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
As to the circumstances attending the naming of the Pacific Ocean, a few
words may not be out of place. Magellan was accompanied by one Antonio
Pigafetta, of Vicenza, afterward Caviliere di Rhodi, who wrote in bad
Italian a narrative of the voyage, which was rewritten and translated
into French, _Primer voyage autour du Monde, par le Chevallier
Pigafetta, sur l'Escadre de Magellan pendant les années 1519, 20, 21,
et 22_, by Charles Amoretti. "Le mercredi, 28 novembre," says Pigafetta,
liv. ii. p. 50, "nous débouquâmes du détroit pour entrer dans la grande
mer, à laquelle nous donnâmes ensuite le nom de mer Pacifique; dans
laquelle nous naviguâmes pendant le cours de trois mois et vingt jours,
sans goûter d'aucune nourriture fraiche." And again, p. 52, "Pendant cet
espace de trois mois et vingt jours nous parcourûmes à peu près quatre
mille lieues dans cette mer que nous appelâmes Pacifique, parce que
durant tout le temps de notre traversée nous n'essuyâmes pas le moindre
tempête;" or, as Ramusio, _Viaggio atorno il mondo fatto et descritto
per M. Antonio Pigafetta_, in _Viaggi_, tom. iii. fol. 393, puts it,
"Et in questi tre mesi, & venti giorni fecero quattro mila leghe in
vn golfo per questo mar Pacifico, il qual ben si puó chiamar pacifico,
perche in tutto questo tempo senza veder mai terra alcuna, non hebbero
né fortuna di vento, né di altra tempesta." Peter Martyr, dec. v. cap.
vii., speaks of it only as "the huge Ocean" first found by Vasco Nuñez,
and then called the South Sea. Galvano, _Discov._, p. 142, alludes to
it as a "mightie sea called Pacificum." Oviedo, _Hist. Gen._, tom. ii.
p. 22, merely remarks: "Es aquel estrecho en algunas partes mas ó menos
de media legua, y çircundado de montañas altissimas cargadas de nieve, y
corre en otra mar que le puso nombre el capitan Fernando de Magallanes,
el _Mar Pacífico_; y es muy profundo, y en algunas partes de veynte é
çinco hasta en treynta braças." Gomara, _Hist. Ind._, fol. 120, says,
"No cabia de gozo por auer hallado aq̃l passo para el otro mar del Sur,
por do pẽsava llegar presto alas yslas del Maluco," without any mention
of the word Pacific. The _Sammlung aller Reisebeschreibungen_, tom.
xi. p. 346, gives it essentially the same as Pigafetta: "In einer Zeit
von drey Monaten und zwanzig Tagen, legete er viertausend Meilen in
einer See zurück, welche er das friedfertige oder stille Meer nannte;
weil er keinen Sturm auf demselben ausstund, und kein anderes Land sah,
als diese beyden Inseln." Kohl, _Die beiden ältesten Karten von Am._,
p. 161, is unable to find the name on the old maps: "Der Name 'Oceano
Pacifico,' der auch schon auf den Reisen des Magellan und Loaysa in
Schwung kam, steht nirgends auf unseren Karten." Herrera, dec. ii.
lib. ix. cap. xv., describes the exit from the strait in the language
following: "a veynte y siete de Nouiẽbre, salio al espacioso mar del
Sur, dando infinitas gracias a Dios." Navarrete, _Viages al Maluco;
Primero el de Hernando de Magallanes_, in tom.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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