WHO DISCOVERED AMERICA?

New Zealand Times, Volume LVII, Issue 2411, 17 January 1895, Page 4

WHO DISCOVERED AMERICA?

From Our Special Correspondent. , London, November 24. Fur five hundred yens humanity has been .content to give Christopher Columbus ‘ the credit of having discovered * America, but on Monday afternoon Mr ■ H. Yule Oldham, lecturer on geography at Cambridge University, made a despe- ‘ rate attempt to snatch the laurel crown from the long dead navigator’s grave. ] Ha tried to prove before the specialists ( of the Royal Geographical Society a preColumbian discovery of Yankeeland, but one is glad to say did not succeed in disturbing his audience’s belief in the Spaniard's right to his niche in the Temple of Fame. Mr Oldham said it was curious that amongst the many claims to the honour of having discovered America none have been urged in favour of the Portuguese, and yet there was a strong inherent probability that in the course of their .West African exploration they must have reached the New World. Not only was the distance from West Africa to Brazil the shortest, but winds and currents made it the easiest route from the Old to the Now World. In 1300 Cabral, with a well equipped fleet, standing out to sea to round Cape Verde on his way to India, was carried on to ihe Brazilian-coast. What happened to Cabral might, Mr Oldham argued, have very well occurred to others at an earlier date—in fact ns soon as vessels began to round Capo Verde. That promontory was first rounded in the course of West African exploration, carried on under Prince Henry the Navigator, a.d. 1445. Shortly before that date an immense stimulus had been' given to Portugese exploration by the discovery of inhabited lands south of Sahara. Crowds of vessels sailed for the newly-found.regions, and few things were-less improbable than that one of those ships should hove been carried across to Brazil. To show that this actually happened Mr Oldham pointed out that there was strong evidence on a remarkable MS map, made by Andrea Biancho, of Venice, in 1448, in London. On this map, which amongst other features of interest gave for the first time the Portuguese discoveries as . far as Cape Verde, Hid re was shown south-west of that Cape—in the direction of Brazil —a long stretch of coast line with the singular inscription, “ Ixola otiuticha-xe longa a pouonte 1500 mia ie , “ Genuine Island is distant 1500 ' miles to the west." Owing to want of, ■ apace on/tho parchment on which the ' map was drawn this coast lino, though placodat the very edge.' was still rather close to The coast o'f Africa. The insorip tion seemed intended. to correct this. On the first map dealing' with' :tho ;. Atlantic Ocean after -Bianoho’* map—namely Behaira’u globe of -1492—there was a-large island shown in the position indicated by Biancho, Galvano, in his “ Discoveries of the World," stated that in 1447 a Portuguese ship, driven in a storm far to tho west, discovered, an island which Galvano believed to have been the West Indies, subsequently dis coveied by Columbus. Mr Oldham was, however, inclined to think, that it was f Brazil. Andrea Bianoho doubtless; obtained his information in Portugal when • sailing with the annual Venetian fleet from Venice to London, and deeming it of much importance committed it to parchment in tho latter city without waiting till his return home. That the Portuguese should not have followed up such a discovery Mr Oldham did not deem surprising, since the whole energy of the nation’s marine force was directed to finding a route round Africa to the East. That they, had not forgotten their discovery, however, seemed to be shown by their action after the issuing of the famous Papal Bull of May 4, 1494, with its line of demarcation 100 leagues west and south of tho Ca; o Verde Isles. 'What reason they had for protesting against this line, and what arguments they used' to ■ induce the Spaniards to agree to tho Torcedillas Treaty in the following year by which the line was removed 270 degrees further west, thus securing to them eventually Btazil, had never yet been clearly set forth. If, however, they were aware of the existence of Brazil in any curious. ’ points in their negotiations with Spaim were easily explicable. A statement by n Herera, the official Spanish historiographer, shed a remarkable light on the matter, for, when giving the reasons which led Columbus to select the curious southerly route adopted by him in his third voyage ho said Columbus “resolved to sail to the southward to ' find out whether King John of Portugal had been mistaken, who affirmed that there was a continent to the southward." 1 From those premises Mr Oldham argued that not only was there an inherent probability of tho Portuguese having discovered ’ South America after,Cape Verde had been reached in 1445, but there was the definite record on Biancho’s map of 1448 of land 1 discovered in that direction,, and moreover evidence tt?at the Portuguese at the ! time of Columbus’s voyages knew of its existence. It seemed not unreasonable, ■ therefore, to claim that the-'Portuguese ; discovered South America about the year' tn which Columbus was born. Such was Air Oldham’s case 09 behalf of the Portu r geso, but whilst giving him every credit for his research amongst old; charts'too much neglected by geographers, tho specialist jury before ■ whom he pleaded, gave their verdict “ Not proven." The ■ Portuguese had doubtless done a groat deal more to elucidate the geographical problem than they were yet credited with, but much' more evidence would'be required on this particular head to bring about the dethronement of Christopher Columbus. ■ '