10 



Chapter 



GUNS AND GOLD; FAITH AND FOOD 



Th 



-HE small world that Europe was familiar with in the fif- 

 teenth century suddenly expanded to almost double its original size 

 in a brief period of thirty-five years. Between 1492 and 1525 the mid- 

 dle and southern part of the Atlantic Ocean were discovered and 

 took shape; Africa was circumnavigated from west to east; the 

 shores of North and South America were followed from Davis Strait 

 to the Straits of Magellan; the Pacific was discovered and crossed. 



In this time too the peoples of Europe began sailing out to occupy 

 all shores of their own ocean — the Atlantic. They did more; they 

 overflowed it and spread abroad over the other seas of the world. 



Why did this happen so suddenly ? Why did it happen at all ? What 

 were the motives and methods? What the results? 



To begin with, this was a period not only of action but of high 

 emotion also — hopes of success and fortune, pride of accomplishment 

 but also weariness of effort and fear of defeat. Europe knew for the 

 first time the shape and size of the world. She knew it not only as a 

 matter of thought but also as a matter of feeling. The round world 

 was no longer a vague and inaccurate intellectual idea; it had become 

 quite suddenly a matter of living experience — the routes from north 

 to south, from east to west and back again had been sweated out by 

 weary mariners — they had been won by many futile and a few suc- 

 cessful voyages — they had been paid for by hardship, scurvy and other 



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