

 portion of the continent. Like all the others of his day, he announced 

 on his return that he had discovered the eastern coast of Asia. This 

 general belief of that period is perhaps the reason why the several na- 

 tions of Spain, Portugal, France and England let their claims by 

 right of discovery slumber. A curious thing happened. The map- 

 makers to some extent ignored the claims of other nations to discov- 

 ery. Thus, on the Ribero map of 1529, we notice along the coast of 

 the United States, the names, "the land of Ayllon," " the land of 

 Gomez/' " Erancesca," " Cortereal," applied to territory discovered 

 by the Cabots in the interest of England. 



Upon the return of Columbus from his first voyage in 1493, Pope 

 Alexander VI divided the world into two parts by a meridian line 

 passing around it three hundred and seventy leagues west of the Cape 

 Verde islands. This gave to Portugal all her African discoveries and 

 Brazil in South America. All west of this line was awarded to Spain. 

 Thence came the designation of West Indies to the American continent, 

 subsequently restricted to the Antilles islands. 



Now let us resume the narrative of discovery. Vespucius, as I have 

 said, first discovered the mainland on the western hemisphere in 1497. 

 In a second voyage he coasted along the isthmus and up to Florida 

 seeking for a return passage homeward by still sailing westward around 

 the globe. Down to Henry Hudson in 1630 the ships of Europe pa- 

 trolled our coast from the northern limits of Labrador to the Straits 

 of Magellan for a water passage westward to Cathay. That idea died 

 hard. That problem was not solved until our day, in the sixties, when 



