Читать книгу Canada and its Provinces - Various - Страница 6
ОглавлениеIntroduction
The fifteenth century was a brilliant epoch; the dawn of glorious enterprise and experiment; the birthday of great thoughts. Throughout the civilized countries of Europe intellectual life was awakened and individual enterprise was quickened. Art, science and literature flourished and great inventions and discoveries gave an impulse to human intelligence. It was an age favourable to men of genius in every walk of life. It was an age, too, of dreams and romance. It seems fitting, therefore, that the close of the century should have witnessed a remarkable achievement in the field of exploration—the triumph of Christopher Columbus—which placed within the grasp of the Old World the untold treasures of the New. With the early career of Columbus, his struggles against ignorance and prejudice, the perils of his voyages or his tragic end, we need not deal; but it may serve as an introduction to our subject to turn to the brighter side of the picture, when for the moment all hardships are forgotten, and behold him as he returns in 1493 to recount the thrilling story of successful adventure.
The court had already been apprised of the satisfactory termination of his voyage, and the renown of the discoverer had spread rapidly through the provinces of Spain. Soon after his arrival at Seville he received a letter from the sovereigns addressed to him by the title of Don Cristoforo Colombo, commanding him to repair with due diligence to the court. His progress through the provinces was that of a monarch. His entry into the city of Barcelona was attended with pomp and pageantry, and the six natives who accompanied him from the New World, painted in gorgeous colours and decked with curious ornaments of gold, lent a peculiar touch to the scene that appealed to the imagination of the people. The streets were thronged with an eager and expectant multitude, and from window, balcony and roof all eyes were centred on the picturesque figure of the man who, from comparative obscurity, had suddenly reached the pinnacle of fame.
The king and queen, attended by the nobles and ladies of the court, received Columbus at the foot of the throne, and, commanding him to be seated in their presence, requested him to give them an account of the striking events of his voyage. Columbus, who was still under the impression that the country he had visited was the end of the Asiatic continent, told them of the islands he had found, presented to them the natives of the country, and displayed specimens of birds, plants and minerals. At the conclusion of the narrative, which created a profound impression, the sovereigns sank upon their knees and gave thanks to God for so great a providence. From that moment Columbus was enthroned upon the praises of the people.
The Voyages of John Cabot
The tidings of the discoveries of Columbus and of the marvellous reception accorded to him by the Spaniards were soon conveyed to England and caused much excitement at the court of Henry VII, where the achievement was spoken of as ‘a thing more divine than human.’ The merchants of London and Bristol, always eager to seize opportunities for enterprise and profit, became keenly interested, and speculation ran high. Several unsuccessful attempts to find the mythical Island of Brazil and the Islands of the Seven Seas had been made from Bristol, and as early as 1480 Captain Thylde had spent nine weeks in buffeting the Atlantic in a vain effort to find land to the west, but was driven back to the coast of Ireland by stress of weather.
