ABSTRACT
The discovery of America by Columbus was situated, in point of time, between two great events, which have caused it to be much more noticed, and have rendered it far more important than it would otherwise have been. By the discovery of America, there was much room given to the inhabitants of the old world; an asylum was prepared for the persecuted of all nations to fly to for safety. By the Reformation, which so soon followed the discovery of America, the minds of men began to emerge out of that darkness, ignorance, blindness, bondage, idolatry, and superstition, in which they had grovelled for ages; and they have been since gradually opening to greater degrees of knowledge and intellectual improvement. As early as the year 1474, Columbus communicated his ingenious theory to Paul, a physician of Florence, eminent for his knowledge of cosmography.
