South America
by W. H. Koebel · English · Gutenberg #17877 · 537,431 chars · public domain (US)
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Title: South America
Author: W. H. Koebel
Release date: February 27, 2006 [eBook #17877]
Language: English
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17877
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[Illustration: CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.
_From the portrait in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The gift
of Mr. Pierpont Morgan._
_The painting bears the words "Sebastian Venetus, fecit 1519"._
_A. Rischgitz._]
THE MAKING OF THE NATIONS
SOUTH AMERICA
BY
W.H. KOEBEL
AUTHOR OF "SOUTH AMERICA" IN BLACK'S SERIES OF COLOUR BOOKS, "MODERN
ARGENTINA," "MODERN CHILE," ETC.
WITH THIRTY-TWO FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS, ETC., AND MAPS
AND PLANS IN THE TEXT
ADAM & CHARLES BLACK
LONDON MCMXIII
PREFACE
The history of a continent such as South America, confined to the limits
of a single volume of moderate size, must of necessity contain some
elements of mere survey. Nevertheless, since in no other but a condensed
form could the respective strides achieved by the various nations of
this continent be satisfactorily judged and compared, the author is
encouraged to hope that this small work may fill in one of the most
obvious of the many gaps in the English versions of South American
history. He has endeavoured to lay stress on the trend of the
authorities and peoples in question rather than to emphasize the rigid
succession of Governors and Presidents. In the same way, since space has
had to be considered, it was thought desirable to introduce at any
length only those personalities notable for their actions and intrinsic
influence, leaving in the background those others whose only claim to
the interest of posterity lies in the weight of the office they held.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE CONTINENT IN PRE-SPANISH DAYS 1
II. COLUMBUS 14
III. THE SPANISH CONQUISTADORES 26
IV. THE DISCOVERY AND EARLY HISTORY OF BRAZIL 36
V. THE CONQUEST OF PERU 47
VI. SPANIARD AND NATIVE 56
VII. THE COLONIZATION OF THE SOUTH 64
VIII. THE GOVERNMENT OF THE SOUTH AMERICAN COLONIES 74
IX. FOREIGN RAIDS ON THE SPANISH COLONIES 83
X. FOREIGN RAIDS ON PORTUGUESE COLONIES 95
XI. THE COLONY OF PERU 110
XII. THE COLONY OF CHILE 121
XIII. THE COLONIES OF PARAGUAY AND THE RIVER PLATE 130
XIV. THE NORTHERN COLONIES 142
XV. THE LAST DAYS OF EMPIRE 151
XVI. THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE--I 159
XVII. THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE--II 176
XVIII. BRAZIL: FROM COLONY TO EMPIRE 185
XIX. THE EMPIRE OF BRAZIL 201
XX. FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 211
XXI. MODERN BRAZIL 220
XXII. THE INDEPENDENCE OF SPANISH AMERICA 228
XXIII. THE REPUBLIC OF PERU 237
XXIV. THE REPUBLIC OF PARAGUAY 245
XXV. THE PARAGUAYAN WAR 255
XXVI. THE REPUBLIC OF CHILE 264
XXVII. THE REPUBLICS OF THE RIVER PLATE 272
XXVIII. THE NORTHERN REPUBLICS 283
INDEX 295
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PRINTED SEPARATELY FROM THE TEXT.
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS _Frontispiece_
TO FACE PAGE
MANCO-CAPAC COLLECTING HIS PEOPLE FOR THE WORK OF BUILDING
THE CITY OF CUZCO 5
DIEGO DE ALMAGRO 12
JORGE CABRAL 16
COLUMBUS LANDING IN AMERICA 37
VASCO DA GAMA 44
THE DEFEAT OF THE PERUVIANS OUTSIDE CUZCO 49
PIZARRO AND ATAHUALPA 53
DEATH OF ATAHUALPA 60
ATAHUALPA 65
SUGAR-MAKING 69
BARTOLOME DE LAS CASAS 76
FRANCISCO PIZARRO 80
SECTIONS OF A SLAVE-SHIP 85
OLINDA DE PERNAMBUCO 92
FERDINAND MAGELLAN 101
DUTCH VESSELS SAILING THROUGH THE STRAITS OF MAGELLAN 108
DUTCH AND SPANISH VESSELS ENGAGED OFF CALLAO 116
ACAPULCO 125
AN ISLAND PASSAGE OF THE RIVER AMAZON 144
POTOSI 149
BRITISH WARSHIPS UNDER ANSON'S COMMAND PLUNDERING PAYTA 156
SIMON BOLIVAR 164
DON FRANCISCO SOLANO LOPEZ 173
PEDRO I., EMPEROR OF BRAZIL 193
THE OPENING OF THE SENATE HOUSE, RIO DE JANEIRO 196
PALACE AND GREAT SQUARE IN RIO DE JANEIRO 205
PEDRO II., EMPEROR OF BRAZIL 208
THOMAS, TENTH EARL OF DUNDONALD, G.C.B. 261
BERNARDO O'HIGGINS 268
STATUE OF GENERAL MANUEL BELGRANO 277
BRIGADIER-GENERAL BARTOLOME MITRE 284
PRINTED IN THE TEXT.
PAGE
MAP OF SOUTH AMERICA, SHOWING THE DISTRICTS OF THE
ABORIGINAL TRIBES AT THE TIME OF THE SPANISH CONQUEST 9
A PERUVIAN CASSE-TETE AND A PIPE OF PEACE 50
THE TEMPLE OF THE SUN, CUZCO 53
INDIAN HUTS ON THE RIVER CHIPURANA 54
THE STRAITS OF MAGELLAN, AS KNOWN AT THE TIME OF CORDOVA'S
VOYAGE 91
PEASANTS OF ST. MICHAEL PROCEEDING TO DEL GADO 158
ARMS OF THE EMPIRE OF BRAZIL 192
ARMS OF UNITED KINGDOMS OF PORTUGAL, THE ALGARVES, AND
BRAZIL 192
CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES, RIO DE JANEIRO 197
SKETCH-MAP OF SOUTH AMERICA 293
SOUTH AMERICA
CHAPTER I
THE CONTINENT IN PRE-SPANISH DAYS
The discovery of South America stands as one of the most dramatic events
in history. From the time of its occurrence until the present so deeply
has this event impressed itself on men's minds that the previous state
of the Continent has been a somewhat neglected topic. The Incas and
their civilization, it is true, have attracted no small share of
attention to themselves, and the subject has become more or less
familiar to the average English reader through the medium of the work of
Prescott, who has been followed by a number of later writers, many of
whom have dealt very exhaustively with this subject. Yet, after all, the
Incas, for all their historical importance, occupied but a very small
portion of the territories of the Southern Continent. Beyond the western
fringe of the Continent which was theirs by heritage, or by conquest,
were other lands--mountainous in parts, level in others, where the great
river basins extended themselves--which were the chosen hunting and
fishing grounds of an almost innumerable number of tribes.
The degree of civilization, or, more accurately speaking, of savagery
which characterized these as a whole necessarily varied to a great
extent in the case of each particular tribe. Nevertheless, from the
comparatively high culture of the Incas down to the most intellectually
submerged people of the forests and swamps, there were certain
characteristics held in common by all. This applied not only to a marked
physical likeness which stamped every dweller in the great Continent,
but to customs, religious ceremonies, and government as well. Concerning
the origin of the South American Indians interminable disputes have now
raged for generations, but that in the case of all the various tribes
the origin was the same has never, I think, been controverted. The most
common theory concerning the origin of the South Americans is that this
was Mongolian.
This idea would certainly seem one of the most feasible of the many put
forward. Those who have delved sufficiently deeply into the matter have
found many striking analogies in customs, religious ceremonies, and even
in language between the inhabitants of South America and those of
Eastern Asia; and there are even those who assert that the similarity
between the two peoples extends to the designs on domestic pottery. The
majority of those who have devoted themselves to this subject of the
South American aborigines have been obliged to work largely in the dark.
Considering the great extent of the ruins bequeathed by the Incas to the
later ages, it might be thought curious that so few precise data are
available. The reason for this lies in the zeal which the
_conquistadores_ displayed in the stamping out of the various pagan
religions. No sooner had the Spaniards obtained possession of the chief
cities of the Incas than every symbol, image, or, indeed, any object
suggestive of sun-worship or anything of the kind, was smashed into
fragments, and every trace of its significance so far as possible
obliterated.
There is no doubt that in the course of this wholesale destruction a
multitude of objects perished which would have given an historical clue
to much of what now remains doubtful. It is owing to this obliterative
enthusiasm that such scanty historical knowledge exists concerning the
earlier period of the Inca race, and of that highly civilized nation
which preceded the later Children of the Sun.
It is, moreover, largely on account of this vagueness and uncertainty
that some curiously wild theories have been propounded concerning the
origin of the South Americans, and more especially of the Incas. Thus,
in 1843, George Jones, a writer who had indulged in some extraordinarily
enthusiastic researches, published a work the object of which was to
prove that not only the Mexicans, but all the tribes of Southern
America, were the descendants of some old Tyrians who, fleeing from
their enemies, abandoned Phoenicia and, sailing westward, landed in
Central America, some 332 years before the birth of Christ! It must be
admitted that the structure--even though it is purely of the
imagination--thus built up by the fertile author is sufficiently
ingenious, and the number of Biblical data, similarities, and general
phenomena, which he has brought to bear on the subject are impressive,
if not convincing.
Peru was admittedly the richest country of South America, so far as
historical relics are concerned. Yet even here it is difficult in the
extreme to glean any accurate information concerning the actual
primitive inhabitants of the country. Astonishingly little tradition of
any kind exists, and the little to be met with is rendered comparatively
valueless by the vivid imagination of the Indian; thus this period
cannot be considered as historical in the real sense of the word. A
number of relics, it is true, prove the existence of an early form of
civilization, the most numerous being found, as would naturally be
expected when the nature of the country is considered, in the valleys
and the coasts. These relics take the forms of food substances and
kitchen utensils, and are known as "kitchen-middens," and beyond these
rude fireplaces have been found.
In 1874 the skeleton of a tall man was discovered in a volcanic layer
which is supposed to have belonged to a later period. The dwelling in
which it was found showed a distinct advance in civilization. It was
constructed of rocks joined together by means of clay, and roofed with
plaited straw. One of the most notable objects found by the side of this
man was a well-fashioned cotton purse, filled with wheat and other
grain. In various neighbourhoods remnants of pottery and cloth gave
evidence of these later stages. After this it is supposed that a great
invasion of Peru occurred, and that the race which preceded the Incas
took possession of the land.
It will be most fitting to deal first of all with the Incas, the most
highly civilized race of the Continent. The head-quarters of this nation
were to be found in Peru and Bolivia. The capital of the whole Empire
was Cuzco, a town situated at some distance to the north of Lake
Titicaca. Lake Titicaca is generally held to have been the cradle of the
race, and it is in this neighbourhood and on the shores of the lake that
some of the most notable of the Inca ruins are to be met with.
There is no doubt that the great majority of these stupendous monuments
of a former age were not the actual handiwork of the Incas. It is now
considered practically certain that these Incas, themselves enlightened
and progressive, were merely using the immense structures both of
material masonry and of theoretical civilization left behind by a
previous race whom the Children of the Sun had conquered and subdued. It
is not improbable that this race was that of the Aymaras; in any case it
is certain that the Empire of the Incas was not of old standing, and
that they had not occupied the countries they held for more than a few
hundred years before the advent of the Spaniards.
[Illustration: MANCO CAPAC, THE LEGENDARY FOUNDER OF THE INCA EMPIRE,
COLLECTING HIS PEOPLE FOR THE WORK OF BUILDING THE CITY OF CUZCO.]
The Incas possessed a very definite theory concerning the origin of
their tribe. Sun-worshippers, they loved to think that they themselves
were descended from a chance fragment of that terrible and blazing
luminary. Thus their religion had it that the first Inca was a child of
the Sun who came down to earth in company with his sister-wife. The spot
they chose was an island on Lake Titicaca. Here they alighted in all
their brilliancy, and the Indians of the neighbourhood gathered about
them and fell at their feet, receiving them as rulers with infinite
gratitude. This first Inca, whatever may have been his real origin, was
undoubtedly known as Manco-Capac, and his sister-wife was known as
Mama-Oclle. Manco-Capac represented the first of a dynasty of thirteen
Emperors, the last of whom suffered at the hands of Pizarro. Until the
end of their race these Incas had retained a considerable degree of the
sacred character with which tradition had invested the first of their
line. The person of the Emperor was, indeed, worshipped as a demi-god.
Justified by tradition, he had the privilege of marrying his sister. It
is curious to remark here the resemblance in the customs of the Incas
and the Pharaos.
An alternative theory of the origin of the Inca race, although not
authoritative, is worthy of note. W.B. Stevenson, in a work published in
1825, states that a curious tradition was related to him by the Indians
in various parts of Peru. According to this the progenitor of the royal
Incas was an Englishman who was found stranded on the coast by a certain
cacique of the name of Cocapac! The cacique took the stranger to his
home, and the Englishman married the chieftain's daughter. From this
union sprang a boy, Ingasman Cocapac, and a girl, Mama-Oclle. These
were both of fair complexion and hair.
Shortly after the birth of these children their parents died, and the
boy and girl were left in the care of their grandfather, Cocapac. The
nature of this latter appears to have been extraordinarily calculating
and astute. He saw in the children a phenomenal opportunity for the
glorification of his family. First of all he instructed the youngsters
for years in the playing of their parts; then, when adult, he took them
to Cuzco and posted them on the side of a mountain of that important
district. After this he went among the tribesmen, and announced that the
Sun-god had sent two of his children to govern the race as a special
mark of his favour. The Indians streamed out to the point he indicated
as their resting-place, and, sure enough, they found the strangers at
the spot.
To the chagrin of Cocapac, however, the tribesmen refused to accept them
in the light of gods; on the contrary, they condemned the pair as a
wizard and a witch, and banished them from the neighbourhood. Cocapac,
undaunted by this failure, accompanied his grandchildren, and repeated
his performance on the shores of Lake Titicaca. Here complete success
marked the attempt: the young people were received by the Indians with
enthusiasm as the children of their god, and, once established, the
belief spread all round, until it included all the centre of the Inca
Empire, not excepting the once sceptical Cuzco. To quote from Stevenson:
"Thus," said the Indians, "was the power of the Incas established,
and many of them have said that, as I was an Englishman, I was of
their family. When H.B.M. ship _Breton_ was at Callao, some of the
officers accompanied me one Sunday afternoon to the Alameda at
Lima. On our way we were saluted by several Indians from the
mountains, calling us their countrymen and their relations, begging
at the same time that we would drink some chicha with them."
It is unnecessary to point out the dubiousness of this theory! For all
the obvious difficulties in the way of credibility, the main story has a
certain convincing ring, if for no other reason than the utterly prosaic
attempt at an explanation of the alleged miraculous and mystical episode
of the native mythology.
In the course of time the Inca Empire had sent its wave of influence and
dominion to roll widely to the north and to the south. In the north its
government extended beyond Quito; in the south its progress had been
arrested by the warrior Indians of Southern Chile, the Araucanians on
the banks of the River Maule.
On the whole, the rule of the Incas over the conquered races was
beneficent, and these latter, sensible of the advantages offered them,
were quite willing to weld themselves into the common Empire. Almost the
sole respect in which they showed themselves merciless was in the manner
in which their religious sacrifices were carried out. The Sun frequently
proved himself greedy of human blood, and he was never stinted by his
priests; human life, indeed, in the more populous centres was held
rather more cheaply than is usual among people who had attained to the
civilization of the Incas.
In the Civil Government every symptom of this kind was absent. Indeed,
the methods of the Inca Government, on the whole, were of the benevolent
order; at the same time laws applying to the conduct of the populace
were in many respects stringent, and were wont to be carried out to the
letter. A number of socialistic doctrines were embodied in these strange
constitutions of the past. The work of the people was mapped out for
them, and, although it may be said with justice that no poverty existed,
this very admirable state of affairs was frequently brought about by the
enforcing of labour on the would-be idle.
The lands of the Inca Kingdom from frontier to frontier were divided
into three classes of territory. The first was the property of the
Sun--that is to say, the proceeds of its harvests were applied to the
temples, priests, and all the other requirements of religion. The land
appertaining to the second category was the property of the Royal
Family; and the third belonged to the people. It is interesting to note
in connection with this system of land distribution that in the later
centuries the Jesuits in Paraguay adopted a very similar procedure, and
divided their lands into three sections which corresponded exactly with
those of the Incas. Thus, according to these regulations, every
inhabitant of the Inca Empire was a landowner. This, however, merely in
a limited sense, for, although the land was his to work, he was not
permitted to obtain any advantage from its possession other than that
which he obtained by his own labour, and, as has been explained, the
refraining from work was a heavily punishable offence. When the spirit
in which these laws were framed is taken into consideration, it is not
surprising that no man was allowed to sell his land, a procedure which
would, of course, have rendered the general working of the community
inoperative. The land, in fact, represented a loan from the State which
lasted the lifetime of the agriculturist.
[Illustration: SOUTH AMERICA
SHOWING THE DISTRICTS OF THE
ABORIGINAL TRIBES
AT THE TIME OF THE SPANISH CONQUEST.]
Perhaps the civilization of the Incas and of their predecessors is most
of all evident in the industrial monuments which they have left behind
them. In irrigation they had little or nothing to learn from the most
advanced European experts of the time. Many of their aqueducts, indeed,
showed an astonishing degree both of ingenuity and of labour. The
nature of the country across which it was necessary to construct these
was, of course, sufficiently mountainous to test the powers of the most
capable engineer. The Inca roads, in many respects, rivalled their
aqueducts. From the point of view of the modern highway, it is true that
they may be considered as somewhat slender and unimportant affairs.
Certainly in the absence of any wheeled traffic no surface of the kind
as was necessary in Europe and Asia was to be met with here. Provided
that the road stretched in an uninterrupted length along the peaks,
valleys, and chasms of the rugged mountain country, no question of close
and intricate pavement was concerned, since for the troops of
pack-llamas anything of the kind was quite superfluous. Thus, as
imposing structures, these highways impress the modern traveller but
little. Nevertheless, they served their purpose efficiently, and
extended themselves in triumph over one of the most difficult
road-making countries in the world.
This road network of the Incas spread itself little by little from the
central portion of the Empire to the far north and south; for during the
comparatively short imperial status of the race their rule had extended
itself steadily. They were in many respects a people possessed of the
true colonizing instincts. Their able and liberal Government was of a
kind which could not fail to be appreciated by the tribes which they had
conquered. Indeed, the various sections of these subjugated Indians
appear to have become an integral part of the Inca Empire in a
remarkably short time.
In their conquest the rulers appear to have strained every point to
effect this end. Thus they were not averse from time to time to receive
into their temples new and strange gods which their freshly made
subjects had been in the habit of worshipping. These were received
among the deities of older standing, and were wont to be acknowledged,
and so, after a short while, were considered as foreign no longer.
A nation of which far less has been heard, but which in many respects
resembled the Incas, was that of the Chibchas. The Chibchas inhabited
the country which had for its centre the valley of the Magdalena River.
The country of this tribe, as a matter of fact, is now part of the
Republic of Colombia; thus the Chibchas were situated well to the north
of the Inca Empire. The religion of these people closely resembled that
of the more southern Children of the Sun. Like these others, they
worshipped the masculine Sun and the female Moon, and a certain number
of deities in addition.
The Chibchas have left some ruins of temples behind them, although these
are not of the same magnitude as the Inca edifices. They were an
agricultural people, and, in addition, were skilled in weaving and in
the manufacture of pottery; they were, moreover, supposed to have been
clever workers in gold. The costume of the race showed very similar
tastes to those of their more southern brethren. The men of rank wore
white or dyed cotton tunics, and the women mantles fastened by means of
golden clasps. The warlike splendour of the men was characteristically
picturesque, their chief decorations being breast-plates of gold and
magnificent plumes for the head. They, too, employed as weapons darts,
bows and arrows, clubs, lances, and slings. The fate of the Chibchas
was, of course, the same as that of the Incas. Their bodies decked with
their brilliant feathers and pomp sank into the mire of despond, never
again to attain to their former state.
