Cosa, Juan de la

Cosa, Juan de la (hwän dā lä kō'sä) [key], c.1460–1510, Spanish navigator. He sailed with Columbus in 1492 (as pilot of the flagship Santa María) and again in 1498. After accompanying Alonso de Ojeda in 1499, he drew (1500) a world map (a manuscript copy exists in Madrid) that seems to be the first to question the identification with Asia of the new lands and to furnish evidence that the Cabots coasted farther S along the Atlantic shore than other documents reveal. In 1501 he was with Bastidas, and later (1504) he again explored the northern coast of South America. Securing for Ojeda a commission to colonize and explore that coast, Cosa accompanied him (1509) to the site of Cartagena and was there killed by the Indians.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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