GEOGRAPHICAL DISCOVERY AND COLONIZATION [1]
218. MEDIEVAL GEOGRAPHY
THE GEOGRAPHICAL RENAISSANCE
There was also a geographical Renaissance. The revival of the exploring
spirit led to the discovery of ocean routes to the Far East and the
Americas. In consequence, commerce was vastly stimulated, and two
continents, hitherto unknown, were opened up to civilization. The
geographical Renaissance, which gave man a New World, thus cooperated with
the other movements of the age in bringing about the transition from
medieval to modern times.
MEDIEVAL IGNORANCE OF GEOGRAPHY
The Greeks and Romans had become familiar with a large part of Europe and
Asia, but much of their learning was either forgotten or perverted during
the early Middle Ages. Even the wonderful discoveries of the Northmen in
the North Atlantic gradually faded from memory. The Arabs, whose conquests
and commerce extended over so much of the Orient, far surpassed the
Christian peoples of Europe in knowledge of the world.
GEOGRAPHICAL MYTHS
The alliance of medieval geography with theology led to curious results.
Map makers, relying on a passage in the Old Testament, [2] usually placed
Jerusalem in the center of the world. A Scriptural reference to the "four
corners of the earth" [3] was sometimes thought to imply the existence of
a rectangular world. From classical sources came stories of monstrous men,
one-eyed, headless, or dog-headed, who were supposed to inhabit remote
regions. Equally monstrous animals, such as the unicorn and dragon, [4]
kept them company. Sailors' "yarns" must have been responsible for the
belief that the ocean boiled at the equator and that in the Atlantic--the
"Sea of Darkness"--lurked serpents huge enough to sink ships. To the real
danger of travel by land and water people thus added imaginary terrors.
THE COSMAS MAP
Many maps prepared in the Middle Ages sum up the prevailing knowledge, or
rather ignorance, of the world. One of the earliest specimens that has
come down to us was made in the sixth century, by Cosmas, an Alexandrian
monk. It exhibits the earth as a rectangle surrounded by an ocean with
four deep gulfs. Beyond this ocean lies another world, the seat of
Paradise and the place "where men dwelt before the Flood." The rivers
which flow from the lakes of Paradise are also shown. Figures holding
trumpets represent the four winds.
[Illustration: GEOGRAPHICAL MONSTERS
From an early edition of Sir John Mandeville's _Travels_. Shakespeare
(_Othello_, I, iii, 144-145) refers to:
"The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads
Do grow beneath their shoulders."]
THE HEREFORD MAP
A map made about seven hundred years later, and now preserved in Hereford
Cathedral, shows the earth as a circular disk with the ocean surrounding
it. In the extreme east--that is, at the top--lies Paradise, Jerusalem
occupies the center, and below it comes the Mediterranean, liberally
supplied with islands. The Black Sea appears as a narrow body of water,
and even the British Isles are strangely distorted to fit the circle. Such
a map could have been of little use to travelers; it simply satisfied a
natural curiosity about the wonders of the world.
OPENING UP OF ASIA
The crusades, more than anything else, first extended geographical
knowledge. As a religious movement they led to pilgrimages and missions in
Oriental lands. With the pilgrims and missionaries went hard-headed
traders, who brought back to Europe the wealth of the East. The result, by
1300 A.D., was to open up countries beyond the Euphrates which had
remained sealed to Europe for centuries. This discovery of the interior of
Asia had only less importance than that of the New World two centuries
later.
LEGEND OF PRESTER JOHN
What specially drew explorers eastward was the belief that somewhere in
the center of Asia existed a great Christian kingdom which, if allied to
European Christendom, might attack the Moslems from the rear. According to
one form of the story the kingdom consisted of the Ten Tribes of Israel,
[5] who had been converted to Christianity by Nestorian missionaries. [6]
Over them reigned a priest-king named Prester (or Presbyter) John. The
popes made several attempts to communicate with this mythical ruler. In
the thirteenth century, however, Franciscan friars did penetrate to the
heart of Asia. They returned to Europe with marvelous tales of the wealth
and splendor of the East under the Mongol emperors.
THE POLOS IN THE EAST, 1271-1295 A.D.
The most famous of all medieval travelers were Nicolo and Maffeo Polo, and
Nicolo's son, Marco. These Venetian merchants set out for Asia in 1271
A.D., and after an adventurous journey reached the court of Kublai Khan at
Peking. [7] The Mongol ruler, who seems to have been anxious to introduce
Christianity and European culture among his people, received them in a
friendly manner, and they amassed much wealth by trade. Marco entered the
khan's service and went on several expeditions to distant parts of the
Mongol realm. Many years passed before Kublai would allow his useful
guests to return to Europe. They sailed at length from Zaitun, a Chinese
seaport, skirted the coast of southeastern Asia and India, and then made
their way overland to the Mediterranean. When the travelers reached Venice
after an absence of twenty-four years, their relatives were slow to
recognize in them the long-lost Polos.
[Illustration: GEOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE DURING THE MIDDLE AGES
THE WORLD ACCORDING TO COSMAS INDICOPLEUSTES, 535 A.D.
THE HEREFORD MAP, 1280 A.D.]
MARCO POLO'S BOOK
The story of the Polos, as written down at Marco's dictation, became one
of the most popular works of the Middle Ages. In this book Europe read of
far Cathay (China), with its wealth, its huge cities, and swarming
population, of mysterious and secluded Tibet, of Burma, Siam, and Cochin-
China, with their palaces and pagodas, of the East Indies, famed for
spices, of Ceylon, abounding in pearls, and of India, little known since
the days of Alexander the Great. Even Cipango (Japan) Marco described from
hearsay as an island whose people were white, civilized, and so rich in
gold that the royal palace was roofed and paved with that metal. The
accounts of these countries naturally made Europeans more eager than ever
to reach the East.
