History for ready reference, Volume 1, A-ElbaLarned, J. N. (Josephus Nelson)
History
History for ready reference, Volume 1, A-Elba
Larned, J. N. (Josephus Nelson)
History -- Dictionaries
_C. R. Markham, Life of Columbus, chapter 5._
{50}
The statement above that the island of the Bahamas on which
Columbus first landed, and which he called San Salvador, "has
now been ascertained to be Watling Island" seems hardly
justified. The question between Watling Island, San Salvador
or Cat Island, Samana, or Attwood's Cay, Mariguana, the Grand
Turk, and others is still in dispute. Professor Justin Winsor
says "the weight of modern testimony seems to favor Watling's
Island;" but at the same time he thinks it "probable that men
will never quite agree which of the Bahamas it was upon which
these startled and exultant Europeans first stepped."
_J. Winsor, Christopher Columbus, chapter 9._
_J. Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of America,
volume 2, chapter 1, note B._
Professor John Fiske, says: "All that can be positively
asserted of Guanahani is that it was one of the Bahamas; there
has been endless discussion as to which one, and the question
is not easy to settle. Perhaps the theory of Captain Gustavus
Fox, of the United States Navy, is on the whole best
supported. Captain Fox maintains that the true Guanahani was
the little Island now known as Samana or Attwood's Cay."
_J. Fiske, The Discovery of America, chapter 5 (volume 1)._
ALSO IN
_U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, Report, 1880,
appendix 18._
AMERICA: A. D. 1493.
Papal grant of the New World to Spain.
"Spain was at this time connected with the Pope about a most
momentous matter. The Genoese, Cristoforo Colombo, arrived at
the Spanish court in March, 1493, with the astounding news of
the discovery of a new continent. ... Ferdinand and Isabella
thought it wise to secure a title to all that might ensue from
their new discovery. The Pope, as Vicar of Christ, was held to
have authority to dispose of lands inhabited by the heathen;
and by papal Bulls the discoveries of Portugal along the
African coast had been secured. The Portuguese showed signs of
urging claims to the New World, as being already conveyed to
them by the papal grants previously issued in their favour. To
remove all cause of dispute, the Spanish monarchs at once had
recourse to Alexander VI., who issued two Bulls on May 4 and 5
[1493] to determine the respective rights of Spain and
Portugal. In the first, the Pope granted to the Spanish
monarchs and their heirs all lands discovered or hereafter to
be discovered in the western ocean. In the second, he defined
his grant to mean all lands that might be discovered west and
south of an imaginary line, drawn from the North to the South
Pole, at the distance of a hundred leagues westward of the
Azores and Cape de Verd Islands. In the light of our present
knowledge we are amazed at this simple means of disposing of a
vast extent of the earth's surface." Under the Pope's
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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