The Spanish Discovery of the South American Mainland

Abstract

T HE Spanish Main, that haunt of explorers, exploiters, colonists, and pirates for some three centuries, is commonly supposed to have been discovered by Columbus in I498. On his first two voyages he found only islands; but on his third voyage he visited the mainland of South America, exploring the Gulf of Paria and following the coast of Venezuela westward for more than a hundred miles. In a manuscript now belonging to the Library of Congress there is a narrative that has apparently lain unnoticed for half a century, telling how Columbus sent five caravels south and southeast from Hispaniola and Cuba in search of a certain pearl-fishery. Information about the place evidently came from the natives of Hispaniola, some of whom went along as guides. The course of the expedition is indicated rather sketchily, especially toward the end, where there is some reason to suspect an intentional ambiguity. Only Hispaniola and Cuba are mentioned by name; but the pearl-fishery was clearly on the coast of Venezuela, and the five caravels, before they returned, seem to have made an almost complete circuit of the Caribbean Sea. The time was between September 28 and November I4, and the year is indicated, though by a somewhat roundabout and not absolutely certain method, as I494. This, if authentic, is manifestly important. It dates the Spanish discovery of the mainland of America four years earlier than has commonly been supposed. It goes far toward explaining the famous world map drawn by Juan de la Cosa in I500, which has long been under suspicion of being later in date because it includes the western shore of the Caribbean and depicts Cuba as an island. It throws light also on the alleged effort of Columbus in I498 to conceal his own discovery of pearls, an effort that is held by some to have been the turning point in his whole career and to have caused his downfall from royal favor. The history of the study of Columbus and his period is strewn with the wrecks of forged or fanciful theories regarding one matter or another; and a narrative like this one, offering several unexpected possibilities of historical importance, requires to be scrutinized with the utmost care. I have made elsewhere some initial efforts to examine the credentials of the manuscript in which it is found, and also to estimate its relation to the official report of Columbus concerning his