219. AIDS TO EXPLORATION
THE COMPASS
The new knowledge gained by European peoples about the land routes of Asia
was accompanied by much progress in the art of ocean navigation. First in
importance came the compass to guide explorers across the waters of the
world. The Chinese appear to have discovered that a needle, when rubbed
with a lodestone, has the mysterious power of pointing to the north. The
Arabs may have introduced this rude form of the compass among
Mediterranean sailors. The instrument, improved by being balanced on a
pivot so that it would not be affected by choppy seas, seems to have been
generally used by Europeans as early as the thirteenth century. It greatly
aided sailors by enabling them to find their bearings in murky weather and
on starless nights. The compass, though useful, was not indispensable;
without its help the Northmen had made their distant expeditions in the
Atlantic.
NAUTICAL INSTRUMENTS
The astrolabe, which the Greeks had invented and used for astronomical
purposes, also came into Europe through the Arabs. It was employed to
calculate latitudes by observation of the height of the sun above the
horizon. Other instruments that found a place on shipboard were the hour-
glass, minute-glass, and sun-dial. A rude form of the log was used as a
means of estimating the speed of a vessel, and so of finding roughly the
longitude.
[Illustration: AN ASTROLABE]
OTHER IMPROVEMENTS IN NAVIGATION
During the last centuries of the Middle Ages the charting of coasts became
a science. A sailor might rely on the "handy maps" (_portolani_) which
outlined with some approach to accuracy the bays, islands, and headlands
of the Mediterranean and adjacent waters. Manuals were prepared telling
the manner about the tides, currents, and other features of the route he
intended to follow. The increase in size of ships made navigation safer
and permitted the storage of bulky cargoes. For long voyages the sailing
vessel replaced the medieval galley rowed by oars. As the result of all
these improvements navigators no longer found it necessary to keep close
to the shore, but could push out dauntlessly into the open sea.
MOTIVES FOR EXPLORATION
Many motives prompted exploration. Scientific curiosity, bred of the
Renaissance spirit of free inquiry, led men to set forth on voyages of
discovery. The crusading spirit, which had not died out in Europe,
thrilled at the thought of spreading Christianity among heathen peoples.
And in this age, as in all epochs of exploration, adventurers sought in
distant lands opportunities to acquire wealth and fame and power.
THE COMMERCIAL MOTIVE
Commerce formed perhaps the most powerful motive for exploration. Eastern
spices--cinnamon, pepper, cloves, nutmeg, and ginger--were used more
freely in medieval times than now, when people lived on salt meat during
the winter and salt fish during Lent. Even wine, ale, and medicines had a
seasoning of spices. When John Ball [8] wished to contrast the easy life
of the lords with the peasants' hard lot, he said, "They have wines,
spices, and fine bread, while we have only rye and the refuse of the
straw." [9] Besides spices, all kinds of precious stones, drugs, perfumes,
gums, dyes, and fragrant woods came from the East. Since the time of the
crusades these luxuries, after having been brought overland by water to
Mediterranean ports, had been distributed by Venetian and Genoese
merchants throughout Europe. [10] But now in the fifteenth century two
other European peoples--the Portuguese and Spaniards--appeared as
competitors for this Oriental trade. Their efforts to break through the
monopoly enjoyed by the Italian cities led to the discovery of the sea
routes to the Indies. The Portuguese were first in the field.
220. TO THE INDIES EASTWARD: PRINCE HENRY AND DA GAMA
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR, 1394-1460 A.D.
In the history of the fifteenth century few names rank higher than that of
Prince Henry, commonly called the Navigator, because of his services to
the cause of exploration. The son of a Portuguese king, he devoted himself
during more than forty years to organizing scientific discovery. Under his
direction better maps were made, the astrolabe was improved, the compass
was placed on vessels, and seamen were instructed in all the nautical
learning of the time. The problem which Prince Henry studied and which
Portuguese sailors finally solved was the possibility of a maritime route
around Africa to the Indies.
EXPLORATION OF THE AFRICAN COAST
The expeditions sent out by Prince Henry began by rediscovering the
Madeira and Azores Islands, first visited by Europeans in the fourteenth
century. Then the Portuguese turned southward along the unchartered
African coast. In 1445 A.D. they got as far as Cape Verde, or "Green
Cape," so called because of its luxuriant vegetation. The discovery was
important, for it disposed of the idea that the Sahara desert extended
indefinitely to the south. Sierra Leone, which the Carthaginian Hanno [11]
had probably visited, was reached in 1462 A.D., two years after Prince
Henry's death. Soon Portuguese sailors found the great bend of the African
coast formed by the gulf of Guinea. In 1471 A.D. they crossed the equator,
without the scorching that some had feared. In 1482 A.D. they were at the
mouth of the Congo. Six years later Bartholomew Diaz rounded the southern
extremity of Africa. The story goes that he named it the Cape of Storms,
and that the king of Portugal, recognizing its importance as a stage on
the route to the East, rechristened it the Cape of Good Hope.
DA GAMA'S VOYAGE, 1497-1499 A.D.
A daring mariner, Vasco da Gama, opened the sea-gates to the Indies. With
four tiny ships he set sail from Lisbon in July, 1497 A.D., and after
leaving the Cape Verde Islands made a wide sweep into the South Atlantic.
Five months passed before Africa was seen again. Having doubled the Cape
of Good Hope in safety, Da Gama skirted the eastern shores of Africa and
at length secured the services of a Moslem pilot to guide him across the
Indian Ocean. In May, 1498 A.D., he reached Calicut, [12] an important
commercial city on the southwest coast of India. When Da Gama returned to
Lisbon, after an absence of over two years, he brought back a cargo which
repaid sixty times the cost of the expedition. The Portuguese king
received him with high honor and created him Admiral of the Indies.
