THE WEST INDIES
C H A P T E R I
THE ARCHIPELAGO OF COLUMBUS
IF Columbus had not made a huge mistake in
underestimating the size of the globe and in
supposing that he had reached the Indies when he
[sighted land on that fortunate Friday, October 12,
¡1492; and if he had left to others the naming of the
[newly discovered domain, after its extent and situation
on the face of the earth had become known,
¡the magnificent archipelago between the two continents
of America might have borne his own name.
The name which has become imbedded in four centuries
of history is singularly inappropriate, but can
[hardly be displaced now. India was the land of the
[river Indus and of the race of Hindus, but the name
[had been variously applied, and extended to differ-
lent lands about the Indian Ocean, including the
»islands of the s e a ; and, when Columbus sailed westward,
the great “ East ” of traffic and adventure was
¡known as the Indies.”