This very brief study of the Incas and Chibchas concludes the civilized
elements of the Aboriginal South American. To the east of the Andes were
a number of tribes, all of which were, to a greater or lesser degree,
still in a state of sheer savagery. Near the eastern frontier of the
Inca Empire resided such peoples as the Chiriguanos, Chunchos, Abipones,
Chiquitos, Mojos, Guarayos, Tacanas; while to the north were similar
tribes, such as the Ipurines, Jamamaries, Huitotos, Omaguas. These
appear to have absorbed some crude and vague forms of the Inca religion,
and were addicted to the worship of the Sun, but more frequently of the
Moon.
On the east of the Continent, ranging from the territory which is now
known as Misiones in Argentina, and Southern Paraguay to the north-east
of the Continent, were various branches of the great Guarani family, a
nation that some consider should be more correctly known as Tupis, and
whose northernmost section are known as Caribs. It is impossible to
attempt to give an account of the very great number of the tribes which
went to make up this powerful and great nation. Many of these remain to
the present day, and sixteen are still accounted for in the
comparatively insignificant district of the Guianas alone.
It is, indeed, only feasible to deal with the main characteristics of
these various peoples--mostly forest-dwellers. Naturally enough, the
tribesmen were hunters and fishers. The majority were given to paint
their bodies and to pierce their ears, noses, and lower lips, in order
to insert reeds, feathers, and similar savage ornaments. In the more
tropical forest regions the blowpipe constituted one of the most
formidable weapons. Bows and arrows were in general use, the points of
these latter being of bone or hardened wood. The barbs of the spears
were similarly contrived, many of these weapons being beautifully
decorated in the more northern territories. The greater part of these
tribes still remain in the forest districts of the Continent.
[Illustration: DIEGO DE ALMAGRO.
The fellow-_conquistador_ and rival of Pizarro in the conquest of Peru,
and pioneer explorer of Chile.]
In Chile and in the River Plate Provinces an entirely different type of
Indian prevailed; great warriors these, for the most part, who roamed
the plains of the River Plate Provinces, or, like the Araucanians, lived
a turbulent and fierce existence among the forests and mountains of the
far south to the west of the Andes Chain.
It was these Southern Indians who disputed the soil with the Spaniards
with the courage and ferocity that frequently spilled the Castillian
blood in torrents on the mountains or plains. To the end, indeed, they
remained unconquered, and death was almost invariably preferred to
submission to the hated white invaders of their land.
Even here prevailed the socialism which so strongly characterized the
races of the centre and north of the Continent. Despotism was unknown,
and even the chieftain, in the proper sense of the word, had no
existence. In times of war an elder was chosen, it is true, but with the
laying down of the weapons he became again one of the people, and was
lost in their ranks. Such crude organization as existed was left to the
hands of a Council of Elders. There is no doubt that witch-doctors
attained to a certain degree of power, but even this was utterly
insignificant as compared with that which was wont to be enjoyed by the
savage priests of Central Africa.
Taken as a whole, the Indians of Southern America represented some of
the most simple children who ever lived in the lap of Nature.
Unsophisticated, credulous, and strangely wanting in reasoning powers
and organized self-defence, they fell ready victims to the onslaughts of
the Spaniards, who burst with such dramatic unexpectedness on their
north-eastern shores.
CHAPTER II
COLUMBUS
Columbus was admittedly a visionary. It was to the benefit of his fellow
Europeans and to the detriment of the South American tribes that to his
dreams he joined the practical side of his nature. Certainly the value
of imagination in a human being has never been more strikingly proved
than by the triumph of Columbus.
The enthusiasm of the great Genoese was of the kind which has tided men
over obstacles and difficulties and troubles throughout the ages. He was
undoubtedly of the nervous and highly-wrought temperament common to one
of his genius. He loved the dramatic. There are few who have not heard
the story of the egg with the crushed end which stood upright. But there
are innumerable other instances of the demonstrative powers of Columbus.
For instance, when asked to describe the Island of Madeira, he troubled
not to utter a word in reply, but snatched up a piece of writing-paper
and, crumpling it by a single motion of his hand, held it aloft as a
triumphant exhibition of the island's peaks and valleys.
Fortunately for the adventurers of his period, his belief in his mission
was unshakable. It was, of course, a mere matter of chance that Columbus
should have found himself in the service of the Spaniards when he set
out upon his voyage which was to culminate in the discovery of the New
World. He himself had been far more concerned with the Portuguese than
with their eastern neighbours. Indeed, until the discovery of America,
the Spaniards, fully occupied with the expulsion of the Moors from
within their frontiers in Europe, could give but little attention to the
science of navigation.
The Portuguese, on the other hand, had for a considerable period been
specializing in seamanship. From his castle at Faro, on the southernmost
shores of Portugal, where Prince Henry the Navigator had founded his
maritime school, that royal scientist had watched with pride the
captains whom he had trained as they sailed their vessels over the gold
and blue horizon of the Far South, and had exultantly drunk in on their
return the tales of new shores and of oceans ploughed for the first
time; of spices, riches men, and beasts, all new and strange, and, all
appealing strongly to the imagination of the learned Prince, who only
restrained himself with difficulty from plunging into the unknown.
It was with men such as these of Prince Henry's with whom the Genoese
had been brought into contact on his first visit to Portugal. That he
had been received by this set as one of themselves is sufficiently
evidenced by the fact of his marriage with a daughter of Bartholomew
Perestrello. It was naturally, therefore, to the Portuguese Government
that Columbus first applied for the assistance in men and ships which
were to bear him to the land which he so fiercely promised.
As has been said, there is no doubt that Columbus was a visionary who
possessed a large amount of practical knowledge and experience, from
which the indulgence in these visions sprang. That his theories were the
result of something more than the merest speculation is certain.
Maritime legend and lore were rife in Genoa and the Mediterranean, and
certainly abounded in Portugal under the benevolent and strenuous
encouragement of Prince Henry the Navigator. That some vague echoes of
the feats performed by the Norsemen and others who had long before won
their way to the Western Continent had penetrated to these parts of
Europe there is no doubt. Columbus, moreover, had stayed for many months
at one of those half-way houses between Europe and the western mainland,
Porto Santo, and the neighbouring Island of Madeira.
His father-in-law was at the time Governor of the lesser island, that of
Porto Santo. In such a spot as this the requirements of Columbus were
naturally few, and he had gained a livelihood with ease by the making of
maps. His father was a carder of wool at Genoa, and young Christopher,
rebelling at the monotony of this trade, commenced his maritime life
before he was fifteen years old.
It was doubtless while at Porto Santo that Columbus had thought out his
theories, aided by not a little evidence of the material order, such as
floating logs and other objects, which had sailed, wind and current
borne, from the unknown lands across the Atlantic. Columbus, of course,
was not actually the first to feel convinced of the possibility of
gaining India by sailing to the West; the theory had been held by
Aristotle, Seneca, Strabo, and others. The sole mistake Columbus made in
his calculations was concerning the size of the world. He had
overestimated the extent of the Continent of Asia, and underestimated
the extent of the Atlantic Ocean; he seems to have been convinced that a
very few days' sailing to the west of Madeira would bring him to the
shores of India. It was this error in calculation that undoubtedly was
responsible for many long and agonizing hours spent on the actual
voyage.
[Illustration: JORGE CABRAL.
_From a coloured drawing in a Spanish MS. in the Sloane Collection in
the British Museum._]
Columbus's proposals, it is true, were received with a certain interest
by the Portuguese; but for the jealousy of some officials it is very
probable that he would, in the first instance, have seen his cherished
plans carried into effect. As it was, a vessel was secretly fitted out,
and was sent in command of a rival navigator to test the theories of
Columbus. After a while the ship returned, battered and worn, having
discovered nothing beyond a series of exceptionally violent tempests.
This attempt was in any case destined to prove equally adverse to the
fortunes of Columbus. Had it succeeded, he would have undoubtedly been
deprived of the credit which should have been his by right; since it
failed, the venture was considered to have proved the fallacy of
Columbus's theories. When, disgusted with experiences such as these,
Columbus left Portugal and took up his residence near the Court of Spain
in company with this great idea of his, which followed him everywhere,
and was in a sense bigger than himself, he met with an equal lack of
success in the first instance. Queen Isabella was sympathetic, but her
cautious husband Ferdinand showed himself cold. Dreading the utter
destruction of his plans, Columbus determined to wash his hands of the
Iberian Peninsula and its over-cautious rulers and statesmen.
He was actually on his way to England, whither one of his brothers had
already preceded him, when a message from the Court of Spain caused him
to hasten back. It is possible that the Court had been in a haggling
mood, and had given the discoverer credit for a similar phase; at all
events, it was not until his person was almost out of reach that the now
complaisant authorities called him back.
Ferdinand himself had given his consent, although in a grudging fashion.
Isabella, however, proved herself enthusiastic, and it was she who
signed the bargain with the famous Genoese, which gave a continent to
the Royal Family of Spain. The signing of the bargain, however, did not
necessarily end the friction. The authorities were now fully prepared to
recognize Columbus as their messenger to the unknown world; but they
were reluctant in the extreme that the intrepid navigator should be
carried in too comfortable or costly a fashion. In the end Columbus,
conceding that half a fleet was better than no ships, gave way and took
what was offered him. He himself as Admiral was given charge of the
_Santa Maria_, the largest vessel, while two diminutive craft, the
_Pinta_ and the _Nina_, made up this very humble fleet. Nevertheless,
Columbus now had his desire; he had obtained in the main all that he had
asked, although some of it in a lesser degree.
The concessions granted to Columbus for his first voyage were that he
was to be made Admiral of the seas and countries to be discovered, a
dignity which was to descend to his heirs; that he was to become Viceroy
of all those islands and continents; to have the tenth part of the
profits of the total undertaking; to be made sole mercantile judge; to
have the right to contribute one-eighth part of the expenses of all the
maritime ventures, and in return to be given an eighth part of the
profits.
He carried with him a letter from Ferdinand and Isabella to any chance
sovereign whom he might meet, which ran to this effect:
"Ferdinand and Isabella to King ... The Sovereigns having heard
that he and his subjects entertain great love for them and for
Spain. They are, moreover, informed that he and his subjects very
much wish to hear news from Spain, and send therefore their
Admiral, Christopher Columbus, who will tell them that they are in
good health and perfect prosperity."
Prester John, who was still considered to be ruling in some mystical
fashion over an imaginary country, might have welcomed this species of
circular communication. It was certainly wasted on the inhabitants of
Hispaniola, who were considerably more concerned with their own health
and prosperity than with that of Ferdinand and Isabella, and who
certainly had more reason when the adventurers had once landed.
So to a certain extent armed and prepared against any chance that he
might encounter, Columbus set sail from Spain on August 3, 1492.
Much has been said concerning the character of the crews with which he
had been provided. It is true the American natives were destined in the
first instance, by some peculiarly hard stroke of fortune, to make their
acquaintance with Europeans largely through the intermediary of
criminals. It is often held to have been one of the greatest hardships
of Columbus that his ships should have been manned so largely by
desperadoes and malefactors pardoned especially in order to take part in
the expedition. In the peculiar circumstances of his first and
exceptionally daring adventure the nature of his crew became of great
and even of vital importance. It is certain, however, that Columbus
himself obviously suffered no permanent discouragement on account of the
men of his first crew, for he subsequently advocated the transportation
of criminals to the Indies, and, further, urged that any person having
committed a crime (with the exception of those of heresy, _lese
majeste_, and treason) should have the option of ordinary imprisonment,
or of going out at his own expense to Hispaniola to serve under the
orders of the Admiral.
These edicts were actually brought into force, and although Columbus
some years afterwards bitterly complained of the type of European whom
he found at Hispaniola, there is no doubt that he himself was largely
responsible for their presence. Nevertheless, speaking generally,
Columbus was not alone in being served by this species of retainer, for
the custom, borrowed from the Portuguese, was a general one, and where
volunteers failed, their places were supplied by the dregs of the
prisons. One of the principal charges brought against Columbus was that,
in addition to his alleged maltreatment of his own men, he had refrained
from baptizing Indians, and this because he had desired slaves rather
than Christians. He was accused, moreover, of having made many slaves in
order to send them to Castile. Of course, there is no doubt whatever as
to the truth of this latter charge; but Columbus was not alone in this
respect--indeed, at that time there was no single adventurer who had
penetrated to these new regions without making slaves whenever the
opportunity arose. And it may be said in common fairness to the
individual explorers that no other method was understood, and that this
procedure was considered entirely legitimate.
It is unnecessary to enter here into the troubles and tribulations of
Columbus's first voyage. The details of the men's discontent and of the
leader's courage, persistence, and strategy have been the subject of
thousands of works. The great contrition, moreover, of his mutinous
crew, when after five weeks' sailing they sighted land, and their sudden
admiration and almost worship of the great navigator, afford too
familiar a subject to be dealt with here. Suffice to say that Columbus
took possession of this first land--the island which he believed to form
part of a continent--in the name of the Crown of Castile and Leon,
christening this herald of a new world San Salvador.
For a while the shock of this triumph appears to have deadened all other
considerations, but only for a while. Columbus, like every other
navigator of the period, had gone out in search of glory, and of gilded
glory for preference. The very first thought, therefore, which took
possession of the minds of both the Admiral and his men, when the first
exultation had died away in favour of more practical affairs, was that
of gold. To this end they cruised about the new seas, visiting Cuba,
Haiti (or Hispaniola), and other islands.
After a while Columbus discovered some traces of the coveted metal, but
these to his heated imagination were mere chance fragments of the golden
mountains and valleys which lay somewhere beyond. It was time, he
determined, to seek for further assistance. Leaving a small company of
the Spaniards in the Island of Haiti, the inhabitants of which had
proved themselves friendlily disposed, he sailed for Europe, taking with
him such specimens of the New World as he thought would chiefly appeal
to the Spanish Court. Among this merchandise were samples of the
products of the Western Islands, small nuggets of gold, and human
merchandise in the way of captive Indians.
When his heavily-laden ships arrived in Spain the entire nation broke
out into thunders of acclamation. Queen Isabella received him with even
more than her accustomed amount of graciousness, while the coldness
which had characterized Ferdinand's attitude towards him had now become
altered to fervent enthusiasm.
The Court of Spain, convinced of the value of these new possessions,
lost no time in applying to Pope Alexander VI. for his sanction of their
dominion over the New World. This the Pope granted, drawing the famous
line from Pole to Pole, which was to serve as a dividing line between
the colonies of Spain and Portugal.
Columbus, in the meanwhile, was preparing for his second voyage.
Naturally enough, this was conducted under very different auspices from
the first. It was now a proud fleet which, favoured by the trade winds,
ploughed its way to the south-west, manned by a numerous, influential,
and in many cases aristocratic, company. The advent of this second fleet
to Haiti brought about the first of the innumerable collisions between
the Europeans and the natives of America. Of the garrison which Columbus
had left in the island none remained. There was scarcely a trace,
moreover, of the existence of the rough fort which had been constructed.
The manner of the natives had altered; they received the new-comers with
marked evidences of fear and distrust.
After a while the truth came out. Some members of the European garrison
had taken upon themselves to maltreat the natives, and these, resenting
this, had turned upon their aggressors and slaughtered them to a man,
after which they had burned the fort to the ground. In order to
inculcate the necessary terror into the unfortunate inhabitants a
fearful revenge was wreaked on them by Columbus's men, and the unhappy
people of Haiti paid for their act in floods of blood and tears. This
continued until the Indians became for the time being thoroughly cowed.
Subsequently they were set to work to dig for gold and other metals in
order to enrich the pioneers.
As time went on the natives were ground down more and more, and set to
tasks for which they were temperamentally quite unsuited. Death became
rife among their ranks, and the hardships endured drove them to open
rebellion. The armour and weapons of the Spaniards rendered any attempts
of the kind abortive, and massacres and torturing completed the
enslaving process of the wretched race.
Communication between the New and Old World was at that time, of course,
slow and precarious in the extreme. Nevertheless, tidings of what was
going on in the island of Hispaniola at length found their way to the
ears of Ferdinand and Isabella. To these were added a number of
reports, for the most part fabricated by Columbus's enemies, of the
tyranny of the Admiral and of his ill-treatment of Spaniards of good
birth. Columbus, leaving his brother Bartholomew in charge of the new
dominions, returned to Spain, confronted his enemies, and was able to
refute the accusations brought against him. As regards the allegations
of ill-treatment of the Spaniards this was easily enough disproved; as
regards the Indians the matter was not so simple, for, to do them
justice, Ferdinand and Isabella were keenly anxious to prevent any
tyranny or ill-treatment of their new and remote subjects.
Columbus, having regained the confidence of his Sovereigns, started on
his third voyage in the beginning of 1496. On this occasion he
discovered Trinidad, coasted along the borders of Guiana, and saw for
the first time the Islands of Cubagua and Margarita. In Haiti the
Admiral found a discontented community. His two brothers, Bartholomew
and Diego, had become unpopular with the Spaniards, who were chafing
beneath their authority. The arrival of Columbus caused a temporary lull
in the disputes, but after a while the power of the malcontents grew
steadily, and their accounts of what was to the fore in Haiti, although
wilfully garbled and exaggerated, began to bear weight with the Royal
Family of Spain.
Columbus, in the first instance, had stipulated for the sole command of
the fleets of the New World. This was well enough in theory, but in
practice the concession was almost immediately broken into. Other
expeditions started out from Spain to the New World. Alonso Ojeda, who
had accompanied Columbus on his second voyage, now came out in command
of an expedition of his own. 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 Nino 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.
To return to Columbus, the glory of the great navigator had now waned.
As the years intervened between the date of his great feat and his less
glorious present, his record became stale and forgotten, while the power
and influence of his enemies grew. In the year 1500 Columbus was sent to
Spain--in chains this time. On his arrival Ferdinand and Isabella,
shocked at this state of affairs, endeavoured to make some minor
reparation to the greatest man of his age. They were nevertheless firm
in refusing to allow him to continue as Governor of Hispaniola and the
new territories, and to this post was appointed Nicolas de Ovando.
This latter took out the first really imposing expedition which had set
sail for Hispaniola. The welfare of the Indians had been strictly
committed to his charge by Ferdinand and Isabella. Numerous humane laws
had been drawn up for the protection of the natives, and these, it was
intended, should be rigidly enforced. Nevertheless, the thousands of
miles of intervening ocean rapidly deprived these of any semblance of
authority, and the misery and mortality of the men of Hispaniola
continued unabated.
Although to a certain extent deserted and discredited, Columbus
determined to make one more desperate effort to draw himself clear of
the oblivion which was now enveloping him. With a fleet of four small
vessels he set sail from Cadiz on May 9, 1502. Perhaps on this occasion
his mortification was greater than ever before. Ovando, the Governor,
would have nothing to do with him. Having suffered shipwreck and
numerous other calamities besides, the great navigator, embittered and
downcast, turned the bows of his ships towards Spain. On landing he
learned of the death of Queen Isabella, the only person of influence who
had shown him a consistent friendship. Realizing now that his influence
and chances had finally departed, he retired into seclusion in the
neighbourhood of Vallodolid, where he died in his sixtieth year on May
20, 1506.
CHAPTER III
THE SPANISH CONQUISTADORES
The pioneer _conquistadores_ of South America afford an interesting
study. Such men as those who took their lives in their hands and sailed
out into the unknown were actuated by two motives--the love of adventure
and the desire of gain. There is no doubt that the second consideration
by far outweighed the first. A man of the period left Spain or Portugal
for the New World for one cogent reason only, to seek his fortune. If he
won fame in the achievement of this, so much the better. Indeed, as a
matter of fact, it was generally impossible to achieve the one without
the other, although this fame might frequently have its shield sullied
and blackened by a number of wild and terrible acts; for circumstances
tended to make the _conquistador_ what he almost invariably became, a
daring being who let the lives of no others stand in the way of his own
interests.
