John and
Sebastian Cabot had gone out from Bristol, England, to Newfoundland, and
had discovered, in June, 1497, the North American continent before
Columbus had touched South America. Early in 1499 one of the pilots who
had accompanied Columbus on his Cuban trip secured a license, and not
only explored the Central American coast for several hundred miles, but
traded his European trifles and gewgaws with the natives for gold and
silver, returning to Spain with real profits.
That same year, 1499, Vicente Pinzon of Palos, who with his brother
Martin had made the first voyage, also secured a license and sailed
southwest over the equator, discovering the Amazon River and taking
possession of Brazil for Spain. Our adventurous acquaintance Ojeda also
had been busy. When the Paria pearls arrived in Sevilla, he asked his
friend Fonseca to show him both the pearls and Columbus's map of
Trinidad and the neighboring coast. Although Ojeda had recently been in
open rebellion against the Admiral in Haiti, as we have seen, Fonseca
did not hesitate to let him see where the pearl land lay; and so Ojeda,
with an Italian named Vespucci, whom we shall meet later, sailed to
Paria and gathered its wealth.
Also, in this year so great for navigation, a Portuguese fleet of
thirteen ships set out from Lisbon to round the Cape of Good Hope.
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