Amerigo Vespucci

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[Illustration: A CONJECTURAL RESTORATION OF TOSCANELLI'S MAP]

In short, Toscanelli calculated the distance, made a conjectural chart
embodying the results of his readings of Aristotle, Strabo, and
Ptolemy, of his conversations during many years with Oriental
travellers, and his own observations. He sent this chart to Columbus;
the latter adopted it as his guide, and by means of it, faulty as it
was, achieved his great "discovery." Whose, then, is the merit of this
achievement? Does it not belong as much to Toscanelli as to Columbus?

To whomsoever the credit may be given--whether to the man who
conceived the idea, or to him who developed it, and whether or not
Columbus intentionally appropriated the honor and glory
exclusively--by the irony of fate, there stood a man at Toscanelli's
elbow, as it were, when he wrote to the Genoese, who was destined to
rob him of his great discovery's richest reward. This man was Amerigo
Vespucci, after whom--though unsuggested by him and unknown to
him--the continents of America were named, by strangers, before
Christopher Columbus had lain a year in his grave!

It is not at all improbable that Vespucci was aware of the
correspondence between Toscanelli and Columbus, as he was then
acquainted with the former, and at the age of twenty-three was
intensely interested in the pursuits of the learned physician. Next
to Toscanelli, in fact, he was probably the best-informed man then
living in Florence as to the studies to which his friend had devoted
the better part of his life, and it is not unreasonable to suppose
that he saw the letters before they were sent to Columbus.

But this is a trivial matter compared with the importance of these
letters, in a consideration of the effect they produced upon the mind
of Columbus, for, if they did not suggest to him the idea of voyaging
westerly to discover the Indies, they certainly confirmed him in the
opinion that such a voyage could be successfully made. By a strange
freak of fate these letters were preserved in the _Life of Columbus_,
written by his son Fernando, and there can be no question of their
authenticity. They breathe the spirit of benevolence for which
Toscanelli was noted, and indicate the greatness of the man--a
greatness decidedly in contrast to the mean and petty nature of his
correspondent, who would have perished sooner than allow information
so precious to escape from him to the world.

Toscanelli's first letter was written in Florence, June 25, 1474, and
is as follows:

"_To Christopher Columbus, Paul the Physicist wishes
health._

"I perceive your noble and earnest desire to sail to those
parts where the spice is produced, and therefore, in answer
to a letter of yours, I send you another letter which, some
days since, I wrote to a friend of mine, a servant of the
King of Portugal before the wars of Castile, in answer to
another that he wrote me by his highness's order, upon this
same account. And I also _send you another sea-chart_, like
the one I sent to him, which will satisfy your demands. This
is a copy of the letter:

"_'To Ferdinand Martinez, Canon of Lisbon, Paul the
Physicist wishes health._

"'I am very glad to hear of the familiarity you enjoy with
your most serene and magnificent king, and though I have
very often discoursed concerning _the short way there is
from hence to the Indies_, where the spice is produced, by
sea (which I look upon to be shorter than that you take by
the coast of Guinea), yet you now tell me that his highness
would have me make out and demonstrate it, so that it may be
understood and put in practice.

"'Therefore, though I could better show it to him with a
globe in my hand, and make him sensible of the figure of the
world, yet I have resolved, to make it more easy and
intelligible, to show the way on a chart, such as is used in
navigation, and therefore I send one to his majesty, made
and drawn with my own hand, wherein is set down the _utmost
bounds of the earth, from Ireland in the west to the
farthest parts of Guinea_, with all the islands that lie in
the way; opposite to which western coast is described the
beginning of the Indies, with the islands and places whither
you may go, and how far you may bend from the North Pole
towards the Equinoctial, and for how long a time--that is,
how many leagues you may sail before you come to those
places most fruitful in spices, jewels, and precious stones.

"'Do not wonder if I term that country where the spice
grows, _West_, that product being generally ascribed to the
_East_, because those who sail westward will always find
those countries in the west, and those who travel by land
eastward will always find those countries in the east! The
straight lines that lie lengthways in the chart show the
distance there is from west to east; the others, which cross
them, show the distance from north to south. I have also
marked down in the chart several places in India where ships
might put in, upon any storms or contrary winds, or other
unforeseen accident.