He was not, as was the case with corresponding officials of a later
epoch, sent out on an accurately defined mission for which his
emoluments were definitely fixed and guaranteed by the Home Government.
The _conquistador_ nearly always risked much of his own before he set
sail from his native land. A man was seldom given a Governorship, even
of an unknown region in the New World, unless he showed himself prepared
to finance in part an expedition which should be of sufficient
importance to furnish the new territory with men and live-stock, and
everything else of the kind.
The _conquistador_, in fact, was generally the active partner in an
enterprise which was largely commercial. Sometimes his sleeping partners
were the merchants of Spain; sometimes it was the King himself who
joined in the venture; at others it was both King and merchants who
jointly assisted the pioneer. But it was very seldom that an adventurer
of the kind succeeded in obtaining an important concession unless he
were prepared to subsidize it heavily from his own pocket.
We may instance Pedro de Mendoza. It was the part he had played in the
sack of Rome which enabled this wealthy adventurer to organize the great
expedition which set sail for the Provinces of the River Plate. Here we
have the curious anomaly of the Church being robbed by a mercenary, and
the money obtained by the loot employed in an object which was
ostensibly in the interests of the Church in the New World. In order to
satisfy the public nearer home, it is true that the _conquistadores_
were almost invariably accompanied by priests; but once well without the
jurisdiction of Rome, Spain, and Portugal, they took very good care that
the priests should not interfere in their concerns. Having been accepted
as a guarantee of good faith, their sphere of utility had ended with the
arrival in the New World so far as the _conquistadores_ were concerned.
Many of them became active participants in the wild deeds of the
_conquistadores_. Did they, on the other hand, show themselves desirous
of protesting, the more reckless pioneers made strenuous attempts to
muzzle their eloquence.
When the spirit of the age and the circumstances in which these
adventurers sailed to the South-West are considered, many of the
atrocities committed are less to be wondered at than would otherwise be
the case. It may be taken for granted, in the first place, that the
temperament of these men was sufficiently wild and reckless to cause
them to embark in any extraordinarily perilous enterprise of the kind.
With all they had in the world sunk in the venture, they would move
heaven and earth, and squander countless human beings, before admitting
defeat. The failure of Indian labour meant financial ruin; this was
frequently staved off at the cost of thousands and tens of thousands of
lives. Such characteristics as these were by no means confined to the
Spaniards and Portuguese. We have some terribly vivid examples of it on
the part of the Welzers, the German merchant princes who contracted with
Charles V. to subdue and settle Venezuela. Sir Clements Markham relates
that the first Governor of the new colony, an official of the name of
Alfinger, came out with a strong force in 1530. On his marches he would
employ many hundreds of native porters; these men were chained together
in long lines, each slave having a ring round his neck made fast to the
chain. When one of the slaves was too ill or too exhausted to proceed
any farther, Alfinger had the unfortunate wretch's head severed from his
body, so that the body dropped away from the chain without the march
being hindered. It is difficult to imagine a more callous or atrocious
proceeding than this, but undoubtedly financial considerations lay at
the bottom of it. The thing was done, perhaps, _pour encourager les
autres_, and certainly many a poor staggering wretch marched on mile
after mile, when under ordinary circumstances he would have dropped
exhausted at an earlier stage. Thus the last atom of physical energy was
wrenched by terror from the slaves--a species of economy which, if
worked out wholesale, may have proved sufficiently profitable from their
owner's point of view!
Long even after the passing of the pioneer _conquistadores_ the methods
of the Spanish Court encouraged abuses of authority and many acts of
tyranny. Officials, such as Governors and even Viceroys, were wont to
pay certain sums down for the transference of the tenure of office, and
it was then their task to wring as much from the governed territory as
possible in order that they might retire from the New World to the Old
the owners of vast fortunes.
To expect fair government under conditions such as these was to conceive
human beings on a higher plane than that on which they are wont to be
planned. Indeed, notwithstanding the atrocities and financial iniquities
which were rife throughout Spanish and Portuguese Colonies, to imagine
the various officials as necessarily inhuman and criminal is, of course,
absurd. Many of these were men of talent, and of merciful and gentle
disposition; but in many even of these cases the altogether
extraordinary influence and atmosphere of the Southern Continent ended
by driving them to acts from which in Europe they would have shrunk
whole-heartedly. The dispositions of the men were not invariably at
fault; but the system under which they worked was never anything else.
It is time, however, to forsake generalization, and to return to the
Spanish pioneers who first colonized Haiti, and then set foot on the
mainland itself. In the ill-fated island the drama, begun with the
advent of the Spaniards, was being continued in deeper and bloodier
shades. The royal edicts came pompously out from Spain, commanding that
the welfare of the Indians should be the first consideration on the part
of the Colonial Government; but the thunder of such edicts, worn out by
the voyage, died away ere they reached the island. Ovando, it is true,
made some endeavours to act up to the spirit of these enactments; but in
view of the condition of the labour market and the clamourings of the
settlers it was, humanly speaking, impossible to carry this out.
As time went on both settlers and Governors accustomed themselves to
treat the aborigines rather as beasts of burden than as men, and they
were hunted, slain, or driven to labour with as little compunction as if
they had been pack-mules. The slightest sign of revolt was wont to be
punished by an outlet of blood which left the unfortunate folk cowering
in deeper terror and despair than before. The utter misery of the
Indians may be imagined when the measures they took to free themselves
are taken into consideration, for in the end they adopted the plan of
committing suicide as the only means of cheating the rapacity of their
white oppressors. Native families, and even entire villages, found
gloomy consolation in a self-sought death. Even in this they were not
invariably successful. Perhaps never has the irony of fate been more
strongly illustrated than in the tale that is told of one large
slave-owner and his human chattels.
These latter, having come to the end of their endurance, had determined
to follow the example of so many in the neighbourhood, and to do away
with themselves in a body. The Spaniard, however, received notice of the
intention of these people in time. Hastening to the spot, he came upon
them just as they were preparing to effect their end. He was undoubtedly
a crafty being, this. Proceeding into the midst of the distraught folk,
he called for a rope. This, he explained, was in order that he, too,
might hang himself and thus accompany the Indians to the next world,
where they would thus still remain his slaves. The ruse proved entirely
successful. The credulous Indians became, as it were, horrified back to
life at the idea; they abandoned the attempt upon their lives, and
continued in sorrowful despair to serve their Spanish owner.
In 1509 Ovando sailed back to Spain, and some return was made to
Columbus's family for the part he had played in the discovery of the new
Colonies. His son, Diego, came out, having been endowed with the titles
of Viceroy and Admiral. Thus the Court of Spain had at last conceded
some of the privileges which had been so effectually won by his father.
It is certain enough that the experiences of Diego's generation were
very different from those of his father's. The new Commander took up his
residence in state in Haiti, where he lived with great pomp and style.
The Indians, however, it is said, suffered more under his Governorship
than had been their lot under that of his predecessor.
The tide of conquest was flowing past the islands, and beginning to
spend itself on the continent. In 1508 began the actual colonization of
the Spanish Main. The first territories to which the Spaniards made
their way were those which gave on the Gulf of Darien. Here a companion
of Columbus in his second voyage, Alonso de Ojeda, was given the
district extending from the Cape de la Vela to the Gulf of Uraba, and
this territory was termed the Land of New Andalusia. Another adventurer,
Nicuesa, came as his neighbour, holding the Governorship of the coast
from the Gulf of Uraba to the Cape Gracias a Dios. These two
_conquistadores_, although as jealous of each other as was usual with
almost all these pioneer explorers, joined forces against the Indians,
whom they attempted to subdue by means of an iron hand rather than by a
silk glove. The Indians, however, proved themselves of a very warlike
disposition, and the joint forces of the Spaniards were unable to crush
the power of the aborigines. After a while the leaders were obliged to
withdraw their forces from the district they had occupied.
Some while afterwards Nunez de Balboa took charge of Uraba. On his
arrival he found that matters on the Gulf of Darien had reached a
desperate pitch. As the fortunes of the Spaniards had waned, the
confidence of the Indians had increased. There is no doubt that the
majority of men would have recoiled from the task which faced Balboa
when he found himself at the head of a number of starving Spaniards,
scarcely able to maintain their precarious foothold in a hostile
country.
Balboa gathered together the despairing remnants, and contrived to put
fresh heart into his men. He then turned to the Indians, and won their
esteem by his considerate treatment. He proved himself, in fact, in
every respect an able and successful leader. It was in 1512 that he set
out on his famous expedition across the Isthmus, and won his way to the
shores of the Pacific Ocean. It was certainly not the least dramatic
moment in the history of early America when Balboa, in a frenzy of joy,
seized the flag of Castile, and, holding it aloft, plunged his body into
the waters of the ocean, claiming it for his King. As was the fate of so
many able men of that period, it was not long before Balboa was
superseded. The fine governmental structure he had built up was very
soon wrecked by his successor and superior, Pedrarias. Friendly
communication with the Indians was ruthlessly broken off. The natives
were chased unmercifully by bloodhounds, and numbers slain.
Balboa, chafing beneath a situation which must have been keenly
distressing to him, was suspected by Pedrarias, and arrested. The
Bishop, Quevado, however, intervened in favour of the single-minded
ex-Governor; a reconciliation of a kind was patched up, and, in order to
strengthen this, Balboa was officially betrothed to the daughter of
Pedrarias--a purely political move this, since Balboa was already united
to the dusky daughter of Careta, an aboriginal chief. There is matter
for the novelist here and to spare; few situations can be found which
hold more possibilities. In this case they led to the death of Balboa,
which would probably have happened irrespective of the strange situation
in which he found himself. The cause, however, was merely renewed
jealousy on the part of the Governor. Balboa had prepared a further
expedition of discovery, so thoroughly, indeed, that the suspicions of
Pedrarias were again needlessly aroused. A mock trial brought about a
real catastrophe, which ended in the beheading of Balboa in 1547, at the
age of forty-two.
In the meanwhile much had been happening in the neighbourhood. Charles
V. found himself in some danger of running short of men in the face of
these tremendous additions to his empire. He farmed out a portion of
these new Colonies, contracting with the Welzers, merchant princes of
Augsberg, in Germany, to take charge of and to extend the settlements in
that part of the continent which is now known as Venezuela.
An official of the name of Alfinger was appointed as the first Governor
of this new settlement. He is said to have practised the most barbarous
cruelties on the unfortunate Indians, some of which have already been
referred to. Alfinger was succeeded by other officials of his
nationality, who are said to have proved themselves somewhat less cruel
rulers. But, on the whole, this colonizing scheme of the Welzers proved
a dreary failure; they had little interest in the permanent occupation
of the country, and sought merely for the gold and precious metals.
Thus, with the knowledge that their occupation would be shortlived, they
forced the Indians to ever more strenuous labours than those to which
they were accustomed even at the hands of the Spaniards. In the end the
country became depopulated. The Welzers shrugged their shoulders, and
admitted that their utility was at an end in that district. With this
the Spaniards took possession of the country once again.
Gonzalo Jimines de Quesada now became prominent as a _conquistador_ in
the territory to the north of Peru, known then as New Granada. Quesada
himself, although he lacked nothing of the courage and determination
(frequently of a merciless order) of the average _conquistador_, was
undoubtedly endowed with certain attributes which were possessed by very
few of these hardy pioneers. For one thing he was scholarly; he had been
given an elaborate education, and knew well how to put it to the best
purposes. Quesada led an expedition up the Magdalena River. He had for
companion Benalcazar. They approached the country from the south,
occupied Popagan and Pasto, and founded Guayaquil. They also penetrated
the Valley of Curacua and Bogota, and thus traversed the whole Province.
This brought them into contact with the Chibcha Indians. In the end
these unfortunate beings were completely subdued, their civilization
destroyed, and they themselves divided as slaves among the Spaniards.
Quesada, accompanied by a band of mercenary Indians, started on his
journey in order to seek for gold. He was, in the first place, received
in a friendly way by the natives; but in the end these, dreading the
greed which the invaders took no trouble to conceal, attacked them. The
warfare between the Spaniards and the natives commenced, with the
conquest of the natives as the result, as given above. It has already
been explained that many of the characteristics of the Incas and of the
Chibchas were curiously alike. In history this extended even to the fate
of the respective Royal Families. Pizarro slew Atahualpa; Quesada was
even more thorough. For not only did he destroy the Prince of the
Chibchas, but the whole of the Royal Family as well.
These acts do not appear to have lain very heavily on the conscience of
Quesada, if fruitful years be any test. The tough old _conquistador_
lived to the age of eighty, expiring in the year 1579. In 1597 it is
said that his body was taken to Bogota Cathedral.
CHAPTER IV
THE DISCOVERY AND EARLY HISTORY OF BRAZIL
It still remains a point of dispute between the Spanish and Portuguese
nations as to who was the discoverer of Brazil. There is, moreover,
Amerigo Vespucci. Amerigo Vespucci may be said to have been more
successful in his accounts of his voyages than in the feats which he
actually accomplished. To have succeeded on such slender foundation in
causing an entire Continent to be christened by his name was in itself
no mean performance, and this was probably his greatest claim to
distinction.
Some historians take him more seriously than this. Southey, for one,
appears to accept Vespucci very much at his own valuation, and states
that the honour of having formed the first settlement in Brazil is due
to Amerigo Vespucci.
The Spaniards claim this distinction for their famous seaman, Vicente
Pinzon. Pinzon sailed from Spain in December, 1499. He shaped a more
southerly course than any previous navigator in the Spanish service, and
he appears to have made his landfall in the neighbourhood of Pernambuco.
He went ashore, it would seem, at a spot he named Cape Consolation, and
of this he took possession in the name of the Spanish Crown. His voyage,
however, appears to have had very little practical result, for almost
immediately afterwards he returned to Europe, and no steps seem to have
been taken by the Spanish Court for the colonization of the land which
he had discovered.
[Illustration: COLUMBUS LANDING IN AMERICA.
_From a seventeenth-century engraving._]
The Portuguese, for their part, assert that the territories of Brazil
were first sighted by their great navigator, Pedro Alvarez Cabral. The
discovery was in one sense something of an accident. It was necessary
for the seamen who were setting their course for the East Indies to
steer well to the west, in order to avoid the zones of calms which
prevail in the neighbourhood of the African coast. Cabral appears to
have steered so boldly into the west that he fell in with the coast of
Brazil. This was in 1500. Word of this event was sent to Portugal, and
the enterprising little kingdom, at that time at the height of her
maritime power, made preparations to colonize the country.
The auspices under which the Spaniards and the Portuguese arrived in the
New World were curiously different. The Spaniards were frankly in quest
of gold, and in many cases ransacked the fertile agricultural lands in
search of minerals which were non-existent. The Portuguese, on the other
hand, had no reason to suspect the presence of precious metals in their
new colony, and it was in the first instance for its vegetable products
that the land, so rich in minerals, became famed.
It was only natural that the pioneer Portuguese should have been struck
with the admirable quality of the valuable Brazilian woods. Shipments of
timber were the first to be sent from the new colony to the Mother
Country. It was from this very wood that Portuguese South America took
its name, since much of it, being of a brilliant red colour, was known
in the Portuguese language as "brasa."
Just about this time the Portuguese fitted out the most imposing fleet
which had ever left their shores. It was commanded by one of the
greatest of Portuguese explorers, Vasco da Gama, and was destined to
sail round the Cape of Good Hope to the Indies--the new and marvellous
land of spices. The fleet was worthy of its commander; it was made up of
no fewer than thirteen vessels, and was manned by some 1,200 men.
With pomp and ceremony this imposing Armada sailed away from the blue
waters of the Tagus, and, rounding the sunlit bluff, stood away to the
south. It made the Canaries in the usual way, passed the Cape Verde
Islands, and struck out to the west, lighting on the Brazilian coast in
latitude 17 deg. south--that is to say, not far from the spot where stands
the present town of Bahia. From this point Vasco da Gama sailed
southward, keeping touch with the coast. He eventually established
communication with the Indians, who were, as was usual in these
latitudes, quite naked, their bodies being painted, and who wore great
bones in their ears and in their slit lips and noses.
A criminal, one of the type which seems to have been brought out for
purposes such as this, was landed in order to dwell among the natives,
to test their temper and habits--a somewhat precarious profession this!
After a while the fleet sailed from the place they named Port Seguro,
leaving two of these criminals or _degradados_--professional
pioneers--behind. These "were seen lamenting and crying upon the beach,
and the men of the country comforting them, demonstrating that they were
not a people devoid of pity."
This was the scene which presented itself to the eyes of the more
fortunate mariners as they sailed away. Nevertheless, the criminals seem
to have survived. No small advertisement, this, of the courtesy of the
Indian tribe, for the people composing it must have belonged to one of
the coastal races who afterwards were grimly famed for their ferocity.
As a matter of fact, human instruments of the kind, which, it must be
admitted, were of small merit, played no small part in the colonization
of Brazil. In some respects these unfortunate folk were undoubtedly
useful. They resembled the candles carried by underground miners. If the
candle continued to burn, all was well; but if the candle went out,
there was obviously danger in the air. Quite a number of these human
candles went out in the course of the early Iberian explorations. In a
sense there was sufficient justice in this, since they were criminals
whose offences had been usually those of murder and violence. If,
therefore, they escaped in the first instance with their lives, their
penitence had been consummated, and they were free to take advantage of
the land.
People of this kind had been set ashore to pave the way for their
betters in Africa and in India, and this system was now extended to
Brazil. When friendly relations were once established, it may be
imagined that the influence of these criminals upon the savages was not
of the best. According to Southey: "The Europeans were weaned from that
human horror at the blood-feasts of the savages, which, ruffians as they
were, they had at first felt, and the natives lost that awe and
veneration for the superior races, which might have proved so greatly to
their advantage."
In 1503 the Portuguese sent out an important expedition under Duarte
Coelho. This leader explored the country in the neighbourhood of the Bay
of Bahia. After this he proceeded southwards, and landed men in order to
establish a small colony.
The first really important attempt at colonizing the country was
undertaken by Martin Affonso de Souza. This navigator set out from
Portugal in command of many ships and men. Like Coelho, he struck the
Brazilian coast at Bahia; but, instead of proceeding to the south, as
his predecessor had done, he remained for some while at the spot. It is
said that when De Souza landed he fell in with a Portuguese of the name
of Correia. This worthy is supposed to have formed one of Cabral's
expedition. For some reason or other he was marooned at that place. The
Indians, instead of slaying him, had conceived a great veneration for
this white man, who had, as it were, dropped from the clouds into their
midst. The marooned sailor had become a kind of professional adviser,
whose counsel was sought by the natives on every important occasion.
Many of the early navigators maintain that the comparatively easy
colonization of this portion of the Brazilian coast was due to the
presence of the much-esteemed Correia.
Bahia rapidly became the most important of these early Portuguese
settlements. In the first instance it was, of course, extremely
difficult for the few bands of daring Portuguese to make any practical
impression on the huge slice of coast which had fallen to their share.
The experiences of the first colonists, moreover, were destined to
differ considerably from those of the pioneer Spaniards. The latter had
their field of exploration practically to themselves. The Portuguese, on
the other hand, found rivals in the South Seas almost as soon as the
prows of their ships had pierced the waters. The Dutch eventually were
destined to become by far the most formidable of these; but in the first
instance the chief friction occurred with the French.
Just at this period the Gallic sailors awoke to a strong interest in
Brazil, and the French vessels carried numbers of warlike and industrial
adventurers to the tropical shores. Even before 1530 a French factory
had been established at Pernambuco, but a circumstance of far greater
importance was that these French rovers discovered the magnificent
harbour of Rio de Janeiro, sailed into the narrow entrance between the
lofty peaks, and founded a colony there before the Portuguese had
obtained the opportunity of a permanent footing in that place.
The leader of these troops was Nicolas Durant de Villegagnon, and his
men comprised a number of Huguenots who were abandoning France.
