INTRODUCTION. 



The modern era of maritime discovery may be said to begin 

 with the work of Prince Henrv of Portugal, surnamed "The 

 Navigator" (1394-1460). Prince Henry devoted his life to 

 the furtherance of geographical discovery. He was inspired by 

 the hope of finding the sea-route to the East, and winning for 

 his country the rich trade of India and Cathay. During forty 

 years he sent out from Lagos fleet after flee't bound for the 

 exploration of the coasts of Africa. Further and further south 

 into the unknown and dreaded Atlantic his caravels pushed 

 their way, until at his death, in 1460, his captains had reached 

 the mouth of the Gambia beyond Cape Verde, and had 

 colonised the Azores. The discoveries made under this 

 Prince's inspiring influence were the stepping-stone to the 

 great voyages which marked the close of the centurv. Follow- 

 ing the initiative of Henry, the bold genius of Columbus 

 conceived the splendid idea of finding the East by sailing 

 west ; and, in 1492, when he fell upon America, he believed 

 that he had reached the further shores of India. Five years 

 later Henry's countryman, Vasco da Gama, in a voyage almost 

 as important as that of Columbus, doubled the Cape of Good 

 Hope, and opened the gates of the sea-way to Calicut and the 

 East. Pope Alexander the Sixth by his famous Bull appor- 

 tioned the world between the discoverers — allotting the western 

 half to Spain, and the eastern to Portugal. From that time 

 the gold and silver of the West were poured into the lap of 

 Spain ; while Portugal gathered in as her sole property the 

 rich profits of the coveted trade of the East. For well nigh a 

 century the two nations enjoyed a practical monopoly of the 

 regions which the daring oif their sailors had won. Spain, in 

 particular, through the wealth she acquired from her American 

 possessions, became the dominant power in the world, and the 

 mistress of the sea. Her fall from that high eminence was due 

 to her arrogant greed for universal dominion, and her attempt 

 to crush a free nation of traders. 



In the 15th and 16th centuries the Netherlands—the Low 

 Countries of common English parlance — were the most pros- 

 perous nation in Europe. While other nations exhausted 

 themselves in war, they devoted themselves to the arts of 

 peace. In agriculture they were far in advance of all other 

 countries of the time, The Flemish weavers weVe the first in 



