American Demons

The English Expansion

In 1490, Giovanni Caboto became involved in the English trade with Iceland. The Genoese Grand Master won a Portuguese state treasure at the chart table. This is how he obtained the nautical chart of João Vaz Corte-Real, the first Portuguese governor of the Azores. The knight had already reached Newfoundland before 1450. Some refer to him as the discoverer of the Terra do bacalhau, a phantom island named after the stockfish.

In 15th and 16th century sailors' lore, historians place the core of the legend on an island in the North Atlantic, which today belongs to the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. At the beginning of the 16th century, cartographers referred to all the islands of the St. Lawrence River as "the land of the Cortereals" (João Vaz Corte-Real had three sons who sailed to sea, the most famous being Sebastian Cabot) or the Bacalhau Islands. French fishermen gave the attributions a different direction with Île du Cap-Breton.

In 1497, Coboto landed on the coast of Newfoundland and took possession of the Tundrian nature for Henry VII as Terra de Prima Vista. The English king believed that he had already been left behind by the Spanish and Portuguese. The English expansion was criticized by Spain with reference to the papal division of the world in 1494 as an encroachment on foreign sovereign rights.

Giovanni Caboto's son Sebastian Cabot sails to Newfoundland on his father's first voyage. He changes to Spanish service and returns to English service under Henry VIII. During his time as captain, a distinction is made between Canada, New Wales and Labrador. After Cabot's death, everything is called Cabotia (for a time).

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In the early hours of December 24, 1492, a Monday, a current drives the Santa Maria onto a sandbank in the Rio de los Mares. The helmsman has abandoned Columbus' flagship to a ship's boy. He only calls for help when the rudder comes loose from its hinges and the water boils against the caravel. The admiral appears on deck. He orders an anchor to be thrown far behind the ship to make it afloat. The maneuver fails. The keel is already firmly anchored in the sand and the ship immediately goes off the rails. The current hits one of the long sides with full force. The Santa Maria heels over and sinks.