India than the long and tiresome one that Marco Polo had taken. They
felt sure there was a shorter way by sea and now that they had the
compass to guide them they dared to go far off searching for such a
waterway.
By this time many books had already been printed. Some of these books
on travel were written by the old Greeks and Romans and declared what
was thought to be a crazy notion that the world was not flat but round.
Columbus had read these books and he said to himself that if the world
is really round, one should be able to reach India by sailing toward
the west. It should be much easier and shorter that way than if one
took a boat to the end of the Mediterranean Sea and then went over land
for thousands of miles the way Marco Polo had gone.
The more Columbus thought of the idea, the surer he was that this could
be done and the more eager he was to get a ship to try out his idea.
But every one laughed at him and his notion as foolish. Of course,
being only a sailor, he had no money to buy or hire a ship in which to
make the trial and he could find no one to help him.
So first Columbus went to the little country called Portugal. Portugal
was right on the ocean’s edge. It was to be expected then that the
people of Portugal would be famous sailors, and they _were_--as famous
as the Phenicians had been of old. So Columbus thought they might
be interested and help. Besides, the king of Portugal was extremely
interested in discovering new lands.
But the king of Portugal thought, as the others did, that Columbus
was foolish and would have nothing to do with him. The king wanted to
make quite sure, however, that there was nothing in Columbus’s idea.
Furthermore, if there were any new land, he wanted to be the first to
discover it himself. So he secretly sent some of his sea-captains off
to explore. After a while they one and all returned and stated that
they had been as far as it was safe to go and that positively there was
nothing at all to the west but water, water, water.
So Columbus in disgust then went to the next country--Spain--which at
that time was ruled by King Ferdinand and his queen Isabella. King
Ferdinand and Queen Isabella were just then too busy to listen to
Columbus. They were fighting with the Mohammedans, who had been in
their country ever since 732, when, you remember, they got as far north
as France. But at last Ferdinand and Isabella succeeded in driving the
Mohammedans out of their country, and then Queen Isabella became very
much interested in Columbus’s ideas and plans and finally promised to
help him. She even said she would sell her jewels, if necessary, to
give him the money to buy ships. But she didn’t have to do this. So
Columbus with her help was able to buy three little ships named the
_Niña_, _Pinta_, and _Santa María_. So small were these three boats
that nowadays we would have been afraid to go even out of sight of
shore in them.
At last everything was ready, and Columbus set sail from the Spanish
seaport of Palos with about a hundred sailors. Many of the sailors
were criminals, who had been given a choice between prison and this
dangerous voyage. They chose to risk their lives rather than to stay
in prison. Directly toward the setting sun into the broad Atlantic,
Columbus steered. Past the Canary Islands he sailed, on and on, day and
night, always in the same direction.
See if you can get this idea--the idea that every one had at that
time--that all there was of the world was what we have so far been
studying about. Try to forget that you ever heard of North and South
America. They, of course, knew of no such lands. Try to think of
Columbus on deck scanning the waves in the daytime or peering off in
the darkness at night, hoping sooner or later to sight, not a new
land--he wasn’t looking for a new land--but for China or India.
[Illustration: Columbus arguing with his crew.]
Columbus had been out for over a month, and his sailors began to
get worried. It seemed impossible that any sea could be so vast, so
endless, with nothing in sight before, behind, or on either side. They
began to think about returning. They began to be afraid they would
never reach home. They begged Columbus to turn back. They said it was
crazy to go any farther; there was nothing but water ahead of them, and
they could go on forever and ever, and there would never be anything
else.
Columbus argued with them, but it was no use. Finally he promised
to turn back if they did not reach something very soon. As the days
went on still with nothing new, the sailors plotted to throw Columbus
overboard at night and so get rid of him. They would then sail home and
tell those back in Spain that Columbus had fallen overboard by accident.
