Note IV-4 — Chapter IV · COLUMBUS ON THE COASTS OF HONDURAS, NICARAGUA, AND COSTA RICA. 1502-1506.

Guanaja is the most easterly of a group called the Bay Islands. To the west of Guanaja, in the order here named, lie Barbaretta, Helena, Morat, Ruatan, the largest, and Utila. On Peter Martyr's map, India beyond the Ganges, 1510, Guanaja is written guanasa. On map iv., Munich Atlas, supposed to have been drawn by Salvat Pilestrina in 1515, Guanaja is called sam fir.co, San Francisco; Ruatan, todo samto; and Utila, I:lhana. Fernando Colon locates on his map, 1527, y:llana, s:francisco, and todos sanctos, and between the last two, sancta ffe. On the map of Diego de Ribera, 1529, are s:franco, to stõs, la llana, and s∴ fe. Vaz Dourado, 1571, map x., Munich Atlas, calls Guanaja, lla ganaxa; Ruatan, aguba; and Utila, dotila. Mercator's Atlas, 1574, gives Guanaxos; Ogilby's Map, 1671, Guanaja, Guajama, Roatan, and Vtila; Laet, Novvs Orbis, 1633, the same; Jefferys' Voyages, 1776, Guanaja or Bonaka, Guajama or Rattan, and Utila. Of Guanaja, Diego de Porras in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, i. 283, remarks:—'es pequeña, bojará veinte leguas, no tiene cosa de provecho.' Utila is low and level; hence the name, La Llana. In his remarks on the two oldest maps of America, Kohl says of Guanaja:—'Das Columbus sie schon gesehen hat, ist zu bezweifeln, da er wohl nicht so weit westwärts segelte oder blickte. Vielleicht sahen sie jedoch Pinzon und Solis 1508. Gewiss ist es, dass sie schon 1516 von einer spanischen Expedition, die zum Menschenraub von Cuba nach Süden ausgelaufen war, besucht wurde.' Fernando Colon complains that Solis and Pinzon, visiting these regions in 1508, re-named many localities, claiming to be the first discoverers, and thus causing much confusion in the charts of the times.

And here as well as elsewhere I may speak of a work from which I have derived no inconsiderable advantage in tracing the metamorphoses of names from those originally given to those finally established. Believing that much curious and valuable historical information might be obtained by instituting a close comparison of the nomenclature employed by the earlier makers of charts at their respective dates, in 1873 I directed Mr Goldschmidt to bring out and arrange for convenient reference all such relevant maps as my library contained. Beginning then with the earliest, we entered on paper prepared for the purpose the names of all the principal places contained within our territory. And so with the next, and the next, through the successive periods of discovery, following the coast on one side from Darien to Texas, and on the other from Panamá to Alaska, and along the Arctic seaboard to the Mackenzie River. Inland names were included, but their number was small as compared with those along the ocean. Some 200 maps, each original authority for its time and place, were thus examined, and the names which had been applied at various times and by various persons to the several important geographical points along this vast shore line, and throughout the inland area, were brought together so that comparisons might be made, and the nomenclatural history of the several places be quickly and correctly traced. All of the authorities I cannot mention here, but they will severally be referred to in their proper places during the course of this history. The result of this labor at the end of six months, Mr Goldschmidt working alone after the first fortnight, was three folio manuscript volumes, entitled Cartography of the Pacific Coast of North America, and of the Eastern Coasts of Mexico and Central America. The maps more particularly examined in writing this volume are as follows. Passing the sea charts of Nicolo and Antonio Zeno, made about 1390, and used by Frobisher; the ocean and islands between western Europe and eastern Asia from the globe of Martin Behaim, 1492; the chart of Juan de la Cosa, 1500, showing the West India Islands, but omitting the coast of Central America; and the map of Johann Ruysch, 1508,—we have, in part most important, the following: Map of India beyond the Ganges, drawn by Peter Martyr in 1511, and showing a coast line from Brazil to the middle of Yucatan. Along this line, in the order here given, from east to west, are vraba, tariene, el mamol, beragua, c gra de dios, guanasa, b de lagartos. North