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GEOGRAPHICAL SYSTEMS 
Angimi (Begaraa of Ibn-al-Vardi) may be consi- 
dered the modern Begarmee, or Begherme. Further 
than this I doubt if any of the above positions could 
be fixed with much confidence* 
During the flourishing era of Arabian science, 
Europe was sunk in darkness and lethargy ; and its 
inhabitants, far from knowing or studying the geo- 
graphy of the remote parts of the world, were ig- 
norant probably of that of the province immediate- 
ly adjoining to them. About the end of the fif- 
teenth century, however, under the patronage of 
the Portuguese princes, a series of extraordinary 
exertions were made, which soon raised Europe to 
a high pre-eminence over the other parts of the 
globe. Although India was to the Portuguese the 
grand theatre of prowess 'and enterprise, yet in 
their route thither, they also explored and settled 
a large portion of Africa ; and the geography of 
that continent, during the sixteenth and seventeenth 
centuries, was constructed almost entirely from the 
materials which they furnished. This people pe- 
netrated into the interior chiefly by the side of 
Congo on the west, and Abyssinia on the east, and, 
falling into the usual error of exaggeration, they 
extended these two countries in such a manner, as 
to fill nearly the whole continent, and to hide en- 
tirely from their view that immense space, which re- 
mained still unknown. The accompanying sketch 