Villegagnon's own character appears to have been complex and curious in
the extreme. He was apparently a true blade of the old swashbuckling
type; he employed religion for such ends as he might have in view at the
moment, regarding its tenets cynically, tongue in cheek. Thus he came
out in command of the Huguenots, ostensibly himself a Huguenot; but his
convictions appear to have changed on various occasions, and he is seen
now as their abettor, now as their oppressor. In the end he clearly
showed himself antagonistic to the convictions of his followers, and
took to denouncing them as heretics. With the exception of this leader,
the circumstances and motives of the expedition were somewhat similar to
those which caused the first emigration of the English Puritans to North
America.
Once established in Rio de Janeiro, the Huguenots succeeded in making
friends with the Indians of the neighbourhood, who became their firm
allies and proved of great assistance to the French in their struggles
against the Portuguese, who came down in force to evict the intruders.
The Huguenots were defeated in 1560 by Mem de Sa, the third Governor of
Brazil; but, although dispersed for a while, the power of the invaders
was by no means broken. Shortly afterwards they came together again, and
succeeded in establishing themselves more firmly than before in the
place. They were again fiercely attacked by the Portuguese, but the
number of islands in the bay afforded excellent points of defence, and
it was not until 1567 that the Portuguese sea and land forces combined
were able to expel the last Frenchmen from the mountains which lay about
the harbour of Rio de Janeiro. This, as a matter of fact, was merely a
foretaste of much of the active and aggressive competition in matters of
colonization from which the Portuguese were destined to suffer.
Before arriving at the subject of the predatory expeditions of the
various nations in South America, it would be as well to consider the
initial methods taken by the early Portuguese settlers. In the first
instance the partition of so vast an extent of territory among so small
a number of colonists was necessarily effected in a crude and tentative
fashion. The great colony was divided into _capitaneas_, or counties,
each of which possessed a coast-line of 150 miles. A Governor was
appointed to each _capitanea_. As was perhaps natural, the powers of
each of these officials, more or less isolated as each was, grew
rapidly--to such an extent, indeed, that the home authorities in
Portugal became anxious to curb the occasional eccentricities of some of
the more despotic of these. In order to effect this, Thome de Souza was
made Captain-General of Brazil, and was sent out to that country
provided with numerous officials and troops. He established his
headquarters at Bahia, and the size of the town increased in
consequence. In 1572 Brazil was divided into two governmental areas,
Bahia being recognized as the capital of the north, and Rio de Janeiro
as the capital of the southern portion. This division, however, only
lasted for five years. Brazil in the meanwhile was becoming populous,
and had taken its place as the largest among the regular Portuguese
colonies throughout the world.
It was not long before the jealousies between the Spanish and Portuguese
led to various outbreaks and to troubles on the frontiers. From a purely
practical point of view, there is no doubt whatever that such
bickerings were a sheer absurdity, since the territories at the disposal
of both nations were far too great to be effectively dealt with by any
forces which either the Spanish or Portuguese could introduce into the
Continent. As it was, the era was one of moulding and experiments. Even
at the present day it would seem difficult to decide whether many of
these latter have proved themselves definite successes or undoubted
failures. The general conditions of the New World at this period are
well worthy of note.
No doubt South America has been more widely experimented upon in the
colonizing sense than any other Continent. The methods of the Spaniards
and Portuguese were by no means similar throughout. Indeed, the
principles adopted by the four greatest colonizing nations of the
age--the Spanish, the Portuguese, the English, and the Dutch--were all
distinguished from each other by various important features.
The British, where they came into contact with dark-skinned races of
inferior vigour and individual power, made a point of holding aloof, so
far as the more important social points were concerned. Thus in India
and in Africa the gulf between the white and the black has continued
unbridged. The representatives of the British have remained as a
governing race, relying upon the strict justice of their rule for its
preservation. They have refrained from interference in the thousand
jealousies and caste regulations with which the East Indies were, and
are, honeycombed, becoming active only when oppression became barefaced.
These officials, that is to say, have made a point of respecting the
religions of the various tribes, and have even encouraged them to
continue unmolested.
As a result, the Governors, as a body, won the respect, and even the
reverence, of a great mass of the populace, but gained comparatively
little actual and personal affection. They were subjected to the
jealousy of the fakirs in India, of the witch-doctors in Africa, and of
other dusky fanatics who had been accustomed to oppress the rank and
file of the populace before the advent of the European civilization.
The Dutch pursued a policy very similar to that of the English. They
were essentially just in their rule, and they won the wholesale respect
of the subject races. Their methods of governing, however, were usually
more severe than those of the British, and as a rule the discipline they
enforced was considerably stronger. This has been evidenced in Africa
and elsewhere.
The Iberian system of colonization was in general totally different.
Even the Spaniards, far less spontaneously genial than the Portuguese,
encouraged an intimacy between their colonists and the subject races of
a kind unknown in the Anglo-Saxon and Teutonic circles. It is true that
in the first instance the Spaniards slaughtered hundreds of thousands of
natives. But these wholesale killings were on account of no social
convictions; they were merely the result of an overpowering greed for
gold and of too harsh a method of enforcing labour. The colour question,
as between Spaniard and native, scarcely ruffled the social surface of
the colonies. This was not altogether to be wondered at when the
antecedents of these bold Spanish colonial pioneers are taken into
consideration.
A dusky tide from Africa had flooded the half of Spain, and had remained
there for centuries, until the southern Spaniard, who lived in the midst
of Moorish conquerors, tolerantly treated and allowed almost entire
religious freedom, forgot the hostility towards his traditional enemy,
and became oblivious of questions of colour. So much so was this the
case that the Christian services were wont, after a time, to be
conducted in Arabic, a system which evoked horrified protests from
Bishops in other parts. Be that as it may, it is certain that the
Spaniards had, with the sole exception of the Portuguese, been more
concerned with the African races and dark blood than any other nation in
Europe. Thus, once in South America, although the actual helplessness of
the Indians was immediately remarked and taken advantage of, no question
of inferiority from a mere racial point of view arose. The Indian went
to the wall, not because he was an Indian, but because his powers were
less than those of the European who had invaded his lands.
[Illustration: VASCO DA GAMA.
_From a portrait in colour in a Spanish MS. (Sloane, 197, fol. 18) in
the British Museum._]
If this was the case with the Spaniard, it was far more marked in the
case of the Portuguese. In some respects, perhaps, no nation colonized
with quite the same amount of enthusiasm as this. Its pioneers once
definitely settled in the country, whichever it might be, there arose no
question of looking upon the new conquest as a place to be resided in
for a certain number of years and no more. The Portuguese went to the
east and to the south-west to make themselves part and parcel of the
soil of the country they had annexed. To this end they mingled from the
very start with the natives, and inter-married with an entire want of
restraint with the Indian women.
Thus from the very inception of the Portuguese colonial era we are
confronted with a race of half-castes, and we see the forces brought
about by a mixture of blood and climatic conditions working more
powerfully in the Portuguese colonies than in any others. The result
was, in one sense, the formation of a new race, and an almost complete
absence of rebellion and native unrest in those parts where genuine
civilization had been attempted. That the race as a whole lost its
European vigour and its northern principles was inevitable. This was the
price of peace.
The subject is one into which climatic influence enters largely. Many
of the districts of Brazil were not, and are not, in the least suited as
a permanent place of residence for the white man. Were an attempt to be
made to populate such places as these by Europeans, it could only be
done by means of a continual change of inhabitants. That is to say, each
resident, having spent a certain number of years in the spot, must be
succeeded by another in order to preserve the integrity and vigour of
the race.
Portugal, with an extraordinary generosity, flung her handful of white
colonists into the vast lands she had discovered, and hoped by this
means to raise the leaven of the whole. In India, as exemplified in Goa,
the result has met with scant success. In Brazil, however, where the
proportion of white to black was greater, a race of intellect and
culture has been developed, although occasionally subject to the mental
paroxysms of the dwellers in the tropics. In any case it may be said
that the colour question has never existed in Brazil--so far, at all
events, as the Indian is concerned. It was necessarily in evidence to a
certain extent upon the first introduction of the negro slave, but even
here the question has become of less and less importance, until, at the
present day, the negro has in Brazil probably a more congenial
resting-place than anywhere else in the world.
It must never be forgotten that these remarks as regards the Spanish
colonies, and to almost as great an extent as regards the Portuguese,
apply to the general run of the population. The majority of the leaders,
both social and political, in all the South American colonies have been
in the first instance, and have continued, men of good blood, and
generally of ancient lineage, who have floated along with the rest,
until they met with the inevitable current which bore them to the
topmost of the new social layers. And once there, having been found the
most fitting, they have remained.
CHAPTER V
THE CONQUEST OF PERU
The story of Pizarro and the Incas has been told many hundreds of times,
yet owing to the sheer audacity of which its elements are composed it
would seem to retain its interest almost unimpaired. That a mere handful
of men should have banded themselves together to conquer a nation which
counted its subjects by the hundred thousand, and which could claim a
civilization that included great armies, remains almost beyond belief.
The Incas themselves, moreover, were a conquering race, and their troops
had marched to the north and to the south in their thousands, conquering
nations less important than their own, and thus adding to the extent of
the one formidable Empire of the Southern Continent.
Yet the downfall of these armies in this victorious State was achieved
by less than two hundred European soldiers, led by the two fearless
adventurers, Francisco Pizarro and Diego Almagro. These, accompanied by
Hernando Luques, had begun to explore the neighbourhood of Panama in
1524. Every member of the force, it may be taken for granted, had a keen
nose for gold, and it was not long before they came across some treasure
of the kind which determined the leaders to possess themselves the
country where the metal was to be found.
At this period the number of men commanded by Pizarro and Almagro was
fewer even than the band with which they entered Peru. When it came to
the knowledge of the Spaniards that the country of their desire was in
reality so formidable an Empire, Pizarro sailed to Spain in search of
reinforcements, and returned accompanied by his brothers and by a force
of 180 men. It was on Pizarro's arrival in America that the first
serious breach occurred between Almagro and himself. This was brought
about by the arrangements which Pizarro had concluded in Spain, and in
which Almagro considered, doubtless rightfully, he had not been fairly
dealt with by his partner.
After a while a truce was patched up between the pair, and in 1531 an
expedition, carried in three small vessels, set sail for the South. The
troops were landed on the Peruvian coast, and they marched inland,
defeating such small forces as endeavoured to oppose their progress. The
valour and greed of the little army were every day becoming more deeply
stirred by the trophies of gold and silver which they captured as they
went. Fate was fighting strongly in favour of these desperate Spaniards.
No circumstances could have been better adapted to successful invasion
than those which obtained when Pizarro and Almagro entered the country,
although these adventurous spirits knew nothing of this at the time. The
land was divided against itself, for the first time in the comparatively
short Inca history. Atahualpa and Huasca, the two sons of the recently
dead Inca, Huana Capac, were engaged in a fierce struggle for the
throne.
This in itself was something of a shock to the devout subjects of the
Inca race, looking as they did upon the Imperial Children of the Sun as
superhuman beings. It was thus a war of demigods waged by doubting and
diffident mortals. The arrival of the Spaniards increased, of course,
the drama of the situation. At the period of their advent Huasca was
obtaining the worst of the struggle, and, seeing the possibility of
salvation in the arrival of the newcomers, he sent to these beseeching
their help. It can be imagined with what avidity Pizarro seized upon
this pretext to enter into the domestic affairs of the nation. Atahualpa
unconsciously helped to play the fate of the unfortunate Inca race still
further into the hands of the Spaniards. Learning of the warlike might
of the white man, he also sent an embassy of friendship to Pizarro, and
a little later, in 1532, he started out in order to effect his first
meeting with the strangers. This took place at Caxamalca.
[Illustration: THE DEFEAT OF THE PERUVIANS OUTSIDE CUZCO.
_From a seventeenth-century engraving._]
In an evil moment for himself Atahualpa had determined to do his utmost
to impress these foreigners from overseas with the evidence of his
wealth and power. His body was covered with golden plates, armour, and
decorations which shone with a strange brilliance as they flashed back
the rays of the sun from its worshipper. He was attended, moreover, by a
chosen company of nobles, whose adornments, although by comparison less
splendid, were sufficient to cause the Spaniards' eyes to start from
their heads with wonder and freshly-awakened lust.
Had the Inca come as a humble suppliant, the fate of the nation might
have been postponed, if not altogether altered. The appearance of these
resplendent beings signalled its instant doom. As Atahualpa was borne on
his litter of state towards where Pizarro stood expectant in front of
his soldiers, a priest strode forward, and, approaching him, urged him
heatedly to embrace the religion of the Cross.
It is certain that the Inca understood nothing whatever of what was
going on. What might have been his state of mind when he was handed the
breviary is unknown; in any case he flung it to the ground. This was the
signal for the attack on the part of the Spaniards. Drawing their
swords, they flung themselves furiously upon the altogether unprepared
Indians, slaying thousands of their numbers. Pizarro himself, hacking
and striking as he went, fought his way to the Inca's litter of state,
and it was his own hand which dragged the unfortunate ruler from his
golden chair. The next moment he was guarding his captive fiercely from
the chance blows which were rained upon the dusky monarch by the
Spaniards who went charging by. He knew well enough the value of the
Inca alive and captive in his hands. It was for this reason alone that
he warded off the blows which his men would have dealt the fallen Child
of the Sun.
[Illustration: A PERUVIAN CASSE-TETE AND A PIPE OF PEACE.
_From "Histoire des Yncas."_]
The main onslaught had now died away. The field of the massacre was
covered with the bodies of the dead and dying Peruvians; the rest had
fled. Pizarro lost no time in improving the occasion from a financial
point of view. A gallant knight, Fernando de Soto, was sent to the
marvellous city of Cuzco--authorized both by the Inca and Pizarro--to
despoil the temples of their treasures. Thus enormous hoards of gold and
silver were obtained from the sacred buildings and from Atahualpa's
loyal subjects as his ransom.
Even here Pizarro showed his want of good faith, for when the treasure
demanded had been given up and amassed, he still retained the person of
the Inca. Matters of policy and personal dislike soon sealed the fate
of this latter. In 1533 he was tried for his life. After a parodied
performance of justice he was executed, although Fernando de Soto and a
number of other Spaniards protested vigorously against the act.
From a purely political point of view it is likely enough that the crime
was profitable; in any case it sent a shock throughout the bounds of the
Inca Empire from which its dusky inhabitants never afterwards fully
recovered. There was now no powerful claimant to the Inca throne. The
wrongs suffered by the race at the hands of the Spaniards need not cover
the fact that the Indians themselves frequently proved capable of
tyrannical and sanguinary acts. Thus on the news of Atahualpa's capture
his enraged adherents had slain Huasca, who by that time had become a
prisoner in their hands.
Pizarro now determined to take an active share in the government of the
country. Placing a son of Atahualpa's on the throne, and having received
reinforcements of men and arms, he marched throughout the Province at
the head of 500 men, carrying with him the puppet King upon whom he
placed great hopes. The latter disappointed these, since he died in the
course of the expedition. In some respects this was doubly unfortunate
for Pizarro, as there now remained one clear claimant to the throne of
the Children of the Sun--Manco Capac, the brother of Huasca.
Manco Capac was by no means prepared to yield tamely to the situation.
For a considerable time very little was effected on either side. The
Incas were slowly recovering from the shocks and tribulations which they
had undergone; the Spaniards, on the other hand, found their attention
occupied by the unexpected arrival of a Spanish expedition commanded by
Pedro de Alvarado. This leader had performed his part in the conquest
of Mexico, and had now hastened to the South in order to ascertain what
chances of enrichment were to be met with in the land, the reputation of
which was now spreading itself abroad. For a while it looked very much
as if open warfare would result between the rival parties. In the end,
however, Pizarro consented to buy the departure of Alvarado, and this
leader retired heavy in pocket. On the whole his visit had not proved
unprofitable to the astute Pizarro, since many of Alvarado's men had
remained in Peru to throw in their lot with him.
Pizarro and Almagro were now left in occupation of the Inca Empire. It
was inevitable that jealousy should arise between the pair, and it was
not long before the situation grew strained. Pizarro, true to his own
interests, had insisted on returning to Spain in order to give an
account of the doings in Peru. Needless to say, he employed the
opportunity to obtain the royal sanction to advance still further his
official position--somewhat at the expense of Almagro, of course. Almost
directly after his return he founded the city of Lima, intending this to
supersede Cuzco as the future capital of the country.
All this while the breach between Pizarro and Almagro had widened. In
1535 the latter, realizing that even the Empire of the Incas was not
sufficiently large to hold the pair of Spanish leaders, determined to
make for the South. The expedition was a tragic one. Almagro, though his
spirit was undaunted, was now aged in years, and the barren country of
the Atacama Desert and the attacks of the hostile Indians rendered the
enterprise a failure from a monetary point of view. Almagro had invested
all his fortune in this, and his affairs now became desperate.
[Illustration: PIZARRO AND ATAHUALPA.
_From a seventeenth-century engraving._]
In the meantime the crafty Pizarro had been permitted to enjoy very
little peace and tranquillity in Peru. Manco Capac had bided his time,
and his Indian subjects, fervently loyal to the sacred dynasty, had
crowded about him in their thousands. The Peruvians now assumed the
aggressive. Thousands of Inca troops scoured the country, and, falling
on remote and unprepared bands of Spaniards, obtained some modicum of
revenge in slaughtering all they found.
[Illustration: THE TEMPLE OF THE SUN. CUZCO.
_From "Histoire des Yncas," Amsterdam, 1737._]
Encouraged by such minor successes, the Inca army advanced against the
main bodies of the Spaniards. Some historians place the numbers of the
native troops at no fewer than 200,000. With astonishing suddenness the
situation became altered. Pizarro found himself besieged in Lima, while
his brothers, shut up in Cuzco, experienced an equal difficulty in
beating off the attacks of the serried native ranks. Had the Spanish
army in Peru been left to its own devices, there is no doubt but that
their doom would have been sealed. The irony of fate, however, chose
this very moment for the return of Almagro. Marching up with his grim
and travel-worn band, he found himself before Cuzco, surveying the
beleaguered Spaniards and the investing Incas.
Manco Capac had gleaned something of the disputes between the European
leaders. He made advances to Almagro, and did all he could to win him to
his side; but Almagro, little cause though he had to love Pizarro,
proved himself stanch. He was in consequence attacked by the Inca
troops, but these he repulsed with heavy losses, and then entered Cuzco
in triumph. Manco Capac himself escaped, and retired to the other side
of the Andes.
[Illustration: INDIAN HUTS ON THE RIVER CHIPURANA.]
Almagro was destined to receive small thanks for his intervention. The
aged _conquistador_ laid claim to the city as part of his own dominions,
and this woke into fresh activity the warfare between himself and
Francisco Pizarro. Almagro, defeated, lost his head, a white and
seventy-year-old head though it was. His fate by no means ended the
tragedies in Peru. The current of sinister events was running here in a
strangely full flood. It was only three years afterwards that Pizarro
himself was murdered by his enemies, the adherents of Almagro's son,
whom they wished to see elevated to the Governorship of the country, an
event which actually occurred, although it proved of very short
duration.
By the time this had come about, the power of the Incas had been broken
for good and all, so far as practical purposes were concerned. Driven
from their temples and strongholds, certain sections of the race
survived, although among them were remarkably few of the noble families
who had formed the salt of the land. Great numbers of the rank and file
of the race met with the fate which was at that time so universal
throughout the country, or rather in its metal-bearing lands. They were
sent to the mines, and, worked and flogged to death, their numbers
diminished with a ghastly rapidity. Some sections, more fortunate, were
at a rather later age set to agriculture, and, forced to somewhat more
congenial tasks than the first workers, they continued to serve the
Spaniards.
CHAPTER VI
SPANIARD AND NATIVE
The collisions with the various peoples of the Continent had now
afforded the _conquistadores_ an opportunity of testing the power of
each. The force of the impact had, it is true, swept into the background
the first peoples with whom they had come into contact; but, as the
scanty numbers of the pioneers filtered across the new territories, they
found that the task of annexation was by no means so easy in every case.