[Illustration: VASCO DA GAMA
From a manuscript in the British Museum.]
CAMOENS, 1524-1580 A.D., AND THE LUSIADS
The story of Da Gama's memorable voyage was sung by the Portuguese poet,
Camoens, in the _Lusiads_. It is the most successful of all modern epics.
The popularity of the _Lusiads_ has done much to keep alive the sense of
nationality among the Portuguese, and even to-day it forms a bond of union
between Portugal and her daughter-nation across the Atlantic--Brazil.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE MARITIME ROUTE
The discovery of an ocean passage to the East came at the right moment.
Just at this time the Ottoman Turks were beginning to block up the old
trade routes. [13] Their conquests in Asia Minor and southeastern Europe,
during the fifteenth century, shut out the Italians from the northern
route through the Aegean and the Black Sea. After Syria and Egypt were
conquered, early in the sixteenth century, the central and southern routes
also passed under Turkish control. The Ottoman advance struck a mortal
blow at the prosperity of the Italian cities, which had so long
monopolized Oriental trade. But the misfortune of Venice and Genoa was the
opportunity of Portugal.
221. THE PORTUGUESE COLONIAL EMPIRE
PORTUGUESE ASCENDANCY IN THE EAST
After Da Gama's voyage the Portuguese made haste to appropriate the wealth
of the Indies. Fleet after fleet was sent out to establish trading
stations upon the coasts of Africa and Asia. The great viceroy,
Albuquerque, captured the city of Goa and made it the center of the
Portuguese dominions in India. Goa still belongs to Portugal. Albuquerque
also seized Malacca, at the end of the Malay Peninsula, and Ormuz, at the
entrance to the Persian Gulf. The possession of these strategic points
enabled the Portuguese to control the commerce of the Indian Ocean. They
also established trading relations with China, through the port of Macao,
and with Japan, which was accidentally discovered in 1542 A.D. By the
middle of the sixteenth century they had acquired almost complete
ascendancy throughout southern Asia and the adjacent islands. [14]
PORTUGUESE TRADE MONOPOLY
The Portuguese came to the East as the successors of the Arabs, who for
centuries had carried on an extensive trade in the Indian Ocean. Having
dispossessed the Arabs, the Portuguese took care to shut out all European
trade competitors. Only their own merchants were allowed to bring goods
from the Indies to Europe by the Cape route. For a time this policy made
Portugal very prosperous. Lisbon, the capital, formed the chief depot for
spices and other eastern commodities. The French, English, and Dutch came
there to buy them and took the place of Italian merchants in distributing
them throughout Europe.
COLLAPSE OF THE PORTUGUESE EMPIRE
But the triumph of Portugal was short-lived. This small country, with a
population of not more than a million, lacked the strength to defend her
claims to a monopoly of the Oriental trade. During the seventeenth century
the French and English broke the power of the Portuguese in India, while
the Dutch drove them from Ceylon and the East Indies. Though the
Portuguese lost most of their possessions so soon, they deserve a tribute
of admiration for the energy, enthusiasm, and real heroism with which they
built up the first of modern colonial empires.
EUROPE IN ASIA
The new world in the East, thus entered by the Portuguese and later by
other European peoples, was really an old world--rich, populous, and
civilized. It held out alluring possibilities, not only for trade, but
also as a field for missionary enterprise. Da Gama and Albuquerque began a
movement, which still continues, to "westernize" Asia by opening it up to
European influence. It remains to be seen, however, whether India, China,
and Japan will allow their ancient culture to be extinguished by that of
Europe.
222. TO THE INDIES WESTWARD: COLUMBUS AND MAGELLAN
THE GLOBULAR THEORY
Six years before Vasco da Gama cast anchor in the harbor of Calicut,
another intrepid sailor, seeking the Indies by a western route,
accidentally discovered America. It does not detract from the glory of
Columbus to show that the way for his discovery had been long in
preparation. In the first place, the theory that the earth was round had
been familiar to the Greeks and Romans, and to some learned men even in
the darkest period of the Middle Ages. By the opening of the thirteenth
century it must have been commonly known, for Roger Bacon [15] refers to
it, and Dante, in the _Divine Comedy_, [16] plans his Inferno on the
supposition of a spherical world. The awakening of interest in Greek
science, as a result of the Renaissance, naturally called renewed
attention to the statements by ancient geographers. Eratosthenes, [17] for
instance, had clearly recognized the possibility of reaching India by
sailing westward on the same parallel of latitude. Especially after the
revival of Ptolemy's [18] works in the fifteenth century, scholars
accepted the globular theory; and they even went so far as to calculate
the circumference of the earth.
MYTH OF ATLANTIS
In the second place, men had long believed that west of Europe, beyond the
strait of Gibraltar, lay mysterious lands. This notion first appears in
the writings of the Greek philosopher, Plato, [19] who repeats an old
tradition concerning Atlantis. According to Plato, Atlantis had been an
island continental in size, but more than nine thousand years before his
time it had sunk beneath the sea. Medieval writers accepted this account
as true and found support for it in traditions of other western islands,
such as the Isles of the Blest, where Greek heroes went after death, and
the Welsh Avalon, whither King Arthur, [20] after his last battle, was
borne to heal his wounds. A widespread legend of the Middle Ages also
described the visit made by St. Brandan, an Irish monk, to the "promised
land of the Saints," an earthly paradise far out in the Atlantic. St.
Brandan's Island was marked on early maps, and voyages in search of it
were sometimes undertaken.
