CHAPTER I
EARLY EXPLORATION OF THE COAST OF TEXAS
Fully a quarter of a century had elapsed since the eventful landing of Columbus in the Antilles, when Alonso Alvarez de Pineda, a lieutenant of Francisco Garay, Governor of Jamaica, sailed along the shores of Texas in 1519. With a small fleet of four vessels, he was the first European carefully to explore and map the coast line from Florida to Veracruz in search of the mythical Strait of Anian that would lead the discoverer to the exuberant shores of Cathay and India. Repeated failures to find a way across the impenetrable barrier that stood between Spain's desire to share in the profitable trade of the East had not discouraged the sanguine hopes of the tireless conquistadors, who in the years imme- diately following the first discovery had traced the coast line of Central and South America. It was not until they became convinced that there was no passage in this area, that interest in the regions to the north began to develop. The Strait of Anian and tlee exploration of tlee coast of Nortli America. Contrary to general belief, Columbus fully realized that a whole conti- nent lay athwart his path to Cipango and Cathay. In 1498, when on the third voyage, he at last reached the mainland on the northern coast of South America, he carefully explored the country along what came to be known as the Pearl Coast. "I am convinced," he wrote in his journal; after two weeks of exploration, "that this is the mainland and very large, of which no knowledge has been had until now." 1 He wrote to the king and queen of Spain that this was an "otro mundo," perhaps the earthly paradise prophesied by Isaias. "These lands," he said, "which I have recently discovered, and where I believe in my soul , the earthly paradise is situated, will be immediately explored." 2 But the monarchs of Spain and the explorers were more interested in the mundane riches of the far East than they were in discovering the site of the earthly paradise. Ever since this time the question that had been uppermost in their minds was to find a passage through this unexpected barrier to the Spice Islands and their abundant markets.
1 Las Casas, Historia, II, 264. 2 Major, Select Letters of Cofombus, 148-153. [1]
Powered by FlippingBook