"'Moreover, to give you full information of all those places
which you are very desirous to know about, you must
understand that none but traders live and reside in all
those islands, and that there is as great a number of ships
and seafaring people, with merchandise, as in any other part
of the world, particularly in a most noble port called
Zaitun, where there are every year a hundred large ships of
pepper loaded and unloaded, besides many other ships that
take in other spices. This country is mighty populous, and
there are many provinces and kingdoms, and innumerable
cities, under the dominion of _a prince called the Grand
Khan_, which name signifies king of kings, who for the most
part resides in the province of Cathay. His predecessors
were very desirous to have commerce and be in amity with
Christians, and two hundred years since sent ambassadors to
the Pope, desiring him to send them many learned men and
doctors, to teach them our faith; but by reason of some
obstacles the ambassadors met with they returned back,
without coming to Rome. Besides, there came an ambassador to
Pope Eugenius IV., who told him of the great friendship
there was between those princes and their people, and the
Christians. _I discoursed with him a long while_ upon the
several matters of the grandeur of their royal structures,
and of the greatness, length, and breadth of their rivers,
and he told me many wonderful things of the multitude of
towns and cities along the banks of the rivers, upon a
single one of which there were two hundred cities, with
marble bridges of great length and breadth, adorned with
numerous pillars.

"'This country deserves as well as any other to be
discovered; and there may not only be great profit made
there, and many things of value found, but also gold,
silver, many sorts of precious stones, and spices in
abundance, which are not brought into our ports. And it is
certain that many wise men, philosophers, astrologers, and
other persons skilled in all arts and very ingenious, govern
that mighty province and command their armies. From Lisbon
directly westward there are in the chart twenty-six spaces,
each of which contains two hundred and fifty miles, to the
most noble and vast city of Quinsai, which is one hundred
miles in compass--that is, thirty-five leagues. In it there
are ten marble bridges. The name signifies a heavenly city,
of which wonderful things are reported, as to the ingenuity
of the people, the buildings, and the revenues.

"'This space above mentioned is _almost the third part of
the globe_. The city is in the province of Mangi, bordering
on that of _Cathay_, where the king for the most part
resides. From the island of Antilla, which you call the
Island of the Seven Cities, and whereof you have some
knowledge, to the most noble island of _Cipango_ are ten
spaces, which make two thousand five hundred miles. This
island abounds in gold, pearls, and precious stones; and,
you must understand, they cover their temples and palaces
with plates of pure gold; so that, for want of knowing the
way, all these things are concealed and hidden--and yet may
be gone to with safety.

"'Much more might be said; but having told you what is most
material, and you being wise and judicious, I am satisfied
there is nothing of it but what you understand, and
therefore will not be more prolix. Thus much may serve to
satisfy your curiosity, it being as much as the shortness of
time and my business would permit me to say. So, I remain
most ready to satisfy and serve his Highness to the utmost,
in all the commands he shall lay upon me.'"

A second communication followed the reply of Columbus, in which
Toscanelli wrote:

"I received your letters with the things you sent me, which
I take as a great favor, and commend your noble and ardent
desire of sailing from east to west, _as it is marked out
in the chart I sent you_, which would demonstrate itself
better in the form of a globe. I am glad it is well
understood, and that the voyage laid down is not only
possible, but certain, honorable, very advantageous, and
most glorious among all Christians. You cannot be perfect in
the knowledge of it but by experience and practice, as I
have had in great measure, and by the solid and true
information of worthy and wise men, who are come from those
parts to this court of Rome, and from merchants who have
traded long in those parts and who are persons of good
reputation. So that, when the said voyage is performed, it
will be to powerful kingdoms, and to most noble cities and
provinces, rich, and abounding in all things we stand in
need of, particularly all sorts of spice in great
quantities, and stores of jewels. This will, moreover, be
grateful to those kings and princes who are very desirous to
converse and trade with Christians, or else have
communication with the wise and ingenious men in these
parts, as well in point of religion as in all sciences,
because of the extraordinary account they have of the
kingdoms and government of these parts. For which reasons,
and many more that might be alleged, I do not at all wonder
that you, who have a great heart, and all the Portuguese
nation, which has ever had notable men in all undertakings,
be eagerly bent upon performing this voyage."

