Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

NORTH AMERICA DISCOVERED.

7

his third voyage he visited the continent of America, landed at different places on the coasts of Paria and Cumana. But his discovery of the continent had been anticipated by an English voyager, Cabot, as will hereafter be related.

Amerigo Vespucci, a Florentine gentleman, who had sailed with Columbus, visited the continent some years afterwards; and published an account of his expedition, so plausibly written as to lead his contemporaries to the supposition that he was the real discoverer. The continent, in consequence, received the appellation of America; at what period is not well ascertained. Although we cannot but regret the injustice of this proceeding, which deprives Columbus of an honour so nobly earned, yet the consent of all nations has given the name a sanction which it were vain to dispute or disregard.

It was the lot of Columbus to receive injustice and neglect in return for the greatest benefits. He was deprived of the rewards and honours promised him by Ferdinand and Isabella, superseded in the government of the colony, which he had founded; and sent home in chains from the New World which he had 'found for Castile and Leon,' and, after having attracted the admiration and applause of the whole civilized world by the brilliancy of his achievements, he was suffered to die in comparative poverty and neglect.

CHAPTER II.

NORTH AMERICA DISCOVERED AND SETTLED.

ALTHOUGH Columbus discovered the New World, he was not the first navigator who reached the American continent. This was the achievement of John Cabot and his son Sebastian, who conducted an expedition of five ships under a commission from Henry VII. of England, to search for unknown islands and countries, and take possession of them in the king's name. The expedition was fitted out from Bristol, in England; and reached the American continent, probably in 56 degrees of north latitude, on the coast of Labrador, June 14th, 1497, nearly fourteen months before Columbus, on his third voyage, came in sight of the main land.

8

THE FRENCH IN NORTH AMERICA.

If the right of discovery be valid, a point which it is hardly worth while to discuss here, England had certainly the best right of any of the nations of Europe to plant colonies in North America. Her claim, however, was warmly disputed by Spain, Portugal and France.

The Cabots made another voyage to North America in 1498, and explored the coast as far south as Maryland; and Sebastian Cabot, who, on account of his nautical skill and enterprise, was called the Great Seaman, sailed, in 1517, up the straits and bay which afterwards received the name of Hudson, until he reached the latitude of sixty-seven and a half degrees, expecting to find a north-west passage to India. A mutiny of his crew compelled him to return.

The Portuguese, who at this period were very active in prosecuting distant voyages of discovery, fitted out an expedition under Gaspar Cortereal. He explored the coast for 600 miles as far to the north as the 50th degree, and brought off upwards of 50 Indians, whom he sold as slaves on his return. (1501.)

The French were among the early voyagers to North America. The banks of Newfoundland were visited by their fishermen as early as 1504, and in 1523 John Verrazzani, a Florentine, was sent on a voyage of discovery by Francis I. He explored the American coast from North Carolina to Nova Scotia, and held friendly intercourse with the natives. The French claims to their American territories were founded upon his discoveries.

Another expedition under James Cartier was fitted out in 1534, and the gulf and river of St. Lawrence were visited, many of the harbours and islands explored, and the country declared a French territory. The next year, Cartier sailed up the St. Lawrence again, and discovered and named the island of Montreal. He passed the winter in Canada, and in the spring erected a cross with a shield upon it, bearing the arms of France, and an inscription declaring Francis I. to be the sovereign of the territory; to which he gave the name of New France.

In 1540, Francis de la Roque, Lord of Roberval, obtained from Francis I. a commission to plant a colony in America, giving him a viceroy's authority over the territories and islands on the gulf and river St. Lawrence. Cartier was, at the same time, commissioned as captain general and chief pilot of the expedition, with authority to raise recruits for

THE FRENCH IN ACADIA AND CANADA.

9

the colony from the prisons of France, a circumstance by no means favourable to the permanence of the proposed settlement. These leaders were rather too independent of each other. They did not even depart from Europe in company. Cartier left France in May, 1541, sailed up the St. Lawrence, built a fort near where Quebec was subsequently founded, passed the winter there, and returned in June, 1542. About the time of his return, Roberval, with a colony, arrived in Canada, or Norimbega, as it was then sometimes termed, remained till the next year, and then abandoned his vice-royalty and returned home. He afterwards sailed again for Canada, but is supposed to have perished on the

sea.

The civil wars of France prevented any further attempts at colonization in America till 1598, when the Marquis de la Roche, a nobleman of Brittany, formed a temporary settlement on the isle of Sable. His colony had been peopled by sweeping the prisons of France, and it was of very short duration.

