The Beginner's American History Part 1

The Beginner's American History.

by D. H.Montgomery.

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS (1436-1506).[1]

1. Birth and boyhood of Columbus.--Christopher Columbus,[2] the discoverer of America, was born at Genoa,[3] a seaport of Italy, more than four hundred and fifty years ago. His father was a wool-comber.[4] Christopher did not care to learn that trade, but wanted to become a sailor. Seeing the boy's strong liking for the sea, his father sent him to a school where he could learn geography, map-drawing, and whatever else might help him to become some day commander of a vessel.

[Ill.u.s.tration: COLUMBUS AS A BOY. (From the statue in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.)]

[Footnote 1: These enclosed dates under a name show, except when otherwise stated, the year of birth and death.]

[Footnote 2: Christopher Columbus (Kris'tof-er Ko-lum'bus).]

[Footnote 3: Genoa (Jen'o-ah); see map in paragraph 21.]

[Footnote 4: Wool-comber: before wool can be spun into thread and woven into cloth the tangled locks must be combed out straight and smooth; once this was all done by hand.]

2. Columbus becomes a sailor.--When he was fourteen Columbus went to sea. In those days the Mediterranean[5] Sea swarmed with war-ships and pirates. Every sailor, no matter if he was but a boy, had to stand ready to fight his way from port to port.

In this exciting life, full of adventure and of danger, Columbus grew to manhood. The rough experiences he then had did much toward making him the brave, determined captain and explorer[6] that he afterwards became.

[Footnote 5: Mediterranean (Med'i-ter-ra'ne-an).]

[Footnote 6: Explorer: one who explores or discovers new countries.]

3. Columbus has a sea-fight; he goes to Lisbon.--According to some accounts, Columbus once had a desperate battle with a vessel off the coast of Portugal. The fight lasted, it is said, all day. At length both vessels were found to be on fire. Columbus jumped from his blazing ship into the sea, and catching hold of a floating oar, managed, with its help, to swim to the sh.o.r.e, about six miles away.

He then went to the port of Lisbon.[7] There he married the daughter of a famous sea-captain. For a long time after his marriage Columbus earned his living partly by drawing maps, which he sold to commanders of vessels visiting Lisbon, and partly by making voyages to Africa, Iceland, and other countries.

[Footnote 7: Lisbon: see map in paragraph 21.]

4. What men then knew about the world.--The maps which Columbus made and sold were very different from those we now have. At that time not half of the world had been discovered.[8] Europe, Asia, and a small part of Africa were the chief countries known. The maps of Columbus may have shown the earth shaped like a ball, but he supposed it to be much smaller than it really is. No one then had sailed round the globe. No one then knew what lands lay west of the broad Atlantic; for this reason we should look in vain, on one of the maps drawn by Columbus, for the great continents of North and South America or for Australia or the Pacific Ocean.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The light parts of this map show how much of the world was then well-known; the white crosses show those countries of Eastern Asia of which something was known.]

[Footnote 8: See map in this paragraph.]

5. The plan of Columbus for reaching the Indies by sailing west.--While living in Lisbon, Columbus made up his mind to try to do what no other man, at that time, dared attempt,--that was to cross the Atlantic Ocean. He thought that by doing so he could get directly to Asia and the Indies, which, he believed, were opposite Portugal and Spain. If successful, he could open up a very profitable trade with the rich countries of the East, from which spices, drugs, and silk were brought to Europe. The people of Europe could not reach those countries directly by ships, because they had not then found their way round the southern point of Africa.

[Ill.u.s.tration: This map shows how Columbus (not knowing that America lay in the way) hoped to reach Asia and the East Indies by sailing west.]

6. Columbus tries to get help in carrying out his plans.--Columbus was too poor to fit out even a single ship to undertake such a voyage as he had planned. He asked the king of Portugal to furnish some money or vessels toward it, but he received no encouragement. At length he determined to go to Spain and see if he could get help there.

On the southern coast of Spain there is a small port named Palos.[9]

Within sight of the village of Palos, and also within plain sight of the ocean, there was a convent,[10]--which is still standing,--called the Convent of Saint Mary.

