But even granting the possibility, and indeed the probability, of pre-Columbian discoveries, they bore no lasting fruit, and are merely the antiquarian puzzles and curiosities of American history. The development of the New World began with the landing (Oct. 12, 1492) on an island in the Bahamas, of Christopher Columbus, the agent of Spain. It was an age of daring maritime adventure. India, whence Europe obtained her gold and silks, her spices, perfumes, and precious stones, was the common goal. For many centuries the great trade route had been by caravans from India overland through Central Asia and the Balkan peninsula to Italy, the Rhine country, the Netherlands, and beyond; but the raids of the fierce desert tribes and the capture of Constantinople (1453) had closed this path, and now the trade passed through Egypt. With improvements in the art of navigation there arose a general desire to reach India by sea. Three centuries before Christ, Aristotle had taught that the earth was a sphere, and that the waters which laved Europe on the west washed the eastern shores of Asia. Here and there through the centuries others advanced the same opinion, and the map which the great Italian astronomer Toscanelli sent to Columbus (1474) showed China to be but fifty-two degrees west of Europe. The idea that by sailing west India could be reached, was therefore quite familiar to the contemporaries of Columbus, although he stands in the front as the one man who put his faith to the test. The mistake lay in the current calculations regarding the size of the earth. Instead of being only three thousand miles to the west, Asia was twelve thousand, and the continent of America blocked the way. It is probable that Columbus went to his grave still firm in the belief that he had reached the confines of India,--indeed, the names he gave to the islands and to the strange people who inhabited them stand as enduring evidence of his geographical error. Sidenote: Pope Alexander's bull. The Portuguese, on the other hand, sought India by the southeast passage, around the continent of Africa, and had been creeping southward along the African coast for several years before Spain sent Columbus to reach Asia by the west. Thus in the race for India and the discovery of intermediate lands, the Portuguese and the Spanish had adopted opposite routes. Pope Alexander VI. now issued his famous bull (May 4, 1493), partitioning the un-Christian world into two parts,--Spain to have lands west of an imaginary meridian 100 leagues west of Cape de Verde islands, and Portugal those to the east--a simple arrangement, on paper. Next year, by agreement, the line was moved to 270 leagues westward, but it was still supposed to be in mid-ocean. By this change, however, the eastern part of what is now Brazil fell to Portugal. Sidenote: England sends out John Cabot.