Celebrated Travels and Travellers, Part 1.: The Exploration of the WorldVerne, Jules
History
Celebrated Travels and Travellers, Part 1.: The Exploration of the World
Verne, Jules
Discoveries in geography; Explorers; Voyages and travels
Guided by the maps of Columbus, Hojeda passed by the Dragon's-Mouth,
which separates Trinidad from the continent, and returned westward
to Cape _La Vela_. Then, after touching at the Caribbee Islands,
where he made a number of prisoners, whom he hoped to sell for
slaves in Spain, he was obliged to cast anchor at Yaquimo, in
Hispaniola, on the 5th of September, 1499.
Columbus, knowing Hojeda's courage and his restless spirit only too
well, feared that he would introduce a new element of discord into
the colony. He therefore despatched Francesco Roldan with two
caravels to inquire into his motives in coming to the island, and if
necessary to prevent his landing. The admiral's fears were but too
well grounded; Hojeda had scarcely landed before he had an interview
with some of the malcontents, inciting them to a rising at Xaragua,
and to a determination to expel Columbus. After some skirmishes,
which had not ended to Hojeda's advantage, a meeting was arranged
for him with Roldan, Diego d'Escobar, and Juan de la Cosa, when they
prevailed upon him to leave the island. "He took with him," says Las
Casas, "a prodigious cargo of slaves, whom he sold in the market at
Cadiz for enormous sums of money." He returned to Spain in February,
1500, where he had been preceded by Americus Vespucius and B. Roldan
on the 18th of October, 1499.
The most southerly point that Hojeda had reached in this voyage was
4 degrees north latitude, and he had only spent fourteen weeks on
the voyage of discovery, properly so called. If we appear to have
dwelt at some length upon this voyage, it is because it was the
first one made by Vespucius. Some authors, Varnhagen for instance,
and quite recently, Mr. H. Major, in his history of Prince Henry the
Navigator, assert that Vespucius' first voyage was in 1497, and
consequently that he must have seen the American continent before
Columbus, but we prefer to follow Humboldt, who spent so many years
in studying the history of the discovery of America, in his opinion
that 1499 was the right date, also M. Ed. Charton and M. Jules
Codine, the latter of whom discussed this question in the Report of
the Geographical Society for 1873, _apropos_ of Mr. Major's book.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account