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One made by the late historian Munoz, and the other made in 1826, and signed by Don Jose de la Higuera y Lara, keeper of the general archives of the Indies in Seville. In the course of this testimony, the fact that Amerigo Vespucci accompanied Ojeda in this voyage of 1499, appears manifest, first from the deposition of Ojeda himself.
Three other expeditions left Spain almost at the same time as that of Hojeda. The first of these, consisting of but one vessel, sailed from Barra Saltez in June 1499. Pier Alonzo Nino, who had served under Columbus in his two last voyages, was its commander, and he was accompanied by Christoval Guerra, a merchant of Seville, who probably defrayed the expenses of the expedition.
H. Major, in his history of Prince Henry the Navigator, assert that Vespucius' first voyage was in 1497, and consequently that he must have seen the American continent before Columbus, but we prefer to follow Humboldt, who spent so many years in studying the history of the discovery of America, in his opinion that 1499 was the right date, also M. Ed.
In the end of January 1499, after his departure, the two caravels being furnished with all necessaries, set out to take up the rebels; but a great storm arose by the way, and they were forced to put into another port till the end of March, and because the caravel Nina was in the worst condition and wanted most repairs, the admiral sent orders to Peter de Arana and Francis de Garai to repair to Xaragua with the Santa Cruz in her stead, on board of which Caravajal went by sea instead of going by land as before intended.
In another part of his work, Harris acknowledges the reality of the first voyage of Americus, under the command of Alonso Hojeda, and assigns the 20th May 1499 as its commencement . Americus was probably only pilot of the different navigations he relates.
On the 13th of November 1499, Vincent Yannez Pinzon, who had sailed with Columbus in his first voyage of discovery, and his nephew Aries Pinzon, departed from the port of Palos with four well appointed ships, fitted out at their own cost, having a license from the king of Spain to prosecute discoveries in the new world, but with express orders not to touch anywhere that had been visited by Columbus.
Of the rest of this voyage, till the arrival of the general at the island of St Jago, I have found no account; except that, when, approaching that place, Nicholas Coello parted company one night with the general, and made direct for Portugal, that he might carry the first intelligence to the king of the discovery of India; and arrived at Cascais on the 10th of July 1499 . He went immediately to the king, whom he informed of all that had befallen the general in his discovery of the Indies, and of the commodities which had been brought from thence; of which discovery, and of the prospect which it held out of a direct trade with India by sea, the king was as glad as when he had been proclaimed king of Portugal.
Early in 1499 one of the pilots who had accompanied Columbus on his Cuban trip secured a license, and not only explored the Central American coast for several hundred miles, but traded his European trifles and gewgaws with the natives for gold and silver, returning to Spain with real profits.
In his company was Amerigo Vespucci, whose graphic and fanciful account of his own particular doings resulted eventually in the naming of the entire continent after him. In 1499 Alonso Niño led an expedition out from Spain, followed shortly after by another commanded by Pinzon. In the meantime Brazil was being explored by the great Portuguese, Pedro Alvarez Cabral.
Under these circumstances, it is not surprising that Erasmus did not at once accept Colet's proposition in 1499 that he should stay and teach in Oxford. Whether provision was offered him or not, we do not know: he might perhaps have stayed on by right at St. Mary's, but he loved not the rule. We do know, however, that at Paris there certainly was no provision for him.
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