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
Alfonso de Alburquerque sailed from Lisbon April 6, 1503, with four
vessels for India; but shaping his course far to the south-west, after
twenty-four (or twenty-eight) days he reached an island previously
discovered by Vespucci; thence he touched the main-land of Brazil, after
which he proceeded around the Cape of Good Hope to India, and returned
to Lisbon September 16, 1504. _Viaggio fatto nell'India per Giovanni di
Empoli_, in _Ramusio_, tom. i. fol. 158; _Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_,
vol. i. pp. 32-3. _Bergomas_, _Nouissime historiarũ omniũ_, etc.,
Venetiis, 1503, a book of chronicles published with frequent additions
to date, contains, for the first time, in this edition, a chapter on the
newly found islands of Columbus. In my copy, which is dated ten years
later, this chapter is on folio 328. At least nine editions of the work
appeared before 1540.
[1504.] Soon after the return from his third voyage, Vespucci wrote a
letter to Piero de' Medici, setting forth its incidents. This letter,
which bears no date, was probably written in corrupt Italian, and after
circulating to some extent in manuscript, as was the custom at the
time, it may have been printed, but no copies are known to exist, and
the original is lost. Translations were made, however, into Latin and
German, which appeared in small pamphlet form in at least seventeen
different editions before 1507, under the title of _Mundus Novus_,
or its equivalent. The earliest edition which bears a date is that of
1504, but of the nine issues without date, some undoubtedly appeared
before that year. It is probable that other editions have disappeared
on account of their undurable form. None of Vespucci's other accounts
are known to have been printed before 1507.
This same year the _Libretto de tutta le Navigazione del Re di Spagna_
is said to have been printed at Venice, being the first collection of
voyages, and containing, according to the few Italian authors who claim
to have seen it, the first three voyages of Columbus and those of Niño
and Pinzon. If authentic, it was the first account of the voyage of
Columbus to the Pearl Coast; but no copy is known at present to exist,
and its circulation must have been small compared with Vespucci's
relations. _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, tom. iv. pp. 67-77; _Harrisse_,
_Bib. Am. Vet._, nos. 22-41.
A chart made about 1504 has been preserved which shows Portuguese
discoveries only. In the north are laid down Newfoundland and Labrador
under the name of 'Terra de Cortte Reall,' and Greenland with no name,
but so correctly represented as to form a strong evidence that it was
reached by Cortereal. On the south we have the coast of Brazil, to
which no name is given; between the two is open sea, with no indication
of Spanish discoveries. _Kunstmann_, _Entdeckung Am._, pp. 127-8, and
_Munich Atlas_, no. iii.; _Kohl's Hist. Discov._, pp. 174-7, plate viii.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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