But in all the leagues and
leagues from the St. Lawrence to the Gulf, nowhere had the white man as
yet succeeded in gaining a permanent foothold.
* * * * *
Although the continent of North America had been discovered by John
Cabot in 1497, nearly a century elapsed before England made any serious
attempt to take possession of it. Cabot's voyages had created little
impression, for he had returned from them empty-handed; instead of
finding the passage to the Indies which he sought, he had discovered
nothing but an inconvenient and apparently worthless barrier stretching
across the way, and for many years the great continent was regarded only
in that light, and such explorations as were made were with the one
object of getting through it or around it. In fact, as late as 1787,
opinion in Europe was divided as to whether the discovery of the New
World had been a blessing or a curse.
But Spain had been working industriously. The honor of giving America to
the world was hers, and she followed that first discovery by centuries
of such pioneering as the world had never seen. Her explorers overran
Mexico and Peru, discovered the Mississippi, the Pacific, carved their
way up into the interior of the continent, looked down upon the wonders
of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, founded settlements up and down the
land from Kansas to Chili--yes, and did more than that.
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