Ferdinand's information 339, 340

Researches of Henry Harrisse 341

Date of the birth of Columbus; archives of Savona 342

Statement of Bernaldez 343

Columbus's letter of September, 1501 344

The balance of probability is in favour of 1436 345

The family of Domenico Colombo, and its changes of
residence 346, 347

Columbus tells us that he was born in the city of Genoa 348

His early years 349-351

Christopher and his brother Bartholomew at Lisbon 351, 352

Philippa Moniz de Perestrelo 352

Personal appearance of Columbus 353

His marriage, and life upon the island of Porto Santo 353, 354

The king of Portugal asks advice of the great astronomer
Toscanelli 355

Toscanelli's first letter to Columbus 356-361

His second letter to Columbus 361, 362

Who first suggested the feasibleness of a westward route
to the Indies? Was it Columbus? 363

Perhaps it was Toscanelli 363, 364

Note on the date of Toscanelli's first letter to
Columbus 365-367

The idea, being naturally suggested by the globular form of
the earth, was as old as Aristotle 368, 369

Opinions of ancient writers 370

Opinions of Christian writers 371

The "Imago Mundi" of Petrus Alliacus 372, 373

Ancient estimates of the size of the globe and the length of
the Oecumene 374

Toscanelli's calculation of the size of the earth, and of
the position of Japan (Cipango) 375, 376

Columbus's opinions of the size of the globe, the length of
the Oecumene, and the width of the Atlantic ocean from
Portugal to Japan 377-380

There was a fortunate mixture of truth and error