In these letters we have outlined by Toscanelli the very voyage that
Columbus took in 1492, eighteen years after he had received this
precious information. In his journal of that voyage he makes mention
of "_the islands marked on the chart_"; he was constantly seeking the
island of Atlantis, and hoped eventually to arrive at the great and
noble city of Quinsai, as well as at Cipango and Cathay. As for the
"Grand Khan"--of whom he had been informed by Toscanelli, who obtained
his information from Marco Polo's works--he not only sent an embassy
in search of him, when in Cuba, but was looking for him throughout all
his voyages.

It is well known that Columbus was not aware that he had really
discovered a new world, but to the end of his days believed he had
merely arrived at the eastern coast of India. So persistent was he in
this belief that he falsified documents, and forced his crew to swear
to what they did not know--namely, that Cuba was a continent, and not
an island! He believed he had arrived at Cipango, when he heard the
Indian word, _cibao_, on the coast of Hispaniola; and he says, in a
letter written to Luis Santangel in 1493, "In Espanola there are
gold-mines, and thence to terra firma, as well as thence to the Grand
Khan, everything is on a splendid scale." Also, "When I arrived at
Juana [Cuba], I followed the coast to the westward, and found it so
extensive that I considered it must be a continent and a _province of
Cathay_!"

Columbus, it has been said by some investigators, was a man of one
idea--and that idea not his own! "It is impossible," says Washington
Irving, in his _Life of Columbus_--which is, throughout, an elegant
but labored apology for its hero--"to determine the precise time when
Columbus first conceived the design of seeking a western route to
India. It is certain, however, that he meditated it as early as the
year 1474, though as yet it lay crude and unmatured in his mind."

The year 1474, as we know, was that in which Toscanelli sent him the
letter and the chart. In that letter the route to India was laid down,
and on that chart it was made clear to any seafaring man how Cathay
might be reached, by merely sailing westward! By setting his helm, and
persisting in a westerly course, any one might reach the coast that
was supposed to lie opposite to Europe and Africa. Columbus did that,
according to directions received from Toscanelli eighteen years
before. He did nothing more, and he reached, not the coast of India,
but the outlying islands of a new world since called America.

The idea, then, which Columbus claimed as exclusively his own was
conveyed to him by Toscanelli--or, at least, it so appears--and
Toscanelli obtained it from the ancients. For, says one having
authority, "Eratosthenes, accepting the spherical theory, had advanced
the identical notion which nearly seventeen hundred years later
impelled Columbus to his voyage. He held the known world to span
one-third of the circuit of the globe, as Strabo did at a later day,
leaving an unknown two-thirds of sea; and if it were not that the vast
extent of the Atlantic Sea rendered it impossible, one might even sail
from the coast of Spain to that of India, along the same parallel."

And again: "An important element in the problem was the statement of
Marco Polo regarding a large island, which he called Cipango, and
which he represented as lying in the ocean off the eastern coast of
Asia. This carried the eastern verge of the Asiatic world farther
than the ancients had known, and, on the spherical theory, brought
land nearer westward from Europe than could earlier have been
supposed.... Humboldt has pointed out that neither Christopher
Columbus nor his son Ferdinand mentions Marco Polo; still, we know
that the former had read his book."[5]

FOOTNOTES:

[4] Justin Winsor, in _The Narrative and Critical History of America_.

[5] _Narrative and Critical History of America._

III

VESPUCCI'S FAVORITE AUTHORS

1485-1490

Books of any sort were few and precious during the youthful period of
Amerigo Vespucci's life, for the art of printing by the use of movable
type was invented about the time he was born, and most of the great
discoverers, including himself and Columbus, were to pass away before
the printing-press was introduced into America.[6]

In the library of Paul the Physicist, however, the ardent scholar,
Vespucci, must have seen many manuscripts which he was permitted to
read, and among them, doubtless, the account of Marco Polo's
wonderful journeys. It is thought that Toscanelli may have possessed,
indeed, one of the first copies of _Marco Polo_ ever printed, as it
issued from a German press in 1477; or at least of the second edition,
which appeared in 1481, the year before he died. A copy of the first
Latin edition was once owned by Fernando Columbus, and has marginal
marks ascribed to his father. This edition was printed in 1485, the
year in which Hernando Cortes was born, and when Vespucci was
thirty-four years old. Another Latin edition was brought out in 1490,
an Italian in 1496, and a Portuguese in 1502, followed by many others.