BEHAIM'S GLOBE
The ideas of European geographers in the period just preceding the
discovery of America are represented on a map, or rather a globe, which
dates from 1492 A.D. It was made by a German navigator, Martin Behaim, for
his native city of Nuremberg, where it is still preserved. Behaim shows
the mythical island of St. Brandan, lying in mid-ocean, and beyond it
Japan (Cipango) and the East Indies. It is clear that he greatly
underestimated the distance westward between Europe and Asia. The error
was natural enough, for Ptolemy had reckoned the earth's circumference to
be about one-sixth less than it is, and Marco Polo had given an
exaggerated idea of the distance to which Asia extended on the east. When
Columbus set out on his voyage, he firmly believed that a journey of four
thousand miles would bring him to Cipango.
[Illustration: BEHAIM'S GLOBE
The outlines of North America and South America do not appear on the
original globe.]
COLUMBUS, 1446(?)-1506 A.D.
Christopher Columbus was a native of Genoa, where his father followed the
humble trade of a weaver. He seems to have obtained some knowledge of
astronomy and geography as a student in the university of Pavia, but at an
early age he became a sailor. Columbus knew the Mediterranean by heart; he
once went to the Guinea coast; and he may have visited Iceland. He settled
at Lisbon as a map-maker and married a daughter of one of Prince Henry's
sea-captains. As Columbus pored over his maps and charts and talked with
seamen about their voyages, the idea came to him that much of the world
remained undiscovered and that the distant East could be reached by a
shorter route than that which led around Africa.
[Illustration: CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, (Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid)
The oldest known portrait of Columbus.]
RESEARCHES OF COLUMBUS
Columbus was a well-read man, and in Aristotle, Ptolemy, and other ancient
authorities he found apparent confirmation of his grand idea. Columbus
also owned a printed copy of Marco Polo's book, and from his comments,
written on the margin, we know how interested he was in Polo's statements
referring to Cathay and Cipango. Furthermore, Columbus brought together
all the information he could get about the fabled islands of the Atlantic.
If he ever went to Iceland, some vague traditions may have reached him
there of Norse voyages to Greenland and Vinland. Such hints and rumors
strengthened his purpose to sail toward the setting sun in quest of the
Indies.
[Illustration: ISABELLA]
FIRST VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS, 1492 A.D.
All know the story. How Columbus first laid his plans before the king of
Portugal, only to meet with rebuffs; how he then went to Spain and after
many discouragements found a patron in Queen Isabella; how with three
small ships he set out from Palos, August 3, 1492 A.D.; how after leaving
the Canaries he sailed week after week over an unknown sea; and how at
last, on the early morning of October 12, he sighted in the moonlight the
glittering coral strand of one of the Bahama Islands. [21] It was the New
World.
[Illustration: SHIP OF 1492 A.D.]
SUBSEQUENT VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS
Columbus made three other voyages to the New World, in the course of which
he explored the Caribbean Sea, the mouth of the Orinoco River, and the
eastern coast of Central America. He lived and died in the belief that he
had actually reached the mainland of Asia and the realms of the Great Khan
of Cathay. The name West Indies still remains as a testimony to this
error.
NAMING OF AMERICA
The New World was named for a Florentine navigator, Amerigo Vespucci. [22]
While in the Spanish service he made several western voyages and printed
an account of his discovery of the mainland of America in 1497 A.D.
Scholars now generally reject his statements, but they found acceptance at
the time, and it was soon suggested that the new continent should be
called America, "because Americus discovered it." The name applied at
first only to South America. After it became certain that South America
joined another continent to the north, the name spread over the whole New
World.
[Illustration: THE NAME "AMERICA"
Facsimile of the passage in the _Cosmographiae Introductio_ (1507), by
Martin Waldseemuller, in which the name "America" is proposed for the New
World.]
THE DEMARCATION LINE, 1493 A.D.
Shortly after the return of Columbus from his first voyage, Pope Alexander
VI, in response to a request by Ferdinand and Isabella, issued a bull
granting these sovereigns exclusive rights over the newly discovered
lands. In order that the Spanish possessions should be clearly marked off
from the Portuguese, the pope laid down an imaginary line of demarcation
in the Atlantic, three hundred miles west of the Azores. All new
discoveries west of the line were to belong to Spain; all those east of
it, to Portugal. [23] But this arrangement, which excluded France,
England, and other European countries from the New World, could not be
long maintained.
[Illustration: Map, PORTUGUESE AND SPANISH COLONIAL EMPIRES IN THE
SIXTEENTH CENTURY]
FERDINAND MAGELLAN, 1480(?)-1521 A.D.
The demarcation line had a good deal to do in bringing about the first
voyage around the globe. So far no one had yet realized the dream of
Columbus to reach the lands of spice and silk by sailing westward.
Ferdinand Magellan, formerly one of Albuquerque's lieutenants but now in
the service of Spain, believed that the Spice Islands lay within the
Spanish sphere of influence and that an all-Spanish route, leading to them
through some strait at the southern end of South America, could be
discovered.
CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF THE GLOBE, 1519-1522 A.D.
The Spanish ruler, Charles V, grandson of the Isabella who had supported
Columbus, looked with favor upon Magellan's ideas and gave him a fleet of
five vessels for the undertaking. After exploring the east coast of South
America, Magellan came at length to the strait which bears his name.
Through this channel he sailed boldly and found himself upon an ocean
which he called the Pacific, because of its peaceful aspect. Magellan's
sailors now begged him to return, for food was getting scarce, but the
navigator replied that he would go on, "if he had to eat the leather off
the rigging." He did go on, for ninety-eight days, until he reached the
Ladrone Islands. [24] By a curious chance, in all this long trip across
the Pacific, Magellan came upon only two islands, both of them
uninhabited. He then proceeded to the Philippines, where he was killed in
a fight with the natives. His men, however, managed to reach the Spice
Islands, the goal of the journey. Afterwards a single ship, the
_Victoria_, carried back to Spain the few sailors who had survived the
hardships of a voyage lasting nearly three years.
[Illustration: FERDINAND MAGELLAN
From a portrait formerly in the Versailles Gallery, Paris.]
