Narrative and Critical History of America, Vol. 2 (of 8): Spanish Explorations and Settlements in America from the Fifteenth to the Seventeenth Century
History
Narrative and Critical History of America, Vol. 2 (of 8): Spanish Explorations and Settlements in America from the Fifteenth to the Seventeenth Century
America -- Discovery and exploration; America -- History; United States -- History
The first voyage of Ojeda rests mainly on the answers to the questions
propounded by the _fiscal real_ in the suit brought against Diego,
the son of Columbus, in which the endeavor was made to show that
Ojeda, and not Columbus, discovered the pearl coasts. But this claim
on the part of the King’s attorney was unsuccessful; for Ojeda
himself expressly stated in his deposition, taken in Santo Domingo
in 1513, that he was the first man who went to Tierra-Firme _after_
the Admiral, and that he knew that the Admiral had been there because
he saw the chart[630] which the Admiral had sent home. This lawsuit
is so important in relation to these minor voyages that Navarrete
printed much of the testimony then taken, with some notes of his own,
at the end of his third volume.[631] Among the witnesses were Ojeda,
Bastidas, Vicente Yañez Pinzon, Garcia Hernandez a “_fisico_,” who had
accompanied Vicente Yañez on his first voyage, the pilots Ledesma,
Andrés de Morales, Juan Rodriguez, and many other mariners who had
sailed with the different commanders. Their testimony was taken with
regard to the third voyage of Columbus (second question); the voyage
of Guerra and Niño (third and fourth questions); Ojeda’s first voyage
(fifth question); Bastidas (sixth question); Vicente Yañez (seventh
question); Lepe (eighth question); etc. Taken altogether, this evidence
is the best authority for what was done or was not done on these early
voyages.[632]
The only things worth noting in the voyage of Guerra and Niño are the
smallness of the vessel (fifty tons),[633] and the enormous pecuniary
return. One of the voyagers,[634] very possibly Niño himself,[635]
wrote an account of the voyage, which was translated into Italian, and
published as chapters cx. and cxi. of the _Paesi novamente retrovati_.
It was then translated into Latin, and inserted by Grynæus in the
_Novus orbis_.[636]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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