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Aunt Charlotte's stories of American history. By C.M. Yonge and H.H. Weld
Aunt Charlotte's stories of American history By CM Yonge and HH Weld Author:Charlotte Mary Yonge Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAP. III.—COLUMBUS. 1492—1506. MONG the brave mariners of the Italian city of Genoa was a family named Colombo. Several of them became famous captains, an... more »d fought against the pirates in the Mediterranean. One of the family, named Domenico, though himself a woolcomber, had three sons, whose names are connected with one of the most important events in the history of the world. Cristofero, the eldest, took early to the sea. Bar- tolomeo became so able a mathematician, that he was appointed a map-maker at the Court of Portugal, which was under the influence of Don Enrique (Henry the Navigator), the great centre of maritime enterprise. Diego, as well as Bartolomeo, shared in afterlife in the honours and toils of their brother, whose Latinised name is Christopher Columbus. Christopher soon reached the command of a vessel in a squadron f1tted out by the Colombo family. In a naval engagement his vessel took fire, and he saved his life by jumping overboard, and, with the aid of a plank, swimming ashore. After this escape, Columbus repaired to Lisbon, where he joined his brother Bartolomeo (Bartholomew) in his work as a map- maker. By-and-by he married Felipa, the only daughter of a navigator who had shared, in the service of Don Enrique, in the discovery of Porto Santo and Madeira. His bride's father had left what proved to Columbus a rich inheritance in nautical instruments, besides a grant of Porto Santo, conferred by Don Enrique. The bridegroom and bride sailed to take possession of their islet, hoping to do great things with it; but behold, they found it altogether overrun with rabbits, which ate up all that they planted, and were so numerous that it proved of no use to try to kill them down. So after about a year, during which a son, named after his uncle, Diego, was born, they...« less