Page:European treaties bearing on the history of the United States and its dependencies.djvu/25

This page needs to be proofread.

adeo foret incognitum, ut nullam de partium illarum gentibus certam notitiam haberemus, credens se maximum in hoc Deo prestare obsequium, si ejus opera et industria mare ipsum usque ad Indos qui Christi nomen colere dicuntur,^[1] navigabile fieret, sicque cum eis participare, et illos in Christianorum auxilium adversus Sarracenos et alios hujusmodi fidei hostes commovere posset, ac nonnullos gentiles seu paganos nefandissimi Machometi secta minime infectos populos inibi medio existentes continuo debellare, eisque incognitum sacra tissimum Christi nomen predicare ac facere predicari, regia tamen semper auctoritate munitus, a viginti quinque annis, citra exercitum ex dictorum regnorum gentibus, maximis cum laboribus, periculis, et expensis in velo cissimis navibus, caravelis^[2] nuncupatis, ad perquirendum mare et provincias maritimas versus meridionales partes et polum antarticum, annis singulis fere mittere non cessavit; sicque factum est, ut cum naves hujusmodi quamplures portus, insulas, et maria perlustrassent, et occupassent, ad Guineam pro vinciam^[3] tandem pervenirent, occupatisque nonnullis insulis, portibus, ac mari eidem provincie adjacentibus, ulterius navigantes ad hostium cujusdam magni fluminis Nili^[4] communiter reputati pervenirent, et contra illarum

↑ The early voyages sent out by Prince Henry along the west coast of Africa were connected with the crusade which after the conquest of Ceuta the Portuguese carried on against the Saracens in Morocco (see Beazley, "Prince Henrv of Portugal and the African Crusade of the Fifteenth Century", in the American Historical Review, XVI. 11-23). They were undertaken partly to learn whether there were any Christian princes in the interior who would aid the prince against the Moors, and because the infante desired to have knowledge not only of Guinea "but also of the Indies and the land of Prester John" ( Azurara, Guinea, chs. 7, 16; ed. Beazley and Prestage, I. 55). The " In dians who are said to worship Christ" are clearly the subjects of Prester John. The question where the Portuguese supposed these Christian Indians to dwell--whether in Abyssinia or Asia--has aroused a controversy, which is summed up in Vignaud, Histoire Critique, I. 195 ff. A bit of evidence, apparently not noticed hitherto but conclusive for its date, is in the oration of obedience, delivered on Dec. 9, 1485, before Innocent VIII., by the Portuguese ambassador, Vasco Fernandes de Lueena. A copy of this oration, printed at Rome, probably in 1485, is in the British Museum. The pas sage is as follows: "Accedit tandem hiis omnibus baud dubia spes Arabici sinus perscrutandi, ubi Asiam incolentium regna et nationes, vix apud nos obscurissima fama cognite, sanctissimam Salvatoris fidem religiosissime colunt: a quibus jam si modo vera probatissimi geographi tradunt paucorum dierum itinere Lusitanorum navigatio abest." This statement concerning the goal of the Portuguese is opposed to Vignaud's conclusion that up to 1486 the Portuguese were seeking the Indies of Prester John in Africa.
↑ Cadamosto, the Venetian, called the Portuguese caravels the best sailing ships at sea. "They were usually 20-30 metres long, 6-8 metres in breadth; were equipped with three masts, without rigging-tops, or yards; and had lateen sails stretched upon long oblique poles, hanging suspended from the mast-head. . . . They usually ran with all their sail, turning by means of it, and sailing straight upon a bow-line driving before the wind. When they wished to change their course it was enough to trim the sails." Beazleys introduction to Azurara, Guinea, II. cxii-cxiii.
↑ A vague knowledge of a land called Guinea ("Ganuya", "Ginuia "), south of the great desert, inhabited by negroes and rich in gold, existed in Europe long before the time of Prince Henry. The name "provincia Ganuya" appears on the mappemonde of the Medicean or Laurentian atlas of 1351, reproduced in facsimile in T. Fischer, Raccolta di Mappamondi, pt. V. ( 1881), and, with clearer lettering, in Santarem, Atlas de Mappemondes ( 1849- 1852), no. 24, and is fully discussed in T. Fischer, Sammlung Mittelalterlicher Welt- und Seekarten ( 1886), pp. 127-147. "Ginuia" is indicated on the Catalan mappemonde of 1375, of which an available reproduction is opposite p. 78 in S. Ruge, Zeistalter der Entdeckungen ( 1881), in W. Oncken, Allgemeine Geschichte.
↑ The Senegal, or Western Nile, or Nile of the Negroes. When this river was dis covered in 1445 it was believed to be a branch of the Nile. The maps referred to in the preceding note show a water connection between the Atlantic, Guinea., and the Nubian Nile. Hostium is for ostium.

