140 



THE POPULAE EDUCATOE. 



LESSONS IN GEOGRAPHY. Y. 



THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISCOVERIES OF THE SIXTEENTH 

 AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES. 



THE new information gained by the Old World through the 

 discovery of America, and the voyage of Vasco de Gama, re- 

 quired a long period for its proper regulation and systematic 

 arrangement. The ignorance which still prevailed among the 

 ablest navigators and geographers, at the end of the fifteenth 

 century, was such that when Christopher Columbus, in his third 

 voyage, discovered the mainland of America, the violence of the 

 billows, and the agitation of the sea at the mouth of the 

 Orinoco, led him to believe that he was in the highest part of 

 the globe, and consequently in the regions of Paradise ! But 

 the discovery of the New World revived and re-invigorated 

 the desire for voyages to the north, and set them on a better 

 footing. It appears, indeed, that previous to his grand dis- 

 covery, Columbus had himself performed a voyage in the 

 northern seas, and had even visited Iceland. This voyage, 

 according to a note of the event found in his own handwriting, 

 took place in 1467. 



John and Sebastian Cabot, who were employed in the ex- 

 pedition by Henry VII. of England, discovered Labrador, as we 

 have shown in our last lesson, and are said 

 to have visited the island of Newfound- 

 land, and sailed along a considerable extent 

 of the coast of North America. France, 

 desirous of having her share of the spoil, 

 fitted out an expedition under Jacques 

 Cartier, who sailed from Dieppe in 1534 ; 

 discovered Canada, and took possession of 

 it in the name of his government. The 

 grand object of these voyages in the north- 

 ern seas, was the discovery of a north-west 

 passage to India. The question of a com- 

 munication between the two great oceans 

 at the north, occupied the minds of geo- 

 graphers and navigators at that period, as 

 much as it has done in the present century. 

 How singular that this infatuation has BO 

 much occupied the public mind! Even on 

 the supposition that such a passage really 

 existed, and had been actually discovered, 

 and put in evidence by the reappearance 

 of Franklin in Europe from the East, of 

 what use would such a frightful and dan- 

 gerous passage be to the mercantile in- 

 terests of the world ? Surely it would 

 still be better to pursue the ordinary .route 

 to India, either by sea or land, than to 

 run the danger and risk of losing ships, 

 property, and men, by sailing through 



float-ing mountains of ica, unknown rocks, and uninhabited and 

 inhospitable coasts. 



The voyage of Willoughby in 1553, although it ended in a 

 sad shipwreck on the eastern coast of Lapland, added to 

 geographical knowledge, by the discovery of Nova Zembla. 

 Frobisher, under Queen Elizabeth, was more fortunate ; his 

 three voyages, performed between 1576 and 1578, ended in 

 some discoveries, among which was the strait which bears his 

 name, situated between Hudson Strait and Cumberland Sound. 

 John Davis, in the same reign, in his exploratory voyages per- 

 formed in 1585, 1586, and 1587, threw a clearer light on the 

 geography of the circumpolar regions of the north. In 1596 

 the Dutch discovered Spitzbergen ; and eleven years afterwards 

 it was re-discovered by Hudson, who made four voyages, from 

 1607 to 1611, in order to find the passage to India either across 

 the pole itself or to the north-west. In the fourth, he dis- 

 covered the bay which bears his name. In the following year 

 Thomas Button, penetrating into this northern Mediterranean 

 Sea, reached the mouth of the river Nelson. William Baffin 

 enjoyed still greater success. In his second exploratory voyage, 

 in 1616, he successively discovered and gave name to the 

 following places in the arctic regions : Cape Dudley Digges, in 

 latitude 76 35' N. ; Wolstenholme Bay; the Bay of Whales, 

 in latitude 77 30' N. ; Hakluyt Island ; Smith Bay, so called 

 from Sir Thomas Smith, in latitude 78 N. ; the Carey Islands, 

 and Lancaster Sound. In this expedition, he explored the bay 



SHIPS OF COLUMBUS. 

