=5. Columbus and the Indies.=—That Christopher Columbus[5] of Genoa is entitled to the honor of being considered the real discoverer of America is clearly proved by the fact that he was the first person who planned to sail westward over the unknown ocean, and that he never faltered in the prosecution of his heroic design. It is true that he made the mistake of thinking he would come to India rather than to a new continent, and that he underestimated the distance he would have to sail; but such mistakes were natural in view of the lack of geographical knowledge at that time. It was generally believed, by priest and layman alike, that the earth was flat, and good Scripture warrant was produced for the belief. Yet since the days of Aristotle a few scholars had concluded, from the evidences furnished by eclipses and from other reasons, that the earth was spherical in form. Columbus had obtained this idea from some source and seems to have been fascinated by the possibilities it opened. Oriental commerce, especially that from India, was then of great consequence to Italian merchants; and if the recent military successes of the Turks should close the overland routes to the East, it was thought this commerce would be destroyed. But Columbus held that, if the earth were round, India could be reached by sailing westward, and thus trade could be carried on in spite of the Turks. [Illustration: TOSCANELLI’S MAP (simplified)] =6. Motives and Difficulties of Columbus.=—Columbus was urged on by patriotism, desire of gain, missionary hopes of Christianizing distant lands, and a natural enthusiasm for heroic enterprise. He corresponded with Toscanelli, a learned Italian, who sent him letters and a map, but underestimated greatly the distance to be traversed. This mistake was fortunate, as Columbus would probably never have secured a hearing had he proposed to take a voyage of ten thousand miles,—the actual distance between Spain and the East Indies. As it was, for a long time he applied in vain to princes and potentates—who alone could sustain the expenses of such an expedition—for permission and means to make a voyage which he believed to be about three thousand miles in length. The record of his hopes and fears, his successes and reverses, reads like a heroic poem. Fortunately for him, the Portuguese had been making voyages down the African coast, with their eyes fixed on the Eastern trade, and the Spaniards, strong through the recent union of Castile and Aragon and the conquest of the Moorish kingdom of Granada, had been aroused to eager rivalry in maritime enterprise. At the court of Ferdinand and Isabella, the Spanish monarchs, Columbus eloquently pleaded his cause. Success at last crowned his efforts. Under the patronage of Isabella he sailed from the port of Palos, with a fleet of three vessels, on the 3d of August, 1492. [Illustration: SHIPS OF THE TIME OF COLUMBUS.]