TABLE OF CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

PAGE

Vestiges of an

Manuscripts of

Antiquity of the red race. An antediluvian people.

ancient civilization in America. Records of Egypt.

Solon, the great Greck legislator. Origin of the aborigines of the

western hemisphere. Founders of an empire. The tradition pre-

served by the Egyptians. Early navigation of the Atlantic Ocean.

Isolation of the people of the western continent. The Northmen.

Iceland found. Greenland explored. Saga of Eric the Red. Voy-

age of Bjarni, Herjulf's son. Explorations of Leif, the son of Eric

the Red. Tradition concerning Thorfinn Karlsefne. Discovery of

Vinland. Its geographical situation. The stone tower at Newport.

Dighton rock. Voyages of the Welsh adventurer Madoc. Discoveries

of the Zeni brothers. Story of a Frisland fisherman. Estoʻiland.

Drogio

CHAPTER II.

An

1-50

Arrival of three strangely clad travellers in Venice. Their surprising dis-

closures. The book of Marco Polo. Marvellous wealth of Cathay.

Gold-covered palaces. Magnificent cities. Extensive traffic. The

empire of the Grand Khan. The travels of Sir John Mandeville.

Commerce of Europe restricted. Use of the mariner's compass.

age of superstition. Points of the compass-card. Geographical en-

thusiasm of Prince Henry of Portugal. Explorations along the coast

of Africa. The astrolabe made useful to navigators. The Cape of

Good Hope reached
51-69

CHAPTER III.

Christopher Columbus's conception of finding a short and direct way to

India. His reasonable conclusions. Statements of ancient geogra

phers. The known parts of the world. Circumference of the earth.

Inferences respecting pieces of wood and dead bodies cast upon the

islands lying off the west coast of Africa. Island of the Seven Cities.

Letter of Paolo Toscanelli. Distance to Cathay. Columbus's over-

tures to the king of Portugal. Bartolomé Columbus visits England.

Christopher Columbus seeks aid in Spain. The opinion of the

learned men respecting his project. The friendly offices of Friar Juan

Perez. Luis de Santángel's proposals to Queen Isabella. Columbus

commissioned to undertake a voyage to Cathay.

ix

70-93

X

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

CHAPTER IV.

The object of Columbus's voyage. His journal. His intention to make a

map of the lands of the ocean. The vessels of the fleet. They sail

from the port of Palos. The fears of the sailors. Variations of the

needle. The Sea of Sargasso. Incidents of the voyage. Discovery

of land. Island of San Salvador. Columbus's description of the

people and the islands. He believes that he had reached the con-

tinent of Asia, and that he was near the dominions of the Grand

Khan of Cathay. He sends embassadors to the sovereign of the

Orient. His letter to Rafael Sanchez. The high latitude to which

he sailed. A fort erected at La Navidad, on the island of Española.

The profits of the voyage. Columbus sets sail for Spain. Anchors

in the Tagus. Visits the king of Portugal. Returns to Spain.

Enthusiasm of the people. His reception at Barcelona

CHAPTER V.

PAGE

94-144

Territorial privileges of Portugal and Spain. A line of demarkation

designated by Pope Alexander VI. The East and the West Indies.

Columbus's second voyage. The Caribbees. The Villa de la Nav-

idad burned. The town of Isabela built. Further explorations of

the coast of Cuba. Depositions taken that Columbus had reached the

dominions of the Grand Khan. The cemies of the people of Española.

The homeward voyage. Ignorance of pilots respecting latitude and

longitude. Columbus's compasses. Amerigo Vespucci's first voyage

to the New World. Lands on the coast of South America. Describes

the natives. The country of Lariab. Columbus's third voyage. He

surveys the continent. Explores the coast of La Tierra de Gracia.

Amerigo Vespucci's second voyage. Sails along the north coast of

South America. Traffics for pearls with the natives. Returns to

Cadiz. Columbus's last voyage. The edifices of Veragua. The

evidences of civilization. Writes that he reached the province of

Mango, contiguous to Cathay. Dies at Valladolid. His nautical

chart. Juan de la Cosa's great ox-hide map

CHAPTER VI.

145-195

England sends ships to search for a navigable way to the Indies. The

first voyage of Giovanni Caboto. Pasqualigo's account of it. Dis-

covery of the territory of the Grand Khan. The flag of England and

that of St. Mark planted on the coast of the new country. Prima

Tierra Vista. The island of St. John. Caboto's second voyage. The

dispatches of Pedro de Ayala to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella

of Spain. The voyages of Sebastiano Caboto. His explorations

along the coast of Labrador. La Tierra de los Bacallaos. Sebastiano

Caboto's maps and manuscripts .

CHAPTER VII.