In 1604, an expedition was fitted out by a company of merchants of Rouen; and placed under the command of Samuel Champlain, an able and enterprising officer, who 'became the father of the French settlements in Canada.' On his first expedition he made considerable geographical researches; observed carefully the nature of the climate and soil, and the character of the natives; and selected the position of the future capital of the province.

After he returned to France, a charter was granted to De Monts to settle Acadia, under which name was included all the country from the 40th to the 46th degree of north latitude. His expedition left France in 1604, in two ships, and after their arrival in Nova Scotia, Poutrincourt, one of the leaders who accompanied De Monts, made choice of the spot where Annapolis now stands as the site of a settlement, to which he gave the name of Port Royal. De Monts settled on the island of St. Croix, at the mouth of the river of the same name, but afterwards abandoned this situation and removed to Port Royal, which was the first permanent French settlement made in North America. (1605.) Three years afterwards (1608) Champlain, acting in the service of a private company of merchants, occupied the site of the city of Quebec by raising some cottages and clearing a few acres of land. He afterwards took a part in the Indian wars,

10

THE SPANIARDS TAKE FLORIDA.

sailed up the river Sorel, and explored the lake which now bears his name. To his enterprise and courage the French were indebted for their colonies in this country.

CHAPTER III.

THE SPANIARDS TAKE POSSESSION OF FLORIDA.

As the Spaniards had been the first nation to attempt the discovery of the New World, so they were the most enterprising and adventurous in their endeavours to conquer and colonize its extensive and fertile countries. The history of their warlike achievements in Mexico and Peru present examples of the most heroic bravery and perseverance, darkened by many shadows of avarice and injustice. The whole nation seems to have been fired with the spirit of foreign adventure, and the New World was the grand theatre for its display.

Previous to the expeditions of Cortes and Pizarro, Florida had been discovered by Juan Ponce de Leon. This adventurer had accompanied Columbus in his second voyage; and afterwards had been successively appointed governor of the eastern province of Hispaniola, and of Porto Rico. When he had been displaced from the government of the latter island, in consequence of the paramount claims of Columbus's family, he fitted out an expedition with the romantic design of searching for a country in which, according to information received from the Caribs, there was a fountain whose waters imparted to those who bathed in them the gift of perpetual youth. Having sailed about among the Bahamas and touched at several of them, in pursuit of this fairy land, he at length (March 27, 1512,) came in sight of the continent. As this discovery was made on Easter Sunday, which the Spaniards call Pascua Florida, the land was called Florida. Its verdant forests and magnificent flowering aloes may have afforded another reason for assigning it this name.

It was not till the 8th of April that he was able to effect a landing in the latitude of thirty degrees and eight minutes, a little to the north of St. Augustine. He claimed the territory

NARVAEZ IN FLORIDA.

11

for Spain, remained some weeks exploring the coast, and then returned to Porto Rico, leaving a part of his company in the newly discovered country.

The king of Spain rewarded him with the government of Florida, on condition that he should conquer and colonise it. This he attempted in 1521, but was resisted with great fury by the Indians, who killed many of his followers, drove the survivors to their ships, and compelled him to relinquish the enterprise. Ponce de Leon himself was wounded with an arrow, and died shortly after his return to Cuba.

In 1510, the southern coast of the United States was partially explored by Grijalva; and in 1520, Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon fitted out two slave ships, from St. Domingo, visited the coast of South Carolina, then called Chicora, discovered the Combahee river, to which the name of the Jordan was given; and finally, having decoyed a large number of the Indians on board his ships, set sail with them for St. Domingo, leaving behind the most determined purpose of revenge among the injured natives.

His sovereign rewarded this atrocious enterprise by appointing Ayllon to the conquest of Chicora. In attempting this, he lost one of his ships and a great number of his men, who were killed by the natives in revenge for former wrongs. He was finally compelled to relinquish his undertaking.

In 1526, Pamphilo de Narvaez, the same officer who had been sent by Velasquez to supersede Cortes in Mexico, attempted the conquest of Florida. This expedition was signally disastrous. The Spaniards landed near Appalachee bay, marched into the interior, and spent six months, in various hardships and conflicts with the Indians, and at last found their way back to the sea shore, somewhere near the bay of Pensacola. Here they fitted out boats, and embarking were shipwrecked near the mouth of the Mississippi. Only four or five out of three hundred reached Mexico to tell the story of their disasters. These men gave such flattering accounts of the riches of the country, that their sufferings by no means deterred others from attempting its subjugation.

The next Spanish adventurer on the shores of the United States was Ferdinand de Soto, a highly distinguished officer, who had shared the glory and wealth obtained by Pizarro in the conquest of Peru. Returning to Spain after the most brilliant success in that country, he demanded of Charles V. to conquer Florida at his own cost; and received from that

« ZurückWeiter »