One morning a tall, fine-looking man, leading a little boy by the hand, knocked at the door of this convent and begged for a piece of bread and a cup of water for the child. The man was Columbus,--whose wife was now dead,--and the boy was his son.

It chanced that the guardian of the convent noticed Columbus standing at the door. He liked his appearance, and coming up, began to talk with him. Columbus frankly told him what he was trying to do. The guardian of the convent listened with great interest; then he gave him a letter to a friend who he thought would help him to lay his plans before Ferdinand and Isabella,[11] the king and queen of Spain.

[Footnote 9: Palos (Pa'los); see map in paragraph 12.]

[Footnote 10: Convent: a house in which a number of people live who devote themselves to a religious life.]

[Footnote 11: Isabella (Iz-ah-bel'ah).]

7. Columbus gets help for his great voyage.--Columbus left his son at the convent, and set forward on his journey full of bright hopes.

But Ferdinand and Isabella could not then see him; and after waiting a long time, the traveller was told that he might go before a number of learned men and tell them about his proposed voyage across the Atlantic.

After hearing what Columbus had to say, these men thought that it would be foolish to spend money in trying to reach the other side of the ocean.

People who heard what this captain from Lisbon wanted to do began to think that he had lost his reason, and the boys in the streets laughed at him and called him crazy. Columbus waited for help seven years; he then made up his mind that he would wait no longer. Just as he was about leaving Spain, Queen Isabella, who had always felt interested in the brave sailor, resolved to aid him. Two rich sea-captains who lived in Palos also decided to take part in the voyage. With the a.s.sistance which Columbus now got he was able to fit out three small vessels. He went in the largest of the vessels--the only one which had an entire deck--as admiral[12] or commander of the fleet.

[Footnote 12: Admiral (ad'mi-ral).]

8. Columbus sails.--Early on Friday morning, August 3d, 1492, Columbus started from Palos to attempt to cross that ocean which men then called the "Sea of Darkness,"--a name which showed how little they knew of it, and how much they dreaded it.

We may be pretty sure that the guardian of the convent was one of those who watched the sailing of the little fleet. From the upper windows of the convent he could plainly see the vessels as they left the harbor of Palos.

[Ill.u.s.tration: COLUMBUS LEAVING PALOS, AUGUST 3D, 1492.]

9. What happened on the first part of the voyage.--Columbus sailed first for the Canary Islands, because from there it would be a straight line, as he thought, across to j.a.pan and Asia. He was obliged to stop at the Canaries[13] more than three weeks, in order to make a new rudder for one of his vessels and to alter the sails of another.

At length all was ready, and he again set out on his voyage toward the west. When the sailors got so far out on the ocean that they could no longer see any of the islands, they were overcome with fear. They made up their minds that they should never be able to get back to Palos again. They were rough men, used to the sea, but now they bowed down their heads and cried like children. Columbus had hard work to quiet their fears and to encourage them to go forward with the voyage which they already wanted to give up.

[Footnote 13: Canaries (Ka-na'rez); see map in paragraph 12.]

10. What happened after they had been at sea many days.--For more than thirty days the three ships kept on their way toward the west.

To the crew every day seemed a year. From sunrise to sunset nothing was to be seen but water and sky. At last the men began to think that they were sailing on an ocean which had no end. They whispered among themselves that Columbus had gone mad, and that if they kept on with him in command they should all be lost.

Twice, indeed, there was a joyful cry of Land! Land! but when they got nearer they saw that what they had thought was land was nothing but banks of clouds. Then some of the sailors said, Let us go to the admiral and tell him that we must turn back. What if he will not listen to us? asked others; Then we will throw him overboard and say when we reach Palos that he fell into the sea and was drowned.

But when the crew went to Columbus and told him that they would go no further, he sternly ordered them to their work, declaring that whatever might happen, he would not now give up the voyage.

11. Signs of land.--The very next day such certain signs of land were seen that the most faint-hearted took courage. The men had already noticed great flocks of land-birds flying toward the west, as if to guide them. Now some of the men on one vessel saw a branch of a thorn-bush float by. It was plain that it had not long been broken off from the bush, and it was full of red berries.