So far as a warlike spirit was concerned, the difference between the
aboriginal tribes of the tropics and those of the southern regions was
most marked. The Incas were, in many respects, a warlike race--that is
to say, they had possessed themselves by force of arms of the country in
the neighbourhood of Lake Titicaca, wresting this from whatever tribe of
the Aymaras it was which, highly civilized, had held the land before
them. This nucleus of empire, once obtained, they had spread to the
south and to the north, and to a certain extent to the east, conquering
all with whom they had come into contact, with the notable exception of
the Araucanians in Southern Chile.
The Chibchas, too, in the far north, whose civilization in some respects
equalled that of the Incas, might be termed a conquering race. They
dominated the north of the Continent, and upheld their empire securely
by force of arms. Yet it is curious that both these nations,
representing the chief civilizing and inventive powers of the Continent,
presented nothing beyond the most futile resistance to the invaders.
Their gods desecrated, their faith outraged, stung to utter fury and
hate, even these passions failed to lead them to a single victory of
consequence, notwithstanding the fact that their tens of thousands of
warriors were faced by no more than a few dozen Spaniards. Disheartened
by the terrifying onslaught of the men in mail mounted on gigantic
horses, they appear to have reconciled themselves with melancholy
submission to a fate which only on two or three occasions during the
following centuries they endeavoured with any earnestness at all to
disturb.
How different were the battles of the south! The Spaniards who found
themselves face to face with the Araucanian Indians, and with those of
the Pampa on the other side of the Andes, had a far more strenuous tale
to tell. The armour which had resisted with such contempt the more
delicate weapons of the Peruvians and of the northern warriors in
general was crushed in and dented beneath the tremendous blows dealt by
the clubs of the muscular and warlike Araucanians, who charged into the
battle with a wild joy that left them as drunk with triumph at the end
of the combat as they had been with their native spirit at the
beginning.
These Araucanians were, indeed, born fighters. In common with the
general run of mankind, it was their lot to be defeated from time to
time. Nevertheless, they repaid the defeats frequently with very tragic
interest; in any case, subdued by force of arms they certainly never
were. Much the same may be said of the Indians of the Argentine and
Uruguayan plains. The aggressive tactics here were by no means confined
to the Spaniards. On the first landing of the _conquistadores_, these
found themselves, after having given provocation in the first instance,
cooped up within the flimsy walls of their new settlements, surrounded
by fierce and vindictive enemies, who charged on them from time to time
with bewildering fury, choosing as often as not for the purpose the hour
just before dawn, which they would make horrid with their warlike cries
and shrill yells. These, too, remained entirely unsubdued to the last.
They had the ill-fortune to be favoured with fewer natural advantages
than the Araucanians. They had neither woodland valleys nor mountains in
which to take shelter in the time of need. They fought on a plain which
was as open as day, and as flat as a table from horizon to horizon. No
crude strategy was possible--at all events, in the daytime--and the
attack of the charging Indians was necessarily visible from a distance
of leagues.
From time to time a certain number of these fierce tribesmen were
captured, but their fiery spirits could brook no domestic tasks, and
when, at a very much later date, some of them were shipped upon a
Spanish man-of-war with the purpose of testing their value as sailors,
they rose in mutiny and slew many officers and men, and, indeed,
obtained temporary control of the ship, until, seeing the uselessness of
further efforts, they flung themselves overboard in a body.
It was the ancestors of such men as these who had in the first instance
disputed the soil with the Spaniards. There is no doubt that, while the
metal-bearing lands fell into the opened mouths of the Spaniards as
easily as over-ripe plums, the maintaining of a foothold in the southern
plains was a precarious and desperate matter. As has been said, the
natural topographical advantages of Southern Chile made the wars here
the grimmest and fiercest of all those waged throughout the Continent.
The mere names of Caupolican and Lautaro suffice to recall a galaxy of
Homeric feats. The deeds of the two deserve a passing word of
explanation.
It was the Chief Caupolican who organized the first resistance to the
invaders on a large scale, and who led his armies with a marvellous
intrepidity against the Spaniards. He initiated a new species of attack,
which proved very trying to the white troops. He would divide his men
into a number of companies, and send one after another to engage the
Spanish forces. Thus the first company would charge, and would engage
for awhile, fighting desperately. Then they would retire at their
leisure, to be succeeded without pause by the second, and so on.
According to some of the older historians, it was by this method that
Valdivia's forces were overcome on the occasion when the entire Spanish
army, including its brave leader, was massacred.
The other famous chief, Lautaro, received his baptism of spears and of
fire under the leadership of Caupolican. Lautaro was probably the
greatest scourge from which the Spaniards in Chile ever suffered. Twice
he demolished the town of Concepcion, and once he pursued their
retreating forces as far as Santiago itself. In an engagement on the
outskirts of this city the victorious chief was killed, and after his
death a certain amount of the triumphant spirit of the Indians deserted
them. But only for a while. The indomitable spirit of the race awoke
afresh, and asserted itself with renewed ardour in the course of the
next series of the interminable struggles.
Compared with all this, the sun-bathed peaks of the centre and of the
north breathed dreams and soft romance. Naturally the temperament of the
inhabitants had tuned themselves to fit in with this. The few savage
customs which had intruded themselves among the quaint rites and
mysticism of these peoples had failed to inculcate a genuine warlike
ardour or lust for blood. Their dreamily brooding natures revolted
against the strain of prolonged strife. What measure of violent
resistance was to be expected from the dwellers on the shores of Lake
Guatavita?
The Lake of Guatavita had been a sacred water of the Indians of Colombia
before the advent of the Spaniards. It was on this peaceful sheet that
the cacique and his chiefs were rowed out in canoes while the people
clustered in their thousands about the mountainous sides of the lake.
When the canoes had arrived at the centre of the lake the chiefs were
accustomed to anoint the cacique, and to powder him with a great
profusion of gold-dust. Then came the moment for the supreme ceremony.
The multitude turned their backs on the lake, and the cacique dived from
the canoe and plunged into its waters; at the same time the people threw
over their shoulders their offerings of gold and precious stones, which
fell with a splash into the waters.
The lake was further enriched after the arrival of the _conquistadores_,
when the natives, tortured and ill-treated in order that gold should be
wrung from them, conceived such a hatred of the metal that they threw
all they had wholesale into the sacred waters. It is said that some
Indians, goaded beyond endurance, taunted their conquerors and told them
to search at the bottom of the lake, where they would find gold. They
had no idea that the Spaniards would actually attempt this, but this the
_conquistadores_ did, and were digging in order, apparently, to drain
the water off when the sides fell in and put an end to the attempt. It
is said that even then they procured a large amount of gold and some
magnificent emeralds.
[Illustration: DEATH OF ATAHUALPA.
The final tragedy as shown in a seventeenth-century engraving.]
As may well be imagined, it was people such as these who suffered most
of all from the violence of the strange, pale beings who had descended
into their midst to subdue them, first of all by means of the sword, and
then by the ceaseless wielding of the more intimate and degrading thong.
Since, notwithstanding all that has been urged to the contrary, the
average Spaniard of those days--even those of his number who had to do
with the Americas--was provided with the ordinary sentiments and
passions of humanity, it was inevitable that in the course of the
oppression and warfare waged against the natives some devoted being
should sooner or later rise up to espouse the cause of the Indians.
This intermediary, of course, was Bartolome de las Casas, so widely
known as the Apostle of the Indies. There are many who fling themselves
heart and soul into a cause of which they know nothing, and who, from
the sheer impetus of good-hearted ignorance, cause infinite mischief.
The case of Las Casas was different. Before he took up his spiritual
labours he had lived for years at the theatre of his future work, and
understood the conditions of the colonial and native life.
As a matter of fact, Las Casas' mission did not dawn upon him until he
had enjoyed a very considerable practical experience in the industrial
affairs of the New World. His connection with this latter did not begin
with his own generation. He was the son of a shipmate of Columbus, who
had sailed with the great explorer in his first voyage, and who had
accompanied Ovando when that knight sailed out from Spain to take up his
Governorship of the Indies.
It was in Hispaniola, it appears, that Las Casas was ordained priest. In
the first place he lived the ordinary life of the Spanish settler in the
island. In common with everyone else, he accepted a
_repartimiento_--that is to say, a supply of Indian labourers--and was
undoubtedly on the road to riches when, little by little, the
inhumanity of slave-owning became clear to him. To one of his
enthusiastic temperament no half measures were possible. He gave up his
Indians forthwith, allowed his estate to revert to Nature, and began his
strenuous campaign, that had as its object the freedom of the native
races.
By 1517 he had succeeded in attracting a wide attention to his efforts.
Journeying to Spain, he persisted in his cause, and gave the high
authorities of that country little peace until they lent an ear to the
grievances of his dusky proteges. Las Casas was endowed to an unusual
extent with both eloquence and fervour, and both these attributes he
employed to the utmost of his powers in the service of the American
aborigines. Thus he painted the sufferings and the terrible mortality of
these unfortunate people with a fire and a force that left very few
unmoved. Nevertheless, as was only to be expected, he met with
considerable opposition from various quarters where the financial
interests dependent on the New World outweighed all other
considerations. In the end, rendered desperate by this opposition and by
the active hostility which he encountered in these quarters, he
determined to lead the way by the foundation of a model colony of his
own in South America.
He obtained the cordial sanction of the Spanish King to this end.
Nevertheless, when put into practice, the scheme failed utterly. The
reasons for this were to be sought for in the poorness of the soil
chosen and in the intrigues of the white settlers rather than in any
fundamental fault of the plan itself. For all that, its failure came as
a severe blow to Las Casas. After experiences such as these, the
majority of men would probably have given up the attempt in despair. Las
Casas, it is true, sought the refuge of a monastery for a while in order
to recover his health and spirits, which had suffered from the shock.
Once again in possession of these, he returned to the field, and,
undaunted, continued to carry on his work.
This campaign of Las Casas is famous for a curious anomaly. That his
work of mercy should have resulted in the introduction into the
Continent of a greater number of dusky labourers than before appears on
the face of it paradoxical. Yet so it was. For Las Casas, determined
that the mortality among the Indians should cease, advocated the
importation of African slaves into Central and South America. His idea
was that the labours spread over so many more thousands of human bodies
would prove by comparison bearable, and would thus end in fewer
fatalities. It is certain enough that this introduction of the sturdy
negro tended considerably to this end, and that many thousands of lives
were prolonged, if nothing more, by this plan. For all that, it must be
admitted that the venture was a daring one to emanate from the mind of a
preacher who was fighting against the slave trade. But Las Casas, urged
by his own experience, took a broad view, and none even of his
contemporaries were able for one moment to impugn his motives.
Las Casas was as much a product of the period and place as were the wild
and daring _conquistadores_ themselves. The new Continent undoubtedly
exerted a curious influence over its visitors from the Old World. It
seemed to possess the knack of bringing out the virtues as well as the
defects with an amazing and frequently disconcerting prodigality.
Several of Las Casas' biographers have wondered at the reason why the
Apostle of the Indies was never made a saint. Certainly hundreds of
lesser heads have been kept warm by a halo which has never graced that
of Las Casas.
CHAPTER VII
THE COLONIZATION OF THE SOUTH
It was natural that after the first occupation of the New World the
tendency of the explorers should have been to turn their attention to
the south and to the still undiscovered lands. At the first glimpse the
aspect of the Atlantic coast to the south of Brazil gave little promise
of the wealth--that is to say, of the gold--sought by the pioneers,
since its shores were low, marshy, and alluvial.
In 1515 Juan de Solis sailed to the mouth of the River Plate, and landed
on the coast of Uruguay. His party were immediately attacked by Charrua
Indians, and the bodies of De Solis himself and of a number of his crew
were stretched dead on the sands. This ended the expedition, for the
survivors left the place in haste and returned to Spain.
In 1526 Sebastian Cabot explored the River Plate, and, sailing
up-stream, investigated the Parana, and discovered the waters of the
Paraguay River itself. In these inland waterways his fleet was met by
that of another pioneer, Diego Garcia. This latter, doubtless from
chivalrous motives, gave the _pas_ to Cabot, and turned the bows of his
vessels down-stream. It was Cabot's intention to establish himself
permanently on the shores of this great river system. Near the present
site of the town of Rosario he built the fort of Sancti Spiritus.
Seeing, however, that his appeals to Spain for assistance remained
unanswered, he eventually abandoned his attempt. There seems little
doubt that he withdrew practically all his forces from the River Plate;
but there are legends of some survivors who remained in the district
after the main expedition had left. Some old historians allege that
these underwent strange experiences and hardships, but the veracity of
such narratives is more than doubtful.
[Illustration: ATAHUALPA.
The last Chief of the Peruvians.]
It was in 1535, the year when Valdivia marched southward from Peru to
conquer Chile, that the conquest and actual colonization of the River
Plate was first seriously undertaken. Pedro de Mendoza, a soldier of
fortune, ventured on the attempt. Mendoza's career as a mercenary
soldier had proved quite unusually profitable even for those days, and
he had acquired a large fortune at the sack of Rome alone. His purse
provided a really formidable expedition.
The voyage to the mouth of the River Plate on this occasion was more
productive of incident than was usual, even in those days of adventurous
pioneers. The halts at Teneriffe and at Rio de Janeiro had resulted in
some dissensions among Mendoza's men, and the execution by the orders of
the Chief of one of his most popular leaders had all but caused open
mutiny at the latter place. Nevertheless, when his forces landed at the
site of the present town of Buenos Aires, they constituted a formidable
company of men, admirably equipped with everything that the science of
the age could devise for the purpose of conquest and colonization,
particularly the former.
Having founded his settlement, Mendoza set himself to deal with the
Indians and to bring them into subjection. In a very short while he
found out that it was a very different tribe of aborigines with which he
had to deal to the peace-loving inhabitants of Peru and the north-west.
The agile, hardy, and fierce Pampa Indians, having once fallen foul of
the invaders, allowed them no respite. Attacked by day and night,
deprived of all supplies of food, Mendoza's troops began to suffer from
exhaustion and hunger, to say nothing of the wounds inflicted by their
enemies.
In the end, the leaders had to admit to themselves that the place was no
longer tenable. Nevertheless, neither Mendoza nor his men had any
intention of abandoning permanently these fertile plains through which
ran the great rivers. The scarcity of minerals in these districts had
now become sufficiently obvious to them; yet even to men in quest of
little beyond gold the extraordinary fertility of the alluvial soil was
not altogether lost. With a courage and pertinacity which does the
adventurers every credit, they determined, instead of abandoning the
river and putting out to sea, to sail far up-stream into the unknown,
and to seek their fortune inland.
Mendoza's expedition first of all established itself for a while on the
site of Sancti Spiritus, Cabot's old abandoned fort, which they now
rechristened Corpus Christi. Shortly after their arrival at the place,
Mendoza himself, who had doubtless suffered many disillusions concerning
the gold and precious stones of these districts, and whose health had
given way beneath the stress of the hardships and of the numerous
precarious situations in which he had found himself, set sail for Spain.
It was to be his fate never to return to his native land, since he died
on his way home.
Juan de Ayolas was now left in command of the Spanish force. He was an
able commander, and a man of determined character, eminently fitted to
conduct an expedition such as this. Without hesitation, the new leader
purposed to make his way farther up the stream. He got together the
ships once again, and, manning them, he made his way from point to
point along the great river system, attacked here and there by the
Indians on the banks, and occasionally challenged by flotillas of
canoes, which boldly came out to assume the aggressive. But in every
case the lesson taught the Indians was a severe one, and, undeterred by
the hostility shown him, Ayolas sailed inland until he came to Asuncion
in Paraguay. At this spot the expedition came to a halt, and the weary
pioneers landed, and immediately became lost in admiration of the
fertile and delightful country in which they now found themselves.
There is no doubt that to the new-comers the country in the
neighbourhood of Asuncion, with its pleasant valleys, rolling country,
and forest-covered hills, must have come in the shape of a relief after
the apparently interminable passage of the plains. It was the spot at
which the pioneer would naturally halt, and endeavour to found his
settlement.
The Guarani Indians extended but a cold welcome to the daring
adventurers. Their temperament was by nature far less warlike than that
of the savage and intrepid natives in the regions of the coast. These
Guarani Indians, nevertheless, made some show of aggression, and would
doubtless have been glad to scare away these undesired strangers. Owing
to this, a collision between the two forces occurred; but so crushing
was the defeat of the Indians that they resigned themselves submissively
to the Spaniards, and henceforth became a vassal tribe, lending
assistance to their white masters in both civil and warlike occupations.
Immediately after the victory, the Guaranis were set by the Spanish to
assist in the construction of the new town, which was to be the
head-quarters of the Imperial power in the south-east of the Continent.
Once definitely settled here, the _conquistadores_ set themselves to
extend the frontiers of their dominions, which in the first place were
confined to the neighbourhood of the new town of Asuncion itself.
The tribes in the immediate neighbourhood were now more than merely
friendly: they were actively servile. But the case was different with
the other native peoples, more especially with the Indians in the Chaco,
the wooded and swampy district on the opposite side of the river. These
showed themselves fiercely inimical to the new-comers, and it was seldom
that the Spaniards were without a feud of some kind to suffer at their
hands.
The new colonists had now time to look about them. Much had happened
since they had first landed on the shores of the River Plate, but the
main object of the expedition still remained clear to them. This was the
discovery of a road from the south-east to Peru. Ayolas determined to
take up this fascinating quest in person. Accompanied by a number of
men, he sailed up the river until he came to a spot at which he judged
that an attempt at the overland journey might well be attempted. Leaving
Domingo Martinez de Irala, his lieutenant, in charge of the ships and of
a force of men, Ayolas marched into the forest and disappeared into the
unknown. It was his fate never to return. His company, ambushed and cut
up by a tribe of hostile Indians, perished to a man.
It was months before Irala learned of the catastrophe. In the belief
that his chief was still in the land of the living, he waited with his
ships and men at the point where Ayolas had disembarked, varying his
vigil from time to time by a cruise down-stream in search of provisions.
The news came to him at length, shouted out by hoarse defiant voices
from the recesses of the forest on the banks. For a while the Spaniards
would not believe the surly message of death given by the unseen
Indians. In the end, however, its truth could not be doubted, and Irala
assumed command of the party. Returning to Asuncion, he was unanimously
appointed Governor by the settlers of the place.
[Illustration: SUGAR-MAKING.
A seventeenth-century representation of the whole of the processes of
the manufacture of sugar.
_From "Historia Antipodum."_]
The character of Domingo Martinez de Irala was eminently suited to the
post he now held. His courage was high, his determination inflexible,
and his energy abundant. It is true that, in the same manner as his
colleagues of the period, he was frequently totally careless of the
means employed so long as the end was achieved. Nevertheless, he was in
many respects an ideal leader, and his vigorous personality kept in
check both the ambitions of the Spanish cliques and the dissatisfaction
of the less friendly Indians.
Irala was destined to undergo many vicissitudes in the course of his
Governorship. Very soon after he had been elected to this post it was
his fate to be superseded for a while. Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca,
having obtained the appointment in Spain itself, came out by Royal
Licence to govern the new province of which Asuncion was the capital.
Cabeza de Vaca was essentially a humanitarian Governor, who proved
himself extremely loth to employ coercion and the sword, which means, in
fact, he only resorted to with extreme reluctance as a very last
resource. His courage and determination were evidenced by his overland
journey; for, instead of sailing up the great river system from the
mouth of the River Plate, he brought his expedition overland from Santa
Catalina in Brazil, advancing safely through the numerous tribes and
difficult country which intervened between the coast and Asuncion.
The temperament of Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, however, was of too
refined and trusting an order to deal with the turbulent and somewhat
treacherous elements which abounded at Asuncion. After a while a revolt
occurred, brought about probably by the Governor's objection to the
wholesale plundering and enslavement of the Indians by the Spaniards.
The populace turned strongly against the Governor. Cabeza de Vaca was
flung into prison, and sent a prisoner to Spain, after which drastic
procedure Irala was once again elected Governor by the colonists.
