In this letter Columbus says, "Amerigo Vespucci, the bearer of this
letter . . . has always been wishful to please me. He is a very
honest man. . . . He is very anxious to do something for me, if it
is in his power."
It was only accident which gave the name of America to the New
World, and perhaps also the ingratitude of the great leader's own
generation.
Later generations, however, have not been so unmindful of Columbus
and his deeds; Americans have not allowed his great name to be
wholly forgotten. The district in which the capital of the United
States is situated is called Columbia. In Canada too there is the
great province of British Columbia, and in South America the 'United
States of Colombia, besides many towns all named in honour of the
great discoverer.
__________
Chapter 6 - How The Flag of England Was Planted on the Shores of
the New World
Christopher Columbus showed the way across the Sea of Darkness;
Amerigo Vespucci gave his name to the great double continent, but
it was another Italian, John Cabot, who first landed on the Continent
of North America.
Like Columbus, Cabot was born in Genoa. When, however, he left his
own land he did not go to Spain like Columbus, but to England.
He had been living in England for some years when the news of the
first great voyage of Columbus was brought there.
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