■Beginning of transoceanic Commerce. ' 5 



gated the globe ; Balboa crossed the isthmus of Panama and was 

 the first to see, on the same day, the sun rise out of the Atlantic 

 and set in the Pacific ; and soon the eastern and western coasts of 

 America were explored from Newfoundland to cape Horn and 

 from cape Horn to Panama. 



Both Portugal and Spain claimed all the new world,- and as 

 they could . not agree upon a division of territory they referred 

 the matter to the pope, who divided the new world between 

 them. The Atlantic became the great highway for commerce, 

 Avhile the Mediterranean was deserted, and Venice and Genoa 

 existed only in the past. 



The commerce of Portugal was coextensive with her dominion, 

 which extended from Japan and the Spice islands and India to 

 the Red sea, thence to the cape of Good Hope ; and with their 

 possessions on the eastern and western shores of the Atlantic and 

 in Africa and Brazil' completed their maritime empire, the most 

 extensive the world has ever seen. Then a single fleet of one 

 hundred and fifty to two hundred and fifty caracks sailed from 

 the port of Goa to Lisbon ; now there sails but one vessel a year 

 from all India. 



From Spain ships sailed both to the Caribbean sea and to cape 

 Horn and thence to Chile and Peru, or directly northwestward 

 from cape Horn to the Philippine islands. Spain conquered 

 Mexico. Central America, and all South. America exce|)t Brazil. 

 The gold and silver of Peru and Chile and the goods of the 

 Orient were brought to Spain and Portugal. As their wealth 

 and power increased the spirit of exploration decreased, and for 

 nearly tAvo hundred years the Spanish ships sailed in a fixed 

 course by the same lanes, exploring the ocean neither toward 

 the north nor the south, leaving undiscovered the great conti- 

 nent of Australia and numerous groups of islands. 



The Spanish and Portuguese leaders were cavaliers who de- 

 spised all commerce excepting in gold and silver, all kinds of 

 manufactures, all manual labor, and the cultivation of the 

 ground ; they came not to colonize, but to satisfy by the labor of 

 the enslaved aborigines their thirst for gold and silver. The 

 whole political power was retained by the king of Spain and 

 administered by Spaniards. While the silver and gold of America 

 and the wealth of the Indies poured into the treasuries of Spain 

 they wanted nothing more. Like ancient Rome, they took all 

 the wealth of the conquered countries, making no return; but 



