Narrative and Critical History of America, Vol. 3 (of 8): English Explorations and Settlements in North America 1497-1689 — John Shaqi
Narrative and Critical History of America, Vol. 3 (of 8): English Explorations and Settlements in North America 1497-1689
History
Narrative and Critical History of America, Vol. 3 (of 8): English Explorations and Settlements in North America 1497-1689
America -- Discovery and exploration; America -- History; United States -- History
Captain Antonio Galvano, the Portuguese, had died in 1557, leaving
behind him a _Trádado_, a historical treatise, which was published
at Lisbon in 1563. It gives an account “of all the discoveries,
ancient and modern, which have been made up to the year one thousand
five hundred and fifty.” This is a valuable chronological list of
discoveries in which the writer includes, in the latter part, his
own experience. He spent the early part of his life in India, and the
latter part, on being recalled home, in compiling an account of all
known voyages. The Hakluyt Society have published Galvano’s book in
the original, from a copy, believed to be unique, in the Carter-Brown
Library, at Providence R. I. It is accompanied by an English version,
by an unknown translator, long in the possession of Hakluyt, corrected
and published by him, as the title says, in 1601.[50] Hakluyt never
could get sight of a copy of the original edition. On comparing the
texts, several omissions and additions are noticed by the modern
editor. The former are supposed to be due to the inadvertence of
the translator, the latter to Hakluyt, who supplied what he thought
important from other sources; and to him are probably due the marginal
references. The following is the English version of Galvano’s
account[51] of Cabot’s discovery, some omissions having been supplied
by the modern editor:—
“In the year 1496 there was a Venetian in England called John Cabota,
who having knowledge of such a new discovery as this was [viz. the
discovery by Columbus], and perceiving by the globe that the islands
before spoken of stood almost in the same latitude with his country,
and much nearer to England than to Portugal, or to Castile, he
acquainted King Henry the Seventh, then King of England, with the
same, wherewith the said king was greatly pleased, and furnished him
out with two ships and three hundred men; which departed and set sail
in the spring of the year, and they sailed westward till they came in
sight of land in 45 degrees of latitude towards the north, and then
went straight northwards till they came into 60 degrees of latitude,
where the day is eighteen hours long, and the night is very clear
and bright. There they found the air cold, and great islands of ice,
but no ground in seventy, eighty, an hundred fathoms sounding, but
found much ice, which alarmed them; and so from thence putting about,
finding the land to turn eastwards, they trended along by it on the
other tack, discovering all the bay and river[52] named Deseado, to
see if it passed on the other side; then they sailed back again,
diminishing the latitude, till they came to 38 degrees toward the
equinoctial line, and from thence returned into England. There be
others which say that he went as far as the Cape of Florida, which
standeth in 25 degrees.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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