To advert to inland discoveries: As early as 1537, within.•6IX years after the landing of Pizarro in Peru, and within two after the founding of Buenos Ayres, the Spaniards met each other on the eastern borders of Peru, from the opposite shores of the continent ; and, in 1540, within three years more, they sent forth that eastward expedition which ended in Oreliana's exploration of the Amazon, from its source to its mouth. In the northern half of the continent, similar enterprises were of a much later date. It was in 1682 that the French first descended the Mississippi ; it was in 1771 that Hearne traversed the wilderness from Hudson's bay to the mouth of the Coppermine ; and it was respect ively in 1789 and 1793 that Alexander Mackenzie reached the mouth of the river that bears his name, and passed through what is now British Columbia, to the shores of the Pacific ocean.
the European powers that colonized A., the most prominent were Spain, Portugal, France, and England.
Spain, of course, took the lead, having, with few exceptions, accomplished its task before any rival state had entered on its share of the work. In one respect, its colonies differed from all others on the new continent. Spain alone came in contact with civilization, such as it was among the aborigines; and accordingly, in the cases of Mexico and Peru, colonization required to be preceded by something like regular war and formal conquest. But, notwithstanding this peculiar obstacle, the colonies of Spain grew at first with a rapidity which, perhaps, has scarcely found its parallel even in the somewhat congenial case of Australia_ As an illustration of this—for the statement needs no proof—it was colonial resources that armed Cortes and Pizarro for their respective enterprises. 'Without the direct and immediate aid, in either instance, of the old country, Cuba, within 27 years after the first discovery, equipped the conquerors of Mexico; while the town of Panama, only 12 years later, sent forth the adventurers that were to subjugate Peru. So unexampled a degree of vigor and vitality continued to advance in Spain's transatlantic possessions, precisely while they were so organized and conducted as to afford scope to individual ambition. Never, perhaps, was this scope
sufficiently free and full, for, even from the beginning, government often embarrassed and blighted the fairest schemes by its jealous and suspicious interference. But, for a time, it generally found its account in tolerating the unrestricted liberty, or license, of its instruments. It was, therefore, only after law and order were established, and the original actors had disappeared from the scene, that the authorities of the mother country stereotyped, as it were, their despotism along the length and breadth of every colony. From that moment, vigor and vitality were succeeded by stagnation and torpor. Still, with such elements of prosperity on every side—above the earth and below it— material interests could not fail to flourish. But the soul had fled; the body alone remained behind. Under these circumstances, Spain, though continuing to claim the entire continent to the n., more especially on the Pacific, did very little to enforce its pretensions. To this remark, New Mexico and upper California were •the only exceptions. It was not before 1594 that New Mexico was at all occupied; and it was not till a century later that the province, after 10 years of bush-fighting, was finally subdued; while it was only California. 1767 that the Franciscans, on behalf of Spain, took possession of upper California. 'But Spain never abandoned the hope of extending its dominions towards the n.w. coast. As late as 1790, that power, while restoring Kootka sound, and acknowledging Eng,land's right of planting other settlements, took the pre caution, useless as it proved, of expressly reserving a similar right to itself; and it was only in 1819, nearly 30 years later, that Spain formally ceded to the United States all its claims to the coast above the parallel of 42°. See further under the separate head of