Christopher Columbus

˶
Christopher Columbus, by Mildred Stapley

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Title: Christopher Columbus
Author: Mildred Stapley
Release Date: November, 2004 [EBook #6810] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on January 27, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS ***

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TRUE STORIES OF GREAT AMERICANS
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS
BY
MILDRED STAPLEY

Whatever can be known of earth we know, Sneered Europe's wise men, in their snail shells curled; No! said one man in Genoa, and that No Out of the dark created the New World.
--JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL

CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
COLUMBUS BEFRIENDED BY ROYALTY
CHAPTER II
THE YOUTH OF COLUMBUS
CHAPTER III
"LANDS IN THE WEST"
CHAPTER IV
THE SOJOURN IN MADEIRA
CHAPTER V
A SEASON OF WAITING
CHAPTER VI
A RAY OF HOPE
CHAPTER VII
ISABELLA DECIDES
CHAPTER VIII
OFF AT LAST!
CHAPTER IX
"LAND! LAND!"
CHAPTER X
NATIVES OF THE NEW LAND
CHAPTER XI
THE RETURN IN THE NINA
CHAPTER XII
DAYS OF TRIUMPH
CHAPTER XIII
PREPARING FOR A SECOND VOYAGE
CHAPTER XIV
FINDING NEW ISLANDS
CHAPTER XV
ON A SEA OF TROUBLES
CHAPTER XVI
THE THIRD VOYAGE
CHAPTER XVII
A RETURN IN DISGRACE
CHAPTER XVIII
PUBLIC SYMPATHY
CHAPTER XIX
THE LAST VOYAGE
CHAPTER XX
THE COURAGE OF DIEGO MENDEZ
CHAPTER XXI
"INTO PORT"

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS
CHAPTER I
COLUMBUS BEFRIENDED BY ROYALTY
Spain, as every one knows, was the country behind the discovery of America. Few people know, however, what an important part the beautiful city of Granada played in that famous event. It was in October, 1492, that Columbus first set foot on the New World and claimed it for Spain. In January of that same year another territory had been added to that same crown; for the brave soldier-sovereigns, Ferdinand and Isabella, had conquered the Moorish kingdom of Granada in the south and made it part of their own country.
Nearly eight hundred years before, the dark-skinned Moors had come over from Africa and invaded the European peninsula which lies closest to the Straits of Gibraltar, and the people of that peninsula had been battling fiercely ever since to drive them back to where they came from. True, the Moor had brought Arabian art and learning with him, but he had brought also the Mohammedan religion, and that was intolerable not only to the Spaniards but to all Europeans. No Christian country could brook the thought of this Asiatic creed flourishing on her soil, so Spain soon set to work to get rid of it.
This war between the two religions began in the north near the Bay of Biscay whither the Christians were finally pushed by the invaders. Each century saw the Moors driven a little farther south toward the Mediterranean, until Granada, where the lovely Sierra Nevadas rise, was the last stronghold left them. Small wonder, then, that when Granada was finally taken the Spanish nation was supremely happy. Small wonder that they held a magnificent fete in their newly-won city in the "Snowy Mountains." The vanquished Moorish king rode down from his mountain citadel and handed its keys to Ferdinand and Isabella. Bells pealed, banners waved, and the people cheered wildly as their victorious sovereigns rode by.
And yet, so we are told by a writer who was present, in the midst of all this rejoicing one man stood aside, sad and solitary. While all the others felt that their uttermost desire had been granted in acquiring the Moorish kingdom, he knew that he could present them with a far greater territory than Granada if only they would give him the chance. What were these olive and orange groves beside the tropic fertility of the shores he longed to reach, and which he would have reached long ere this, he told himself regretfully, if only they had helped him! What was the Christianizing of the few Moors who remained in Spain compared with the Christianizing of all the undiscovered heathen across the Atlantic!
And so on that eventful January 2, 1492, when a whole city was delirious with joy,
"There was crying in Granada when the sun was going down, Some calling on the Trinity-- some calling on Mahoun. Here passed away the Koran--there in the