Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 June 1896 — A NEW DISCOVERER OF AMERICA [ARTICLE]

A NEW DISCOVERER OF AMERICA

Did Hl» Work About the Tear ColnaM bn# Waa Born. To sum up briefly. The shortest route from the old worid'to the new IB from Cape Verde to Brazil. Wind* and currents tend to carry a ship across. There is, therefore, an inherent probability that a Portuguese vessel should have been dri-in on to the Brazilian coast This actually happened to Cabral in 1500. It might have happened at any time after ships began to round Cape Verde. That cape was first rounded in 1445. In 1448 a remarkable map was made by Blanco, showing the most recent Portuguese discoveries. On It a long stretch of coastline is shown southwest from Oape Verde, with an inscription saying that it is authentic, and 1,500 miles to the west. The only land In such s’ position is South America. The discovery must have been made between 1445 and 1448. It is recorded that an unknown island was found far to the west in 1447. On the first map dealing with the Atlantic Ocean after Bianco’s map, a large island is found in the position indicated by Bianco. The Portuguese' had good reason for not troubling much aboilt such an island, until the papal bull of 1493, with its line of demarcation, when their conduct leading to the Tordesillas treaty of 1494, by which the line was shifted so far that they secured Brazil, seems to have been based on knowledge of the existence of land in the position of that country. Moreover, there is evidence to show that they publicly claimed the possession oi such knowledge. If the views here set forth are tenable, the interesting and Important result is obtained tint America was discovered by the Portuguese in or about the very year in' which Columbus is believed to have been born. Without removing one iota from the real merit of Columbus, it would add the crowning laurel to the already great glory of that marvelous man, Prince Henry the Navigator, who, it is pardonable to remember, was half an Englishman.—Geographical Journal.