The discoveries of Columbus occurred most opportunely for the Spanish
nation, at the moment when it was released from its tumultuous struggle
in which it had been engaged for so many years with the Moslems. The
severe schooling of these wars had prepared it for entering on a bolder
theater of action, whose stirring and romantic perils raised still
higher the chivalrous spirit of the people. The operation of this spirit
was shown in the alacrity with which private adventurers embarked in
expeditions to the New World, under cover of the general license, during
the last two years of this century. Their efforts, combined with those
of Columbus, extended the range of discovery from its original limits;
twenty-four degrees of north latitude, to probably more than fifteen
south, comprehending some of the most important territories in the
western hemisphere. Before the end of 1500, the principal groups of
the West India islands had been visited, and the whole extent of
the southern continent coasted from the Bay of Honduras to Cape St.
Augustine. One adventurous mariner, indeed, named Lepe, penetrated
several degrees south of this, to a point not reached by any other
voyager for ten or twelve years after. A great part of the kingdom
of Brazil was embraced in this extent, and two successive Castilian
navigators landed and took formal possession of it for the crown of
Castile, previous to its reputed discovery by the Portuguese Cabral;
although the claims to it were relinquished by the Spanish Government,
conformably to the famous line of demarkation established by the treaty
of Tordesillas.
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