THE AGE OF DISCOVERY

When on 12th of October, 1492 Christopher Columbus, the son of a weaver from Genoa(1), stepped ashore on the island which he later named San Salvador, it was one of the great moments in world history. But back to the very start(2).

In 1476 the vessel in which Columbus served was voyaging to England. Off the Cape of St. Vincent(3) a fleet of privateers suddenly attacked the ship; it took fire, and Columbus himself seized an oar and swam to land, afterwards making his appearance in Lisbon(4).

For the next few years he remained in Portugal, making and selling charts and voyaging to Madeira(5) and the Guinea(5) coast. It was during this period that he entered into a correspondence6 with Paolo Toscanelli, a wellknown astronomer and mathematician of Florence. Toscanelli furnished him(7) with a map of the world, which had been made shortly before(8), and with scientific evidence of the possibility(9) to find a way to Cathay (China)(10) by sailing west. Columbus applied to the King of Portugal for the necessary ships and equipment. (He could not get any financial backin(11) in Italy.) The King openly refused to consider his scheme, but in the meantime(12) sent out to the west a caravel which failed to find land in the direction indicated. Columbus left Portugal at the moment when attempts were being made to reach the Orient(13) by the African route. Passing over into Spain, he made similar proposals to the Spanish sovereigns, Ferdinand and Isabella(14), and at the same time sent his brother to England to lay his case(15) before Henry VII. But his idea seemed so strange that he was taken almost for a madman. Italy, England and Portugal rejected Columbus(16). Some years passed, and at last the Spanish court, being interested in shorter trade routes to India, agreed to render assistance to him.

Columbus departed from Palos with three small ships and sailed first to the Canary Islands(17). With letters of recommendation from the Spanish Government to the Grand Khan, he left the Canaries(17), pushing his way westward(18) until he reached the aim(19). Five weeks later he landed upon an island of the Bahama group(20), and the exotic world of red-skinned natives,

strange animals and fantastic nature opened to him and his men.

However, his stay in the world of the unknown(21) was short. In the spring of 1493, following the largest island of Cuba and Haiti(22), he returned with the news that he had found the archipelago long known to exist(23) off the south-east coast(24) of Asia. For a long time the land discovered by Columbus had no special name. Finally it was decided to name it after Amerigo Vespucci(25), an explorer of the land and a navigator. Columbus, of course, was not the first to "discover" America. According to an Icelandic Saga(26) and the latest investigation

carried out by Anne Ingstad(27), a Norwegian archaeologist, it was the Norsemen, with Leif Ericson at the head(28), who had visited Labrador, Newfoundland and New England as early as the 10th-l 1th centuries. The Norman settlement(29) recently unearthed there is sufficient proof of that.

Now the 9th of October, Leif Ericson Day(30), is celebrated as a national holiday in the U.S.A. alongside Columbus Day which is observed on the 12th of October.

Notes

1 Genoa [Узепоиэ] - Генуя

2 But back to the very start. - Но вернемся к началу (события).

3 Off the Cape of St. (= Saint) Vincent - Неподалеку от мыса Святого Винцентия

4 making his appearance in Lisbon (= appeared) - появился в Лиссабоне

5 Madeira - о-в Мадейра; Guinea - Гвинея

6 entered into a correspondence - начал переписываться

7 furnished him - предоставил ему

Запомните также синонимы этого глагола: to supply (provide) smb. with

8 shortly before - незадолго до этого

9 furnished... with scientific evidence of the possibility - научно доказал возможность

10 Cathey = China - Китай

11 financial backing - финансовая помощь

12 to consider his scheme, but in the meantime - рассматривать его план, а тем временем

13 the Orient - Восток, восточные страны

14 Ferdinand - Фердинанд II, король Испании, основатель испанской монархии (1452-1516)

Isabella [iza'bela] - Изабелла, королева Кастильская (1451-1504),

супруга Фердинанда II

15 to lay his case before Henry VII - изложить свой вопрос (существо дела) Генриху VII

16 rejected Columbus - отказали Колумбу; отвергли предложение Колумба

17 the Canary [ka'neari] Islands = the Canaries – Канарские острова

18 pushing his way westward - стремительно направляясь на запад; to

push - толкать

19 reached the aim - достиг цели

20 the Bahama group - группа Багамских островов

21 world of the unknown - мир неизвестного

22 Cuba and Haiti - Куба и Гаити

23 long known to exist - который, как стало известно, существуетуже давно

24 coast(s) - побережье (как береговая линия), shore - берег моря (озера), bank - берег реки

25 after Amerigo Vespucci - в честь Америго Becпуччи (1451-1512), испанского мореплавателя, предпринявшего несколько путешествий в Новый Свет после экспедиции Колумба

26 an Icelandic Saga - имеется в виду исландская сага «Об Эрике Рыжем», в которой говорится об открытии Америки экспедицией Лейва Эрикссона

27 Anne Stine Ingstad - Анна-Стине Ингстад, норвежский археолог, которая в 1961 г. вместе со своим супругом, известным писателем и путешественником, Хельге Ипгстадом, организовала экспедицию по местам, упомянутым в Саге, и провела там археологические раскопки

28 Norsemen with Leif Ericson at the head – скандинавы (в данном случае - норвежцы) во главе с Лейвом Эрикссоном

29 Norman settlement - поселение норманнов (последние считаются предками норвежцев), раскопанное экспедицией Ингстад на севере о-ва Нью-Фаундленд

30 Leif Ericson Day - Признав научную достоверность исследования Ингстад и приоритет норманнов в открытии Америки, конгресс США узаконил 9 октября каждого года в качестве национального праздника - День Лейва Эрикссона. День Колумба отмечается теперь как День нового открытия и начала освоения Америки Старым Светом.

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