Doubtless Cabeza de Vaca possesses the chief claim to sympathy of all
those who had to do with Paraguay at this early period of its existence;
yet at the same time it is impossible to refrain from admiration of the
sheer determination and willpower with which Irala pursued his career.
For years Irala's position remained utterly precarious. He was the
chosen of the colonists, but not of the Court of Spain, which alone
possessed any legal right to appoint a person to so high an office as
his. No exalted personages were more jealous of their privileges than
these. Several times Irala was on the point of losing his Governorship,
but on each occasion the measures he adopted, aided by good fortune,
tided him over the crisis, and left him continuing in the seat of
authority. In the end, after undergoing innumerable anxieties, Irala at
last succeeded in obtaining the Royal Licence for the Governorship of
Paraguay.
All the while his energy continued undiminished, and it was due to him
that the colonization of the country made such rapid strides. The means
by which this end was effected were, from the modern point of view,
entirely dubious, for it was Irala who instituted in Paraguay
_encomiendas_, or slave settlements, into which the natives of the
country were congregated in order that their labour might be employed in
agriculture and similar occupations. This, however, was the ordinary
procedure of the period, and, as historians have already pointed out,
Irala's faults, although serious enough, were really nothing beyond
those of his age. In any case, his name stands as that of one of the
most powerful of the _conquistadores_. During the later years of his
office a comparatively undisturbed era obtained, and he held the reins
of the Paraguayan Government with a firm hand till his death, which
occurred at the age of seventy-one.
On Irala's death, it was only natural that those elements of discord and
jealousy which his strong personality had kept in check should break
out, and cause no little confusion and strife. For a while the
Governorship of Paraguay was sought by many, and the conflicting claims
led to numerous disputes, and even occasional armed collisions. One of
the most notable of the Governors who succeeded Irala was Juan de Garay.
It was this _conquistador_ who was responsible for the second and
permanent founding of the city of Buenos Aires. Garay was a far-seeing
man, who, having established a number of urban centres inland, saw
clearly the importance of a settlement at which vessels from Europe
could touch on their first arrival at the Continent.
So the stream of white men, having been in the first instance swept by
the force of circumstances rather than its own desire from the coast in
a north-westerly direction, began now to roll back towards the coast
once again, without, however, yielding up any of the territories which
it had occupied in the interior.
In 1580 Juan de Garay determined that the supreme effort should be made.
He led an expedition down the stream, and on the spot where Pedro de
Mendoza had founded his first ill-fated settlement he built the pioneer
structures of the second town of Buenos Aires. The wisdom of this move
was evident to all, provided the place were able to withstand the
attacks of the surrounding Indians. In this the garrison succeeded, and
Buenos Aires, having now taken firm root, began the first slow growth
of its development, which eventually made of it the greatest city in
South America.
In the meantime much had been effected towards the colonization of the
land to the west of the Andes. As has been related, Almagro's
unfortunate expedition returned, dejected and diminished in numbers,
from the apparently inhospitable soil in the south. This disaster lent
to Chile an unenviable but entirely undeserved notoriety. Pedro de
Valdivia was the next to venture into these regions. Valdivia naturally
enjoyed several advantages over his predecessor, for he knew now, by the
other's experiences, the dangers and perils against which he had to
guard. In consequence of this his expedition met with considerably more
success than had been anticipated. Marching southward across the great
Atacama Desert, he penetrated to the fertile regions of the land, and
founded the town of Santiago.
All this was not effected without encountering the hostility of the
local Indians, and the inhabitants of the new town carried their lives
in their hands for a considerable while after the foundation of the
city. Perhaps, indeed, no pioneers experienced greater hardships than
did those of Chile. For the first few years of its existence every
member of the new colony became accustomed to live in an unceasing
condition of short rations, and it was on very poorly furnished stomachs
that the garrison was obliged to meet and to repel the attacks of the
natives. In the end, however, the seeds which had been brought by the
adventurers took root and grew. Provisions became fairly abundant, and
the settlements in the neighbourhood of Santiago were now firmly
established.
Valdivia, determined to extend his frontiers, marched to the south. It
was in the neighbourhood of the Biobio River that he first encountered
the Araucanian warriors of the true stock. Here his forces met with a
rude awakening. In discipline and fighting merit the companies of the
Araucanians stood to the remaining tribes of South America in the same
relation as did the Zulu regiments to the other fighting-men of Africa.
A furious struggle began which was destined to last for generations and
for centuries. But at no time were the fierce Araucanians subdued,
although it fell to their lot to be defeated over and over again, as,
indeed, proved the fate of the Spaniards likewise.
Some notion of the tremendous vigour with which these wars of the south
were waged may be gathered from "La Araucana," the magnificent epic
written by Ercilla, the Spanish poet, who composed his verses hot from
the fight, his arms still weary from wielding the sword.
One of the first of the notable Spanish victims in the course of these
wars was Valdivia himself. Attacked by furious hordes of Araucanians and
overwhelmed, the intrepid European and his army perished to a man; while
the Araucanians in triumph swept northwards, to be hurled to the south
again by the next wave of battle which chanced to turn in favour of the
Spaniards.
CHAPTER VIII
THE GOVERNMENT OF THE SOUTH AMERICAN COLONIES
Having now definitely obtained possession of the enormous territories of
South America, it was equally the policy of both Spain and Portugal to
retain the enjoyment of the new lands and of their produce for
themselves alone. In order to effect this, stringent laws were laid down
from the very inception of the colonization of the Continent. In a
nutshell, they amounted to this: none but Spaniards might trade with the
Spanish possessions of South America, and none but Portuguese with the
Colony of Brazil. In the case of the latter country the regulations were
by no means so strictly carried out as in the former. One of the chief
reasons for this, no doubt, was the old-standing and traditional
friendship existing between Portugal and England. With so many interests
in common, and such strong sentimental bonds uniting the pair in Europe,
it was difficult to shut out the English commerce altogether from
Brazil.
In the Spanish colonies the enactments of the Court of Spain were far
more rigorously carried out. Here, since the laws were so strict, the
rewards for their breaking were naturally all the greater. Tempted by
the magnitude of these latter, a great number of the officials made a
lucrative profession of giving clandestine assistance to foreign
commerce in direct contravention of the regulations laid down.
It is rather curious to remark that at the very height of her colonial
commerce, when the riches of South America were pouring at the greatest
rate into her coffers, how little actual wealth was accumulated by the
Mother Country. Indeed, a monumental proof of the inefficiency of her
organization is that, although she bled the filial nations with an
almost incredible enthusiasm, Spain remained in debt. The influx of gold
from her colonies demoralized and ruined such industries as she had
possessed, and such goods as she sent out to South America and elsewhere
were now almost devoid of any proportion of her own manufactures. The
merchandise which she sent to the New World she purchased from other
countries, principally from Great Britain, and the English merchants saw
to it that their profit was no small one. Thus Spain at this period,
from a mercantile point of view, was very reluctantly serving as a
general benefactor to Europe.
All this, of course, was in spite of most extraordinary efforts to
effect the contrary. As early as 1503 the Casa de Contratacion de las
Indias had been established in Spain. This institution was practically
the governing body of the colonies. It possessed numerous commercial
privileges, since it held the monopoly of the colonial trade. These
privileges were continued until as late as 1790.
The Casa de Contratacion, although in many respects a purely mercantile
body, was endowed with special powers. So wide was its authority that to
be associated with this body was wont to prove of enormous financial
benefit. Thus, it was entitled to make its own laws, and it was
specially enacted by Royal Decree that these were to be obeyed by all
Spanish subjects as implicitly as any others of the nation.
So far as the commercial world was concerned, the powers of the Casa de
Contratacion were sheerly autocratic. The institution, in fact, held the
fortunes of all the colonials in its hand. It possessed, in the first
place, the privilege of naming the price which the inhabitants of the
New World should pay for the manufactured goods of the Old. In addition
to this, it lay within its domain to arrange the rates at which the
produce sent from the colonies was to be sold in the Spanish markets.
From this it will be evident that, commercially speaking, its powers
were feudal.
It was inevitable that frequent evils should have sprung from the
inauguration of a system such as this. It became almost a religion to
every Spanish official and trader to batten upon the unfortunate
colonial, quite regardless of the fact that the pioneer settler was
being strangled during the process. Since the hapless dweller in South
America was not allowed to bargain or haggle, and was forced to take
whatever was graciously sent out to him at a rate condescendingly fixed,
it frequently happened that this latter was five or ten times the
legitimate price.
The disadvantages endured by the humble oversea strugglers, however, did
not end here, for their own produce received the coldest of financial
greetings in Europe, and the prices realized from these frequently left
the agriculturalists in despairing wonder as to whether it was worth
while to continue with their various industries. Added to all these were
further regulations which proved both irksome and costly to the men of
the south. Twice a year the Casa de Contratacion sent out a formidable
fleet from Cadiz, escorted by men-of-war. It was this fleet which
carried the articles of which the colonials were in urgent need. Now,
the main settlements of the Spanish merchants and officials, as
distinguished from the colonial, were in Panama and the north, and it
was largely in order to benefit these privileged beings that the
ridiculous regulations were brought into force which made the fleet of
galleons touch at the Isthmus of Panama alone. By this means it was
insured that these goods should pass through the commercial
head-quarters, and leave a purely artificial profit to the Spaniards
concerned, instead of being sent direct to the various ports with which
the coasts of the Continent were now provided.
[Illustration: BARTOLOME DE LAS CASAS.
"The Apostle of the Indies," who took up the cause of the much afflicted
natives of South America.
_From the portrait in the Bibliotheque Nationale._
_A. Rischgitz._]
In these circumstances it was necessary for colonial merchants and
traders from all parts of South America to journey to this far northern
corner in order to carry out their negotiations, and to attend to the
fresh transport of the wares. The hardships and the added cost brought
about by regulations such as these may be imagined, and, as was only to
be expected, a system such as this recoiled upon the heads of those who
were responsible for its adoption.
Occasionally circumstances arose in connection with these official
fleets which bore with almost equal hardship upon Spaniard and colonial
alike. Thus, when the English, Dutch, and French buccaneers took to
harassing the South American coast in earnest, there were periods when
the galleons of the Indies were kept within their harbour for a year and
more. Then the Spaniards went perforce without the South American gold,
and the colonial's life was shorn of the few comforts which the wildly
expensive imported articles had been wont to bring.
The home authorities invariably appeared loth to take into account the
possibility of human enterprise. It was not likely that the colonials
would submit tamely to such tremendous deprivations as those intended by
Spain. Foreign traders, moreover, notwithstanding the ban and actual
danger under which they worked, were keenly alive to the situation, and
to the chances of effecting transactions in a Continent where so
handsome a profit was attached to all commerce. The result was the
inception of smuggling on a scale which soon grew vast, and which ended
in involving officials of almost all ranks. The Governors of the various
districts themselves were usually found perfectly willing to stand
sponsors for all efforts of the kind, and, viewing the matter from the
modern point of view, they are scarcely to be blamed for their
complaisant attitude.
Here is a narration written in 1758 of the manner in which these
transactions were carried on. The author, referring to it in an account
of the European settlements in America, asserts that the state of
affairs was one likely to prove extremely difficult to end--
"While it is so profitable to the British merchant, and while the
Spanish officers from the highest to the lowest show so great a
respect to presents properly made. The trade is carried on in this
manner: The ship from Jamaica, having taken in negroes and a proper
sortement of goods there, proceeds in time to the place of a
harbour called the Groute within the Monkey-key, about four miles
from Porto-Bello, and a person who understands Spanish is directly
sent ashore to give the merchants of the town notice of the arrival
of the vessel. The same news is carried likewise with great speed
to Panama, from whence the merchants set out disguised like
peasants, with their silver in jars covered with meal to deceive
the officers of the revenue.... There is no trade more profitable
than this, for their payments are made in ready money, and the
goods sell higher than they would at any other market. It is not on
this coast alone, but everywhere upon the Spanish Main, that this
trade is carried on; nor is it by the English alone, but by the
French from Hispaniola, and the Dutch from Curassoo, and even the
Danes have some share in it. When the Spanish Guardacostas seize
upon one of these vessels, they make no scruple of confiscating the
cargo and of treating the crew in a manner little better than
pirates."
From all this, the shortcomings of the Spanish attempts at a protective
system are sufficiently evident.
In view of the hostile reception extended to them in all parts of the
Continent by the Spanish officials, it was only to be expected that
foreigners, whenever they had the opportunity, should have rendered a
whole-hearted assistance to this business of smuggling. Moreover, since
there was seldom peace between the Portuguese and the Spaniards, the
former were only too glad to foster this trade, and thus defeat the
object of the Spanish authorities, and incidentally line their own
pockets. It was all the more difficult for the Spanish Colonial
Government to maintain a consistent attitude when the introduction of
the slaves, on whom the welfare of so many districts depended, was in
the hands of foreigners.
This state of affairs applied in a far lesser degree to Brazil, since
that country was frequently able to obtain its human consignments in
Portuguese vessels from its fellow-colony of Portuguese West Africa. The
Spaniards, on the other hand, were dependent upon other nations for the
importation of their slaves, and they were from time to time accustomed
to grant special licences for this purpose. It was the reverse of likely
that men of a temperament which urged them to raid the African shores in
search of their human quarry, and to sail their black cargoes through
the tropics, would abstain from making the fullest and most general use
of an opportunity thus offered, as the Spanish officials invariably
found was the case to their cost, and occasionally, as has been said, to
their profit!
The rivalry which characterized the relations between Spain and Portugal
did not fail to be carried across the ocean, nor, when transferred to
the colonies of either nation, did the mutual jealousies grow less
bitter. Indeed, scarcely had the colonization of Brazil and of the
Spanish territories commenced in earnest when the struggle between the
two nationalities began.
The area of the strife, fortunately, was confined. The enormous
territories of tropical Brazil forbade anything in the nature of
thorough exploration on the part of the few and slender bands of the
pioneers, to say nothing of any attempt at expansion. It was in the
south, where the narrow strip of Brazil projected itself downwards into
the temperate latitudes, that the desire for aggrandizement raged. The
Portuguese considered that the natural southern frontier of their great
colony was the River Plate. The Spaniards, having already possession of
the northern bank, fiercely resented any such pretension, with the
result that the Banda Oriental, by which name the Republic of Uruguay is
still locally known, as well as the southern part of the Province of
Paraguay, became the scene of many battles. It may be said that the
warfare between the two nations continued here, with but rare and short
peaceful interludes, for centuries.
The fortified town of Colonia, on the north bank of the Uruguay River,
represented one of the chief bones of contention. Its possession
constituted a strategic advantage of no small importance, and Spanish
and Portuguese flags waved alternately over its shattered ramparts. The
situation was accentuated by the characteristics of the inhabitants of
the Portuguese city of Sao Paolo. These people, who lived in the town
loftily placed upon its rock, had acquired for themselves, almost from
the inception of the colony, a somewhat sinister and reckless
reputation. The Portuguese and half-breeds here, their vigour unimpaired
by a temperate and bracing climate, would sally out to the west and to
the south on slave-raiding expeditions, which they conducted with
extraordinary ferocity and enterprise. Matters of boundaries and
frontiers possessed no interest whatever for these Paolistas or
Mamelucos, by which latter name the swashbuckling members of this
community were better known.
[Illustration: FRANCISCO PIZARRO.
The Conqueror of Peru.
_From an engraving after the original portrait in the Palace of the
Viceroys at Lima._
_A. Rischgitz._]
In the first instance, these forays were responsible for comparatively
little friction, since the number of Indians near at hand was as
plentiful as the neighbouring white men were rare. When the nearer land
became depopulated, however, it began to be necessary to extend the
expeditions farther afield from Sao Paolo, and it was then that the
Mamelucos came into contact with the growing numbers of the Spanish
settlers, and with the Indians who now resided beneath the protection of
the Spanish power. When the Jesuit missionaries arrived in Northern
Uruguay and in Southern Paraguay their advent had the effect of
embittering the feud between the frontiersmen; for the Jesuits, forming
the Indians into companies of their own, withdrew them still farther
from the onslaughts of the Paolistas. These latter determined at all
costs to capture and to drive back their gangs of slaves, became more
and more emboldened, and pushed forward to the south and west well into
the Spanish territories, harrying the missionary settlements, and laying
waste the countryside.
For years the Guarani Indians, unarmed, were helpless in the face of
such attacks. Eventually, however, the influence of the Jesuits obtained
permission from the Court of Spain for these latter to be provided with
firearms, and after this the Indian regiments, trained and disciplined,
offered such effective resistance to the Mamelucos that these were
forced to cease their slave-raids.
In 1574, when the importation into Brazil of negro slaves from West
Africa had become a regular affair, the demand for slaves on the part of
the Paolistas naturally became less active. Even with this item of
discord removed, such intervals of peace as were patched up between the
rival Powers were of short duration. The fertile and temperate lands to
the north of the River Plate still remained in dispute, and although the
Spaniards succeeded in retaining the possession of the bulk of these,
there were times when the Portuguese penetrated as far as the waters of
the great river, and in the end they managed to detach several of the
most northerly districts from Spanish control, and in adding these to
their own colonies.
It was consistent with the curious irony of fate which seemed to direct
the operations of the Continent at that period, that while the
Portuguese and Spaniards, actual lords of the soil, were at daggers
drawn, the foreign seawolves, who had been gathering together, surveying
with longing eyes the fold of riches so rigorously banned from them,
were now making preparations for active aggression. But the history of
the expeditions on the part of these formidable rovers is worthy of more
than one chapter to itself.
CHAPTER IX
FOREIGN RAIDS ON THE SPANISH COLONIES
Had the laws of the Indies been differently framed, there is no doubt
that the hardy sailors and reckless buccaneers who plundered these
coasts would have had no existence, and that South America would have
remained unprovided with much of its grim romance. As it was, Spain, by
her imperious policy of "hands off," had flung a challenge to every
adventurer of the other nations throughout Europe.
During the earliest periods of its colonization the reports from the New
World were naturally somewhat nebulous in character, and the Spanish
authorities themselves saw to it that as little authentic news as
possible should be allowed to filter beyond their own frontiers. This
policy succeeded for a while in restraining the undesired enterprise of
the rival peoples who were, so far as South America was concerned,
groping in the dark. This phase was naturally only fleeting. At the
first evidence of a desire on the part of the other nations to
participate in the benefits accruing from South America, the Spanish
Court thundered forth threats and edicts.
Thus on December 15, 1558, King Philip II. decreed that any foreign
person who should traffic with Spanish America should be punished by
death and confiscation of property. The edict was emphatic and stern,
and contained a clause which deprived the Royal Audiences in Spanish
America of any powers of dispensation in the execution of these
penalties:
"If anyone shall disobey this law, whatever his state or condition,
his life is forfeit, and his goods shall be divided in three parts,
of which one shall go to our Royal Treasure, one to the judge, and
one to the informer."
It is, of course, notorious that the distance which separated the
colonies from the motherland prevented the enforcing of many laws,
whether good or bad, and that the Spanish-American local
expression--"The law is obeyed but not carried out"--was common to
nearly every district. At the same time, the mischief caused by decrees
such as these may readily be imagined. A rich bribe to an informer was
in itself an incentive to the stirring up of mischief where frequently
none was intended. Such official bribes as these, however, were wont to
be more than counteracted by the private inducements held out by many of
the foreign adventurers and traders themselves, and after a while a
great number of the officials found it very much to their profit not
only to wink at the wholesale commerce and smuggling that was being
carried on, but even actively to promote it and to participate in its
benefits.
This method of keeping Spanish America as the close property of the
Crown was one which grew more and more difficult to preserve as time
went on. In the first place the authorities had merely to cope with the
foreign seamen and the fleets of adventurous traders who were
determined, at all costs, to win their share of financial profit from
these golden shores. After a while, with the growing population of the
Continent, a new situation asserted itself, and the influence of the
colonists themselves had to be considered.
[Illustration: SECTIONS OF A SLAVE SHIP.
Typical of the small vessels employed in taking African slaves to South
America. The hundreds of negroes were packed between decks in the
incredible fashion shown in the sectional views.]