MEANING OF THE CIRCUMNAVIGATION
Magellan's voyage forms a landmark in the history of geography. It proved
that America, at least on the south, had no connection with Asia; it
showed the enormous extent of the Pacific Ocean; and it led to the
discovery of many large islands in the East Indies. Henceforth men knew of
a certainty that the earth was round and in the distance covered by
Magellan they had a rough estimate of its size. The circumnavigation of
the globe ranks with the discovery of America among the most significant
events in history. In the company of great explorers Magellan stands
beside Columbus.
223. THE INDIANS
PEOPLING OF AMERICA
The first inhabitants of America probably came from the Old World. At a
remote epoch a land-bridge connected northwest Europe with Greenland, and
Iceland still remains a witness to its former existence. Over this bridge
animals and men may have found their way into the New World. Another
prehistoric route may have led from Asia. Only a narrow strait now
separates Alaska from Siberia, and the Aleutian Islands form an almost
complete series of stepping-stones across the most northerly part of the
Pacific.
THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES
The natives of America, whom Columbus called Indians, certainly resemble
Asiatics in some physical features, such as the reddish-brown complexion,
the hair, uniformly black and lank, the high cheek-bones, and short
stature of many tribes. On the other hand, the large, aquiline nose, the
straight eyes, never oblique, and the tall stature of some tribes are
European traits. It seems safe to conclude that the American aborigines,
whatever their origin, became thoroughly fused into a composite race
during long centuries of isolation from the rest of mankind.
INDIAN CULTURE
Because of their isolation the Indians had to work out by themselves many
arts, inventions, and discoveries. They spoke over a thousand languages
and dialects; and not one has yet been traced outside of America. Their
implements consisted of polished stone, occasionally of unsmelted copper,
and in Mexico and Peru, of bronze. They cultivated Indian corn, or maize,
but lacked the other great cereals. They domesticated the dog and the
llama of the Andes. They lived in clans and tribes, ruled by headmen or
chiefs. Their religion probably did not involve a belief in a "Great
Spirit," as is so often said, but rather recognized in all nature the
abode of spiritual powers, mysterious and wonderful, whom man ought to
conciliate by prayers and sacrifices. In short, most of the American
Indians were not savages, but barbarians well advanced in culture.
THE MAYAS
Indian culture attained its highest development in Mexico and Central
America, especially among the Mayas of Yucatan, Guatemala, and Honduras.
The remains of their cities--the Ninevehs and Babylons of the New World--
lie buried in the tropical jungle, where Europeans first saw them, four
hundred years ago. The temples, shrines, altars, and statues in these
ancient cities show that the Mayas had made much progress in the fine
arts. They knew enough astronomy to frame a solar calendar of three
hundred and sixty-five days, and enough mathematics to employ numbers
exceeding a million. The writing of the Mayas had reached the rebus [25]
stage and promised to become alphabetic. When their hieroglyphics have
been completely deciphered, we shall learn much more about this gifted
people.
THE AZTECS
Several centuries before the arrival of Europeans in America, the so-
called Aztecs came down from the north and established themselves on the
Mexican plateau. Here they formed a confederacy of many tribes, ruled over
by a sort of king, whose capital was Tenochtitlan, on the site of the
present city of Mexico.
[Illustration: AZTEC SACRIFICIAL KNIFE
British Museum, London. Length, twelve inches. The blade is of yellow,
opalescent chalcedony, beautifully chipped and polished. The handle is of
light-colored wood carved in the form of a man masked with a bird skin.
Brilliant mosaic settings of turquoise, malachite, and shell embellish the
figure.]
[Illustration: AZTEC SACRIFICIAL STONE
Now in the National Museum in the City of Mexico.]
AZTEC CULTURE
The Aztecs appear to have borrowed much of their art, science, and
knowledge of writing from their Maya neighbors. They built houses and
temples of stone or sundried brick, constructed aqueducts, roads, and
bridges, excelled in the dyeing, weaving, and spinning of cotton, and made
most beautiful ornaments of silver and gold. They worshiped many gods, to
which the priests offered prisoners of war as human sacrifices. In spite
of these bloody rites, the Aztecs were a kind-hearted, honest people,
respectful of the rights of property, brave in battle, and obedient to
their native rulers. Aztec culture in some ways was scarcely inferior to
that of the ancient Egyptians.
THE INCAS
The lofty table-lands of the Andes were also the seat of an advanced
Indian culture. At the time of the Spanish conquest the greater part of
what is now Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and northern Chile had come under the
sway of the Incas, the "people of the sun". The Inca power centered in the
Peruvian city of Cuzco and on the shores of Lake Titicaca, which lies
twelve thousand feet above sea-level. In this region of magnificent
scenery the traveler views with astonishment the ruins of vast edifices,
apparently never completed, which were raised either by the Incas or the
Indians whom they conquered and displaced. Though the culture of the Incas
resembled in many ways that of the Aztecs, the two peoples probably never
had any intercourse and hence remained totally unaware of each other's
existence.
[Illustration: Map, WEST INDIES]
224. SPANISH EXPLORATIONS AND CONQUESTS IN AMERICA
OBJECTS OF THE SPANIARDS
The discoverers of the New World were naturally the pioneers in its
exploration. The first object of the Spaniards had been trade with the
Indies, and for a number of years, until Magellan's voyage, they sought
vainly for a passage through the mainland to the Spice Islands. When,
however, the Spaniards learned that America was rich in deposits of gold
and silver, these metals formed the principal objects of their
expeditions.
PONCE DE LEÓN AND BALBOA, 1513 A.D.
The Spaniards at first had confined their settlements to the Greater
Antilles in the West Indies, [26] but after the gold of these islands was
exhausted, they began to penetrate the mainland. In 1513 A.D. Ponce de
León, who had been with Columbus on his second voyage, discovered the
country which he named Florida. It became the first Spanish possession in
North America. In the same year Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, from the isthmus of
Panama, sighted the Pacific. He entered its waters, sword in hand, and
took formal possession in the name of the king of Spain.