[1] The early voyages sent out by Prince Henry along the west coast of Africa were connected with the crusade which after the conquest of Ceuta the Portuguese carried on against the Saracens in Morocco (see Beazley, "Prince Henrv of Portugal and the African Crusade of the Fifteenth Century", in the American Historical Review, XVI. 11-23). They were undertaken partly to learn whether there were any Christian princes in the interior who would aid the prince against the Moors, and because the infante desired to have knowledge not only of Guinea "but also of the Indies and the land of Prester John" ( Azurara, Guinea, chs. 7, 16; ed. Beazley and Prestage, I. 55). The " In dians who are said to worship Christ" are clearly the subjects of Prester John. The question where the Portuguese supposed these Christian Indians to dwell--whether in Abyssinia or Asia--has aroused a controversy, which is summed up in Vignaud, Histoire Critique, I. 195 ff. A bit of evidence, apparently not noticed hitherto but conclusive for its date, is in the oration of obedience, delivered on Dec. 9, 1485, before Innocent VIII., by the Portuguese ambassador, Vasco Fernandes de Lueena. A copy of this oration, printed at Rome, probably in 1485, is in the British Museum. The pas sage is as follows: "Accedit tandem hiis omnibus baud dubia spes Arabici sinus perscrutandi, ubi Asiam incolentium regna et nationes, vix apud nos obscurissima fama cognite, sanctissimam Salvatoris fidem religiosissime colunt: a quibus jam si modo vera probatissimi geographi tradunt paucorum dierum itinere Lusitanorum navigatio abest." This statement concerning the goal of the Portuguese is opposed to Vignaud's conclusion that up to 1486 the Portuguese were seeking the Indies of Prester John in Africa.

[2] Cadamosto, the Venetian, called the Portuguese caravels the best sailing ships at sea. "They were usually 20-30 metres long, 6-8 metres in breadth; were equipped with three masts, without rigging-tops, or yards; and had lateen sails stretched upon long oblique poles, hanging suspended from the mast-head. . . . They usually ran with all their sail, turning by means of it, and sailing straight upon a bow-line driving before the wind. When they wished to change their course it was enough to trim the sails." Beazleys introduction to Azurara, Guinea, II. cxii-cxiii.

[3] A vague knowledge of a land called Guinea ("Ganuya", "Ginuia "), south of the great desert, inhabited by negroes and rich in gold, existed in Europe long before the time of Prince Henry. The name "provincia Ganuya" appears on the mappemonde of the Medicean or Laurentian atlas of 1351, reproduced in facsimile in T. Fischer, Raccolta di Mappamondi, pt. V. ( 1881), and, with clearer lettering, in Santarem, Atlas de Mappemondes ( 1849- 1852), no. 24, and is fully discussed in T. Fischer, Sammlung Mittelalterlicher Welt- und Seekarten ( 1886), pp. 127-147. "Ginuia" is indicated on the Catalan mappemonde of 1375, of which an available reproduction is opposite p. 78 in S. Ruge, Zeistalter der Entdeckungen ( 1881), in W. Oncken, Allgemeine Geschichte.

[4] The Senegal, or Western Nile, or Nile of the Negroes. When this river was dis covered in 1445 it was believed to be a branch of the Nile. The maps referred to in the preceding note show a water connection between the Atlantic, Guinea., and the Nubian Nile. Hostium is for ostium.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]