Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/138

114 114 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. PART traffic had been carried on with the western coast '— — of Africa, from which gold dust and slaves were imported into the city of Seville. The annalist of that city notices the repeated interference of Isa- bella in behalf of these unfortunate beings, by or- dinances tending to secure them a more equal pro- tection of the laws, or opening such social indul- gences as might mitigate the hardships of their condition. A misunderstanding gradually arose between the subjects of Castile and Portugal, in relation to their respective rights of discovery and commerce on the African coast, which promised a fruitful source of collision between the two crowns ; but which was happily adjusted by an article in the treaty of 1479, that terminated the war of the succession. By this it was settled, that the right of traffic and of discovery on the western coast of Africa should be exclusively reserved to the Portu- guese, who in their turn should resign all claims on the Canaries to the crown of Castile. The Span- iards, thus excluded from further progress to the south, seemed to have no other opening left for naval adventure than the hitherto untravelled re- gions of the great western ocean. Fortunately, at this juncture, an individual appeared among them, in the person of Christopher Columbus, endowed with capacity for stimulating them to this heroic enterprise, and conducting it to a glorious issue. ^ 5 Zniliga, Annales de Sevilla, g^es, torn. i. introd., sec. 21, 24. — pp. 373, 374, 398. — Zurita, Ana- Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, torn. les, torn. iv. lib. 20, cap. 30, 34. vii. p. 548. — Navarrete, Coleccion de Via-