[Illustration: Map, AN EARLY MAP OF THE NEW WORLD (1540 A.D.)]
CONQUEST OF MEXICO 1519-1521 A.D. AND PERU 1531-1537 A.D.
The overthrow of the Aztec power was accomplished by Hernando Cortés, with
the aid of Indian allies. Many large towns and half a thousand villages,
together with immense quantities of treasure, fell into the hands of the
conquerors. Henceforth Mexico, or "New Spain," became the most important
Spanish possession in America. Francisco Pizarro, who invaded Peru with a
handful of soldiers, succeeded in overthrowing the Incas. Pizarro founded
in Peru the city of Lima. It replaced Cuzco as the capital of the country
and formed the seat of the Spanish government in South America.
EL DORADO
The Spaniards, during the earlier part of the sixteenth century, heard
much of a fabled king whom they called El Dorado. [27] This king, it was
said, used to smear himself with gold dust at an annual religious
ceremony. In time the idea arose that somewhere in South America existed a
fabled country marvelously rich in precious metals and gems. These stories
stirred the imagination of the Spaniards, who fitted out many expeditions
to find the gilded man and his gilded realm. The quest for El Dorado
opened up the valleys of the Amazon and Orinoco and the extensive forest
region east of the Andes. Spanish explorers also tried to find El Dorado
in North America. De Soto's expedition led to the discovery of the
Mississippi in 1541 A.D., and Coronado's search for the "Seven Cities of
Cibola" not only added greatly to geographical knowledge of the Southwest,
but also resulted in the extension of Spanish dominion over this part of
the American continent. About 1605 A.D. the Spaniards founded Santa Fé and
made it the capital of their government in New Mexico.
* * * * *
225. THE SPANISH COLONIAL EMPIRE
SPAIN IN THE NEW WORLD
The wonderful exploits of the _conquistadores_ (conquerors) laid the
foundations of the Spanish colonial empire. It included Florida, New
Mexico, California, Mexico, Central America, the West Indies, and all
South America except Brazil. [28] The rule of Spain over these dominions
lasted nearly three hundred years. During this time she gave her language,
her government, and her religion to half the New World.
INTERMARRIAGE OF SPANIARDS AND INDIANS
The Spaniards brought few women with them and hence had to find their
wives among the Indians. Intermarriage of the two peoples early became
common. The result was the mixed race which one still finds throughout the
greater part of Spanish America. In this race the Indian strain
predominates, because almost everywhere the aborigines were far more
numerous than the white settlers.
TREATMENT OF THE INDIANS
The Spaniards treated the Indians of the West Indies most harshly and
forced them to work in gold mines and on sugar plantations. The hard
labor, to which the Indians were unaccustomed, broke down their health,
and almost the entire native population disappeared within a few years
after the coming of the whites. This terrible tragedy was not repeated on
the mainland, for the Spanish government stepped in to preserve the
aborigines from destruction. It prohibited their enslavement and gave them
the protection of humane laws. Though these laws were not always well
enforced, the Indians of Mexico and Peru increased in numbers under
Spanish rule and often became prosperous traders, farmers, and artisans.
CONVERSION OF THE INDIANS
The Spaniards succeeded in winning many of the Indians to Christianity.
Devoted monks penetrated deep into the wilderness and brought to the
aborigines, not only the Christian religion, but also European
civilization. In many places the natives were gathered into permanent
villages, or "missions," each one with its church and school. Converts who
learned to read and write often became priests or entered the monastic
orders. The monks also took much interest in the material welfare of the
Indians and taught them how to farm, how to build houses, and how to spin
and weave and cook by better methods than their own.
THE CALIFORNIA MISSIONS
The most familiar examples of the Spanish missions are those in the state
of California. During the last quarter of the eighteenth century
Franciscan friars missions erected no less than eighteen mission stations
along the Pacific coast from San Diego to San Francisco. The stations were
connected by the "King's Road" [29] which still remains the principal
highway of the state. Some of the mission buildings now lie in ruins and
others have entirely disappeared. But such a well-preserved structure as
the mission of Santa Barbara recalls a Benedictine monastery, [30] with
its shady cloisters, secluded courtyard, and timbered roof covered with
red tiles. It is a bit of the Old World transplanted to the New.
SPANISH AMERICAN CIVILIZATION
The civilizing work of Spain in the New World is sometimes forgotten. Here
were the earliest American hospitals and asylums, for the use of Indians
and negroes as well as of Spaniards. Here were the earliest American
schools and colleges. Twelve institutions of higher learning, all modeled
upon the university of Salamanca, arose in Spanish America during the
colonial period. Eight of these came into existence before the creation in
1636 A.D. of Harvard University, the oldest in the United States. The
pioneer printing press in the Western Hemisphere was set up at Mexico City
in 1535 A.D.; no printing press reached the English colonies till more
than one hundred years later. To the valuable books by Spanish scholars we
owe much of our knowledge of the Mayas, Aztecs, and other Indian tribes.
The first American newspaper was published at Mexico City in 1693 A.D. The
fine arts also flourished in the Spanish colonies, and architects of the
United States have now begun to copy the beautiful churches and public
buildings of Mexico and Peru.
SPANISH COLONIAL POLICY
The government of Spain administered its colonial dominions in the spirit
of monopoly. As far as possible it excluded French, English, and other
foreigners from trading with Spanish America. It also discouraged ship-
building, manufacturing, and even the cultivation of the vine and the
olive, lest the colonists should compete with home industries. The
colonies were regarded only as a workshop for the production of the
precious metals and raw materials. This unwise policy very largely
accounts for the economic backwardness of Mexico, Peru, and other Spanish-
American countries at the present day. Their rich natural resources have
as yet scarcely begun to be utilized.
