SCHOOL HISTORY

OF THE

UNITED STATES

The Period of Discovery and Exploration

HOW EUROPE FOUND AMERICA

EUROPE NEEDS A NEW ROUTE TO INDIA

1. The Visits of the Northmen. We do not know exactly when people from Europe first visited America. In early times the people of Norway, who were called Northmen, were bold sailors, and, although their vessels were only large, open boats, they did not fear to make voyages upon the

stormy Atlantic. Driven by oar as well as by sail, and crowded with tall, fair-haired warriors eager for conquest and adventure, the long black ships of these sea-rovers were often seen thousands of miles

from home.

We know that

the Northmen dis

NORTHMEN'S SHIPS

covered and settled The raven on the sail and the dragon's head on the

prow are symbols of swiftness and fierceness

both Iceland and Greenland, and that about the year 1000, under the lead of a bold chief, Leif Ericson, they reached the coast of what is probably now New England. They landed, built huts, and spent the winter in this region, which they named Vinland, because wild grapes were abundant. Later other parties of Northmen visited the new land, but, on account of the hostility of the Indians, made no settlements. The story of their discovery probably did not reach the other parts of Europe at that time.

2. The Crusades; Old Routes to India. For hundreds of years European nations along the Mediterranean Sea had been interested in the people and products of

The ships and caravans traveling over these routes sought the silks and spices from India and the Spice Island's

the East. The religious wars called the Crusades (10951291), during which thousands upon thousands of European Christians invaded western Asia to rescue Jerusalem from the Mohammedans, increased this interest and aroused a strong demand for Oriental silks, spices,

and precious stones. But the stimulus to trade was not the only advantage that Europe gained. Shipbuilding and the art of navigation were improved.

Regular routes of trade and travel had long been established between Italy and the far East and were now used more than ever before. One of these ran from Venice through the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, another from Genoa by way of Constantinople and across the Black and Caspian seas, while a third led across Syria and then down the Euphrates to the Persian Gulf.

A CRUSADER

3. Marco Polo; The Turks. Just as the Crusades were drawing to a close, Marco Polo, who lived in Venice, visited central and eastern Asia. He traveled almost thirty years, and saw lands and people, towns and cities, customs, manners, and products which were then unknown in Europe. All that he saw and did he described in a famous book of travels. His story made the people of Europe all the more curious to know about the far East, and helped Columbus to form his ideas of the world ($7).

While the wonderful stories of Marco Polo were working their way into the minds of Europeans and making them wish that they knew more of these strange countries, the old land routes to the East were closed by the armies of the Turks. The Turks, who were Mohammedans and believers in the religious teaching of the prophet Mohammed, then lived in western Asia, and were the enemies of the Christian nations of Europe. In 1453 the city of Constantinople fell into their hands, and the Eastern trade of Genoa began to decay.

4. The Race for India Begins. Gradually all the overland roads were closed and European merchants were compelled to look to the ocean for new routes to India. The advantage naturally lay with the countries of western Europe bordering on the Atlantic-Spain, Portugal, France, and England. When commerce began on the Atlantic Ocean as well as on the Mediterranean Sea, all these became important commercial nations.

Spain and Portugal gradually came to see that the discovery of an ocean route to the far East would greatly increase their trade, and that whichever nation controlled such a route would far outstrip her rivals. Obtaining trained sailors from Italy, they began the search for a new route to India by sea long before France or England realized how important such a discovery would be.

5. The Portuguese Find a New Route (1486). Before the old land routes were entirely cut off, the new movement to give Europe a sea route to the long sought land was well under way. Early in the fifteenth century

Jacques Reich

Prince Henry of Portugal, wishing to spread a knowledge of geography, to convert the heathen, and add to the glory of his country, established a school of navigation on Cape St. Vincent. Here he gathered students and experienced sea captains to be taught by wise teachers summoned from distant lands.

Trained in the use of chart and compass, Henry's seamen began to brave the dangers of the unknown western coast of Africa in their efforts to find

a new route to India. The ignorant and superstitious sailors imagined that the sea was full of all sorts of dangers; that the earth was surrounded by a zone of fire

PORTUGUESE VOYAGES TO INDIA

An all-water route to India was the object of the Portuguese

at the equator; that the sea was up-hill and down-hill; and that ocean giants stood ready to destroy their vessels. But Henry urged his seamen to sail past the dreaded Cape Bojador and bring back an account of the seas beyond. This brave deed was accomplished in 1434, and all Portugal rang with applause.

From that time on, attracted by the slave trade, by stories of the "gold coast," and encouraged by the hope of reaching the East Indies, the Portuguese pushed slowly down the African coast till Bartholomeu Dias rounded the Cape of Storms, as he called it, and sailed into the Indian Ocean (1486). With Dias on this famous voyage was a brother of Christopher Columbus.

In his enthusiasm over the exploit of Dias, the King of Portugal renamed the Cape of Storms the Cape of Good Hope. The way to India was at last known, and many terrors of the deep had vanished. But the journey was long and tedious, and men hoped for a shorter route.