The Coolidge examiner., 1935-10-04

4A be- hadn't crossed The Atlantic
why then there wouldn't hav'
been any America
Now. Giovanni may not have been right iF
that last statement But De was correct 10 call.
ln< Christopher Columbus she -nrsi Italian I'm
migrant 20 America he might have added that
Columbus was also the drst % a number of Ital-
lans who played an important part In American
his,cry and whose name and fame ii seems ap
proprate 20 rccall as October y columbus day.
appruaches-
As for the other immigrants who accompa.
MED him on bis historic FIRST voyage know
that there we're I'D ~ them-e0 seamen and %
others. Including royal officials. pilots. grand
constable. al archivist. an interpreter. a physl.
clan. servants. domesiics and cabin boys-but
history has preserved the names Of only few.
There vas Juan De Ia Cosa. owner and com.
rzan8er of Columbus flagship the Santa Maria /:
there was Martin Alfonso PinEon. commander Of
the Pluta one o. whose two pilots was his young
- brother. Francisco: there vas Vincenie Yancs
Plnron. youngest brother and commander 81 the
Nina whose pilot was her owner. Pcro Alfonso
Nino. and finally there was the Interpreter Luis
d. Torres q converted Jew.
on his second voyage be was accompanied by
I1pp men, including his brother. Diego: on his
third voyage he took 80 men and on his fourth
10 This last Journey was shared hy two 81 his
Ferdinand. now a lad of fourteen Later bis
elder son Diego. would preside over the Antilles
ss governor and admiral with his residence In
Espanoia tiiayti). 80 altogether eve Italians
named Columbus acre among the first ~immi-
grants TO the shores of the Ncw World.
n Christopher Columbus. the -discoverer OF
America" was destined never 10 set foot on the
mainland % North America az least n fellow
toWnsmsn % his would be- credited with being
regard the half-leEcndary tale that Lief Ericsson
ami his Viking adventures. after reaching Green
land sailed on. entered the ST. Lawrence river
and landed on It's shores which they called Vim
land) But the man ho made the lrst auihentl.
Gated landfai on continental North America was
Giovanni Cahnto ar CabOta. born In Genoa IN
1870 first a sailor out az Venice and then a cap.
tain In the employ Of ne Merchant. .venturers Of
Bristol. England. in lsssi.
In that year King Henry VII gave him full
and fire. auihortIe leave and power. TO sayle TO
ali parties. Countreys. and Seas, OF the East. OF
the West and of the North also llcence to set up
our banners and ensignes In every village. towne.
casiei yle. main laBde % them newly lounde"
So IN the spring 81 1897 John Cabot (his Italian
maine AngliciEed 10 conform 20 his new aliegi-
aucel sailed from Bristol in the little ship
Matthew with a crew Of Is His son. Sebastian.
may or may not have accompanied hlm-histori-
ans are not certain rs 10 that
But they 90 know that on June -. 1897. Cabo,
reached the shores of North America somewhere
between the modern city OF Halifax and Hudson
strait and landing there. planted the dag Of Eng
land. a nag which destined TO wave over
parts of that continent FOR the next 800 years.
The next year John Cabot sailed again FOR
America with four shlps-and into oblivion.
What became of him no one ever learned. Ills
son. Sebastian. claimed that he himself coasted
along Greenland, seeking the tabled Northwest
Passage 20 India until he was forced 10 turn back
by quantities. % ice afoat in the northern sea
Then be seems 20 have steered southerly course
for Newfoundland. continued down to the yir-
ginia capes and perhaps went as far as Florida.
lie captured few natives 90 take back 10 Eng.
land with him but otherwise his voyage was un.
profitable.
In l5ss Sebastian made a map of the world
which gave good idea OF the coasts OF North
America from Labrador to Florida and which
showed pretty accurately where the Mississippi
river enters the Gulf of Mexico. (Lost for nearly
three centuries. this map was discovered in Ger
many In 1855 and Is now In the National library
In Parlsl. In i54S he switched allegiance again
and went 20 England. where the youthful King
Edward VI gave him a pension. which was re-
newed By King Mary. He died In 1851. a citizen
of Loudon and governor OF the Muscoyy com
pany.
Az NpN&0 nave petn apprppEiatae III the SOUTH
ern continent discovered by Christopher Colum-
bus had beeen Eamed Columbia and the northern
one Cabota. IN honor OF the Italian who landed
there in 1897. How. then, did the name OF Amer
ic4 become attached TO both? The fact Is II
was named FOR another Italian immigrant" a
certain Amerigo or Americus vespuccl Born In
Florence, Italy. In 1851. Vespucci drifted TO Spain
and in 1889 he visited Espanola and the mainland
Of South America with the Spanlard. oJeda. in a
search for pearls There IS even reason TO be-
lieye that he may have reached the southern con-
tinent before Columbus did and II is certain that
he was the first to realize that this continent
which he called Mundus Novus CNew world in
a letter 10 friend was in reality a New World
wholly distinct from Asia.
IL so happened that at St Die In the vosges
mountains OF France there was little collegiate
institution which was both a center OF geograph-
ical learning and the owner OF a new printing