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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

1575.

COLUMBUS.

FROM OLDEST WOOD-CUT EXTANT, BY PAOLO GIOVIO,
Frontispiece.

CARAVEL OF COLUMBUS. FROM DRAWING SENT BY HIM TO QUEEN

ISABELLA, 1492 .

. xviii

AMERICAN CRUISER CHICAGO, 1892

xix

WASHINGTON. AFTER HALL & SONS' ENGRAVING FROM THE ST.
MEMIN CRAYON

176

[blocks in formation]

FROM DRAWING OF SPANISH CARAVEL

IN VOLUME OF

LETTERS OF COLUMBUS, 1494.

SPANISH CARAVEL,

1492.

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COLUMBIAN INTRODUCTION.

THE CAREER OF COLUMBUS.

EVERY circumstance relating to the discovery and settlement of America is an interesting object of inquiry. Christopher Columbus was born in the republic of Genoa, about the year 1447,1 at a time when the navigation of Europe was scarcely extended beyond the limits of the Mediterranean Sea. The mariner's compass had been invented and in common use for more than a century; and yet, with the help of this sure guide, prompted by a most ardent spirit of discovery, encouraged by the patronage of princes, the mariners of those days rarely ventured beyond the sight of land. They acquired great applause by sailing along the coast of Africa and discovering some of the neighboring islands, and, after pushing their researches with the greatest industry and perseverance for more than a half a century, the Portuguese, who were the most fortunate and enterprising, extended their discoveries southward as far as the equator. The rich commodities of the East had for several ages been brought into Europe by the way of the Red Sea and the Mediterranean; and it had now become the object of the Portuguese to find a passage to India by sailing round the southern extremity of Africa and then taking an eastern course. This great object engaged the general attention of mankind, and drew into the Portuguese service adventurers from every maritime nation of Europe. Every year added to their experience

1 Mr. Irving gives 1435 as the year of the birth of Columbus. Mr. Justin Winsor, librarian of Harvard College, in his elaborate "Life of Columbus," published in 1892, places the date as between March, 1446, and March, 1447, thus sustaining the view of Mr. Webster.

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