At last, when all had given up hope except Columbus, a sailor saw a
branch with berries on it floating in the water. Where could it have
come from? Then birds were seen flying--birds that never get very far
away from shore. Then one dark night, more than two months after they
had set sail, they saw far off ahead a twinkling light. Probably no
little light ever gave so much joy in the world. A light meant only
one thing--human beings--and land, land--land at last! And then on
the morning of October 12, 1492, the three boats ran ashore. Columbus
leaped out, and falling on his knees, offered up a prayer of thanks
to God. He then raised the Spanish flag, took possession of the land
in the name of Spain, and called it “San Salvador,” which means in
Spanish, “Holy Saviour.”
Now, Columbus thought this land was India that he had at last reached,
though of course we know now that a great continent, North and South
America, blocked his way to India. In fact, it was only a little island
off the coast of America where he had landed.
Strange men were the human beings he saw there. Their bodies and faces
were painted, and they had feathers in their hair. As Columbus thought
they must be people of India, he called them Indians, the name they
still bear.
Columbus went on to other islands near-by; but he did not find any gold
nor precious stones such as he had expected, or the wonders that Marco
Polo had described; and as he had been away so long, he started back
again to Spain the way he had come. With him he took several Indians
to show the people at home, and also some tobacco, which he found them
smoking and which no one had even seen or heard of before.
When he at last reached home safely again, people were overjoyed
at seeing him and hearing of his discoveries. Everyone was wildly
excited--but only for a while. People soon began to say it was nothing
for Columbus to have sailed westward until land was found, that anyone
could do that.
One day when Columbus was dining with the king’s nobles, who were
trying to belittle what he had done, he took an egg and, passing it
around the table, asked each one if he could stand it on end. No one
could. When it came back to Columbus, he set it down just hard enough
to crack the end slightly and flatten it. Of course, _then_ it stood
up. “You see,” said Columbus, “it’s very easy if you only know how. So
it’s easy enough to sail west until you find land after I have done it
once and shown you how.”
Columbus made three other voyages to America, four in all, but he never
knew he had discovered a new world. Once he landed in South America,
but he never reached North America itself.
As Columbus did not bring back any of the precious jewels or wonderful
things that those in Spain expected him to, people lost interest in
him. Some were so spiteful and jealous of his success that they even
charged him with wrongdoing, and King Ferdinand sent out a man to
take his place. Columbus was put in chains and shipped home. Although
he was promptly set free, Columbus kept the chains as a reminder of
men’s ingratitude and asked to have them buried with him. After this,
Columbus made one other voyage, but when at last he died in Spain he
was alone and almost forgotten even by his friends. What an end for the
man who had given a new continent to the world and changed all history!
Of all the men of whom we have heard, whether kings or queens, princes
or emperors, none can compare with Columbus. Alexander the Great,
Julius Cæsar, Charlemagne, were all killers. They took away. But
Columbus _gave_. He gave us a new world. Without money or friends or
luck, he stuck to his ideas through long years of discouragement.
Although made fun of and called a crank and even treated as a criminal
he never
gave up,
gave out, nor
gave in!
60
Fortune-Hunters
The New World had no name.
It was simply called the “New World,” as one might speak of the “new
baby.”
It had to have a name, but what should it be?
Of course if we could have chosen the name, we should have called it
“Columbia” after Columbus. But another name was selected, and this is
how it happened.
An Italian named Americus made a voyage to the southern part of the New
World. Then he wrote a book about his travels. People read his book and
began to speak of the new land that Americus described as Americus’s
country. And so the New World came to be called America after Americus,
although in all fairness it should have been named after Columbus;
don’t you think so? Children sometimes have names given them which they
would like to change when they grow up. But then it is too late. So we
often speak and sing of our country as Columbia, although that is not
the name on the map. And that is why we call a great many cities and
towns and districts and streets Columbus or Columbia.
After Columbus had shown that there was no danger of falling off the
world and that there really was land off to the west, almost every one
who had been hunting for India now rushed off in the direction Columbus
had taken. “Copy cats!” A genius starts something; then thousands
follow--imitate. Every sea-captain who could do so now hurried off to
the west to look for new countries, and so many discoveries were made
that this time is known as the Age of Discovery. Most of these men were
trying to get to India. They were after gold and jewels and spices,
which they thought they would find in India in great quantities.
