Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 10.djvu/192

Rh 1 SO angle of Europe. To find the sea-path to the “ thesauris Arabum et divitis lndize ” was the object to which he devoted his life. He collected the information supplied by ancient geographers, unweariedly devoted himself to the study of navigati :21 and cartography, and invited, with princely liberality of reward, the co-operation of the boldest and most skilful navig ll30l‘S of every country. The prince’s motto was “ Talent de bien faire,”—the word “ talent,” in those days, conveying not the idea of power or faculty, but of desire. Having acquired military renown by the capture of Ccuta in 1415, he set his mind upon the con- quest of Guinea, a11d sent every year two or three vessels to examine the coasts beyond Cape Nun, which was then the limit of exploration. Yet none of his ships for many years had the hardihood to round Cape Bojador. The ﬁrst fruit of Prince Henry’s explorations was the re.1iscovery of Madeira and Porto Santo, i11 1418 a11d 1420. The truth of the romantic story of the ﬁrst dis- covery of Madeira by two English lovers named llobert Maehim and Anna d’-rfet, in the time of Edward III., has been demonstrated by Mr Major. Madeira and Porto Santo were granted to Prince Henry by his brother, King Duarte, in 1433. In the same year one of the princes ships, com- manded by Gil Eannes, at length doubled Cape Bojador. In 1435 Affonso Gonsalves Baldaya, the prince’s cup-bearer, passed 50 leagues beyond the cape ; and eight years after- wards Nufio Tristam got to a point 25 miles beyond Cape Blanco. But it was not until 1445 that the mouth of the Senegal was reached by Diniz Dias ; and in those days the Portuguese gave the name of Guinea to the country com- mencing at Cape Nun. In 1481 the king of Portugal assumed the title of lord of Guinea. Up to 1446 there had been 51 caravels to the Guinea coast, and almost every year some new advance was made. Meanvhile the Cana'ries and Azores were brought within the realms of Spain and Portugal. In 1402 a Norman named Jean de Bethencourt, accompanied by Gadifer de la Salle, had landed on the island of Langarote, and with reinforcements from Spain he subjugated F orteventura and Ferro, a11d received the sovereignty of the Canaries from the king of Castile. But he returned to his lands in Normandy in 1406, and died there in 1425. Gomera, Palma, Teneriﬁ"e, and the Great Canary were still uuconquered. Prince Henry made several attempts to establish Portuguese rule on these islands ; the right was long disputed with Spain ; and it was not until 1479 that the treaty of Alcagora provided for the concession of the sovereignty of the Canaries to Spain. Prince Henry, however, successfully colonized the Azores, and in 11-44 St Michael’s was discovered, the settlement of the other islands following soon afterwards. In 1155 an important expedition was despatched by Prince Henry, under the command of a young Venetian adventurer named Alvise Cadamosto. Touching at Madeira and the Canaries, Jadamosto made his way to Cape Blanco on the African coast, and thence to Senegal and the Gambia. He returned with a full report of all he had seen, and in the following year he again sailed from Lagos direct for Cape Blanco, with three ships, and discovered the mouth of a river which he named the Rio Grande (J eba 4). In 1457 Diogo Gomez sailed with orders to proceed as far as he could, and made his way to the Gambia. The Cape Verd Islands were discovered and colonized about 1462. Prince Henry the Navigator died on the 13th of November 1460, and was buried near his father and mother in the monastery of Batalha. In 1839 a monument to his memory was erected at Sagres. During the long period in which the prince was continuing his maritime explorations, he did not cease to cultivate the science of cartography. The geographer Jayme of Majorca superintended his school of navigation at Sagres, and at the prince’s instance the G1£OG1tAPHY [l'lt0'_':RE.-‘S OF DISCOVERY. preserved was prepared at Venice under the supcrintendence ' of l~‘ra Mauro of the Cainaldolese convent of San Miguel de Marano. The geographical knowledge of the 15th cen- tury is also shown by the famous Borgia map (see Pl-.1teII.), _ a bronze planisphere which came into the possession of Cardinal Borgia about 179-1, and was published in 1797 by the eardinal’s nephew. The Borgia map, however, is of the very bevinninv of the 15th century. The progrescs of doiseovery for a time received a check from the death of Prince Henry, but only for a time. In 146:} Pedro de Cintra extended Portuguese exploration 000 I miles beyond the furthest point reached by Cadamosto, and discovered Sierra Leone. Fernan Gomez followed in 1-169, and opened the trade with the Gold Coast‘ and in 1-184 Diogo Cam discovered the month of the Coiigo. The king of Portugal next despatched two vessels of 50 tons in August 1486, under the command of Bartholomeu Dias, to continue discoveries southwards; while, in the following year, he sent Pedro de Covilham and Atfonso de Payva to discover the country of Prester John. Dias succeeded in rounding the southern point of Africa, which he named Cabo Tormentoso; but king J oao 1I., foreseeing the realiza- tion of the lo11g-sought passage to India, gave it the endur- ing name of the Cape of Good Hope. Dias returned to Lisbon in December 1487; meanwhile Payva had died at Cairo; but Covilham, having heard that a Christian ruler I reigned in the mountains of Ethiopia, penetrated into . Abyssinia in 1490. He delivered the letter which J ofto I II. had addressed to Prester John to the negﬁs Alexander of Abyssinia, but he was detained by that prince and never allowed to leave the country. The results westward and eastward of the exertions of Prince Henry were the discovery of America by Columbus and of the Cape route to India by Vasco da Gama. Christopher Columbus was born at Genoa about 1435. His name in Italian was Colombo, and in Spain he is known as Cristoval Colon. The fame of the Porturruese discoveries attracted strangers from all parts of the woiild, and in 1-170 Columbus arrived at Lisbon. He was in Portugal from 1470 to 1484, during which time he made several voyages to the coast of Guinea in the Portuguese service. He married a daurrhter of Bartholomeu Perestrello to whom Prince Henory had granted the commandership’ of Porto Santa, and lived for some time on that island. He learned, from many pilots ex(per_ienced }i_nhthe weste1;pyoyagte]:s tolthe Azores, acts an sirrns w 1c convmce um rat t iere was an unknown laxfd towards the west. Columbus also studied the Imago Jlundi of Cardinal Pierre d’Ailly whence he culled all he knew of Aristotle and Strabo - and he read the . - ., narrative of Marco Polo. By 1414 lus grand project of discovery was established in his mind, and nothing after- wards could divert him from the pursuit of it. On the re- fusal of the king of Portugal to entertain his proposal, Columbus left Lisbon with his son in 1484, and he spent the interval until 1492 in appeals to the Spanish court. At length, having overcome all obstacles, he set sail with a ﬂeelt_of three sljips fgom §alos,.1on the 3d of ./guguslt 1 on us unprece'ente an peri ous voyage. n tie :.t1 of October, having crossed the Atlantic, Columbus sighted land, which was named San Salvador. Mr Major has re- cently proved that this island is one of the Bahamas, now known as Watlinrr Island. After discovering Cuba, His- paniola, and man; small islands, Columbus sect sail on his return voyage 011 January 16, 1493, and arrived at Palos on the 15th of March. His reception in Spain was enthusiastic, ang co111trl11en‘,sp1‘1atefw'€l:l1 tl1etgra1pLl1e9u3r1of ln_slr, 3c§11even1‘e1(iit ; an on ie ..ot1 0 .‘eptcm er 1e sai e rom La iz on his second voyage, with a ﬂeet of three large ships and fourteen caravels. On the 3d of November he discovered the Plate ll ('olum- bus. Discov- ery of .' 1101101
 * finest specimen of me-Jizeval 1nap—making that has been