Cuyuni-Mazaru- beyond, thus making the entire valley a natural dependency of the Orinoco. ni Basin. Upper Essequibo Basin. 4.—UPPER ESSEQUIBO BASIN. ; The fourth and last of the tracts, which together constitute the territory in dispute, is what may be called the Upper Essequibo Basin. It comprises the region lying south of the Pacaraima mountains, and west of the Essequibo. It is a mountainous district of broken table-land ; and is quite shut off, both from the Cuyuni-Mazaruni basin and from the lower Essequibo. The falls and rapids which impede the Cuyuni and the Mazaruni are repeated in the case of the Upper Essequibo; and, beginning as these do, but a short distance above the confluence of the three rivers, they too serve as a barrier to separate this interior region from the coast. III. HISTORICAL SKETCH SHOWING BASIS OF OF VENEZUELA'S TITLE TO THE DISPUTED TERRITORY. Spain first discovered the New World, first explored its continents; first discovered, explored, possessed and settled Guiana; and first firmly established herself in that province as its sole and lawful owner. 1.-DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION. The discovery of the New World by Spain, and her admitted right to be regarded as the first explorer of its continents, rests upon the following facts: Columbus on his third voyage, coasting the southern shore of Trinidad, saw to the southward, on August 1, 1498, the main land which formed part of the delta of the Orinoco. The volume of fresh water was such that he wrote it must come from a land of "infinite" extent. In 1499 his lieutenants coasted the entire line from Surinam to Panama, sailing up the estuaries of the Essequibo and the Orinoco; and on this voyage the name of Venezuela, or "Little Venice," was given to the mainland, in consequence of the Indian dwellings, which they found constructed over the water and swampy lands. In 1500 Pinzon discovered the Amazon, and coasted the shore to the Orinoco, where he took in a cargo of Brazil wood. Other discoverers, Spanish and Portu guese, pushed south along the Brazilian coast. In 15191520, Magellan, a Portuguese in the service of Spain, sent by Charles V, touched at or near the Bay of Rio de Janeiro, followed down the coast, passed through the strait which now bears his name, went up the west Early discoveries and explorations. Early discover- coast a considerable distance, and then crossed the Paies and explorations. cific to the Moluccas. Spain followed exploration by settlement and effect ive possession. Early charters. Cumaná settled. Meantime in 1513, Balboa, crossing the Isthmus of Darien, discovered the Pacific: this was followed by many Spanish expeditions to the Pacific coast, touching from Chili to upper California, so that, by 1535 or 1540, the west shore of America was known from upper California to Cape Horn, and its outlines were shown with respectable accuracy on maps. * This was the work of Spain, by innumerable expedi tions helped out at a few points by Portuguese navigators; and thus, within forty or fifty years from Columbus' first voyage, the nation which sent him had not only discovered the existence of the two Americas, but had explored and made known their entire coast line from Labrador, round Cape Horn, at least to upper California.† 2.-SETTLEMENT AND POSSESSION. The work of Spain did not stop with the discovery and exploration of America. This was at once followed by settlement; and, with regard to nearly all of South America, it was followed also by the formal taking and effective keeping of possession. The following facts will serve to support this statement: Ferdinand granted colonizing charters before his death in 1516. Charles V followed with a considerable number of them from 1520 onward. Settlements were made at Cumaná by Ojeda and by the missionaries of Las Casas in 1520; these settlements were often devastated by the Indians; nevertheless they were renewed, and Cumaná is one of the most ancient cities on the continent. In 1528 the Emperor made a large colonization con * Winsor (J.) Narrative and Critical History. Boston, ii, 177, vii, 389, + Same, ii, 242. Fiske, ii, 459. tract with the Velsers, rich merchants of Augsburg, Early grants. granting them a right to the coast from Cabo de la Vela (near the western end of Venezuela) to Maracapana (close to Cumaná)—that is, over nearly the whole Carribean sea-coast of Venezuela; while in 1530-31 a colonization grant was made to Diego de Ordaz, covering the shore from the Velsers' grant to the Amazon-that is, including the entire Guiana coast. The Velsers had a royal governor; and a Bull of July 21, 1531, made Venezuela a bishopric, for which a cathedral was erected at Coro.* Each of these grants also covered the interior as far inland as the grantees might go, and this led to a series of expeditions into the interior. In 1530 Pedro de Acosta founded a settlement at the mouth of the Orinoco, but was not long afterwards driven off by the Caribs. In 1531 Cornejo sailed up the Orinoco. In 1530-31 Ordaz, exploring under a grant, ascended the Orinoco to the Meta, near six hundred miles; and in 1537 another expedition commanded by Herrera, under the Ordaz grant, ascended both the Orinoco and its affluent the Meta, to its headwaters close to Bogotá, and marched to that city. The account of Keymis, Raleigh's lieutenant, written in 1596, enumerates twenty expeditions down to 1560, all Spanish, taken from "Primera Parte de las Elegias de Varones Illustres de Indias," by Castellanos; and Raleigh's "Discoverie of Guiana" adds more. These expeditions were often of great size, The accounts of them mention 200 men; 400 men; 600 men.t * Documentos para la Historia del Libertador, i, 35-37; also Bollaert (Wm.) Expedition of Pedro de Ursua, etc., with introduction by C. R. Markham. London, 1861, pp. iv-v. Hakluyt (R.) Principal navigations, etc.; edited by E. Goldsmid, Edinburgh, 1890, vol. xv, pp. 93-96; see also Rodway (J.) and Watt (T.) Annals of Guiana, 1888, vol. i, p. 12; also Raleigh (W.) Discovery of Guiana, edited by R. H. Schomburgk. London, 1848, p. 16 et seq. Expeditions in land. Expeditions inland. Early settlements. Spain continued her efforts. Not to speak of others, Berreo in 1582 started from New Grenada with 700 horsemen, 1,000 head of cattle, and a horde of Indian slaves; reached the Orinoco; went down to its mouth; and subdued or received the peaceful homage of the Indians of that region.* The confluence of the Caroni and the Orinoco was pointed out, by the nature of the land and by its posi tion, as a place especially fitted for settlement; for both the river and the easy, open savannas which stretch far back from it mark it as the natural entrance to the interior of Guiana. In 1531-32 Ordaz had here found a settlement of Indians;† and about 1591 the Spanish Santo Thome town of Santo Thomé, and opposite, on an island, the Spanish fort or citadel of Faxardo, were regularly established.+ founded. Formal possession of Guiana taken by Spain. Before the end of the 16th century, the Spaniards were seriously occupying themselves with the interior of Guiana, In the year 1594 Captain George Popham captured, at sea, certain letters on their way to Spain. These letters have preserved to us an account of the formal act by which in 1593 Domingo de Vera, on behalf of Antonio de Berreo, "Governor and Captain-General for our Lord the King betwixt the rivers Orinoco and Amazon,” took possession of the Province of Guiana for Spain. One of these letters deserves to be quoted in full. It is as follows: "Part of the Coppy that was sent to his Maiesty of the discovery of Nueuo Dorado. * In the riuer of Pato otherwise called Orenoque, the principall Raleigh's Guiana, Schomburgk, ed., pp. 26, 39. Raleigh's Guiana, Schomburgk ed., p. 79, note 2. Simon (Fray Pedro). Noticias Historiales de las Conquistas de Tierra Firme en las Indias Occidentales. Cuenca, 1627; see also U. S. Commission, Report, i, 39. |