Now we can understand why people might go long distances in search
of gold and precious stones, but they also went after spices--such
as cloves and pepper--and you may wonder why they were so eager to
get spices? You yourself may not like pepper very much, and you may
dislike cloves. But in those days they didn’t have refrigerators filled
with ice, and meats and other foods were often spoiled. We would have
thought such food unfit to eat. But they covered it with spices to kill
the bad flavor, and then food could be eaten that otherwise one could
not have swallowed. Spices didn’t grow in Europe--only in the far east.
So people paid big prices to get them, and that is why men made long
journeys after them.
A Portuguese sailor named Vasco da Gama was one of those who were
trying to get to India all the way by water. He did not, however, sail
_west_ as Columbus had done, but _south_ down around Africa. Others
had tried before to get to India by going south and around Africa, but
none had gone more than part way. Many frightful stories were told by
those who had tried but had at last turned back. These stories were
like the tales of “Sindbad the Sailor.” They said that the sea became
boiling hot; they said that there was a magnetic mountain which would
pull out the iron bolts in the ship, and the ship would then fall to
pieces; they said that there was a whirlpool into which a ship would
be irresistibly drawn--down, down, down to the bottom; they said there
were sea-serpents, monsters so large that they could swallow a ship at
one gulp. The southern point of Africa was called the Cape of Storms,
and the very name seemed to be bad luck, so that it was changed to Cape
of Good Hope.
In spite of all such scary stories, Vasco da Gama kept on his way
south. Finally, after many hardships and many adventures, he passed
round the Cape of Good Hope. Then he sailed on to India, got the spices
that then were so highly prized, and returned safely home. This was in
1497, five years after Columbus’s first voyage, and Vasco da Gama
was the first one to go to India by water. Spain had the honor of
discovering a new land. Portugal had the honor of first reaching India
by water.
[Illustration: 15ᵗͪ Century Map of Africa]
England also was to have the honor of making discoveries. In the same
year that Vasco da Gama reached India, a man named Cabot set sail
from England on a voyage of discovery. His first trip was a failure,
but he tried again and finally came to Canada and sailed along the
coast of what is now the United States. These countries he claimed for
England, but he returned home, and England did nothing more about his
discoveries until about a hundred years later.
Another Spaniard named Balboa explored the central part of America. He
was on the little strip of land that joined North and South America
which we now call the Isthmus of Panama. Suddenly he came to another
great ocean. This strange new ocean he named the South Sea, for
although the Isthmus of Panama connects North and South America, it
bends so that one looks _south_ over the ocean.
Then came the longest trip of all. A Portuguese named Magellan wanted
to find a way to India _through_ the New World, for he thought there
must be some opening through which he might pass this new land that
blocked the way. He tried to get his own country to help him. But
again Portugal made the same mistake she had made in the case of
Columbus. She would not listen to Magellan. So Magellan went to Spain,
and Spain gave him five ships.
With these five ships Magellan sailed off across the sea. When he
reached South America he sailed south along the shore trying to find
a passage through the land. One place after another seemed to be the
passage for which he was looking, but each one turned out to be nothing
but a river’s mouth. Then one of his ships was wrecked, and only four
were left.
With these four ships he still kept on down the coast until he finally
reached what is now Cape Horn. Through the dangerous opening there,
since called after him the Straits of Magellan, he worked his way. One
ship deserted and went back home the way it had come. Only three were
then left.
With these three ships he at last came into the great ocean on the
other side, the same ocean that Balboa had called the South Sea. This
Magellan named the “Pacific,” which means “calm,” because after all the
storms they had had it seemed so calm and quiet. But food and water
became scarce and finally gave out. Magellan’s men suffered terribly
from thirst and hunger and even ate the rats that are always to be
found on shipboard. Many of his men were taken sick and died. Still
he kept on, though he had lost most of the crew with which he had set
out. At last he reached what are now the Philippine Islands, where the
people were savages. Here he and his men got into a battle with the
natives, and Magellan was killed. There were now not enough men left
to sail three ships, and so one of these was burned, and only two were
then left.
