Spanish America (Vol.1&2). Sir Richard Henry Bonnycastle

      ERA OF DISCOVERY AND COLONIZATION.

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      The discovery of the New World, has caused more discussion, arising from interest, curiosity and scientific motives, during a period of nearly three centuries, than any anterior extension of geographical knowledge, in the annals of mankind. Numberless have been the disputes concerning the probable duration, formation and population of that vast continent; as well as on the identity of the individual, who fortuitously opened that immeasurable region and wonderful country to the admiring eyes of his brethren of the eastern hemisphere.

      This work professing solely to relate, from authentic documents, what regards that portion of the New World which is claimed by Spain, either by right of conquest or discovery, we shall, consequently, not touch upon any of those indeterminate questions: therefore, whatever may be the notions respecting voyages prior to those of Columbus, having been performed by European navigators, it is universally admitted that Cristoval Colon, or as he is usually called Christopher Columbus, was the first who made the existence of America generally known; accordingly we shall take our dates from the era of his discovery of the western world.

      In the year 1492, on the 3d of August, being Friday, Columbus sailed from Spain, in a small vessel called the Santa Maria, having with her two others, and, after meeting with difficulties which no one but a man possessed of the most extraordinary mind could have overcome, he made the land of the New World, at ten oʼclock on the night of the 11th of October, in the same year; having himself first observed a light moving about on the shore; although the land itself was not visible until two oʼclock, on the morning of Friday the 12th, when it was seen by Roderic de Triana in the ship Pinta: so that an interval of sixty-nine days, passed in the greatest anxiety, elapsed, from the time of quitting the Old to the arrival in sight of the New Hemisphere.

      The joy of the Europeans at this discovery, knew no bounds; they lavished encomiums on their leader, whom they had hitherto looked on as a visionary; they solicited his pardon for their infidelity, and pressed him to land: he set his foot on the shore, amid the exultation of his companions, and the prostrations and astonishment of the natives, who regarded their unexpected visitors as a celestial people, and, accordingly, paid them divine honours.

      Columbus took formal possession of the land in the name of the King of Spain, hoisting the royal standard, displaying a flag with a large green cross, and naming it San Salvador (The Holy Saviour); but it is now known by the native name Guanahani, and is the Cat Island of the British charts, one of the outermost of the Lucayos or Bahamas Group. He afterward discovered Cuba and St. Domingo, or Hispaniola, where he built a fort out of the timbers of his ship which was cast ashore, and then returned to Spain. This fort was afterwards destroyed, as well as its garrison, by the natives.

      His next voyage lasted during the years 1493, 94, 95, when he founded a town in Hispaniola, or St. Domingo, which town he called Isabella. The natives styled this island Hayti (the Land of Mountains); but Columbus chose to name it Hispaniola (little Spain). This town, which Columbus founded about the 10th December, 1493, was the commencement of Spanish enterprize and colonization in the New World, as it was a permanent settlement. Columbus arrived in Europe in 1496, having spent the intermediate time in researches amongst the Caribbean Islands.

      The third voyage of Columbus in 1498, was the means of discovering the island of Trinidad, and observing near it the mouth of a large river, he proceeded farther; when, to his astonished view, the continent presented itself. He landed on that part of the South American coast, called Paria, which took place in the month of August in the same year.

      A person named Americo Vespucci, a Florentine, accompanied one of the officers of Columbus to the New World, in 1499, (this officer had been with Columbus during the second voyage), when they visited those places which the Admiral had previously explored, and returned to Europe.

      Vespucci being a man of some science, published an account of the New Countries, which being the first description that had been given to the world at large, ungrateful Europe has decreed to him the honour of allowing the New World to bear his name; neglecting the genius whose daring imagination had dictated the Discovery, and whose arduous exertion had completed it; he, receiving for his reward, the disgraceful punishment of being conveyed to Spain, in the year 1500, in fetters. An affecting proof of his sense of this indignity is related by his son, who says, “These fetters Columbus ever after kept with him, and on his death-bed, ordered them to be deposited in the grave with his body!”

      In 1502, Columbus, having discomfited his enemies, made a fourth voyage, in which he discovered and explored a vast extent of the continent of America; particularly the coast of Honduras, Verapaz, and Veragua, with the harbour of Porto Bello.

      Having thus briefly stated the voyage of Columbus, which has been done with the view of fixing the epoch of Spanish colonization in the New World, we shall not enter into the discoveries of parts of the Spanish American colonies by other navigators or adventurers, at present; but reserving these subjects for the particular provincial descriptions, we shall proceed to relate what extent of territory is claimed by the Spanish Crown in North America.

EXTENT AND BOUNDARIES.

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      In North America, the northern and eastern boundary of the Spanish territory is situated in north latitude 31°, where an ideal line, running through St. Maryʼs River, separates the United States from the Floridas. The Atlantic Ocean on the east, the Gulf of Mexico on the south, and the river Perdido on the west, complete the limit of that division which comprises the tract of territory known by the name of Florida.

      The northern and western boundary is much disputed, but according to the best information, it extends from Port St. Francisco on the Pacific Ocean in 37° 48ʹ 30ʺ north latitude, and 122° 36ʹ 45ʺ west longitude, (according to Vancouver); between which and Port Sir Francis Drake, there is a wild country. Port Sir Francis Drake is in about 39° north latitude, and to this port the British claims on the western coast of America extend.

      The Spanish government have set up an inadmissible claim to the whole western coast, but, as much doubt has existed on the claims of the two nations, 39° north latitude, has been usually taken as the boundary of Spanish acquisitions in the New World; because they have some settlements in that latitude to the north of the town of Santa Fé, in New Mexico, as well as because the sources of the Rio Bravo are situated thereabouts. Therefore, commencing from the coast of the Pacific in 39° north latitude, we draw an ideal line from that parallel across the country, until we have passed the province of New Mexico; thence the line bends southward and eastward, until it meets the River Mexicano, or Mermento, which it follows to the Gulf of Mexico; where, in this quarter, the boundaries are again disputed by the government of the United States; who, since Louisiana has been ceded to them, lay claim to the whole country, up to the eastern bank of the Rio Bravo del Norte; the Spaniards, however, do not admit this, and fix their boundaries at the estuary of the Mexicano, or Mermento. A reference to the accompanying map will better explain those disputed limits than any verbal account.

      The western barrier of Spanish territory in North America, is the Pacific Ocean; on the south east, the Gulf of Mexico, the Bay of Honduras, and the Caribbean Sea, are the boundaries established by nature; and on the south, a chain of mountains called the Sierro de Canatagua,