1525. 1526. 1528. 1534. STEPHEN GOMEZ, in the service of Spain, sailed to Florida, and thence to Cape Race, in lat. 46° N., in search of a N.W. passage to India.-Herrera. FRANCIS PIZARRO* sailed from Panama to Peru, and began the conquest of that rich and populous country.-Purchas. PAMPHILO DE NARVAEZ,† in the service of Spain, sailed from Cuba with 400 men to conquer Florida. His purpose was defeated by a tempest, in which he was wrecked on the coast. -Herrera. Purchas. JAMES CARTIER, in the service of France, I discovered and named the Bay de Chaleur and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. - Hakluyt, iii., 201 1535. 212. CARTIER made a second voyage, discovered I the great river of Canada, and sailed up as far as Hochelaga, which he named Montreal. He wintered in a little harbour near the west end of the Isle of Orleans, which he called Port de * [Francisco Pizarro was a native of Truxillo, born about the year 1500. Already trained to fatigue and martial enterprise, he accompanied Balboa in his expedition across the Isthmus of Darien in 1509. He started from Panama on his expedition to Peru, Nov. 14, 1524, and was engaged in it three years. He then returned to Spain, and was appointed by the emperor governor and admiral of the region he had discovered. His progress there was marked with acts of extreme cruelty and rapine, but the conquest was completely successful. When his triumph seemed most entire, he was slain, June 26, 1531, by a conspiracy of some of his followers, who feared and hated him.-H.] + [De Narvaez, an officer of some courage, and much haughtiness and self-confidence, had been sent by Velasquez to Mexico in April, 1520, to arrest and supersede Cortez, by whom he was attacked and made prisoner.-H.] 1536. St. Croix. The next summer he returned to France, carrying some of the natives.-Hakluyt, iii., 212-232. 1539. FERDINANDO DE SOTO* sailed from CuI ba with 900 men to conquer Florida. He traversed the country in various directions for three 1542. years, and died on the banks of the Mississippi. 1543. The surviving part of his army returned to Cuba. -Herrera. Purchas. < 1540. CARTIER made a third voyage to Canada, built a fort and began a settlement, which he 1541 called Charleburg, four leagues above the Port de or St. Croix. He broke up the settlement and 1542. sailed to Newfoundland.-Hakluyt, iii., 232–240. ROBERVAL, with three ships and 200 persons, going to recruit the settlement in Canada, met Cartier at Newfoundland, and would have obliged him to return; but he gave him the slip and sailed for France. ROBERVAL proceeded up the River St. Lawrence four leagues above the Island of Orleans, where he found a convenient harbour and place for a fortification. Here he built a fort, and remained over the winter. The next year he returned to France with his colony. -Ibid., 240-242. During the succeeding thirty years the passion for discovery took another direction. Adventurers from Europe were seeking a passage to India and China by the N.E., but were prevented * [See also Hakluyt, vol. v., ed. 1810, and "A Relation of the Invasion and Conquest of Florida by the Spaniards, under the command of Ferdinando de Soto, written in Portuguese by a gentleman of the town of Elvas, now Englished," &c., London, 1686. Soto's army consisted of 600 men.-See p. 258, note.-H.] 1562. 1564. from accomplishing their views by the cold and ice of those inhospitable regions.-Forster. In this interval, the French of Brittany, the Spaniards of Biscay, and the Portuguese, enjoyed the fishery on the Banks of Newfoundland without interruption.-Purchas. Under the patronage of CHATILLON, High-admiral of France, JOHN RIBALT* attempted a settlement in Florida. He entered a river in lat. 32° on the first of May, which from that circumstance he named the River May, and the entrance he called Port Royal. Here he built a fort, which, in honour of CHARLES IX. of France, he called Fort Charles. After his departure the people mutinied and returned to France.