HISTORY OF GEOGRAPHICAL DISCOVERY. 



The science of Geography is, in its nature, confined 

 nearly within the limits of actual discovery. It has, of 

 course, kept pace with the progress of mankind in survey- 

 ing the surface of the globe, and recording their obser- 

 vations. The following sketch of geographical discovery 

 is compiled from Murray's Cyclopedia of Geography. 



No system of geography can be traced in the sacred 

 writers, and the ancient Hebrews never attempted to form 

 any scientific theory respecting the structure of the earth. 

 The Phosnicians and Carthaginians made themselves ac- 

 quainted not only with the shores of the Mediterranean, but 

 with the coasts of Europe ; and as early as the time of Sol- 

 omon they sent their ships to the British Islands, which 

 then bore the name of Tin Isles, from the tin obtained there. 



The first traces of Greek geography are found among 

 its poets, whose brilliant fancy has spread its lustre over 

 all the regions with which Greece ever held intercourse. 

 Homer took the lead, and his high authority gave to the 

 geography of the Greeks a poetical cast, which they trans- 

 mitted to the nations whom they taught, and of which the 

 traces are not entirely obliterated. 



It is in Homer, that we find the first trace of the wide- 

 ly-prevalent idea, that the earth is a flat circle, begirt on 

 every side by the ocean. This was indeed a natural idea 

 in a region so entirely insular and peninsular, nowhere 

 presenting, like Judea, a vast tract, stretching so far as to 

 give the idea of immeasurable distance. The circular 

 shape was suggested bv that of the visible horizon ; and, 

 until science demonstrated the globular form of our planet, 

 the very natural opinion prevailed, that the earth was a 

 flat circle, witii the vault of heaven above, darkness, and 

 the abode of departed souls, beneatli. 



Homer, like Hesiod and the ancient poets generally, 

 delights in topographical detail, and scarcely allows a city 

 or natural object to pass vi'ithout applying to it some char- 

 acteristic epithet. It was only, however, within a very 

 limited range, that he could give these distinct and ani- 

 mated notices. The Greek islands, beautiful and fertile 

 spots, which seem to have been the first cradle of Euro- 

 pean civilization, were the central point from which his 

 knowledge emanated. He knew well, and had probably vis- 

 ited, on one side, Peloponnesus, Atlica, and the regions im- 

 mediately ad joining ; on the other, the western coast of Asia 

 Minor, and the banks of the beautiful rivers by wliich it is 

 watered. Perhaps scarcely any other tract on the globe pre- 

 sents within the same compass such a variety of grand and 

 beautiful objects to rouse the imagination. Beyond this cir- 

 cuit, the world of Homer was soon involved in mysterious 

 obscurity. Some grand and distant features, discernible 

 through the gloom, were exasfgerated and distorted by igno- 

 rance and siiperstition. Tliebes, the miglity capital of Egypt, 

 •vhen that kingdom was in its greatest glorj', is celebrated 

 for its hundred gates, and the hosts of warriors which 

 they sent forth to battle. Beyond lay the Ethiopians, 

 deemed the remotest of men, dwelling on the furthest 

 verge of the earth, and to wliose distant confines Jupiter 

 repaired to hold an annual festival. In the western part 

 of the same continent the stupendous ridges of Atlas, had 

 excited in Grecian fancy the image of a gigantic deified 

 being, to whom was intrusted the support of the heavens. 

 Even furtlier to the west, the exploits and wanderings of 

 the great Grecian demigod had convoyed a tradition of the 

 strait leading into the ocean, and of the rocks on each 



side, celebrated under the denomination of the Pillars of 

 Hercules. 



On the east, Colchos was distinguished by its early 

 wealth and commerce ; it was considered a city on the 

 ocean, with which, therefore, the Black Sea must have been 

 confounded ; and being supposed to contain the palace of 

 the Sun, where, during the night, he gave rest to his cours- 

 ers, and whence in the morning he drove his chariot to its 

 diurnal career, Colchos must have been regarded by Ho- 

 mer as placed on the most eastern verge of the earth. On 

 the north, Rhodope, under the name of the Riphaoan Moun- 

 tains, was considered a chain of indefinite extent, closing 

 in the northern limits of the world. The poet, however, 

 had heard a vague report of the Scythians, under the de- 

 scription of a people subsisting on mare's milk. The 

 vessels which conveyed the Grecian army to Troy were 

 evidently little better than large boats; and all distant 

 voyages, or those in which land was lost sight of, were con- 

 sidered as fraught with the extremest peril. A naviga- 

 tion to Africa or to Sicily took place only through tem- 

 pest, terminating usually in shipwreck ; and a return from 

 these shores was esteemed almost miraculous. In regard 

 to Sicily, indeed. Homer has largely communicated Ijis 

 ideas, having made it the theatre of the woes and wander- 

 ingsof the hero of the Odyssey. Makingevery allowance for 

 poetical license, we see evident traces of the terrified and 

 excited state of mind in the navigators who returned from 

 these shores. Monsters of strange form and magnitude, 

 who watched for the destruction of the mariner, and even 

 fed upon his quivering limbs ; delusive sirens, who lured 

 but to destroy ; imprisonment under the transformed shape 

 of wild beasts; these, probably, are only a highly-colored 

 repetition of the terrific rumors brought by the few, whose 

 bark had been wafted to those 3'et savage coasts. 



The system of geography included in the great histor- 

 ical work of Herodotus is as complete as could be formed 

 from the materials within his reach. It comprises a gene- 

 ral summary of all that he could learn respecting the hu- 

 man race, and the regions which thej' inhabited. His in- 

 formation was obtained not solely or chiefly from books 

 but mostly by traveling, the only mode in which, at that 

 era, geographical knowledge could be elTectually collected. 

 He assures us, that he had visited Persia, Assyria, Egypt, 

 Thrace, Scytliia, and all tlie distant regions which he de- 

 scribes. He viewed them, however, only as tracts of ter- 

 ritory, the abode of men, and did not attempt to combine 

 them into any system of the earth ; nor did he possess, or, 

 at least, apply any of the mathematical or astronomical 

 principles of the Milesian school. He even derides some 

 of its conclusions ; as that of the earth being round and 

 encompassed by the ocean. His strange statement, that 

 the sun in India was vertical in the morning instead of at 

 midda}', is evidently a misunderstood report of what he 

 had been informed respecting the difference of time in the 

 different parts of the earth's circumference. His knowl- 

 edge, however, such as it was, consisting of plain facts, 

 unlinctured with theory, was both solid and extensive. 



The division of the earth into three quarters, or con 

 tinents, was by tliis time completely formed. 



We cannot minutely trace the progress of geographical 

 science, through its slow gradations, down to the Middle 

 Ages. The conquests of Alexander extended the knowl- 

 edge of the Greeks, and those of the Romans enlarged the 



