In the beginning of the sixteenth century, the coasts of the east side of
North America, particularly those of Florida, Virginia, Acadia and Canada,
were examined by navigators of different countries. Florida was discovered
in the year 1512, by the Spanish navigator, Ponce de Leon; but as it did
not present any appearance of containing the precious metals, the Spaniards
entirely neglected it. In 1524, the French seem to have engaged in their
first voyage of discovery to America. Francis I. sent out a Florentine with
four ships: three of these were left at Madeira; with the fourth he reached
Florida. From this country he is said to have coasted till he arrived in
fifty degrees of north latitude. To this part he gave the name of New
France; but he returned home without having formed any colony. Towards the
end of the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth centuries, the
English began to form settlements in these parts of North America. Virginia
was examined by the famous Sir Walter Raleigh: this name was given to all
the coast on which the English formed settlements. That part of it now
called Carolina, seems to have been first discovered by Raleigh.
The beginning of the seventeenth century was particularly distinguished by
the voyage of La Maire and Schouten. The States General of Holland, who had
formed an East India Company, in order to secure to it the monopoly of the
Indian trade, prohibited all individuals from navigating to the Indian
Ocean, either round the Cape of Good Hope or through the Straits of
Magellan.
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