Marco Polo, the Venetian, exercised a strong and lasting influence
upon the minds of Toscanelli, Columbus, Vespucci, and, through them,
upon others, although he died in the first quarter of the century in
which the first-named of this distinguished triad was born. All these
had this birthright in common: they were Italians; and, moreover, it
was in Genoa, the reputed birthplace of Columbus, that Marco Polo's
adventures were first shaped into coherent narrative and given to the
world.

These adventures have been stigmatized as romances; but surely
nothing could be more romantic than the manner in which they came to
be published, finally, after existing many years in the crude form of
notes and journals made by the traveller during his journeyings. In
the year 1298, three years after he had returned from his wanderings
and settled down in Venice, Polo was called upon to assist in the
defence of Curzola, during the hostilities which existed between his
own republic and that of Genoa. To oppose the Genoese admiral, Doria,
who had invaded their seas with seventy galleys, the Venetians fitted
out a fleet under Andrea Dandolo, and a great battle was fought off
the island of Curzola. Marco Polo commanded a galley of his own, and
fought with valor; but, in common with the commanders of more than
eighty Venetian vessels, he was defeated, the Genoese winning an
overwhelming victory.

Taken as a prisoner to Genoa, he was cast into prison, where he
remained immured for a year. That was the year in which his wonderful
travels were woven into a story, for the entertainment of the young
Genoese nobility, who, when they learned that the famous Marco Polo
was a prisoner, flocked to his cell to see and converse with him.
Yielding to their solicitations, he sent to Venice for his notes of
travel, and during the days of his captivity dictated an account of
his experiences to a fellow-captive, one Rusticiano, of Pisa.

The delighted young nobles devoured his wonderful story with avidity,
and they could scarcely wait its unfolding from day to day, for it was
to them a veritable tale of the _Arabian Nights_. From the Italian, in
which the traveller dictated his story, it was translated into Latin
and French, and scattered over Europe for others to enjoy. Thus Marco
Polo acquired fame through the misfortune which befell him when
fighting for Venice, and long before printing was invented his name
became almost a household word in Europe. As one who, though
indirectly, stimulated by his Oriental researches the first great
ventures into the Occident, Marco Polo deserves a monument, or, at
least, should not be omitted from a memorial group that contains such
famous Italians as Columbus, Vespucci, Toscanelli, and Verrazano.
Admittedly, he deserves a chapter in this biography, and we cannot do
better, perhaps, than glance at his history.

If Marco had been consulted in the choice of his immediate ancestry,
he could not have done better than fortune served him in the person of
his father, Nicolo Polo, who was a nobleman and a merchant of Venice.
He was a traveller prior to the birth of his son, for just previous to
that event, which occurred nearly two hundred years before Amerigo
Vespucci was born, he and his brother set out for Constantinople.
Thence they went into Armenia, and around the south coast of the
Caspian Sea to Bokhara, where they met some Persian envoys who were
bound for Cathay, or China, and who persuaded them to go along.

At Peking, it is supposed, they met the great and powerful Kublai
Khan, Emperor of the Mongols, and Tartars, who received them kindly
and at whose court they remained a year. They were the first Europeans
he had ever seen, and such was his interest in their stories of
strange peoples and governments that he commissioned them as envoys to
the pope, giving them letters in which he expressed his desire that
Europeans learned in the arts and sciences should be sent for the
instruction of his people. Then they were reluctantly dismissed, with
gifts of gold and spices, and after many perilous adventures finally
reached their home in Venice. They had been gone almost ten years, and
when Nicolo Polo first saw his son, on his return to Venice, Marco was
a youth at school, well advanced in his studies.

