Geographical Exploration 



the early dutch explorers 



During - the sixteenth century the 

 Dutch were scarcely second to Spain 

 in their geographical explorations, 

 which were so successfully pursued 

 that some of the richest and most pop- 

 ulous lands fell under their sway. Com- 

 mercial exploitation, pure and simple, 

 was the Dutch policy. Of all peoples 

 they stood for political and religious 

 freedom, making therefor sacrifices of 

 life and treasure scarcely surpassed in 

 the history of the world. The Dutch 

 have given unusual care to the tech- 

 nical training of their civil servants, 

 but do not appear to have displayed an 

 equal religious solicitude for their 

 colonies and for domestic affairs. In 

 dealing with Java they have ignored 

 the higher moral questions and adopted 

 restrictive policies, thus failing to make 

 Dutch East Indies an important factor 

 in the world. Measured by the high 

 ideals of this century, the moral results 

 are meager and unsatisfactory, though 

 Netherlands yet controls the Javan 

 Archipelago and its thirty millions of 

 natives. 



THE GLORIOUS GEOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OE 



SPAIN 



Marked though it has been by faults 

 largely those of the ages, the geograph- 

 ical history of Spain is glorious to 

 the highest degree, whether measured 

 by its material or moral results. With 

 the discoveries of Columbus and the 

 world circumnavigation of Magellan, 

 modern geography was born. Inde- 

 fatigable in purpose, unsurpassed in 

 bravery, unyielding in religion, but 

 deferential to racial prejudices, gracious 

 in manner, and courteous in speech, 

 Spanish explorers made an indelible 

 impress from one end of the earth to 

 the other. In the Antilles or South 

 America, in Mexico or the Philippines, 

 they thoroughly implanted their cus- 

 toms and ideals, their administration 



and religion, their laws and language. 

 The Spanish civil law, whose first 

 Mexican code antedated by half a cen- 

 tury any English settlement in the 

 United States, is today, in pure or 

 modified form, second as to area and 

 population only to English law, while 

 the melodious language of Spain is the 

 daily speech of nearly triple its home 

 population. In the aggregate the 

 Spanish explorer, by extending the 

 sway of law over, and instilling Chris- 

 tianity into the hearts of the natives 

 of new lands, has exerted a more potent 

 moral influence than has any other 

 nationality. 



Of all explorations none appeared at 

 the time richer than those of Portugal, 

 from Prince Henry, the Navigator, to 

 Diaz and Vasco de Gama ; yet they 

 were morally perverted. The coasts of 

 Africa were circumnavigated and ex- 

 ploited and the trade of India made at- 

 tainable by sea. Pope Alexander the 

 VI, by the famous demarcation bull of 

 May 4, 1493, confirmed the possession 

 of the eastern half of the newly discov- 

 ered world to Portugal, which at once 

 rose to commercial supremacy and the 

 height of its material glory. But traffic 

 was the sole aim, and the African slave 

 trade a most essential factor in its 

 profits. During four centuries Portugal 

 was distinctly foremost in this human 

 traffic, which by its horrors and im- 

 moralities has not alone outraged the 

 spirit of Christianity, but has also, par- 

 ticularly in America, produced condi- 

 tions vexatious and portentous to an 

 alarming degree. 



DAVID LIVINGSTONE AND STANLEY AERI- 



CANUS 



Let us turn to a brighter phase of 

 African history, wherein the geograph- 

 ical explorations of a single man, 

 David Livingstone, produced moral re- 

 sults of the highest value. In golden 

 words Stanley pointed out that the 

 track of Livingstone's explorations 



