Columbus also discovered tobacco and the sweet potato, heretofore unknown to civilization. Both products became important factors in the markets of the world. Thinking that he had reached Asia, Columbus called the newly discovered lands West Indies, and the native people Indians.

24. Return Voyage.. In January (1493) Columbus set out on his return voyage with only the Nina and the Pinta, the Santa Maria having been wrecked on the island of Haiti. He took with him gold, cotton, native birds, strange plants and animals, and six Indians. After a fearfully stormy voyage he at last cast anchor in the harbor of Palos, on Friday, the fifteenth of March (1493). He soon went to Barcelona, where the most distinguished attention was lavished upon him by the Spanish crown and people. The Indians were duly instructed and baptized. Queen Isabella stood at the font of baptism as their godmother.

25. Later Voyages of Columbus. Columbus made three other voyages to the New World. In 1493 he discovered Porto Rico, the Windward Islands, Jamaica; in 1498, the island of Trinidad; later, in the same year, the continent of South America at the mouth of the Orinoco River; and in 1502, Central America and Panama. He was not aware, however, that he had discovered a continent and never doubting that all the land found was Asia, wondered that he did not find Asia's vast riches.

On his second expedition Columbus took with him fifteen hundred Spaniards in seventeen vessels with necessary supplies. And now, with strict commands from the crown to Christianize the Indians and to treat them well, he brought the first missionaries, twelve in number, to America. Among them was the Vicar-Apostolic, Father Bernard Boyl, of the Order of St. Benedict. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was offered for the first time on the shores of America by Father Juan Perez. Columbus founded the city of Isabella on the island of Haiti and here in January (1494) the first church

was built and High Mass was therein solemnly celebrated on the sixth of January. Washington Irving says this pious mission was provided with all things necessary for the dignified performance of its functions, from the queen's own chapel. The city of Isabella, however, had a short existence. At the present day it is overgrown with forests in the midst of which are to be seen the ruins of the old church, the storehouse, and the residence of Columbus, all built of hewn stone.

26. Immediate Results of the Voyages of Columbus. Columbus gave to Spain and the world a new continent. The spirit

of discovery was intensified, and fresh life was infused throughout Europe. Such was the impulse which he gave to voyages of discovery, that, in less than forty-five years, the eastern coast of North and South America was tolerably well known; while, in the interior, great empires had been conquered.

27. Line of Demarcation. Spain and Portugal, the Catholic powers of Europe, fearing that they might

come into collision in the rapid progress of their discoveries, appealed by mutual consent, to the common father of the faithful as a freely chosen arbitrator, to mark out the limits of their prospective territories. The Pope, Alexander VI (1493), feeling that his powerful mediation might prevent war and bloodshed, willingly acceded to the proposal. He therefore fixed what is known as the Line of Demarcation, extending from the north pole to the south pole at a distance of one hundred leagues west of the Azores and the Cape Verde

Islands. He decreed that all the lands discovered west of this line were to belong to Spain, those east to Portugal. A treaty, between Spain and Portugal shortly after, fixed the line three hundred and seventy leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands, thus unwittingly apportioning Brazil to Portugal. This treaty, based on the papal partition, settled without a drop of blood a question which otherwise might have involved the two countries in a costly war.

28. The New Route to India. Vasco de Gama, a Portuguese, in 1497, sailed from Lisbon around the Cape of Good Hope to Hindustan, thus finding the long-searched-for route to India.

Upon his return to Portugal, there was no doubt as to where he had been, for his ships were laden with the riches of the East. The goal was reached at last!

29. The Discovery of Brazil. The Amazon River was discovered (1500) by Vincente Pinzon, one of the companions of Columbus on his first voyage. About three months later, the Portuguese navigator, Pedro Cabral, on his way to India by way of the Cape of Good Hope, sighted the coast of Brazil.

30. The Origin of the Name America. Americus Vespucius, a Florentine, skilled in geography and astronomy, sailed first in the employ of Spain (1499) and afterwards in that of Portugal. He made several voyages including one which made known a large part of the Atlantic coast of South America. In 1507, a year after the death of Columbus, a German professor named Martin Waldseemüller, in a little treatise upon geography, commented upon the explorations of Vespucius and said, "But now these parts have been extensively explored and another fourth part has been discovered by Americus Vespucius, therefore I do not see what is rightly to hinder us from calling it Amerige or America; i. e., the land of Américus, after its discoverer Americus." Eventually the name suggested by Waldseemüller was given to the whole western continent.

Europe, Asia, and Africa were considered three parts of the earth. Mela, a famous Spanish geographer, 30 A. D., believed in the existence of a great unvisited continent south of the Eurasian continent and the equator. He called it Opposite World or Fourth Part. It was believed that Columbus had reached Asia and that Americus had coasted along a great continent south of Asia, called Opposite World or Fourth Part which should be named after him. Hence, the naming of America was incidental and meant no injustice to Columbus.

CHAPTER IV

THE SPANISH IN AMERICA

31. Columbus-Summary. Columbus discovered: (a) San Salvador, Cuba, and Haiti (1492);

(b) Jamaica, Porto Rico, Windward Islands (1493-1498); (c) Trinidad Island, near the mouth of the Orinoco River, and South America (1498);

(d) Central America and the Isthmus of Panama (1502).

32.

Bartholomew Las Casas (1474-1566). This bishop of Chiapa in Mexico, a Dominican missionary among the Indians, was the first priest ordained in

America. The title "Protector General of the Indians' has been bestowed upon him for the untiring zeal with which he served them for sixty years. Notwithstanding the purity of his life and the beauty of his ideas, his views of the Indians were so influenced by his love for them that he failed to fully understand their characters. His writings have influenced many prejudiced non-Catholics against Spain.

BARTHOLOMEW LAS CASAS

33. First City-First Spaniards in the United States. Ponce de Leon, having heard stories from the Indians of a land rich in gold and containing a fountain of youth, began a vain search for it during which he discovered Florida. As governor of Porto Rico he had founded (1511) San Juan, the oldest city on United States' territory. Two years later, on