[Illustration: Magellan’s Victoria. (From an old print.)]
Two of the ships, however, out of the five with which Magellan had
started out, still kept on. Then one of these was lost, disappeared,
and was never heard of again, and only a single ship named the
_Victoria_, remained. It seemed as if not one ship, not one man, would
be left to tell the tale.
Around Africa the _Victoria_ struggled. Magellan’s men, worn out with
hunger and cold and hardships, still battled against wind and storm.
At last a leaky and broken ship with only eighteen men sailed into the
harbor from which it had set out more than three years before. And
so the _Victoria--Victory!_--Magellan’s ship, but without the heroic
Magellan--was the first ship to sail completely round the world. This
voyage settled forever the argument that had been going on for ages,
whether the earth was round or flat, for a ship had actually sailed
around the world! And yet in spite of this proof for many more years
thereafter there were people who still would not believe the world was
round, and even to-day there are people who say the world is flat, but
now we call them _cranks_.
[Illustration: 1520 A.D.]
61
The Land of Enchantment or the Search for Gold and Adventure
All sorts of marvelous tales were told about the wealth and wonders of
the New World.
It was said that somewhere in the New World there was a _fountain of
youth_, and that if you bathed in it or drank of its water, you would
become young again.
It was said that somewhere in the New World there was a city called El
Dorado built of solid gold.
So every one who liked adventure and could get enough money together
went off in search of these things that might make him famous or
healthy, wealthy or wise, or forever young.
One of these men was Ponce de León. Ponce de León was looking for the
_fountain of youth_. While searching for this life-giving water, he
discovered Florida. But instead of finding the fountain of youth, he
lost his life in fighting with the Indians.
Another one of these men was de Soto. He was searching for El Dorado,
the city of gold. While doing so he discovered the longest river in
the world--the Mississippi. But instead of finding El Dorado, de Soto
was taken sick with fever and died. Now, the Spaniards, to make the
Indians fear them, had said that de Soto was a god and could not die.
So in order to cover up the fact that de Soto had actually died his men
buried him at night in the river he had discovered. They then told the
Indians that he had gone on a trip to heaven and would presently return.
The central part of America was called Mexico. Here lived at that time
a tribe of Indians known as Aztecs. These Aztecs were more civilized
than the other Indians that the explorers had come across. They did not
live in tents but in houses. They built fine temples and palaces. They
made roads and aqueducts, something like those of the Romans. They had
enormous treasures of silver and gold. And yet the Aztecs worshiped
idols and sacrificed human beings to them. Their king was a famous
chief named Montezuma.
A Spaniard named Cortés was sent to conquer these Aztecs. He landed
on the shore of Mexico and burned his ships so that his sailors and
soldiers could not turn back. The Aztecs thought these white-faced
people were gods who had come down from heaven and that their ships
with their white sails were white-winged birds that had borne them.
They had never seen horses, some of which the Spaniards had brought
over across the water, and they were astonished at what seemed to them
terrible beasts that the white men rode. When the Spaniards fired their
cannons, the Aztecs were terrified. They thought it was thunder and
lightning that the Spaniards had let loose.
Cortés moved on toward the Aztec capital, the City of Mexico, which was
built on an island in the middle of a lake. The natives he met on the
way fought desperately, but as they had only such weapons as men used
in the Stone and Bronze Ages, they were no match against the guns and
cannons of the Spaniards.
Montezuma, their chief, wishing to make friends with these white gods,
sent Cortés rich gifts, cart-loads of gold, and when Cortés reached the
capital city Montezuma treated him as a guest instead of an enemy and
entertained him and could not do enough for him. Cortés told Montezuma
all about the Christian religion and tried to make him a Christian
also, but Montezuma thought his own gods just as good as the Christian
God, and he would not change. Then suddenly Cortés took Montezuma
prisoner, and terrible fighting began. At last Montezuma was killed,
and Cortés of course succeeded in conquering Mexico, for though the
Aztecs fought desperately and bravely, shot and shell were too much for
them.
