His two brothers, Bartholomew
and Diego, had become unpopular with the Spaniards, who were chafing
beneath their authority. The arrival of Columbus caused a temporary lull
in the disputes, but after a while the power of the malcontents grew
steadily, and their accounts of what was to the fore in Haiti, although
wilfully garbled and exaggerated, began to bear weight with the Royal
Family of Spain.
Columbus, in the first instance, had stipulated for the sole command of
the fleets of the New World. This was well enough in theory, but in
practice the concession was almost immediately broken into. Other
expeditions started out from Spain to the New World. Alonso Ojeda, who
had accompanied Columbus on his second voyage, now came out in command
of an expedition of his own. In his company was Amerigo Vespucci, whose
graphic and fanciful account of his own particular doings resulted
eventually in the naming of the entire continent after him. In 1499
Alonso Nino led an expedition out from Spain, followed shortly after by
another commanded by Pinzon. In the meantime Brazil was being explored
by the great Portuguese, Pedro Alvarez Cabral.
To return to Columbus, the glory of the great navigator had now waned.
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