In order that the full financial profit, as it was then understood, of
the colonies should continue to be passed on to Spain, it was essential
that the colonists should continue a negligible factor. The permanence
of this state of affairs could only be affected in one way: it was
necessary that no equipment such as would provide independence of
thought or action should be allowed to be at their service. Books, of
course, were considered as one of the most mischievous potential engines
of the kind. The Spaniards determined that none of the learning of their
country should pass into the colonies. A certain number of volumes were
permitted to cross the sea, it is true, but these were of the species
that might be readily understood by a child of a few summers, and were
ridiculously inadequate to the most ordinary intellect of adults in
civilized regions. These themselves were subjected first of all to a
close inspection on the part of the Inquisition in Spain. After this
they had to pass the Board of Censors appointed by the Council of the
Indies. Even here the precautions did not end, for on their arrival in
the colony they were once again inspected as a safeguard, lest any
secular matter or work of fiction should by any chance be overlooked and
suffered to remain.
In short, the policy by which the motherland endeavoured to retain for
her own benefit the riches of her colonies was undoubtedly one of the
most benighted ever conceived by a European nation. It amounted to
nothing less than a consistent checking and deadening of the
intelligence of her sons oversea in order that their atrophied senses
should fail to detect the true manner in which they were being shorn of
their property and privileges.
On the other hand, in conformity with the same theory, superstition was
encouraged to an extraordinary degree. The Royal Seal, when it arrived
from Spain, was greeted as though it were a symbol of Deity, and the
royal audience would chant an oath to obey it as implicitly as though
it were a command of God. Every conceivable care was taken to foster
this frame of mind throughout the colonies, and, since the intellectual
occupations were religiously kept to themselves by the officials, it is
not astonishing to find how far this method succeeded, and for how long
it continued. Thus, even as late as 1809, when a portrait of King
Ferdinand arrived at Coquimbo, the oil-painting was received with the
honours accorded to a symbol of Deity. A special road was made for it
from Coquimbo to La Serena, the capital of the province. This task
occupied many days. Volunteer citizens filled up the holes, made wooden
culverts, and, in fact, acted as enthusiastic road repairers, in order
that the portrait might suffer no discomfort. When it was judged that
the highway was sufficiently repaired, the portrait set out upon its
astonishing journey. It was surrounded by cushions and placed in a
flower-filled carriage. The inhabitants kneeled as the picture passed,
and when it had been placed in the cathedral, salvos of artillery
sounded, and the people shouted in delirious joy. The occasion,
moreover, was marked by a fete which lasted three days.
All this, however, is anticipating by some centuries the period under
review. In the first instance, largely owing to the ignorance concerning
the New World which prevailed in other parts of Europe--which ignorance
had been greatly fostered by Spain--the Spaniards succeeded in retaining
the undisputed possession of their portion of the Continent for nearly
three-quarters of a century. Then came the first of the maritime
swallows, which made many dismal summers for the Court of Spain. In 1565
Drake voyaged to the Guianas on the Spanish Main. He was followed by
Hawkins, Raleigh, and a host of others, including the Dutch navigators.
These hardy seamen, it must be said, had in the first instance proceeded
to the Continent with the idea of engaging in legitimate trade. In
justice to the many desperate acts which the majority subsequently
committed, it must be remembered that in the case of the early
collisions, they only let loose their guns when they found themselves
attacked by the Spanish authorities in the distant ports, or intercepted
on the high seas by the guardian fleets of Spain.
An experience or two of the kind sufficed to rouse the hot blood of the
seamen. Knowing now that they were braving the anger of the King of
Spain, they determined to continue in this undaunted, even, if
necessary, "to synge his bearde," as, indeed, was accomplished on one
notable occasion. So they continued their voyages to these ostensibly
closed coasts of South America and the general run of the territories
known at the time as the West Indies. Frequently they found riches in
the venture, sometimes disaster and death. The former proved an
incentive to these breathless voyages, with which no dread of the latter
fate could interfere.
It would be as well to refer briefly to the careers in South America of
a certain number of the most notable of these early adventurers. One of
the first was Sir John Hawkins, who set out in 1562 with three ships:
the _Salomon_, the _Swallow_, and the _Jonas_. Having touched at
Teneriffe, he then landed at Sierra Leone, "where by the sworde and
other means" he obtained some 300 negroes. He shaped his course to the
west, and sailed with his cargo to the Spanish Indies.
Notwithstanding the stern official prohibitions, Hawkins succeeded in
trading with the residents at Port Isabella, in Hispaniola, and the tall
sides of his vessels, empty now of their dark human freight, soon held
an important cargo of hides, ginger, sugar, and pearls. So successful
was he, indeed, that he added two more ships to his flotilla and sent
them to Spain. This daring procedure was intended as something in the
light of a challenge and of a proof of his good faith in his right to
barter in Spanish South America--a right, he claimed, which was ratified
by an old treaty between Henry VII. and the Archduke Philip of Spain.
The Spanish officials, doubtless open-mouthed at this somewhat subtle
and startling confidence of Hawkins, promptly confiscated the vessels by
way of definitely proving it ill-founded. Notwithstanding this, Hawkins
was more than satisfied with the cargo brought home by his three
original ships, and two years later he set out again, accompanied by the
Earl of Pembroke and the Earl of Leicester, with a larger fleet than
before.
On this occasion he again visited Africa, collected a cargo of slaves,
and endeavoured to trade with the Spaniards, more especially in
Venezuela. This time the expedition found the authorities, warned by
threatening prohibitions from Europe, in a less enterprising mood.
Hawkins, persisting in the attempt, succeeded in bartering a certain
number of slaves for hides, gold, silver, pearls, and other commodities.
After a while the Spanish officers attempted to interfere and to put a
stop altogether to the traffic, on which Hawkins, ever a friend to free
trade, gathered his men together and marched down to the market-place,
incidentally firing off guns, which procedure destroyed the last
scruples of the inhabitants, and an important exchange and barter now
took place. Thus the triumphant Hawkins returned with a second valuable
cargo to England.
In 1567 Hawkins was accompanied on his next voyage by his young cousin,
Francis Drake. The incidents of this voyage strongly resemble those of
the previous ones. Negroes were collected in West Africa, and were
disposed of in Spanish America, notwithstanding the protest, whether
genuine or simulated, of the officials. The ending of the voyage,
however, was destined to introduce a tragic note. On the way home the
small English expedition fell in at the Port San Juan de Ulloa with a
great Spanish fleet. In the first instance the mutual overtures were
friendly, and hostages were exchanged on both sides. In the end,
however, the English force was, without warning, attacked by the
Spaniards as they lay at anchor. The majority of the men who had gone on
shore were slain, and those who remained on the ships were assailed by
overwhelming numbers. After a strenuous tussle with the Spaniards, Drake
in the _Judith_, followed some time afterwards by Hawkins in the
_Minion_, got away. The condition of Hawkins's crew, unprepared as was
this ship for the voyage, was pitiful. A lengthy spell of contrary winds
served to accentuate the terrible dearth of provisions which prevailed.
The following is a contemporary account of some of the incidents. The
vessel had wandered about the ocean
"tyll hunger inforced us to seek the lands for birdes were thought
very good meate, rattes, cattes, mise and dogges, none escaped that
might be gotten, parrates and monkayes that we had in great prise
were thought then very profitable if they served the tourne one
dinner."
The return home in this instance was truly a sorry one, for the
survivors had left not only gold behind them, but the corpses of so many
brave comrades.
On the whole, the exploits of Hawkins were considerably overshadowed by
those of his young relative, Sir Francis Drake, who had begun to
adventure on his own account in 1570, and who haunted the Spanish
Indies, determined to avenge the treatment he and his comrades had
received at San Juan de Ulloa. He ransacked Nombre de Dios and
Cartagena, explored the Gulf of Darien, made friends with the Indians
who inhabited the place, and captured many Spanish merchantmen,
repulsing the attacks of the Spanish men-of-war.
Drake now crossed the Isthmus of Panama, and--the first foreigner to
accomplish the feat--set eyes on the Pacific Ocean, in which he swore to
cruise before he had finished his career. Here, moreover, having failed
to capture one royal treasure convoy, his good fortune led him to meet
with a second, and the gold and silver borne by the laden mules became
the property of himself and his men.
Drake started out on his next voyage in 1577, and fulfilled his purpose
of breasting the waters of the Pacific; for, after various adventures on
the east coast of the Continent, he sailed through the Straits of
Magellan, and found himself in the ocean that, until then, had been
traversed by Spanish vessels alone. His arrival came as a bolt from the
blue to the Spaniards, who had not dreamed of the possibility of the
invasion of the Pacific, the waters of which they had grown to consider
as sacred to themselves. The alarm spread like wild-fire along the whole
length of that great coast. All the while Drake cruised up and down,
capturing and destroying wherever he might. Indeed, of all the
adventurers of this period, Drake was the one whose name conveyed the
greatest terror to the Spanish colonists. This was evident in all parts
of the Continent. Thus the impetuosity of his attacks and incursions in
the neighbourhood of the Guianas and Venezuela was sufficient utterly to
startle and dismay the unfortunate Spaniards.
[Illustration: THE STRAITS OF MAGELLAN.]
The taking of Caracas in 1595 showed him as not only an able leader,
but as an extraordinarily gifted tactician. It was in the course of this
attack, by the way, that the fine old hidalgo, Alonso Andrea de Ledesma,
mounted his horse, and, shield on arm, lance in rest, charged full tilt
single handed against the English force, who would have spared him had
he permitted it. But his onslaught was too impetuous for that. All the
invaders could do for the gallant old knight was to give him an
honourable and reverent burial.
After a while, Queen Elizabeth herself now lending open support to the
adventurers, Drake's expeditions became more and more daring, and, until
he died of fever at Porto Bello, his personality was one which gave
sleepless nights from time to time to responsible persons on the coasts
of the great Continent.
The name of Raleigh, "poet, statesman, courtier, schemer, patriot,
soldier, freebooter, discoverer, colonist, castle-builder, historian,
philosopher, chemist, prisoner, and visionary," is, of course, from the
romantic point of view, principally associated with El Dorado, and his
quest of the magic and imaginary land of gold. It was for this reason
that Raleigh's dealings with the Spaniards in South America were more
circumscribed than those of many of his colleagues. Led to the belief,
both by his own fanciful convictions and by the legends brought him by
the Indians, he had conceived El Dorado as situated somewhere in the
Guianas, and thus his operations were chiefly confined to this part of
the world and to the neighbourhood of the Orinoco River.
Raleigh's quest, on paper, certainly sounds one of the most fascinating
and entrancing of those undertaken in the great Continent. That which
the average reader hears of less are the fevers, noxious insects, heat,
and the general climatic hardships and perils involved in one of the
most tropical of all countries, to say nothing of the brushes with the
Spaniards; for Raleigh, courtier, poet, and philosopher though he was,
was no more gentle in his dealing with his enemies than any other
freebooter of his period.
[Illustration: OLINDA DE PERNAMBUCO, NOW PERNAMBUCO.
Attacked by Dutch war vessels.]
In the end Raleigh returned from the Orinoco laden with no gold, but
with heavy tales of the countless booty which he had failed to obtain,
and in the existence of which he implicitly believed, as his spirited
defence against the charges of his disappointed critics and would-be
profit-sharers proves.
Once again, after many years, and after he had endured many wrongs,
hardships, and imprisonment in England, Raleigh succeeded in 1617 in
making his way to Guiana. His health had now become shattered, and he
found himself unable to explore the Orinoco River in person, with the
result that the absence of his powerful and charming personality, which
had effected so much in these regions in the past, was much felt, to the
disadvantage of the expedition. A portion of his forces made its way
inland; but it was attacked by the Spaniards, and young Walter Raleigh,
the only son of the explorer, was slain. On this occasion the party
actually discovered four gold refineries. Spain, however, had increased
the strength of her position in this neighbourhood enormously, and the
expedition failed.
Raleigh, broken-hearted at the death of his son, returned to England. He
had procured no gold; all that he had won for himself was the enmity of
Spain, which, in the end, through the instrumentality of King James I.,
cost him his head. So much for some of the most important of the early
English adventurers in the seas which the Spaniards claimed as their
own.
To refer to the whole company of notable buccaneers in detail is
impossible, although so many others, from Cavendish to Sharpe, Davis,
Knight, and the rest, are worthy of note. There were, moreover, the
Dutch freebooters, such as Van Noorte, de Werte, Spilsbergen, and
others, as Jaques l'Ermite, Francois l'Ollonais, and Bartolomew
Portugues, who ransacked and burned every town which failed to resist
their fierce onslaughts, from the Gulf of Darien in the north all round
the coast to the Pacific Ocean on the west.
CHAPTER X
FOREIGN RAIDS ON PORTUGUESE COLONIES
The rivalry which had existed between the Portuguese and the French in
the early days of Brazilian colonization has already been referred to.
With this exception, the first era of the Colony of Brazil was
comparatively peaceful--that is to say, the Portuguese, proving
themselves of a more liberal temperament than the Spaniards, did not
suffer from the fierce aggressions of the English and the Dutch to the
same extent as did their Castilian neighbours. In 1580, however, the
situation altered itself abruptly--in a most unpleasant fashion so far
as the Portuguese were concerned.
In that year Portugal became subject to Spain, and thus the Portuguese
Colonies were now controlled by Spain. As a result of this Brazil had to
undergo the enmity of the English and the Dutch in addition to that of
the French. This latter was now of comparatively old standing. The
forays and raids of the French had, indeed, continued almost without
cessation, Pernambuco and Paraiba being two of the chief spots attacked.
In many of these incursions the French were assisted by the natives,
with many tribes of whom they had succeeded in establishing good
relations. In the course of time, however, it became evident that the
French, like the British, were to be feared in these neighbourhoods
rather on account of their raids than for the danger of a permanent
settlement.
Until 1580 several English expeditions had proceeded to Brazil, and had
succeeded in trafficking with the Portuguese in complete amity. One or
two of the English are even said to have established themselves near
Bahia in the quite early days of the colony, and to have lived on good
terms with the Iberian lords of the soil. Afterwards, through the
instigation of the European officials, this cordiality became lessened,
and in 1580, as has been said, the nations proceeded to open warfare in
South America.
In 1582 Edward Fenton visited the coast of Brazil, and was attacked by a
Spanish squadron. One of the latter vessels was sunk, and a decided
victory was obtained by Fenton, who, after this, put out to sea. This
was the first hostile action undertaken by the English on the Brazilian
coast.
In 1591 Cavendish came to raid the various settlements. He ravaged many
places, and eventually came to Espiritu Santo, where he landed a force,
which, through bad generalship, was much cut up by the defenders of the
place. Cavendish after this left the coast, and died on the way home to
England--some say of a broken heart.
In 1595 James Lancaster's expedition arrived off Brazil. Lancaster had
been brought up among the Portuguese in Europe. He understood their
temperament, and was thus especially well equipped to command an
enterprise such as this. After taking a number of prizes on the high
seas, he fell in with another expedition commanded by Captain Venner,
and the two forces united, Lancaster remaining in chief command. The
English fleet now sailed for Recife. In this port they discovered three
large Dutch ships, which permitted them to attack the port without
interference. Lancaster, who displayed admirable generalship, landed his
forces. These surrounded and captured Recife, and the English found
themselves masters of a large amount of booty. Lancaster, who was a
tactician as well as a fighter, now made terms with the Dutch, and
offered them freight to take to England on terms which caused the Dutch
ships to abandon their attitude of benevolent neutrality in favour of an
active alliance.
Shortly afterwards a squadron of five vessels hove in sight; these
proved to be French. By presenting them with a gift of Brazil wood,
Lancaster won these to his cause as well. So now a fleet of three
nations--English, Dutch, and French--were simultaneously occupied in
plundering Recife. Against this force the Portuguese could do little.
Fire-ships and blazing rafts were sent down the river by the garrison
who had taken refuge inland; but these attempts were frustrated, and,
after some few weeks spent at Recife, Lancaster sailed away with his
rich plunder, and the gathering of the hawks dispersed. It is worthy of
note that Lancaster exhibited a trait sufficiently rare in his comrades.
He apparently remained content with his booty, and determined to enjoy
it, for he does not appear any more in the character of a buccaneer.
The Dutch now gave serious attention to South America, and a West India
Company was formed in Holland for no other purpose than to capture and
exploit Brazil. The first fleet, commanded by Jacob Willikens, sailed
from Holland in 1623. Both the authorities in the peninsula and Brazil
had received warning of what was threatening, but no adequate steps
would seem to have been taken for the defence of the colonies. The Dutch
fleet anchored off Bahia, where a force was landed, which succeeded in
obtaining possession of the town. The Dutch were welcomed by the
European Jews, who had taken up their abode in that place, and also by
the negroes, both of whom appeared to live in dread of the Inquisition.
The Portuguese themselves, in the first instance, fled to the woods,
under the impression that the raid was merely temporary, and that a day
or two would see their waters free of the marauding bands, and would
restore the sacked town to its rightful owners. When it became evident
that the Dutch were fortifying the town and meant to retain possession
of it for good, the national spirit of the Portuguese proved equal to
the occasion, and Bishop Marcos Teixeira, after assuming the garb of a
penitent, took command of the army, and hoisted the crucifix for his
standard. The Bishop proved an able commander, and the Dutch were
closely invested in Bahia, finding themselves unable to stir outside
their fortifications.
In the meanwhile the news of the capture of the capital of Brazil had
produced a tremendous shock in the peninsula, and the greatest fleet
which had ever sailed south was prepared to assist Bahia. Dom Manoel
Menezes commanded the Portuguese section of the forces, which consisted
of 4,000 men in twenty-six ships, while Fadrique de Toledo commanded the
Spanish fleet of forty sail, which carried 8,000 soldiers.
On March 28, 1625, this formidable array of vessels appeared off Bahia.
The Portuguese colonists had continued to besiege their captured
capital, and the Bishop, who had striven and fought nobly, died, worn
out by too great exertions. At the sight of the Iberian fleet, the
Brazilians made a fresh attack upon the capital with enthusiasm, but the
rash attempt was repulsed with great loss.
Several encounters now took place, and the Dutch sent out fire-ships by
night in the hope of destroying their enemy. The attempt, however,
failed, and in the end the French and English mercenaries in the Dutch
service, becoming tired of the struggle, worked their influence in the
cause of surrender. Shortly after this occurred, a powerful fleet of
Dutch ships, under Baldwin Henrick, came in sight, but on seeing the
Spanish standards flying instead of the Dutch, sailed away to the north.
Had it remained, it would undoubtedly have gained a decisive victory,
since the Iberian forces were in much confusion. The Dutch prisoners
were honourably treated, and in the end returned to Holland, where they
met with a somewhat contemptuous reception on the part of their
fellow-countrymen.
In 1627 the Dutch West India fleet fell in with a Mexican treasure
fleet, captured this in its entirety, and the enormous wealth thus
gained gave great impetus to the enterprises of this kind. The Dutch now
raided the north of the Continent, and in 1629 prepared an important
expedition against Pernambuco. Fifty vessels sailed from Holland for
this purpose. The force landed under the Dutch commander Wardenburg, and
commenced operations in earnest. First the town of Olinda, and then the
neighbouring town of Recife, were captured, after very severe fighting.
It was some while, however, ere the position of the Dutch became secure,
and even the short passage between the twin towns could only be effected
in circumstances of great danger and difficulty, owing to the raids of
the investing Portuguese.
Soon after this the Dutch captured other neighbouring ports, such as
Nazareth and Paraiba. The dominion of Holland in Northern Brazil now
appeared assured. At the same time the counter attacks of the Portuguese
were ceaseless, and the leaders of the Dutch garrisons in South America
made representations to the Netherlands in favour of reinforcements and
a commander of real note. In response, Prince Mauritz, Count of Nassau,
was sent out to take supreme control of the Dutch ventures on Brazilian
soil. A personality more fitted for this particular purpose could
scarcely have been lighted upon. For Prince Mauritz was not only a brave
soldier, but a tactful and chivalrous enemy; indeed, his figure stands
out in glowing colours in this campaign among the woods of the far
southern coast, and the continuance of the Dutch dominion was no doubt
largely due to his individuality. His arrival with nearly 3,000 men
inspired the worn soldiers of Holland with new confidence. Ceara was
captured, and Sao Jorge da Mina was attacked and taken as well.