of Cuba is a section of the continental shore line lettered isla de beimini, parte. In Ptolemy's Cosmography, 1513, the coast between Brazil and Florida is given, but without names. The Atlantic is called Oceanus Occidentalis; and South America, Terra Incognita. By Reisch, in Margaritha Philosophica, 1515, the map is called Typvs Vniversalis Terre Ivxta. Two only of the islands are given and both called Isabella. South of Oceanus Occidentalis is a large continent called Paria sev Prisilia, Paria or Brazil. There are no names on the line of Central America, and the only lettering on the small portion of the northern continent are the mysterious words Zoana Mela, which have given rise to much discussion. In 1859 was published at Munich, by the Royal Bavarian Academy of Sciences, from manuscripts in the university library and army archives, under the auspices of Friedrich Kunstmann, Karl von Spruner, and Georg M. Thomas, and as supplementary to the text of Kunstmann's Die Entdeckung Amerikas, a collection of fac-similes of thirteen early maps of America, entitled Atlas zur Entdeckungsgeschichte Amerikas. This work I shall cite briefly as the Munich Atlas. Parts of the Pacific States are shown on maps numbers iv. v. vi. vii. viii. ix. x. xii. and xiii., which will be further mentioned in their several places. Map iv. was drawn by Salvat de Pilestrina probably in 1515. It shows none of the main-land above Yucatan, which is a peninsula. The northern coast of Central America is given, and the southern seaboard only of the Isthmus. No names are written on the southern coast. The South Sea is called Mar Visto pelos castelhanos, Sea seen by the Spaniards. Map v. is supposed to be by Visconte de Maiollo, 1519. It shows the northern coast of the continent only from Cape Camaron to about 30° south latitude. In a book entitled Apiano, Cosmographia, 1575, a copy of a map supposed to have been drawn by Peter Apianus in 1520, and the first upon which I have seen the name 'America.' The northern part is long and narrow, of a horseshoe shape, and lettered Baccalearum. A large continent is placed north of a strait running round the northern end of North America. Evidently Master Apianus was determined no one during his time should out-north him in map-delineation of a region of which absolutely nothing was known, either then or for a long time after. On a map of North America from the globe of Johann Schöner, 1520, the name 'America' likewise appears, the lettering on the globe being placed in Brazil, and being in these words:—America Vel Brasilia Sive Papagalli Terra. The northern and southern continents are separated by a strait at the Isthmus. It is to be regretted that Master Schöner had not the making of the world, so that it should agree with his map, and save canal-cutting. The western line of the northern continent runs north and south; the western line of the southern continent north-west and south-east. The extreme northern end of the northern continent is called Terra de Cuba. Along the western shore are the words Ultra mondv lustratum. West of the northern continent lie the large island of Zipangri and a multitude of islets. The north Pacific is called Orientalis Oceanus. Cortés' chart of the Gulf of Mexico, 1520, is a rough draft of oval shape with several names along the coast, many of which are obsolete. Yucatan is represented as an island. In 1860 J. G. Kohl published at Weimar a dissertation on two of the oldest general maps of America, with the origin of the names on each. The maps were those of Fernando Colon, 1527, and Diego Ribero, 1529, then in the grand-ducal library at Weimar. The text accompanying these fac-similes is entitled Die Beiden Ältesten General-Karten von Amerika. Ausgeführt in den Jahren 1527 und 1529, auf Befehl Kaiser Karl's V. The maps being full of names, concerning many of which there has been much discussion, 185 royal folio pages are devoted to their explanation. Beside a critical review of nomenclature is given much information, both geographical and historical. Colon's map shows the eastern coasts of North and South America, and the southern shores of the Isthmus and Central America to about Nicaragua. Ribero's map contains more names than Colon's, and a section of the Peruvian coast; otherwise they are not unlike. Continuing the present list we have all of South