186-204

The Portuguese reach the Indies. Land of the Holy Cross discovered by
Pedro Alvarez Cabral. Gaspar Cortereal's voyages. Letter of Pietro

CONT

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

xi

PAGE

Pasqualigo. Terra Verde. Amerigo Vespucci's third and fourth
voyages along the east coast of South America. Johann Ruysch's
map. Martin Waldseemuller's suggestion. The name of America.
A fountain of vivific water. Juan Ponce de Leon explores the coast
of Florida. Vasco Nuñez de Balboa beholds the Pacific Ocean. The
coast of Yucatan explored by Francisco Hernando de Cordoba.
The discoveries of Juan de Grijalva. The country of New Spain.
The expedition of IIernando Cortes. The magnificent presents sent
him by Montezuma. The populated provinces of Mexico. Great
cities. Large temples. Decorated idols. Cortes enters the city of
Mexico. Its palaces, markets, and arsenals. The horrible sacrifices
of the Mexicans. The siege of the city

CHAPTER VIII.

. 205-274

The discoveries of Alonso Alvarez de Pineda. The project of Francisco

de Garay. An unfortunate undertaking. The discovery of the Mis-

sissippi River. The jurisdictions of Juan Ponce de Leon and Fran-

cisco de Garay. Another exploration of a part of the coast of North

America. Chicora. Duharhe. Tall people. Habits of the natives.

Tierra de Ayllon. The voyage of Fernam de Magalhaens. Dis-

covery of the Strait of the Eleven Thousand Virgins. The Pacific

Ocean. The Moluccas or Spice Islands reached. Voyage of Juan

Sebastian del Cano. The earth circumnavigated. The congress of

Badajos

CHAPTER IX.

275-296

France emulates Portugal, Spain, and England. Discoveries of the

Bretons and the Normans. Exploration of the St. Lawrence River.

Giovanni da Verrazzano put in command of a fleet to sail to Cathay

by Francis I. The king of Portugal attempts to prevent the sailing

of the vessels. Storm in the North Sea. Departure of the Dauphine.

Verrazzano reaches the coast of North America. Designates his first

landing-place Diepa. Fruitless search for a harbor. Friendly sav-

ages. Description of the country. Palmetto trees. Sails northward.

Explorations of the peninsula of Virginia. The Dauphine's anchorage

at Sandy Hook. Verrazzano explores the bays of New York. The

Grande River. Block Island. The Dauphine in Narragansett Bay.

Description of the natives. Exploration of the coast of Maine. Five

hundred and two leagues of land inspected. Francesca. Verrazzano's

geographical explanation of his voyage. Arrival of the Dauphine at

Dieppe

297-334

CHAPTER X.

(Addenda.)

Circulation of the news of Verrazzano's remarkable discoveries. Fernando
Carli's letter to his father. The adverse opinion of the people con-
cerning Verrazzano's undertaking. The navigator regarded as another
Amerigo Vespucci, another Magellan. Three ships equipped to sail
to the Indies under the command of Verrazzano. His third voyage

xii

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

to the New Land. The indomitable Florentine falls a victim to
savage cruelty. His body roasted and eaten.
tribute. The navigator's great parchment map.
Hieronymus da Verrazzano's chart

CHAPTER XI.
(Addenda.)

Ramusio's worthy
The Maiollo map.

PAGE

335-343

The French again search for a direct water-route to India. Voyages of
Jacques Cartier. The names given to the natives of the New Land.
The peasants of New France. The Hudson explored in the sixteenth
century. The French name for the Palisades. The country of the
Grand Scarp. Manants Island. A small fort built by the French on
the site of New York City. The chateau on Castle Island, near the
site of Albany. The structure damaged by a freshet. The Mohawk
Indians show the ruins to the Dutch explorers of the river in the
seventeenth century. The Hollanders call it Fort Nassau. The
opinion of the Dutch inhabitants of Albany respecting the people who
built it

Index

344-363
365-380

COPIES OF RARE MAPS.

I.-Delineation of the hyperborean regions by Sigurd Stephanius in

1570.

II.-A part of the map of the New World contained in the edition of

Ptolemy's geography printed in Strasburg in 1513.

III.-A part of the Cabot-map of 1544, in the Bibilothèque nationale,

Paris

IV.-Map of the New World contained in Peter Martyr's "Legatio

Babylonica," printed in 1511.

V.-A tracing representing the limits of the discoveries of Juan Ponce

de Leon and Francisco de Garay. 1521

VI.-A part of the map of the fourth part of the world contained in the

Cosmographie Universelle by André Thevet, printed in Paris

in 1575

VII.-Map of Terre de la Franciscane in the cosmography of Jean Al-

phonse and Raulin Secalart, 1545

VIII.-Map of a part of North America made by Giacomo de Gastaldi

IX.-A part of the map of the world made by Gerard Mercator in Du-

22

124

190

220

278

304

354

356

360

X.-A part of the map of the world made by Juan de la Cosa in

1500

cover-pocket

XI.-A part of the map of the world made by Johann Ruysch, con-

tained in the edition of Ptolemy's geography printed in Rome

in 1508

cover-pocket

XII.-A part of the map of the world made by Visconte de Maiollo in