Gomez duly returned to the port of Corunna in
June 1525.
We may thus form some idea of the general position of
American exploration and discovery at the time when
Cartier made his momentous voyages. The maritime nations
of Europe, in searching for a passage to the half-mythical
empires of Asia, had stumbled on a great continent. At
first they thought it Asia itself. Gradually they were
realizing that this was not Asia, but an outlying land
that lay between Europe and Asia and that must be passed
by the navigator before Cathay and Cipango could rise
upon the horizon. But the new continent was vast in
extent. It blocked the westward path from pole to pole.
With each voyage, too, the resources and the native beauty
of the new land became more apparent. The luxuriant
islands of the West Indies, and the Aztec empire of
Mexico, were already bringing wealth and grandeur to the
monarchy of Spain. South of Mexico it had been already
found that the great barrier of the continent extended
to the cold tempestuous seas of the Antarctic region.
Magellan's voyage (1519-22) had proved indeed that by
rounding South America the way was open to the spice
islands of the east.
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