Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 05.djvu/234

COLUMBUS. COLUMBUS. A city and the county-seat of Colurado County, Tex., 110 miles southeast of Austin ; on the Colorado River and on the Southern Pacific Railroad (Map: Texas, F 5). It has a considerable trade in cotton, agricultural produce, live stock, liides. etc. Population, in 1890, 219!t: in 1900, 1824.

COLUMBUS,  (c.1445-1514). A brother of Christopher Columbus. He was a sailor by profession, and in the year 1480 joined Christopher at Lisbon. In 1489 he was sent to England by his brother to seek assistance from Henry VII. for the execution of his project. He was taken by pirates and landed in England in a destitute condition, and on presenting himself at Court was unfavorably received by the King. He then sought help at the Court of Charles VIII. in France, with like success. In January, 1494, he returned to Spain and was given command of a fleet of three caravels sailing for Española. He arrived there in June of the same year, just in time to render effectual assistance to his brother, who was being hard pressed by the unruly members of the little Spanish colony. From that time on he became the most devoted follower of the Admiral, who in 1495 made him adelantado, or governor, of Española, a title which was confirmed by the Crown in 1497. In March, 1496, he assumed command of the colony on the departure of his brother. He founded the town of San Domingo and effectually repressed a native insurrection. During the hardships of the last voyage of Christopher Columbus, Bartholomew proved of invaluable assistance. At Puerto la Gloria in 1594 he repressed a mutiny among the sailors. Late in life he received some recognition for his services from the Crown, which bestowed on him the island of Mona, near Española, as a possession. He died at Seville in December, 1514.

COLUMBUS, (the usual English form, adopted from the Latinized form of the Italian Colombo, which was the original spelling of the family name. After the discoverer entered the Spanish service he became known as Cristóbal Colón) (c.1446-1506). The discoverer of America. Columbus was born in 1445 or 1446. The best authorities surmise that his birth took place in the village of Terrarossa, near Genoa, to which city his father, Domenico Columbus, removed about 1451, in order to be nearer the centre of the wool trade, from which he derived his livelihood. The exact date of Columbus's birth has been a subject of debate, opinions varying from 1436 to 1457, but the most trustworthy evidence seems to show that he was born not long before March 25, 1446. He was early apprenticed to his father's trade, and is referred to in legal documents dated 1472 and 1473 as living in Genoa or Lavona, and engaged in the wool trade. There is probably no foundation in fact for the stories which describe him as having received a university education at Pavia. He probably left home and went to sea in 1473, visiting various Mediterranean ports and eventually reaching Lisbon, where he lived until 1484 or 1485. After he had become famous, stories relating exploits of his early youth as a corsair and pirate, or as pilot or commander of a war vessel belonging to René d'Anjou, Count of Provence, became current, but most of the details

of these stories are inconsistent with known historical facts. The Portuguese were at this time the most skillful sailors in Europe, and among them Columbus may easily have acquired all the knowledge and skill which his later career reveals. He engaged in the business of map-making, besides participating in several expeditions to Guinea, on the African coast, to the eastern Mediterranean, and to England, all of these being voyages which Portuguese merchant vessels were accustomed to make frequently. Slightly more unusual and adventurous was a voyage, to which the definite date 1477 is assigned, to the island of Thule or Iceland.

Columbus's interest in cartography explains his writing a letter concerning the shape of the earth to the learned Italian Toscanelli, accompanying it with one of his globes to illustrate his queries. This elicited the famous reply from Toscanelli, which is ordinarily accepted as marking the time when Columbus began to devote himself to the problem of a direct route from Europe to the Asiatic spice-lands. During one of his Mediterranean voyages he revisited Genoa, it is sometimes maintained, and tried to secure financial assistance which would enable him to test his theories of a direct ocean passage across the Atlantic to Asia, but without success. It is reported also that he tried to enlist help in Venice, and there is nothing improbable in the story. In Portugal, where he had married Philippa Moniz or Muñiz, who is said to have been a daughter of Bartholomé Perestrello, the first governor of Porto Santo, in the Madeiras, and a prominent figure in the history of Portuguese expansion. Columbus secured the ear of the King, who evinced much interest in his plan. The would-be discoverer, however, demanded so large a share of the prospective benefits that the King, who would have had to stand all the financial risk and the burden of popular disappointment in case of failure, was unable to make terms with him. As no compromise could be arranged, the King was persuaded by his courtiers to test the plan of Columbus by sending a vessel to see if the Atlantic offered any insuperable difficulty to the proposed voyage. An adventurer from Madeira, Fernam Dominguez do Arco, had petitioned the King for a grant of the lordship over an island in the west which persistent rumor declared could be seen from the Azores at certain seasons. Dominguez do Arco was therefore sent off to search for his island, and when he returned unsucessful, with terrifying tales of the dangers of the great ocean, the King was convinced that the scheme of Columbus was chimerical. Columbus felt that an attempt had been made to cheat him of his great idea, and so he hastily went to Spain, in the winter of 1484-85, leaving his wife and young children behind.

During the next five years Columbus was in constant attendance about the Spanish Court, practicing his profession of cartographer and seeking to gain the royal interest in his plans. During 1486 and 1487 he succeeded so far as to have two important councils held, at Salamanca and at Granada, at which his propositions were discussed by the principal ecclesiastical and political dignitaries. The consensus of opinion was strongly against him, and Columbus, thoroughly discouraged, reopened negotiations with Portugal, which he revisited in 1488, being present at the return of Dias from the Cape of Good