which marked the period known as the Renaissance. The compass and the astrolabe, which had recently come into use, furnished the means, and the desire to find Oriental new routes of trade between Europe and the Far trade

East furnished the motive to make this century an era of geographical discovery.

The eyes of Europe, as already noted, were turned not to the West, but to the East, from which quarter came the most eagerly sought and lucrative articles of commerce. Owing to the coarse diet of the day and the lack of variety, spices of all kinds were in great demand throughout Europe and formed the most important part of the Oriental trade. There was also a constant demand for gems, drugs, perfumes, and dyes, as well as for certain articles of manufacture, such as glass, porcelain, metal work, silk and cotton fabrics, rugs, and draperies. In return Europe sent to the East woolen fabrics, metals, minerals, and coral, but the balance of trade was always in favor of the East, and large quantities of gold and silver were exported to meet the demand for Oriental luxuries.

old trade routes and the search

tion of the

The great volume of trade from the East was conveyed by Indian merchants to the Mediterranean by two well-known routes: one by way of the Red Sea and the Nile Interrupto Cairo and Alexandria, and the other by way of the Persian Gulf to the mouth of the Euphrates and thence by caravan to Bagdad and on to the cities of Asia Minor and the Black Sea. A third route led from the central provinces of China overland to the region east of the Caspian Sea, and thence either by a southerly route to Syria and Asia Minor or by a northerly route to Constantinople.

for a sea route to the Indies

In all the principal cities of the Levant forming the western terminals of these trade routes were to be found settlements of merchants from southern Europe, mostly Italians, who gathered up the merchandise of the East and shipped it to

their home cities, from which it was distributed throughout Europe. The advance of the Ottoman Turks in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, culminating in the fall of Constantinople in 1453, broke up most of the European settlements in the eastern Mediterranean and placed the Oriental trade under such severe restrictions that it rapidly declined. This interruption of the old trade routes started the search for an all-sea route to the Indies and resulted in the discovery of America.

The Work of Prince. Henry the "Navigator

Meanwhile the pioneer work in maritime exploration was being done by Portugal. About 1420 Prince Henry, the fifth son of King John I and known to succeeding generations as the "Navigator," took up his residence on Cape St. Vincent and gathering about him a collection of charts and instruments used in navigation, together with a body of experienced sailors, set to work in a thoroughly scientific way to explore the west coast of Africa and if possible to sail around its southern end. The Madeiras and Azores were rediscovered and colonized; Cape Boyador was passed in 1434, Cape Blanco in 1441, and Cape Verde in 1445.

Here the scientific character of the expeditions was diverted for some years by the profits of the slave trade, and it was not until a quarter of a century after Prince Henry's death that Bartholomew Diaz in 1486 rounded the Cape of Good Hope. As his sailors refused to go further, the honor of finding the long sought sea route to India was reserved for Vasco da Gama, who in 1498, six years after Columbus's discovery of America, sailed round the Cape to India. In 1500 the Portuguese fleet of Cabral started on its way to India and striking boldly out into the south Atlantic was carried westward by the current to the coast of Brazil. He sent a ship home to report his discovery, and resumed his voyage to India.

Of the early life of Columbus little is definitely known. This fact is all the more surprising in view of the fullness with which his later life is set forth in his own letters, Early life of many of which are still extant, and in the writings Columbus of his son Ferdinand and his friend Las Casas. Even the date of his birth is unknown, though most modern writers agree that it occurred about the year 1446. His father was a woolen weaver of Genoa. What schooling he had or when

he gave himself to a seafaring life are questions to which no satisfactory answer can be given. It is evident from comments in his handwriting on the margins of works on geography and travel that no available information on the problems of geography and exploration escaped his attention.

Like so many other seamen of his day with a scientific bent Columbus soon drifted to Portugal, where he married into the family of one of Prince Henry's navigators. A letter from the Florentine astronomer Toscanelli to a friend at the Portuguese court first suggested to his mind, so Ferdinand and Las Casas tell us, the idea of reaching India by a westward

voyage. King Alfonso was likewise interested in this suggestion and both he and Columbus wrote to Toscanelli for further light on the subject. Columbus made a formal appeal to Alfonso's successor for ships with which to seek for Cipango in the western ocean, but King John considered him visionary and refused the necessary aid.

Columbus

Isabella

In 1484 Columbus went to Spain, where for seven long years he solicited aid of Ferdinand and Isabella for his undertaking. During this period he sent his brother receives aid Bartholomew to England to see if he could interfrom Queen est Henry VII in the project. The Spanish sovereigns were engaged in the long war with the Moors and kept Columbus waiting. Finally his patience was exhausted and he started for France, but at the instance of two friends at court he was recalled just as he was leaving the kingdom, and given authority to prepare an expedition, the queen promising to pay a large share of the expenses. In a formal contract drawn up April 17, 1492, Columbus was given the title of admiral and promised the governorship of all islands and mainlands which he should discover as well as a royalty of ten per cent on the net proceeds of all trade with the new regions.

The first voyage across the Atlantic

In the early dawn of Friday, August 3, 1492, Columbus sailed from Palos with a little fleet of three vessels, carrying, according to one contemporary, ninety, and according to another, one hundred and twenty persons. Only the larger of the three vessels, the Santa Maria, was fully decked; the Pinta and the Niña, commanded by the Pinzon brothers, were of the caravel class. After a stop of nearly a month at the Canaries, where further preparations were made, the little fleet started boldly forth and directed its course westward over the boundless deep.

Fortunately we are able to follow the expedition day by day, for the journal kept by Columbus for the king and

queen has come down to us in an abridged form in the writings of Las Casas. The weather was unusually favorable for the voyage, but the sailors finally gave way to their fears and it was with difficulty that the admiral could prevent open mutiny. Late on the evening of October 11 a flickering light was seen ahead and grumbling and fears soon changed to hope and eager anticipation while the ships lay to and awaited the dawn.

In the morning they saw before them a small island in the Bahamas, called by the natives Guanahani and renamed San Salvador by Columbus, probably the one now known as Watling Island. Columbus was confident that he had reached the Indies and immediately dubbed the natives "Indians," an error which was destined to attach this name permanently to all the aborigines of America.

From the Bahamas Columbus sailed to Cuba, which he believed to be the far-famed Cipango, and set ashore a Jewish interpreter versed in Oriental languages to inquire for the court of the Great Khan. Not succeeding in establishing communication with that potentate, Columbus went to Hayti, which he named Hispaniola, "the Spanish Island." On Christmas day the Santa Maria was wrecked, and when a little later Columbus started on the homeward voyage with the two caravels, he was compelled to leave a force of fortyfour volunteers in Hayti to await his return. Not one of these men survived.

Line of

Columbus arrived in the harbor of Palos March 15, 1493, after a stormy voyage, which had compelled him to put in for a few days at the mouth of the Tagus and to give the first account of his discovery to the king demarcation of Portugal. He finally entered Barcelona in drawn by triumph and was accorded the highest distinc- Pope Alextions by Ferdinand and Isabella. The news of the discovery spread rapidly and made a great stir in the world. Ferdinand and Isabella lost no time in announcing it to

ander VI