 From an old Print. 



which has immortalised his name, and determined the geographi- 

 cal position of a great number of points. 



During the sixteenth century, while discoveries were multi- 

 plied and expeditions became fruitful and productive, geo- 

 graphical science still remained in its infantile state, and as 

 yet received little advantage from their progress. Light was 

 breaking in upon all sides, but this science was immersed in 

 darkness. A glance at the curious maps which preceied the 

 glorious era of the Reformation, will show how profound was the 

 ignorance of the geographers of that period. Our readers will 

 find a good specimen of one of these maps in the fac-similo of 

 the map of Africa belonging to the pilot of Christopher Colum- 

 bus. In such maps of the world, the principal cities are denoted 

 by little houses or churches roughly sketched : Jerusalem 

 occupies the centre of the globe ; the supposed site of Paradise 

 is surrounded with an impenetrable enclosure of verdant foliage ; 

 and the geographical illustrations are the most whimsical that 

 can be imagined. The winds are represented by fabulous 

 divinities, as sitting all round the world upon leathern bottles, 

 whose sides they are pressing to force out the air; Western 

 Africa is made to terminate at Cape Nun, then at Cape Bojador ; 

 the celebrated statue of the Canaries is seen flourishing his club 

 at the top of a high tower ; the coasts of the adjacent continent 

 are lengthened in proportion to the dis- 

 coveries of the Portuguese ; Abyssinia, 

 figures with its monarch Prestor John, hav- 

 ing on his head a brilliant mitre ; the other 

 kingdoms of Africa are denoted by their 

 kings in costumes, enriched with gold and 

 silver embroidery ; this continent, so long- 

 unknown, is represented as peopled with 

 strange animals and black men ; there are- 

 groups of giraffes and elephants ; Portu- 

 guese camps are indicated by coloured 

 tents ; anil light cavalry, splendidly capa- 

 risoned, are making the tour of this mys- 

 terious continent. In short, these speci- 

 mens of chartographical art are the faith- 

 ful expression of the science of the Middle 

 Ages. The pilot's map, already alluded to, 

 will furnish the reader with examples of 

 the preceding details. 



The period preceding the Reformation, 

 was the era of legendary and popular tales, 

 and geography had its fabulous age as weiB 

 as its antiquity ; only the fantastic notions 

 of the Middle Ages were less marked by in- 

 genuity and variety. Prester John has been 

 mentioned. This was one of their most 

 widely-spread myths. The name of this 

 personage first appeared about the middle of 

 the twelfth century. It was the general 

 and popular belief that there existed a pontifical prince called 

 John, who governed vast countries situated beyond Armenia 

 and Persia. It was asserted that he professed that form 

 of Christianity called Nestorianism. Ere long he was trans- 

 ported to Abyssinia, where he ruled during three or four 

 centuries ! He was as rich as he was powerful, and as 

 formidable to his enemies as he was dear to his subjects. In 

 Asia or in Africa there was always a formidable monarch, 

 dwelling in a world of prodigies, over which he reigned as 

 omnipotent master I 



The vain tradition of El Dorado, or the Land of Gold, was no 

 less believed at the period under review. This fiction, which 

 travelled to America under the name which has given celebrity 

 to it, in the first half of the sixteenth century, was applied to a 

 country that previously existed only in the imagination of the 

 inhabitants of Europe. Although its true name is lost, it was 

 at last placed in the New World, in the country of Santa Fe, in 

 those regions of South America watered by the mighty streams 

 of the Amazons, and which were scarcely known to Europeans. 

 The name El Dorado sufficiently indicates the nature of the 

 imaginary country to which it was applied. It was the country 

 of riches ; there were to be seen cities glittering with gold ; 

 there, so common was this motal, that it was used even in the 

 most common household utensils. How unfortunate for ages 

 were the adventurers in search of this golden dream ! How 

 many victims have been deceived by this dangerous tradition J 



