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
Greenland is called Labrador and is joined to the continent, as the
separating strait had not at the time been explored. It will be noticed
that Greenland is far less accurately laid down on this and other late
maps than on some earlier ones which are supposed to have derived some
of their details from northern sources. Labrador, Newfoundland, and
Nova Scotia have the general name of Bacallaos. Many of the numerous
islands along the coast are named in the original. Corresponding
perhaps to the New England and middle United States we have the 'Tiera
de Estevã Gomez,' stated by an inscription to have been discovered by
the Spaniards in 1525. From this land to Florida extends the 'Tiera de
Ayllon,' between which and 'Nveva España' comes the 'Tiera de Garay,'
thus dividing nearly all of the northern continent among the Spaniards.
The West India Islands have here their true number, position, and names.
Yucatan is given in its true proportions but is separated by a strait
from the main-land. The South Sea coast is represented only to the limit
of the voyage of Gil Gonzalez Dávila on the north, and extends southward
to the port of Chinchax in about latitude 10° south, including,
according to an inscription, the countries which had been reached by
Pizarro in 1527. The form of South America is correctly laid down and
the name 'Mvndvs Novvs' is applied to the whole, which is divided into
the provinces of 'Castilla del Oro,' 'Perv,' 'Tiera del Brasil,' 'Tiera
de Patagones,' and 'Tiera de Fernã de Magallaes,' or land of Magellan.
South of the strait is the 'Tiera de los Fuegos,' whose true form and
extent were not known until Schouten and Le Maire doubled Cape Horn in
1616.
* * * * *
Thus far I have copied or mentioned all maps which could throw any light
on the progress of geographical knowledge, and have endeavored to give
a statement of all the voyages by which this progress was made. Thus
far we have seen the coasts of both North and South America, except in
the south-west and the far north-west, more or less carefully explored
by European voyagers; we have seen the New World recognized as distinct
for the most part from Asia, a tolerably correct idea of its form and
extent given by government pilots, and the name America applied, except
on official maps, to the southern continent. Henceforth voyages to
the parts already discovered become of common occurrence, and numerous
maps, both in manuscript and print, are made, no one of which I shall
attempt to follow. In the expeditions of the next and concluding ten
years of this Summary I shall notice chiefly those by which a knowledge
was acquired of the countries lying toward California and the great
Northwest, presenting several maps to illustrate this part of the
subject.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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