In his few moments of leisure Count Mauritz gave his attention to the
improvement of the town of Recife, Olinda being now utterly destroyed,
as a result of the numerous battles of which it had stood as the unhappy
centre. He drained the marshy ground, and planted it with oranges,
lemons, and groves of coconut-trees, thus embellishing the country in
the neighbourhood. Very little leisure was permitted for undertakings of
this kind, for the Portuguese, persevering in their determination to
regain their coastal territories, persisted in their attacks whenever an
opportunity offered. A certain number, whose patriotism was less dear to
them than their purses, consented to traffic with the Dutch, and the
Jews upheld with enthusiasm the interests of the new-comers in this
matter; but the Portuguese, on the whole, remained steadfast to their
ideals, and refused to have any dealings with the intruders.
By this time the Dutch had every right to consider themselves as likely
to remain the permanent possessors of Northern Brazil. The circumstance,
as a matter of fact, which was destined seriously to disturb their
dominion came in the light of a totally unexpected happening. Throughout
the history of South America, when its lands were the colonies of
Spain and Portugal, events in the European Peninsula had nearly always
been echoed in the Southern Continent. The event, of course, which had
so great an influence on the affairs of both Brazil and the Spanish
possessions was the revolt in 1640, when, after her eighty years'
captivity, Portugal freed herself from the Spanish yoke.
[Illustration: FERNAO DE MAGALHAES (FERDINAND MAGELLAN).
Who first discovered the passage to the Pacific named after him.]
In the north of the colony the new situation led to a somewhat curious
and paradoxical state of affairs. The Dutch had overrun Northern Brazil
for the sole ostensible reason that it was a possession of Spain. Now
that Portugal had freed herself from Spain, and that Brazil in
consequence was once again a purely Portuguese possession, all reason
for the Dutch occupation of the coast of Brazil was at an end. In Europe
the situation was this: The Dutch and the Spaniards had been for
generations at deadly enmity, while the rivalry between the Portuguese
and the Spaniards had induced a hostility rather less deadly, it is
true, but, nevertheless, sufficiently keen for the purposes of war.
Thus, with the freedom of Holland from Spain, and with the liberation of
Portugal from Spain, the situation of the two, once vassal countries,
was identical. They had an interest in common in preserving themselves
from the rapacity of Spain.
This was all very well in Europe, but in South America matters worked
out very differently in actual practice. The Dutch were now firmly
established in Northern Brazil, having their headquarters at the town of
Recife, or Pernambuco. It was not in human nature to give up the fruits
of their conquest merely because the Portuguese had driven out the
Spanish officials from their territories in Europe. The situation from
the point of view of Holland was simple, and could be put in a nutshell.
The Dutchmen were willing enough to enter into friendly relations with
the Portuguese, but not at the cost of the Brazilian possessions of the
Dutch West Indian Company, which had been especially formed for the
purpose of acquiring these.
Count Mauritz of Nassau had proved himself an able administrator, and it
was now the turn of the Dutch to intrigue where before they had fought
openly. In June, 1641, an agreement was negotiated in Europe between
Portugal and the United States of the Netherlands, which concluded a
truce for ten years. A year was allowed in order to carry this
intelligence to the Dutch commanders in South America and elsewhere. In
order to cement this new friendship, the Dutch further agreed to supply
Portugal with arms and ammunition to aid in the common fight against
Spain.
The Brazilian policy of Holland was, however, quite different from that
proposed in Europe. Instructions were sent to Count Mauritz of Nassau
ordering him to continue in the command, to extend the sphere of the
Dutch dominion, and, if possible, to capture Bahia. These instructions
were largely due to the belief held in Holland that Portugal would be
unable to maintain her independence for any length of time.
When the news of the truce was first brought to Count Mauritz at Recife,
all the outward marks of festivity and great rejoicings were exhibited.
A general fraternization ensued, and the late enemies and temporary
friends regaled each other at various banquets. Thus Paulo da Cunha, the
Brazilian patriot, upon whose outlawed head the Count had put a price of
500 florins (to which da Cunha had retorted by placing a price of 2,000
cruzados upon the Count's), was now invited to feast with Nassau, and
the two entered into an intimate and rather chaffing discussion upon the
respective prices they had put upon each other's heads.
Very shortly, however, the Brazilians found reason to suspect the
sincerity of the Dutch professions of friendship. A Dutch fleet sailed
north, captured Sao Christovao, and in other places seized a number of
Portuguese vessels. The Portuguese now found themselves in something of
a dilemma, owing to the very fact of the independence they had won.
During the Spanish dominion the ports had been manned by the Spaniards
as well as by the Portuguese. This, of course, was no longer the case.
Bahia, for instance, had now lost a great part of its garrison. The 700
Spaniards and Neapolitans who had served there were honourably treated
by the Portuguese, and were sent on their way to Europe, but were
captured by the Dutch ere they had left the coast.
The Dutch aggression, as a matter of fact, was not confined to South
America. A Dutch force of 2,000 regular troops had entered Sao Paul de
Loanda, the capital of Angola. The loss of this important Portuguese
possession on the west coast of Africa produced a direct effect on South
America, for it was from here that the Brazilians had imported all their
African slaves. Thus the whole of this traffic passed entirely into the
hands of the Dutch for the time being. Mauritz of Nassau went the length
of suggesting that the territory of Angola should become an appendage of
that of Dutch Brazil, as the two were bound so closely by this traffic!
The Dutch had also captured the Island of St. Thomas. In that place,
however, the climate avenged the Portuguese to the full, and the
mortality among the Dutch from fever in this island was appalling.
The Dutch in Brazil now sent an expedition to the north to obtain
possession of the Province of Maranhao. They captured and plundered the
capital, pillaging churches and ransacking the sugar factories. The
Governor, Maciel, appears to have behaved very badly, and with no
little treachery towards his fellow-countrymen. Nassau, when Maciel
surrendered, treated him with contempt, and imprisoned him. The
situation had now become grimly farcical. In Europe the Dutch were
supplying the Portuguese with arms and stores, and acting in general as
their allies; while in Brazil the two nations were openly at war, and
the Dutch were sending hostile expeditions in all directions!
Just at this period, indeed, the ambition of the Dutch appeared to swell
to the highest point. Count Mauritz determined to push his conquests far
to the south, and had even prepared an expedition for the capture of the
Spanish town of Buenos Aires; but the attempt was frustrated by the
hostility of the Portuguese and Indians nearer home. All this time, of
course, Dutch fleets had been harrying the Pacific coast, and the Dutch
had actually obtained a footing in Southern Chile, although this was not
destined to prove permanent. With the extension of their boundaries,
however, it was but natural that the difficulty of preserving their
dominion should increase.
In Maranhao, freshly conquered as it was, rebellion broke out almost as
soon as the Dutch had established themselves. Desperate fighting took
place in the neighbourhood of the capital, and many barbarities were
committed on both sides. The Dutch Governor, in a fit of exasperation,
delivered twenty-five Portuguese to the savages of Ceara, and sent fifty
to the Barbadoes to be sold as slaves. The English Governor, however,
after he had received these latter on shore, set them at liberty, and
administered a severe reproof to the agent who had offered white men for
sale in this way. Owing to happenings such as these the bitterness
between the two races increased.
In the end Maranhao was regained by the Portuguese, and the Fort of
Ceara itself was surprised by a force of Tapuya Indians and its garrison
massacred. These occurrences were ominous, and the turn of the tide
seemed to have set in. Prince Mauritz of Nassau now sent in his
resignation, and, after leaving everything in a state of complete
preparedness, set out for Europe, accompanied by no fewer than 1,400
persons all told, a force which could ill be spared from Brazil at that
period. Among them were a few Indians who were taken to Holland to
demonstrate to the inhabitants of that country the accomplishments of
their countrymen, and the nature of the new subjects.
Nassau had governed the captured territories in a liberal and
imperialistic spirit, and his personality had been popular to a certain
extent even among the Portuguese. His absence was severely felt, and the
policy of the West India Company, in itself parsimonious and somewhat
petty, undoubtedly suffered much from the want of his presence; for
during the time that he was in power he had restrained the excesses of
his own people, and used no little tact towards the Portuguese. His
rank, moreover, counted not a little in winning their esteem. The new
authorities had not the influence over the soldiery that Prince Mauritz
had enjoyed, and lacked not only experience but judgment.
Shortly after this Dirk van Hoogstraten, a Dutch officer, offered his
services to the Portuguese, and various other symptoms portended a break
up of the organization of the Dutch West India Company. Several attempts
at insurrection took place in the neighbourhood of Recife itself, and
the methods of the Dutch in repressing these became increasingly harsh.
Some of the malcontents were hanged, and in several cases their hands
were lopped off before death.
The Brazilian patriot, Joao Fernandes, now became very prominent, and
the Dutch in consequence began to be more and more harassed. The woods
in the neighbourhood of the town sheltered numbers of discontented
Portuguese and Indians, who had collected stores and weapons, and had
hidden themselves in the recesses of the forests until the time came for
them to sally out for the attack. Several expeditions sent out by the
Dutch to break up these bands were unsuccessful. The Portuguese either
eluded them, or the Dutch fell into the ambushes prepared for them, and
suffered loss without being able to retaliate.
Every month the Portuguese grew stronger in numbers, and attacks were
now frequent on the Dutch isolated settlements, many of which were
captured and the inhabitants massacred. The Portuguese were determined
to surrender none of the advantages which the nature of the country
offered them, and thus the warfare still remained of a guerilla order,
and upon the sallying out of a formidable Dutch force, the Portuguese,
with their Indian allies, would disperse in the dense forests, and come
together again when the Dutch had concluded their march.
The retaliatory methods of the Dutch served to enrage the Portuguese
beyond all bearing. The Council of the Dutch West India Company issued a
proclamation to the effect that all women and children in the towns,
whose husbands and fathers were rebels, were to be evicted from their
houses and left to fend for themselves. The idea seems to have been that
these people would flock to the insurgents and thus hamper their
movements. The result was that the unfortunate women and children were
exposed to the mercy of the weather and the forests.
Joao Fernandes had now collected a formidable number of men, and,
posting these about nine leagues to the westward of Recife in a spot of
great strategic advantage, he awaited the Dutch advance. One thousand
five hundred Dutch troops, aided by a number of native auxiliaries, came
on to the attack. Three times they advanced and drove the Portuguese and
their Indian allies some way up the hill on the sides of which they were
posted, but each time the Dutch lost more and more men from the ambushes
in the thick cane-brake which covered the ground. In the end the Dutch
retired, having suffered very severe casualties. It is said that 370 of
their force were found dead upon the field. Beyond this a number died on
the retreat, while many hundreds were wounded. The Portuguese assert
that their army consisted of 1,200 whites, aided by about 100 Indians
and negroes. This fight had very important consequences, since it
enabled the Portuguese forces to arm themselves with the weapons left on
the field by the dead and wounded Dutch.
During all this time the authorities at Bahia had remained quiescent,
since officially no state of war existed, and in the eyes of the
Government the Dutch were supposed merely to be quelling some
revolutionary movements ere they departed for Europe! Now the time came
for this farce to be ended, and the Governor of Bahia sent troops to the
north to join the insurgents in their struggle against the Dutch. The
traitor Hoogstraten now definitely joined these forces, and the whole of
the country south of Recife fell once more into the hands of the
Portuguese. During this period the bitterness between the two armies was
still further accentuated by the massacre of Portuguese by the Tapuya
Indians at Cunhau. This atrocity, as a matter of fact, was perpetrated
on the initiative of the Indians alone, but at the time the
Dutch--unjustly, as it turned out--were blamed for it. This circumstance
induced retaliation, and eventually caused many barbarous acts to be
done on both sides.
After the fortunes of war had fluctuated on various occasions and the
Dutch had alternately been defeated, received reinforcements, and become
temporarily victorious again, the war came to an end. The Dutch
consented to withdraw entirely from Brazil, to surrender Recife and all
the remaining forts which they possessed, as well as the Island of
Fernando de Noronha. In return they were granted an amnesty, which was
extended to the Indians in their service.
Arrangements had been carried almost to a conclusion when the Dutch
showed themselves prepared to continue the campaign in South America.
This threat of renewed aggression had the effect of increasing the
liberality of the Portuguese terms. The ensuing negotiations were
considerably assisted by Charles II. of England, who, about to marry
Catherine of Portugal, strongly took up the cause of the Portuguese in
South America, and announced to the Dutch his intention to ally his
forces with those of the Portuguese, and, if necessary, proceed to
extremities. These representations of Charles were taken up by France
and Portugal, and the Dutch, as a result, decided to waive some of their
wilder claims. Before, however, the treaty was finally concluded, it was
found necessary to pay certain sums in the nature of a ransom to the
Dutch. These consisted of 4,000,000 cruzados, in money, sugar, tobacco,
and salt, which were to be paid in sixteen annual instalments. All the
artillery taken in Brazil, which was marked either with the arms of the
United Provinces of the Netherlands or of the West India Company, were
to be restored to their former owners.
[Illustration: DUTCH VESSELS SAILING THROUGH THE STRAITS OF MAGELLAN.
_From a seventeenth-century engraving._]
Thus, although Portugal may be said in one sense to have cooped the
Dutch up within a narrow strip of remaining territory, and to have
been on the point of expelling them from Brazil by the sword, actually
the withdrawal was only effected by the payment of this heavy ransom. As
Southey has it: "The Portuguese consented to pay for the victory which
they had obtained."
CHAPTER XI
THE COLONY OF PERU
With South America now definitely settled, we may glance at the various
provinces which constituted the Spanish American Continent. For a long
while after the first establishment of the Spanish dominion the
divisions between the various districts remained far fewer in number
than was later the case. South America may be said to have been
partitioned off in the early days into four main divisions. The
northernmost of these was commonly known as Terra Firma, and comprised
New Granada and the neighbouring districts. This area is now occupied by
the Republics of Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador.
To the south of Terra Firma the Viceroyalty of Peru extended itself,
bordered on the south by the Province of Chile; while to the east,
occupying the remainder of the Continent as far as the Brazilian
frontier, and stretching over the fertile plains to the south, was the
great Province of Paraguay, which included the territories now contained
in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and part of Bolivia.
Seeing that the head-quarters of the Colonial Government was vested in
Peru, it would be as well to deal with this portion of the Continent
first. Peru constituted in the first place the sole Viceroyalty, and
subsequently the senior Viceroyalty, of Spanish South America. Lima, its
capital and the seat of government, took care to distinguish itself
from any other colonial city of the Continent. Certainly no other town
possessed such buildings and architectural decorations as those of which
Lima could boast. The home of the Viceroy, it was a city of pomp,
processions, and stately movements. These, as a matter of fact, were by
no means out of place, when the great importance of the spot from a
governmental point of view is considered. Every matter of consequence,
in whatever province it may have had its origin, was referred for
settlement to Lima, and it was here that the Viceroy and his Court gave
judgments, the effects of which were echoed thousands of miles away.
Of all the Viceroyalties in the world, that of Peru was undoubtedly the
proudest during the earlier Spanish colonial period, for the holder of
the high office governed not merely a country, but the greater half of a
vast Continent. Seeing that the colonial policy of Spain invariably
tended to pit one of her subordinate Powers against another in order to
avoid the acquirement of too much authority on the part of any special
person, it was only natural that the authority of the Viceroy, although
great, was not supreme even in his own dominion. There were matters
which had to be referred to the Court of Spain, but even in these the
importance of Lima remained in one sense unimpaired, for Lima then
became the mouthpiece of the Continent, and it was through her officials
that the case was presented for the deliberations which pursued their
leisurely course in Europe.
The palace of the Viceroy represented, naturally, one of the chief
buildings in the capital. Impressive as was the authority of this high
official, he was wont to live even his private life in great state. As a
rule he would set apart a short while in the morning and afternoon for
the personal reception of petitions. There were, of course, numerous
public functions in which it was his duty to take part. Thus, on the
arrival of any new laws or decrees from Spain, the Viceroy was
accustomed to proceed to the Council Hall, where these were delivered to
him. He would then salute the documents by kissing the King's signature
and by laying the paper on his head.
Many of these Viceroys were notably honourable men, who refrained from
taking a greater share than was necessary in the financial arrangements
of the New World. At the same time, the opportunities for
self-enrichment during the five years' tenure of office were quite
unusually numerous. Not a few of the occupants of this post took
advantage of these, and the extravagant manner of their subsequent life
in Spain upheld to the full the popular tales which were current
concerning the fabulous wealth of the Americas.
To go back to the early days of Peru, the inception of this colony, as
has been said, was attended by even more violent disturbances than those
common to its neighbours. We have already seen how, each the victim of
strenuous jealousies, Almagro was executed at the instance of Pizarro,
and how Pizarro himself a few years later was assassinated by the
adherents of the dead Almagro's party, who now succeeded in raising to
power his son, the younger Almagro.
This, however, by no means ended the era of catastrophe and chaos into
which the great but youthful colony of Peru was now plunged. Very
shortly after the death of Pizarro, Cristobal Vaca de Castro arrived in
Peru on a mission from the Court of Spain to investigate the causes of
the disturbances and warlike rumours which had reached the Mother
Country. De Castro found himself in opposition to the younger Almagro,
and a battle was fought. Almagro's forces were defeated, and he himself,
although he escaped for a while to Cuzco, was captured and executed.
In 1543 Blasco Nunez Vela, the first Viceroy appointed by Spain, arrived
in Peru, where he found de Castro in charge of the Government. Nunez
Vela's methods proved themselves arbitrary in the extreme. Scarcely had
he landed when he sent an abrupt command to de Castro to resign his
post, and to place himself forthwith in attendance on the new Viceroy.
This action roused the anger of the Pizarro faction. Its adherents
revolted and established themselves at Cuzco.
It was precisely at this moment that a totally new factor in the way of
officialdom presented itself in Peru. With the advent of the Royal
Audience, a court of judges, newly founded and sent out from Spain, the
situation grew still more wildly complicated. The Royal Audience, its
dignity and unanimity shattered by the turmoil in the midst of which it
found itself, divided its forces equally on either side. A battle was
fought between the Viceroy and the forces of Gonzales Pizarro, in the
course of which the latter obtained a decided victory, and Blasco Nunez
de Vela was slain.
Having witnessed an almost continuous process of downfall of the various
authorities, it is only natural that the sense of loyalty to Spain
should have become somewhat obscured in the minds of the Peruvians. As a
result, many of the colonists now urged independence of government, and
begged Gonzales Pizarro to accept the throne of Peru.
Spain, judging that the matter had gone too far to be dealt with by any
force but one of a magnitude which would have been inconvenient in the
extreme to dispatch to so great a distance, now had resource to
diplomacy. An ecclesiastic, Pedro de la Gasca, famed for his subtle
methods and diplomatic strategy, was despatched to the disturbed colony.
Gonzales Pizarro refused to acknowledge this new official, although a
command to this effect was impressed upon him by a letter sent by the
King of Spain.
The rupture was now complete. In the first instance the loyal troops
were decisively defeated by Gonzales Pizarro; but very shortly
afterwards the deep methods of La Gasca bore fruit. He was joined by
troops from Chile, and by numerous forces from various other districts,
while Pizarro's men began to desert him, continuing the process until
the bold leader was left practically alone. Seeing there was no help for
it, Gonzales Pizarro surrendered, and was in turn beheaded.
It is curious to remark that in these early and disturbed days of Peru
no single leader was left to die a natural death. A second Viceroy,
Antonio de Mendoza, was now appointed. He proved himself an able ruler,
but, unfortunately, he died before he had occupied his post for two
years. A further epoch of rebellion now followed, until Don Andres
Hurtado de Mendoza, Marquis de Canete, was sent out from Spain to occupy
the Viceroyalty. It was undoubte
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