Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/531

505 SPANISH COLONIAL POLICY. 505 the enlightened minds of that day is evinced by chapter the tone of gratitude and exultation, in which they ^— indulge, at being permitted to witness the consum- mation of these glorious events, which their fathers had so long, but in vain, desired to see.^' The discoveries of Columbus occurred most op- Japh'Sr portunely for the Spanish nation, at the moment when it was released from the tumultuous struggle in which it had been engaged for so many years with the Moslems. The severe schooling of these wars had prepared it for entering on a bolder the- atre of action, whose stirring and romantic perils raised still higher the chivalrous spirit of the peo- ple. The operation of this spirit was shown, in the alacrity with which private adventurers em- barked in expeditions to the New World, under cover of the general license, during the last two years of this century. Their efforts, combined with those of Columbus, extended the range of discov- ery from its original limits, twenty-four degrees of north latitude, to probably more than fifteen south, comprehending some of the most important terri- tories in the western hemisphere. Before the end of 1500, the principal groups of the West Indian islands had been visited, and the whole extent of the southern continent coasted, from the Bay of Honduras to Cape St. Augustine. One adven- turous mariner, indeed, named Lepe, penetrated several degrees south of this, to a point not reached 29 See, among others, Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 181. VOL. II. 64