History of Central America, Volume 1, 1501-1530: The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, Volume 6Bancroft, Hubert Howe
History
History of Central America, Volume 1, 1501-1530: The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, Volume 6
Bancroft, Hubert Howe
Central America -- History
Gaspar Cortereal this year makes a second voyage to the regions of the
north, sailing from Belem, near Lisbon, May 15, 1501, with two or three
vessels, touching probably at some point in Newfoundland, and coasting
northward some six or seven hundred miles. He does not, however, reach
the Terra Verde of the former voyage on account of ice. One of the
vessels—Kunstmann says two—returned, arriving at Lisbon October 8,
1501; the other with the commander was never afterward heard from. One
of the chief objects of this expedition seems to have been the capture
of slaves. The name Labrador is applied by Cortereal to this discovery,
"and is perhaps the only permanent trace of Portuguese adventure within
the limits of North America." _Bancroft's Hist. U. S._, vol. i. p.
16; _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, tom. iii. p. 44; _Major's Prince
Henry_, p. 374; _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom. iv. p. 224; _Kohl's
Hist. Discov._, pp. 169-71; _Peschel_, _Geschichte der Entd._, pp. 331
et seq.; _Biddle's Mem. Cabot_, pp. 237 et seq.
The Portuguese also send an expedition to prosecute the discoveries
begun by Cabral, who has not yet returned from India, but whose
discovery of Brazil has been reported by Lemos. Strangely enough no
documents exist in the Portuguese archives touching this voyage, nor is
the name of its commander known, although Varnhagen thinks it may have
been Manuel. It is known as Vespucci's third voyage, and its incidents
are found only in his letters. The authenticity of this as of his other
voyages has been often doubted and denied, and as it is the voyage that
resulted in the naming of America, it has given rise to much discussion,
into which however I shall not enter. The discussion does not affect the
voyage itself, nor the leading facts connected with it, the questions
being whether Vespucci was in command, which indeed he does not claim to
have been; and above all, whether the results of the voyage entitled him
to the honor of naming America, which they certainly did not, even had
he commanded, from the fact that other navigators had discovered both
of the Americas before him. Navarrete, one of Vespucci's most jealous
enemies, admits that he visited the coast of Brazil in a subordinate
capacity in some Portuguese expedition; and Humboldt, in an essay of 115
pages, effectually defends the veracity of Vespucci in his accounts of
his voyages, which the distinguished commentator quotes with notes on
the variations of different editions.
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