COLUMBUS. This truly great man ex erted such immense influence on the industry and commerce of the last three centuries by his discoveries in America, that it is desirable here to note down the extent and dates of his researches. Born at Genoa in or about 1445, he acquired a taste for a maritime life; and towards the close of the century he conceived the idea of crossing the Atlantic, and reaching Asia on the opposite side from that which it had already presented to European travellers : the intervening Continent of America being then unknown. After many difficulties Fer dinand and Isabella of Spain authorized an Expedition by him in 1402.
On Friday, August 3, 1492, Columbus, as admiral of the seas and lands which he ex pected to discover, set sail from the bar of Saltes, near Palos, with three vessels and 120 men, who were full of doubts and fears, and were partly pressed into the service. With great difficulty he succeeded in inducing his crew to persevere through a tedious voyage, till on October 11, 1492, the manifestations of land were such as to convince the most de jected. Accordingly, after the evening prayer, Columbus crdered a careful look out, and himself remained on the high stern of his vessel from ten o'clock, when he had observed glimmerings of light, as he supposed on shore, till two in the morning, when the foremost vessel fared a gun as a signal of land having been discovered. Not an eye was closed that night, and on October 12, with tears of joy, after fervid thanksgivings, Columbus kissed the earth on which he landed, and with great solemnity planted the cross in the new world, at Guanahani, or San Salvador, one of the Gucayos, Lucayan, or Bahama Islands. Those who had lately been most in despair were now the most extravagant in their joy.
On the 24th Columbus set out in quest of gold and Cipango (Japan). After discovering Concepcion, Exuma, and Isla Larga, Cuba broke upon him like an elysium ; he no longer doubted that this beautiful land was the real Cipango. When this delusion was over, he fancied Cuba, which to the day of his death he took for part of the main land of India, to be not far from Mango and Cathay. He next took Hayti or Santo Domingo for the ancient Ophir, the source of the riches of Solomon, but lie gave it the Latin diminutive of His paniola, from its resembling the fairest tracts of Spain. Leaving here the germ of a future colony, he set sail homeward January 4, 1493.
After weathering a dreadful storm, he at last landed triumphantly at Palos, March 15, 1493. He proceeded to Barcelona, where Ferdinand and Isabella received him seated in state, rose as he approached, raised him as he kneeled to kiss their hands, and ordered him to be seated in their presence.
On September 25, 1493, Columbus left Ca diz on a second expedition, with seventeen ships and 1500 men. He discovered the Ca ribbee Islands, Puerto Rico, and Jamaica ; and after repeated mutinies of his colonists, and great hardships, he returned against the trade-winds to Cadiz, June 11, 1496. Having dispelled various calumnies that had been ac cumulated upon him, Columbus embarked on May 30, 1498, at San Lucar de Barrameda, on a third expedition, with only six vessels. In this voyage he discovered Trinidad, the months of the Orinoco, the coast of Feria, and the Margarita and Cubagna Islands. On August 14 he bore away for to recruit his health. While here the intrigues of his ene mies induced Ferdinand, in July 1500, to de spatch Francisco Bovadilla to supersede Co lumbus, and bring him back in chains. Val lejo, the officer who had him in charge, would have taken his chains off ; but Columbus proudly refused. The general burst of indig nation at Cadiz, whichwas echoed throughout Spain, on the arrival of Columbus in fetters, compelled Ferdinand himself to disclaim all knowledge of the shameful transaction. With restricted powers and a broken frame, but with his ever-soaring and irrepressible enthu siasm, Columbus sailed from Cadiz again on May 9, 1502, with four caravels and 150 men, in search of a passage to the East Indies near the Isthmus of Darien, which should super sede that of Vasco de Gama. The mutiny of his crew compelled hlm to return to Hispa niola after coasting the Mosquito Coast, Costa Rica, and Veragua to the point called El Re trete. He reached Santo Domingo August 13, 1503. Sailing homewards on September 12, he anchored his tempest-tossed and shattered bark at San Lucar on November 7, 1504. From San Lucar he proceeded to Sevilla, where he soon after received the news of the death of his patroness Isabella. He was de tained by illness till the spring of 1505, when he arrived at Segovia, to have only another courtly denial of his redress, and to linger a year longer in neglect, poverty, and pain, till death gave him relief at Valladolid on the 20th of May, 1506.