NEW DISCOVERER.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 3 September 1925, Page 10

NEW DISCOVERER.

OF NEW WORLD

SHOWED THE WAY TO COLUMBUS

It is- generally' thought that everybody knows who discovered America, writes the Lisbon correspondent of the Boston Monitor; but now it appears Hint, although tlie small boy at the primary instruction schools entertains no doubt whatever on tlie subject, the same does not occur with certain European professors and men. of natural science. Eeh of these points out a different name as that of tlie man- who won the record of trans-Atlantic navigation in the fifteenth century, and among those names that of Christopher Columbus is generally not even meiltioned. fhe articles recently published by Dr. Sofus Larsen in Danish newspapers and in a.n important Paris review are interesting historians and men of letters in Portugal. In the article referred to, Dr. Larsen affirms that it was not Christopher Columbus who discovered America, but an expedition composed of Danes and- Portuguese. This- subject is being largely- discussed in tlie Portuguese press. A Portuguese Discoverer. Recently the “Secolo, ” one of tlie most widely circulated newspapers of this capital, published- an article refuting the assertions of the Danish savant. Tlie writer declares that the man who discovered America was a Portuguese, Affonso Sanches, who left Lisbon in a caravel, in the beginning of the year 1486, bound for the west coast of Africa; on a commercial mission.

Affonso Sandies called at the Canary- Isles, and, inspired by the tales- he heard there of the- existence of a new ian.it lying to the west, lie sailed in that direction, and on August 6, 1486, anehord at am island, to which he gave the- name of St. Salvador.

There lie got on friendly' terms with the natives, but one <lay when they went ashore Affonso Sandies and some of his companions were treacherously 'assassinated. Three sailors that were aboard escaped .in the caravel to Europe, and arrived at Funchal, Madeira, in tlie early' months of 2457. Columbus Obtained Caravel’s Log. Christopher Columbus, who bad for a long time been residing in Funchal, went on board and heard the story from the sailors, who were worn out by privations and suffering-. Columbus took possession of the caravel’s logbook and took the three sailors to his house to bo attended to, but they' passed away shortly afterwards.

Two years' later Christopher Columbus obtained from Isabelle of Spain leave, to organise the small fleet that led him to success. Tie followed, like Sanches), the route via tho Canary Isles, and on October 11, 14!>2, in view of mutiny on the part of the sailors, who did not want to go any further, Columbus, who knew the route through Alfonso Sanches’ log-book, promised them that if tlie wind did not fail them on the following day they would, see land, As a fact,- on the next day Columbus anchored at the same island where Sanches had anchored on August 6, 1486. Columbus bestowed on it the same name that Sanches- had given it, but without mentioning the first discoverer.