A History of the United States in Chronological Order From the Discovery of America in 1492 to the Year 1885: Including Notices of Manufactures as They Were Introduced; Of Other Industries; Of Railroads, Canals Telegraphs, and Other Improvements; Of Inventions, Important Events, Etc

Excerpt from A History of the United States in Chronological Order From the Discovery of America in 1492 to the Year 1885: Including Notices of Manufactures as They Were Introduced; Of Other Industries; Of Railroads, Canals Telegraphs, and Other Improvements; Of Inventions, Important Events, Etc

1492 Christopher Columbus, in the service of Ferdinand and Isabella, King and Queen of Spain, sailed from Palos with the design of finding a passage to Asia by the western ocean. On the 12th of October he discovered one of the West India islands, which he named San Salvador. Continuing his voyage he saw several islands, and touched at three of the largest of them, which he named St. Mary of the Conception, Fernandina, and Isabella. On the 27th of October he discovered the island of Cuba, where he remained more than a month. Sailing from Cuba on the 5th of December, he arrived the next day at an island called by the natives Hayti, which he named Hispaniola. Here he erected a fort, and, leaving it in charge of three of his officers and thirty-eight men, prepared to return to Spain. Having the opinion that these islands belonged to the regions of Asia comprehended under the name of India, he gave them the name of the West Indies.

1493 On the 25th of September Columbus sailed from Cadiz on his second voyage to the New World. He discovered numerous other islands, and in December laid the foundation of a town on the island of Hayti, which, in honor of the queen, he named Isabella.

1494 On the 5th of May Columbus discovered the island of Jamaica.

1496 While Columbus was successfully establishing the foundations of Spanish power in the New World, his enemies were assiduously laboring to deprive him of his merited honor and emoluments. Resolved to return to Spain to vindicate himself from those false charges which had been made against him to the Spanish Court, he intrusted the government of the islands to his brother, and on the 10th of March set sail for Spain. After his departure his brother removed the colony from Isabella to the south part of the island, and began a settlement there, which he named Santo Domingo.

The discoveries of Columbus excited great attention in England, and John Cabot sought and obtained a commission from King Henry VII., for himself and his three sons, to prosecute discoveries in the New World, and to occupy and possess such places as they could subdue.

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