Pioneer Spaniards in North America . nation. Braggarts have some-times shown themselves to be really brave, andpersons addicted to exaggeration may yet betruthful in the main. Let us, therefore, not toohastily condemn Amerigo Vespucci, — or Amer-icus Vespucius, as we call him, using the Latinform of his name, — but rather try to get atsome of the main facts in this controversy. First, let us note that there is not any disputewhatever as to who led the way to the NewWorld. If it was to be named for its discoverer,it should have been called Columbia. On thispoint all the world is agreed. The onl
Pioneer Spaniards in North America . nation. Braggarts have some-times shown themselves to be really brave, andpersons addicted to exaggeration may yet betruthful in the main. Let us, therefore, not toohastily condemn Amerigo Vespucci, — or Amer-icus Vespucius, as we call him, using the Latinform of his name, — but rather try to get atsome of the main facts in this controversy. First, let us note that there is not any disputewhatever as to who led the way to the NewWorld. If it was to be named for its discoverer,it should have been called Columbia. On thispoint all the world is agreed. The only questionis as to who first sighted the mainland. Accord-ing to the accepted account, Columbus, in histhird voyage, in 1498, first reached the coast ofSouth America, and thus was the discovererof the American continent, as well as of theNew World, in general. But here comes inVespuccis claim, which was published someyears later. According to this story, he sailed 26 Xmcn di ameri^o vcfpacci dcsie ifoie mommcntc trouatcirt qnawo. FRONTISPIECE TO THE FIRST EDITION OF VESPUCCls LETTERS AMERICUS VESPUCIUS on May lo, 1497 — note the year; made a land-fall somewhere on this continent — his usualinaccuracy makes it difficult to determine at whatpoint; coasted it for many hundreds of miles;had a number of adventures with the natives,whom he describes quite minutely ; and finallyreturned to Spain with a cargo of Indian course, if this account is true, there is noroom for dispute : Vespucci discovered theAmerican continent. But, say the admirers ofColumbus, this alleged voyage of Vespucci, in1497, is a wicked invention, intended to rob thegreat discoverer of a part of his just fame. Theymake, in especial, these two points against theFlorentine: (i) His account of this voyage re-lates almost identically the same incidents thatoccurred in Ojedas first vovage (see the preced-ing chapter), on which he undoubtedly was pres-ent as a pilot. These occurrences, they say,he pu
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