Page:Columbus and other heroes of American discovery; (IA columbusotherher00bell).pdf/25



CHAPTER I.

COLUMBUS, HIS PREDECESSORS AND HIS IMMEDIATE SUCCESSORS.

Although the discovery of America used to be dated from the voyage of Columbus to the West Indies in 1492, there can be little doubt that this great hero was by no means the first explorer of our era to visit the New World. The existence of land to the west of the Pillars of Hercules was even known to the ancients. Frequent mention is made by Greek and Roman authors of islands on the West, especially of the fair Atlantis, concerning which Plato gives many details, declaring it to have been of vast extent and great