Tierra Firme
“The mainland”: the Spaniards' name for the coast of Central and South America across the Caribbean from the islands. Oviedo first served there, at Darién on the Isthmus of Panama.
Today: Caribbean coast of Panama, Colombia and Venezuela
The Great Market of Tenochtitlan
Hernán Cortés, second letter to Emperor Charles V, October 30, 1520 (the market of Tenochtitlan) · dated October 30, 1520; printed at Seville, 1522 (describes the city as Cortés saw it in 1519–1520)
Venden maíz en grano y en pan, lo cual hace mucha ventaja, así en el grano como en el sabor, á todo lo de las otras islas y tierra firme. Venden pasteles de aves y empanadas de pescado. Venden mucho pescado fresco y salado, crudo y guisado. Venden huevos de gallinas y de ansares y de todas las otras aves que he dicho en gran cantidad; venden tortillas de huevos fechas.
They sell maize, as grain and as bread, far better in both grain and flavor than any in the islands or on the mainland. They sell pies of fowl and pastries of fish. They sell a great deal of fish, fresh and salted, raw and cooked. They sell eggs of hens and geese and all the other birds I have named, in great numbers, and they sell ready-made egg tortillas.
Maize and Cassava Bread
Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo, Summary of the Natural History of the Indies (Toledo, 1526), chapters 4–5 · printed 1526 (from Oviedo’s years in the Caribbean and Tierra Firme, from 1514)
Este pan de cazabi se sostiene un año y mas, y lo llevan de unas partes á otras muy léjos, sin se corromper ni dañar, y aun tambien por la mar es buen mantenimiento, y se navega con él por todas aquellas partes y islas y Tierra-Firme, sin que se dañe si no se moja.
This cazabi bread keeps for a year or more. They carry it very long distances from place to place without its spoiling or going bad. It is also good food at sea. People sail with it all through those regions, to the islands and Tierra Firme, and it stays good as long as it does not get wet.
The Lady of Cofitachequi, 1540
A Gentleman of Elvas, True Relation of the Hardships … in the Discovery of the Province of Florida (Évora, 1557), as reprinted by the Royal Academy of Sciences, Lisbon (1844) · printed 1557 (events of late April and May 1540)
A todos pareceo bẽ pouoarẽ aqlla terra por estar ẽ boa paragẽ: que se se pouoara todolos nauios da Noua Espanha e do Peru e Sancta Marta, e Terra firme, indo pera a Espanha lhes vinha bẽ fazer ali escala: porq he por alli seu caminho: e por ser boa terra e aparelhada pera fazer proveito. Ho gouernador como seu intẽto era buscar outro tesouro como ho d'Tabalipa senor do Peru, nã se quis cõtẽtar cõ boa terra nẽ cõ Perlas em caso q muitas dellas a peso de ouro valiã: e se se a terra repartira as que os indios depois pescaram valerã mais; porq as q tinham por as furarem cõ fogo lhe fazia perder sua cor.
Everyone thought it good to settle that land, because it lay in a good position. If it were settled, all the ships from New Spain, Peru, Santa Marta and Tierra Firme could put in there on the way to Spain, since their route passes that way. It was also good land, fit for making a profit. But the governor's aim was to find another treasure like that of Tabalipa, lord of Peru. He would not be content with good land or with pearls, though many of them were worth their weight in gold. If the land had been divided among settlers, the pearls the Indians fished later would have been worth more. The ones they had lost their color because the Indians bored the holes with fire.