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SHIP OF FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 
CHAPTER II. 
The Portuguese and their Followers. 
After all, the knowledge which existed concerning 
Africa, and especially of its interior, was insignificant 
until well on in the fifteenth century. In that century a 
spirit of intense activity took possession of Europe, and 
made itself felt in exploration, as in other directions. 
From the Arab geographers a knowledge of the east 
coast existed, and it was felt among those who were 
interested in Africa that it must be possible to sail 
round it, and in that way to reach India. It was thus 
not so much to add to their knowledge of Africa that 
the Portuguese began early in that century to make 
their way down the west coast, but to discover a new 
route to India and the East, where it was thought all 
the treasures of the world were collected. Some writers 
believe that even in the fourteenth century the sailors of 
