Red Lodge daily news combined with Carbon County news., 1935-10-02

GS ne naunC cfOSSeu LnS AIIdAIA'
why then there wouldn't haV
been any America"
Now, Giovanni may not have been right l
that last statement. But heAwas correct in call
ing Christopher Columbus the first Italian i'm
migrant to America" He might have added tina
Columbus was also the first of a number of Ital
ians who played an important part in American
history and whose name and fame it seems ap
prOpriate to- recall as October IL columbus day
approaches.
AS for the other Immigrants" who accOmpa
MED him on his historic first voyage we know
that there were 120 of them-9O seamen and 81
others, including royal officials, pilots, a granC
constable, an archivist, an interpreter, physi
clan, servants, dOmesticS and cabin bOys-but
history has preserved the names of only few
There was Juan de la COsa, owner and com
mander of Columbus flagship, the Santa Maria
there was Martin AlOnso\ PinZOn, commander OF
the Pinta, one of whose two pilots was his young
er brother, Francisco; theFe was Vincente Yanes
Pinzon, youngest brother and commander of the
Nina, whose pilot was her owner, PerO Alfonso
Nino and finally there was the interpreter, Luis
de Torres, a converted Jew.
On his second voyage, he was accompanied by
1900 men, including his brother Diego; on his
third voyage he took 200 men and on his fourth,
$50. This last journey was shared by two of his
relatives his brother. Bartholomew, and his son,
Ferdinand, now lad of fourteen. Later his
elder son, Diego, would preside over the Antilles
as governor and admiral with his residence in
Espanola (Hayti), so altogether five Italians
named Columbus were among the first "immi-
grants" to the shores of the New World
If Christopher Columbus, the "discOverer Of
America" was destined never to set foot on the
mainland of North America, at least a fellow
tOwnsman of his would be credited with being
H. 4,,,ISk En- 10 Co die
regard the half-legendary tale that Lief Ericsson
and his Viking adventurers 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 who made the first authenti-
Gated landfall on continental North America was
Giovanni CabatO, or CabOta, born in Genoa N
1850, first sailor out of Venice and then a cap
tain in the employ of the Merchant Venturers of
Bristol, England, in 1896
In that year King Henry VII gave him "full
and free authOritie leave, and power, to sayle to
all parties, COuntreys and Seas, Of the East, of
the West and of the North, also licence to set up
Our banners and ensignes in every village, tOwne,
castel, yle or main lande, of them newly founde."
So in the spring of 1897 John Cabot (his Italian
name AngliciZed to conform to his new allegi-
ance) sailed from Bristol in the little ship
Matthew with of 49, His son, Sebastian
may or may not have accompanied him-histori
ans are not certain as to that.
But they do know that on June "a, 1897, Cabot
reached the shores of North America somewhere
between the modern city of Halifax and Hudson
strait and, landing there planted the flag Of Eng
land, flag which was destined to wave over
parts of that continent for the next 400 years.
The next year John Cabot sailed again for
America with four ships-and into oblivion.
What became of him no one ever learned. His
son, Sebastian, claimed that he himself coasted
along Greenland, seeking the tabled Northwest
Passage to India until he was forced to turn back
BY quantities of ice afloat in the northern sea.
Then he seems to have steered a southerly course
For Newfoundland, continued down to the Vir-
sinia capes and perhaps went as far as Florida. |
He captured q, few natives to take back to Eng |
and with him but otherwise his voyage was un- |
profitable.
In 1914 Sebastian made 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 |
liver enters the Gulf of Mexico. (LOst for nearly
hree centuries, this map was discovered in Ger
many in 1855 and is now in the National library
n Paris). In 154S he switched allegiance again
md went to England, where the youthful King
Edward vi gave him a pension, which was re-
ewed by King Mary He died in 1857, citizen
f London and governor of the MuscOvy COM
ANY.
It would have been appropriate if the south
rn continent discovered by Christopher Colum-
us had beeen named Columbia and the northern
ne Cabotia, in honor of the italian who landed
here in 1897. How, then, did the name of Amer
"a become attached to both? The fact is it
7as named for another italian immigrant" a
ertain Amerigo or Americas Vespucci. Born in
florence, Italy, in 1851, Vespucci drifted to Spain
nd in 1899 he visited Espanola and the mainland
South America with the Spaniard, Ojeda, in a
earch for pearls. There is even reason to be-
eve that he may have reached the southern con-
nent before Columbus did and it is certain that
e was the first to realize that this continent,
hich he called Mundus Novus New World) in
letter to friend, was in reality New World
holly distinct from Asia! ~.
1t so happened that at st. Die in the Vosges
fountains of France there was a little collegiate
lstitution which was both center of geograph-
al learning and the owner Of a new printing I