Two years later, when Marco was about twelve, the three Polos set out
on their return to Cathay, accompanied by two friars, who were
"endowed with ample powers and privileges, the authority to ordain
priests and bishops, and to grant absolution in all cases, as fully as
if the pope were personally present." They took with them rich
presents for the khan, including a bottle of precious oil from the
holy sepulchre in Jerusalem, which was supposed to possess miraculous
virtues. The journey was commenced in or about the year 1271, but,
owing to innumerable and vexatious delays on the way, the Polos did
not reach the court of the grand khan until the spring of 1275. They
were more than three years in making the journey, but in spite of
difficulties and dangers these remarkable men persisted until the
object of their travels was accomplished. The friars had become
alarmed at the prospect of peril to themselves, and early in the
undertaking beat a retreat to Acre, so the three Venetians alone
arrived at Chambalu, and delivered to the grand khan the letters and
presents from the pope. They were received with extreme cordiality by
the khan, who was especially pleased with young Marco, and accepted
the presents with delight, the holy oil from Jerusalem being
reverently cherished.

Marco was introduced to the khan by Nicolo, as "your majesty's servant
and my son"; but had he been a son of the ruler himself he could not
have received greater honors than were bestowed upon him by the
emperor. Having a natural aptitude for acquiring languages, he soon
could read and write four different dialects, and being possessed of
great intelligence and shrewdness withal, he was sent by the khan on
important missions to various parts of his kingdom. He acquitted
himself so well on these embassies, some of which required his absence
from the capital for many months, and he brought back such interesting
accounts of the people he met and their customs, that he was
constantly employed.

In this manner he acquired, during many years of service in high
positions, a most intimate acquaintance with the khan's dominions, and
became immensely rich. His father and uncle shared wealth and honors
with him, for they likewise were congenially employed; but the time
came at last when their desire to revisit Venice became too strong to
resist. They craved the khan's permission to depart; but when the old
monarch heard their request he flew into a passion, declaring that he
would never allow them to go. They should remain with him and become
the richest men in the world.

Marco was sent off on another mission, this time by sea, and,
discovering that there was direct communication between Cathay and the
Indies, he entreated the khan to allow the Polos to go on a voyage,
promising faithfully that they would return after a short stay with
their friends in Venice. The old khan gave his consent reluctantly,
overwhelming them with gifts at their departure, among other things
giving them a tablet of gold, on which were engraved his orders to all
the subjects in his vast dominions to provide guides, escorts,
pilots--every convenience for their voyage and journey--without cost.
He also authorized them to serve as his ambassadors to the pope and
other European potentates, presented them with many precious stones,
including rubies of great value, and money enough to defray their
expenses for at least two years. From all this it will be seen that
the grand khan was a very munificent prince, whose deeds must have
made a lasting impression upon the minds of the generation in which he
lived.

Fourteen large vessels were contained in the fleet he furnished the
Polos, for with them was embarked, with a train of ambassadors, a
noble maiden of Cathay who was to become the bride of a "king of the
Indies" known as Argon. The voyage was so protracted that the king had
died before she reached her destination, and whose bride she became
was never known to the Polos, though they faithfully acquitted
themselves of their charge, and then continued on towards the
frontiers of Persia. Two years had been consumed in voyaging to Java,
Sumatra, and along the coast of southern India. Three more elapsed
before they finally reached their native city, in 1295, after an
absence of nearly twenty-five years. Nobody in Venice knew them then,
except by name, for Niccolo and his brother were advanced in age,
and Marco had grown from a boy to manhood, while in their dress and
manners they were more like Tartars than Venetians, and had almost
completely lost their native speech.

[Illustration: MARCO POLO]

Many of their former friends and relations were dead, and the
survivors were at first inclined to denounce them as impostors, until
the fertile imagination of Marco hit upon an expedient. They were
invited to a magnificent banquet, at which the three Polos appeared
arrayed in robes of crimson velvet, which, after their guests had
arrived, they threw off and gave to their attendants. Then, after the
last course was served, they produced from their queer Tartarian
garments, which they ripped open for the purpose, precious gems by the
handful, and displayed them to the astonished guests as their
credentials.

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