Some authors, however, contend that Amerigo visited the coasts
of Guiana and Terra Firma before Columbus; the more probable account is,
that he examined them more carefully two years after their discovery by
Columbus. Amerigo was treated by the court of Spain with as little
attention and gratitude as Columbus had been: he therefore offered his
services to Portugal, and in two voyages, between 1500 and 1504, he
examined the coasts of that part of South America which was afterwards
called Brazil. This country had been discovered by Cabral, who commanded
the second expedition of the Portuguese to India: on his voyage thither, a
tempest drove him so far to the west, that he reached the shores of
America. He called it the Land of the Holy Cross; but it was afterwards
called Brazil, from the quantity of red wood of that name found on it.
For some time after the discovery of America it was supposed to be part of
India: and hence, the name of the West Indies, still retained by the
islands in the Gulph of Mexico, was given to all those countries. There
were, however, circumstances which soon led the discoverers to doubt of the
truth of the first conceived opinion. The Portuguese had visited no part of
Asia, either continent or island, from the coast of Malabar to China, on
which they had not found natives highly civilized, who had made
considerable progress in the elegant as well as the useful arts of life,
and who were evidently accustomed to intercourse with strangers, and
acquainted with commerce.
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