In Peru in South America was still another tribe of civilized Indians
even more wealthy than the Aztecs. They were called Incas, and it was
said that their cities were paved with gold.
Another Spaniard named Pizarro went to Peru to conquer it as Cortés had
conquered Mexico. Pizarro told the ruler, who was called the Inca, that
the pope had given the country to Spain. The Inca had never heard of
the pope and must have wondered what the pope had to do with Peru and
how he could give it away. So naturally the Inca would not give up his
country to Spain. Then Pizarro _took_ it away. He had but a few hundred
men, but he had cannon, and of course the Incas could not stand out
against cannon.
France and other countries of Europe also sent out explorers to conquer
parts of America, and then missionaries to teach the Indians the
Christian religion, but these you will hear more about when you study
American History.
Many of the explorers were really pirates, even worse pirates than the
Norsemen who raided England and France, because they murdered people
who were without equal weapons to fight back. The excuse they often
gave for doing so was that they wanted to make the natives Christians.
No wonder that the natives did not think much of the Christian religion
if it taught murder of people who could not defend themselves. The
Mohammedans made converts with the sword, but the Christians made
converts with shot and shell.
[Illustration]
62
Born Again
Here is a long word for you: it is Renaissance.
It means: born again.
Of course, nothing can be born again. But people call this time we have
now reached the Renaissance, the born-again time. This is the reason
why they call it that.
You remember the Age of Pericles, don’t you? when such beautiful
sculptures and buildings were made in Athens. Well, in the fifteen
hundreds not every one was rushing off to the New World in search of
adventure. While the discoveries that I have told you about were taking
place, there were living and working in Italy some of the greatest
artists the world has ever known.
Architects built beautiful buildings something like the old Greek and
Roman temples. Sculptors made statues that were almost as beautiful as
those of Phidias. People began to take an interest once more in the old
Greek writers, whose books were now printed for every one to read. It
seemed almost as if Athens in the Age of Pericles had been born again.
So that is why people speak of this time as the Renaissance.
One of the greatest of these artists of the Renaissance was a man
named Michelangelo. But Michelangelo was not just a painter; he was
a sculptor, an architect, and a poet as well. Michelangelo thought
nothing of spending years working on any statue or painting that he was
doing. But when he had finished he had done something that people now
go from all over the world to see.
Nowadays, sculptors first model a statue in clay and then copy it in
stone or cast it in bronze, but Michelangelo did not do this. He cut
his figures directly out of the stone, without making a model first. It
was as if he saw the figure imprisoned in the stone and then cut away
the part that closed the figure in.
A large block of marble had been spoiled by another sculptor.
Michelangelo saw a figure of David _in_ it, and, setting to work, he
cut this young athlete _out_.
He made also a statue of Moses sitting down. It is now in a church in
Rome, and when you walk up to it it is so lifelike that it seems as if
you were in the presence of the prophet Moses himself. The guide tells
you that when Michelangelo had finished this statue of Moses he was so
thrilled by the figure he had created that, feeling it must come to
life, he struck it on the knee with his hammer and commanded as he did
so, “Stand Up”! And then the guide shows you a crack in the marble to
prove that the story is true!
[Illustration: Michelangelo at work.]
The pope wanted Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of his own private
chapel in Rome. This was called the Sistine Chapel. At first
Michelangelo didn’t want to do the painting. He told the pope he was a
sculptor and not a painter. But the pope insisted, and Michelangelo at
last gave in. Once having agreed to do the work, however, Michelangelo
gave himself heart and soul to it.
For four years he lived in this room--the Sistine Chapel--and hardly
ever left it day or night. Beneath the ceiling, he built himself a
platform, and, lying on this scaffold, he would read poetry and the
Bible and work “as the spirit moved him.” Locking himself in, he would
let no one enter, not even the pope himself. He wanted to be alone and
to be left alone.