Vol. V, pp. 1-20 April 7, 1893 



THE 



NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



DISCOVERERS OF AMERICA 



Annual Address by the President 



HON GARDINER G. HUBBARD 



{Presented before the Society January 13, 1893) 



It is appropriate that we should take as the theme of our an- 

 nual address for the year 1892 the discoverers of America. 



The discovery of America was the work, not of one explorer 

 hut of many, carried on during a long series of years, beginning 

 with the Northmen, continued by Columbus, VesiDUcius, Magel- 

 lan and Drake, and ending only with the nineteenth century. 



Before we speak of the discoverers let us hastily review the 

 condition of the old world prior to the discovery of the new. 



Two thousand years ago philosophers generally iDclieved the 

 world to be round, and the most noted of ancient geographers, 

 Eratosthenes, computed its circumference at 25,200 geographic 

 miles. The true figure is 21,600 geographic miles or 24,899 

 English miles. 



Ptolemy, two hundred years later, estimated it at 18,000 geo- 

 graphic miles, and made a series of twenty-six maps, showiiig the 

 the equator and the zones north of the equator, with parallels of 

 latitude and meridians of longitude. As his base-line was too 

 short and his knowledge of places was generally derived only 



1— Nat. Geog. IMag., vol. V, 1S93. 