America, and part of North America, given in 1527 by Robert Thorne; and the western side of the New World in 1528 by Bordone. Ptolemy, in Munster, Cosmography, 1530, gives the two Americas entirely surrounded by water, with Yucatan an island; in the interior of Mexico Chamaho, and Temistitan; and near Zipangu Archipelagus 7448 insularum, counted in all probability specially for this map. Orontius Fine's globe, 1531, unites the southern continent, which it calls America, by the isthmus dariena to the northern, which extends toward the north-west across the ocean and forms part of Asia, with a continuous coast line to Japan. The Atlantic is Alanticum, and the Pacific Mar del Sur. Yucatan is an island. It is difficult to tell where Mexico ends and Asia begins. Temistitan is just south of Catay, and Mexican and Asiatic names promiscuously occur. Grynæus, in 1532, gives America in two parts, divided by a strait at the Isthmus; the western end of the northern continent is called Terra de Cuba. Map vi., Munich Atlas, 1532-40, shows the Pacific coast from Peru to California, which is represented as a peninsula. The gulf of California is called the Red Sea. Yucatan is an island. Baptista Agnese, 1536, gives North America in the shape of a horseshoe, with Yucatan an island. Map vii., Munich Atlas, is supposed to be by Baptista Agnese, 1540-50. It shows the whole of the Atlantic coast, and the Pacific coast from Peru to Mexico. Ramusio, Viaggi, iii. fol. 455-56, 1565, lays down about half the Pacific coast. Maps ix. x. and xii., Munich Atlas, are supposed to have been drawn by Vaz Dourado in 1571. The first delineates South America, and a small part of the Isthmus; the second both shores of Central America, and the Gulf of Mexico; the third the Pacific coast only from Mexico to Anian Strait. On map x. is a large lake north of Mexico, in latitude 40° to 43°, and under it in large letters, Bimenii Regio. Gerard Mercator, Atlas sive cosmographicæ, 1569, and another edition 1574, represents the world on two globes, and surrounds the two Americas with water, beside capping either pole with a huge continent. In the north-eastern corner of Asia, map iv., is Americæ pars. There are also Anian reg, Quiuira reg, Tuchano, a city, and El freto de Anian. On map v. the strait of Magellan separates the southern continent from another large continent to the south of it, on which is placed Terra del fuego. Luckily this antarctic polar continent is labeled Terra Avstralis nondvm cognita, lest the author be embarrassed by questions about it. After well passing the strait of Magellan, El Mar Pacifico is entered, though as the tropics are reached it becomes Mar del Zur. The northern part of this map v., the two Americas, is quite interesting, and will be explained elsewhere. This cartographical monstrosity Michael Lock, Hakluyt's Divers Voy., 1582, endeavored, and with very fair success, to exceed. Map xiii., Munich Atlas, by Thomas Hood, 1592, gives the Gulf of Mexico, the Islands, and the eastern coast of North America. In Drake's World Encompassed, 1595, another source of information not remarkable for reliability, Hondius traces the western coast to Bering Strait. Hondius' map, 1625, in Purchas, His Pilgrimes, iv. 857, gives North America to the mythical strait of Anian. Ioanne de Laet, Novvs Orbis, 1633, has at p. 220 a map of Nveva España, Nveva Galicia, and Gvatimala, and at p. 346 a map of Tierra Firma. A map of the world in the atlas of Jacob Colom, 1663, will require mention hereafter. Ogilby's America, 1671, gives the northern continent to Anian Strait with Nova Albion in the northern part, and California as an island; and a map at p. 222 shows parts of Mexico and Central America. There is a map of the middle part of America in Dampier's Voyages, i. 44, 1699. Beside these, I shall have occasion to mention others, such as the maps in the Buccaniers of America, 1704; Funnell's Voyage, 1707; the Dutch collection of voyages by Pieter Van der Aa; the German collection of Gottfried; Voyages de François Coreal, 1722; Anson's Voyage, 1756; Morden's Geography Rectified, 1693; Harris, Harleian, Oxford, Rogers, Shelvocke, Jefferys, and other collections of voyages. I may also mention incidentally in this volume maps and charts relating more especially to another part of the Pacific States and described more fully in a succeeding volume.