226. ENGLISH AND FRENCH EXPLORATIONS IN AMERICA
THE CABOT VOYAGES, 1497-1498 A.D.
The English based their claim to the right to colonize North America on
the discoveries of John Cabot, an Italian mariner in the service of the
Tudor king, Henry VII. [31] In 1497 A.D. Cabot sailed from Bristol across
the northern Atlantic and made land somewhere between Labrador and Nova
Scotia. The following year he seems to have undertaken a second voyage and
to have explored the coast of North America nearly as far as Florida.
Cabot, like Columbus, believed he had reached Cathay and the dominions of
the Great Khan. Because Cabot found neither gold nor opportunities for
profitable trade, his expeditions were considered a failure, and for a
long time the English took no further interest in exploring the New World.
[Illustration: CABOT MEMORIAL TOWER
Erected at Bristol, England, in memory of John Cabot and his sons. The
foundation stone was laid on June 24, 1897 A.D., the four-hundredth
anniversary of John Cabot's first sight of the continent of North
America.]
CARTIER'S VOYAGES, 1534-1542 A.D.
The discovery by Magellan of a strait leading into the Pacific aroused
hope that a similar passage, beyond the regions controlled by Spain, might
exist in North America. In 1534 A.D. the French king, Francis I, sent
Jacques Cartier to look for it. Cartier found the gulf and river which he
named after St. Lawrence, and also tried to establish a settlement near
where Quebec now stands. The venture was not successful, and the French
did not undertake the colonization of Canada till the first decade of the
seventeenth century.
THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE
English sailors also sought a road to India by the so-called Northwest
Passage. It was soon found to be an impossible route, for during half the
year the seas were frozen and during the other half they were filled with
icebergs. However, the search for the Northwest Passage added much to
geographical knowledge. The names Frobisher Bay, Davis Strait, and Baffin
Land still preserve the memory of the navigators who first explored the
channels leading into the Arctic Ocean.
THE ENGLISH "SEA DOGS"
When the English realized how little profit was to be gained by voyages to
the cold and desolate north, they turned southward to warmer waters. Here,
of course, they came upon the Spaniards, who had no disposition to share
with foreigners the profitable trade of the New World. Though England and
Spain were not at war, the English "sea dogs," as they called themselves,
did not scruple to ravage the Spanish colonies and to capture the huge,
clumsy treasure-ships carrying gold and silver to Spain. The most famous
of the "sea dogs," Sir Francis Drake, was the first Englishman to sail
round the world (1577-1580 A.D.).
THE RALEIGH COLONIES, 1584-1590 A.D.
Four years after Drake had completed his voyage, another English seaman,
Sir Walter Raleigh, sent out an expedition to find a good site for a
settlement in North America. The explorers reached the coast of North
Carolina and returned with glowing accounts of the country, which was
named Virginia, in honor of Elizabeth, the "Virgin Queen." But Raleigh's
colonies in Virginia failed miserably, and the English made no further
attempt to settle there till the reign of James I, early in the
seventeenth century.
227. THE OLD WORLD AND THE NEW
EXPANSION OF EUROPE
The New World contained two virgin continents, full of natural resources
and capable in a high degree of colonization. The native peoples,
comparatively few in number and barbarian in culture, could not offer much
resistance to the explorers, missionaries, traders, and colonists from the
Old World. The Spanish and Portuguese in the sixteenth century, followed
by the French, English, and Dutch in the seventeenth century, repeopled
America and brought to it European civilization. Europe expanded into a
Greater Europe beyond the ocean.
SHIFTING OF TRADE ROUTES
In the Middle Ages the Mediterranean and the Baltic had been the principal
highways of commerce. The discovery of America, followed immediately by
the opening of the Cape route to the Indies, shifted commercial activity
from these enclosed seas to the Atlantic Ocean. Venice, Genoa, Hamburg,
Lübeck, and Bruges gradually gave way, as trading centers, to Lisbon and
Cadiz, Bordeaux and Cherbourg, Antwerp and Amsterdam, London and
Liverpool. One may say, therefore, that the year 1492 A.D. inaugurated the
Atlantic period of European history. The time may come, perhaps even now
it is dawning, when the center of gravity of the commercial world will
shift still farther westward to the Pacific.
INCREASED PRODUCTION OF THE PRECIOUS METALS
The discovery of America revealed to Europeans a new source of the
precious metals. The Spaniards soon secured large quantities of gold by
plundering the Indians of Mexico and Peru of their stored-up wealth. After
the discovery in 1545 A.D. of the wonderfully rich silver mines of Potosi
in Bolivia, the output of silver much exceeded that of gold. It is
estimated that by the end of the sixteenth century the American mines had
produced at least three times as much gold and silver as had been current
in Europe at the beginning of the century.
CONSEQUENCES OF THE ENLARGED MONEY SUPPLY
The Spaniards could not keep this new treasure. Having few industries
themselves, they were obliged to send it out, as fast as they received it,
in payment for their imports of European goods. Spain acted as a huge
sieve through which the gold and silver of America entered all the
countries of Europe. Money, now more plentiful, purchased far less than in
former times; in other words, the prices of all commodities rose, wages
advanced, and manufacturers and traders had additional capital to use in
their undertakings. The Middle Ages had suffered from the lack of
sufficient money with which to do business; [32] from the beginning of
modern times the world has been better supplied with the indispensable
medium of exchange.