-Hakluyt, iii., 308-319, and Purchas. LAUDONIERE† renewed the settlement and called the country Carolina, after the reigning monarch of France. This colony was on good terms with the natives, but suffered by famine. They were relieved by SIR JOHN HAWKINS, an Englishman, who offered to carry them to France; but the hope of finding silver induced * [John Ribault, as the name is commonly spelled, sailed with two ships, Feb. 18, 1562, reached Florida in March, and returned to Dieppe July 20th of the same year. Laudoniere commends him as "a man in truth expert in sea causes." He came again to Florida, Aug. 28, 1565, with a commission to be governor there, and remained till he was killed by the Spaniards under Melendes. -H.] [Rene Laudoniere had accompanied Ribault in his first expedition, and was superseded by him in his second. Meanwhile, he sailed from France April 22, 1564, under the orders of De Chastil lon. He reached Florida June 22d. After the destruction of their fort, Laudoniere returned through England to France.-H.] them to stay, till RIBALT arrived with seven sail 1565. of vessels.-Hakluyt, iii., 319–349. 1568. PEDRO MELENDES, in the service of Spain, came with a superior force, killed Ribalt and most of his company, and took possession of the country, building three forts.-Ibid., 352–356. GOURGUES,* from France, with the help of the natives, who hated the Spaniards, broke up the Spanish settlements in Florida, and returned to France, leaving the country desert.-Ibid., 356-360. 1576. All attempts to find a N.E. passage to India being frustrated, MARTIN FROBISHER, in the service of ELIZABETH, queen of England, sailed in search of a N.W. passage. 1577. 1578. 嘴 He made a second voyage. He made a third voyage. These voyages were made to Greenland, and produced no material discovery. He sailed through a strait which still bears his name, but is now impassable by reason of fixed ice.-Hakluyt and Crantz. SIR FRANCIS DRAKE+ being on a cruise * [Dominique de Gourgues, "a gentleman and a well tried and valiant soldier," undertook this expedition chiefly at his own expense, fitting out three vessels and more than two hundred men. They sailed, Aug. 22d, 1567, from France; and attacked the first fort of the Spaniards on Easter day, in April, 1568. They returned to France in June of the same year. Gourgues died in 1582. -H.] † [This famous navigator was born in the year 1545, of obscure parentage. He became a seaman when very young, and was made captain of a ship at the age of twenty-two. He was engaged in many important naval enterprises, particularly in the half-piratical expeditions against the Spaniards. In 1577-1580, with five ships and one hundred and sixty-four men, he sailed round the globe. against the Spaniards in the South Sea, landed on the Continent of America, northward of California, took possession of a harbour, and called the circumjacent country, between lat. 38° and 42°, New Albion.-Hakluyt. 1579. SIR HUMPHREY GILBERT obtained of IF QUEEN ELIZABETH a patent for all countries not possessed by any Christian prince.-Purchas. 1583. GILBERT sailed to Newfoundland; took formal possession of it and of the Continent of North America for the crown of England. In his return his ship foundered and he was lost. -Ibid. 1584. SIR ADRIAN GILBERT obtained of QUEEN ELIZABETH a patent for the discovery of a N.W. passage, to remain in force five years.-Hakluyt, iii., 96. SIR WALTER RALEIGH obtained of QUEEN I ELIZABETH a patent for lands not possessed by any Christian prince, by virtue of which he sent PHILIP AMADAS and ARTHUR BARLOW to explore the country called by the Spaniards Florida.-Ibid., 243–251. 1585. 1586. 1587. Under the authority of GILBERT's patent, JOHN DAVIS sailed from England in search of a N.W. passage.-Ibid., 98-103. He made a second voyage.—Ib., 103–111. DAVIS explored the western coast of GreenHakluyt, iii., 730-742. The next year the queen conferred on him the honour of knighthood, and in 1588 he was appointed viceadmiral, under Lord Howard of Effingham. He died Jan. 28, 1596, having gained an unequalled reputation for nautical skill and personal courage.-See Campbell's Lives of the Admirals, vol. ii., p. 37-55.-H.] |