8 THE SEAS 



of the world was soon to receive a great impetus, for from 

 1420 until his death in 1460, Prince Henry of Portugal, 

 known as the " Navigator," did all he could to encourage 

 maritime research and exploration. During his lifetime 

 much of the coast of western Africa and the eastern parts 

 of the Atlantic were explored and charted, and his enthusi- 

 asm may be said to have prepared the way for the great 

 voyages of exploration that were to follow. In i486 

 Bartholomew Diaz rounded the Cape of Good Hope and 

 thus opened up the connection between the Atlantic and 

 Indian oceans. On October 12th, 1492, Christopher 

 Columbus set foot on the island known by the natives 

 as Guanahani, after having crossed the Atlantic ocean. 

 This island, which he named San Salvador, is generally 

 thought to be that now known as Watling Island. For 

 many years after this, expeditions sailed to the continent 

 of America, but it was still thought that this continent 

 was joined to the most eastern lands then known, as was 

 considered to be the case in Ptolemy's time. In 1497 

 Vasco da Gama, rounding the Cape of Good Hope, reached 

 India for the first time by sea. But the final link in the 

 chain of knowledge of the great oceans was forged in 

 September, 15 13, when Vasco Nunez de Balbao laid eyes upon 

 the Pacific ocean, a mass of glittering waters that dispelled 

 for ever the idea that India and America were joined by 

 land ; and in 1520 Ferdinand Magellan sailed through 

 the straits that bear his name into the " Great South Sea " 

 that he called the Pacific, and although he himself never 

 lived to see the day one of his vessels at last reached Spain 

 in 1522, having circumnavigated the globe. 



History of Oceanography 



Let us pause to consider the true meaning of oceano- 

 graphy. It is perhaps one of the most composite of sciences, 