NEW COMMODITIES IMPORTED
But America was much more than a treasury of the precious metals. Many
commodities, hitherto unknown, soon found their way from the New World to
the Old. Among these were maize, the potato, which, when cultivated in
Europe, became the "bread of the poor," chocolate and cocoa made from the
seeds of the cacao tree, Peruvian bark, or quinine, so useful in malarial
fevers, cochineal, the dye-woods of Brazil, and the mahogany of the West
Indies. America also sent large supplies of cane-sugar, molasses, fish,
whale-oil, and furs. The use of tobacco, which Columbus first observed
among the Indians, spread rapidly over Europe and thence extended to the
rest of the world. All these new American products became common articles
of consumption and so raised the standard of living in European countries.
POLITICAL EFFECTS OF THE DISCOVERIES
To the economic effects of the discoveries must be added their effects on
politics. The Atlantic Ocean now formed, not only the commercial, but also
the political center of the world. The Atlantic-facing countries, first
Portugal and Spain, then Holland, France, and England, became the great
powers of Europe. Their trade rivalries and contests for colonial
possessions have been potent causes of European wars for the last four
hundred years.
EFFECTS OF THE DISCOVERIES ON THOUGHT
The sudden disclosure of oceans, islands, and continents, covering one-
third of the globe, worked a revolution in geographical ideas. The earth
was found to be far larger than men had supposed it to be, and the
imagination was stirred by the thought of other amazing discoveries which
might be made. From the sixteenth century to the twentieth the work of
exploration has continued, till now few regions of the world yet remain
unmapped. At the same time came acquaintance with many strange plants,
animals, and peoples, and so scientific knowledge replaced the quaint
fancies of the Middle Ages.
EFFECTS OF THE DISCOVERIES UPON RELIGION
The sixteenth century in Europe was the age of that revolt against the
Roman Church called the Protestant Reformation. During this period,
however, the Church won her victories over the American aborigines. What
she lost of territory, wealth, and influence in Europe was more than
offset by what she gained in America. Furthermore, the region now occupied
by the United States furnished in the seventeenth century an asylum from
religious persecution, as was proved when Puritans settled in New England,
Roman Catholics in Maryland, and Quakers in Pennsylvania. The vacant
spaces of America offered plenty of room for all who would worship God in
their own way. Thus the New World became a refuge from the intolerance of
the Old.
STUDIES
1. On an outline map indicate those parts of the world known in the time
of Columbus (before 1492 A.D.).
2. On an outline map indicate the voyages of discovery of Vasco da Gama,
Columbus (first voyage), John Cabot, and Magellan.
3. What particular discoveries were made by Cartier, Drake, Balboa, De
Soto, Ponce de León, and Coronado?
4. Compare the Cosmas map (page 617) with the map of the world according
to Homer (page 76).
5. Compare the Hereford map (page 617) with the map of the world according
to Ptolemy (page 132).
6. Why has Marco Polo been called the "Columbus of the East Indies"?
7. "Cape Verde not only juts out into the Atlantic, but stands forth as a
promontory in human history." Comment on this statement.
8. How did Vasco da Gama complete the work of Prince Henry the Navigator?
9. Show that Lisbon in the sixteenth century was the commercial successor
of Venice.
10. "Had Columbus perished in mid-ocean, it is doubtful whether America
would have remained long undiscovered." Comment on this statement.
11. Why did no one suggest that the New World be called after Columbus?
12. Show that Magellan achieved what Columbus planned.
13. Why did Balboa call the Pacific the "South Sea"?
14. Why is Roman law followed in all Spanish-American countries?
15. In what parts of the world is Spanish still the common language?
16. Why did the Germans fail to take part in the work of discovery and
colonization?
17. Show that the three words "gospel, glory, and gold" sum up the
principal motives of European colonization in the sixteenth century.
18. Compare the motives which led to the colonization of the New World
with those which led to Greek colonization.
19. "The opening of the Atlantic to continuous exploration is the most
momentous step in the history of man's occupation of the earth." Does this
statement seem to be justified?
FOOTNOTES
[1] Webster, _Readings in Medieval and Modern History_, chapter xxi, "The
Travels of Marco Polo"; chapter xxii, "The Aborigines of the New World."
[2] _Ezekiel_, v, 5.
[3] _Isaiah_, x, 12.
[4] See pages 574-575.
[5] See page 35.
[6] See page 347.
[7] See page 488.
[8] See page 611.
[9] Froissart, _Chronicles_, ii, 73.
[10] See page 540.
[11] See page 49.
[12] Not Calcutta.
[13] See page 540.
[14] The Portuguese colonial empire included Ormuz, the west coast of
India, Ceylon, Malacca, and various possessions in the Malay Archipelago
(Sumatra, Java, Celebes, the Moluccas, or Spice Islands, and New Guinea).
The Portuguese also had many trading posts on the African coast, besides
Brazil, which one of their mariners discovered in 1500 A.D. See the map
Between pages 628-629.
[15] See page 573.
[16] See page 591.
[17] See page 133.
[18] A Latin translation of Ptolemy's _Geography_, accompanied by maps,
was printed for the first time probably in 1462 A.D.
[19] See page 275.
[20] See page 560.
[21] Named San Salvador by Columbus and usually identified with Watling
Island.
[22] In Latin, Americus Vespucius.
[23] In 1494 A.D., the demarcation line was shifted about eight hundred
miles farther to the west. Six years later, when the Portuguese discovered
Brazil, the country was found to lie within their sphere of influence.
[24] Also known as the Mariannes. Magellan called them the Ladrones
(Spanish _ladrón_, a robber), because of the thievish habits of the
natives.
[25] See page 9.
[26] Cuba, Hispaniola (now divided between the republics of Haiti and
Santo Domingo), Porto Rico, and Jamaica.
[27] Spanish for the "gilded one."
[28] See the map between pages 628-629. The Philippines, discovered by
Magellan in 1521 A.D., also belonged to Spain, though by the demarcation
line these islands lay within the Portuguese sphere of influence.
[29] In Spanish _El Camino Real_.
[30] See page 355.
[31] See page 518.
[32] See page 541.