The Story of the Thirteen Colonies. H. A. Guerber
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Название: The Story of the Thirteen Colonies
Автор: H. A. Guerber
Издательство: Bookwire
Жанр: Документальная литература
isbn: 4057664634832
isbn:
In the twelfth century a Spanish-A-ra´bi-an philosopher read some of these Greek manuscripts, and then wrote a book, saying that he not only believed that the earth is round, but that he thought it would be possible to sail around it! This statement, so natural and simple now, seemed so absurd to the people who heard it then that they began to make all manner of fun of it. They asked how it would be possible for a ship to sail uphill, even supposing it did not tumble off the earth when it reached the edge, which they called the jumping-off place.
They also asked how the trees on the other side of the earth could grow with their roots up in the air, and inquired whether the rain and snow flew up instead of falling down. These questions, which seem so odd now, were very natural, for people did not then know, what your teachers have explained to you, that the earth is like a big magnet. It holds fast everything on its surface, and nothing can fall off, even though it spins around and around, and whirls through space much faster than the fastest express train can travel.
The Turks, who were not Christians, besieged the city of Constantinople in 1453, and when they became masters of it, and of the surrounding country, the learned men all fled, taking with them many of their precious manuscripts. Deprived of their quiet homes, and in many cases forced to teach to earn their living, these wise men settled in various cities, where they imparted to others all they knew.
As printing had just been invented, books, instead of being worth a fortune, soon became so much cheaper that almost everybody could afford to have one or two volumes. The precious manuscripts the wise men had saved from the Turks were therefore printed, and people soon began to talk about the strange things they read in them, and longed to know more.
VII. PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR.
Among the first books printed were the accounts of the travels of two daring men, Mar´co Po´lo and Sir John Man´de-ville. These men had visited many of the countries of the East, and the first had even gone to China, which was then called Ca-thay´. The stories these travelers told were so interesting and exciting that people became anxious to visit these strange countries, and especially to trade there and thus grow rich.
Ever since the days of Al-ex-an´der the Great, if not sooner, a certain amount of trading had been done with the East. But as all the silk, sugar, spices, etc., had to be brought by coasting vessels to the head of the Per´sian Gulf or the Red Sea, and thence overland by caravans to some port on the Black Sea or the Mediterranean, they became very costly.
A Caravan.
Sometimes, too, the goods were brought all the way from China or India, or the heart of Africa, through deserts and over mountains to the Black, the Mediterranean, or the Red Sea, by caravan, although it took a long while to travel all those weary miles.
For some time the Turks allowed this trade to go on, but by and by they began to treat the traders so badly that the traffic almost stopped. The cities of Ven´ice and Gen´o-a in Italy, whose ships had constantly sailed to and fro in the Mediterranean and Black seas, to carry these goods from port to port, were now nearly idle, and the people who had grown so rich were about to become poor.
As the Turks were too strong to be driven away, the traders longed to find another road to reach India, Cathay, and Ci-pan´go, or Japan. A way of reaching these countries by sea was what they most desired, because it is much easier to carry goods in ships than on camels.
The Ve-ne´tians and Gen-o-ese´, however, were not the only ones who wished to find a new road to the East. Many of the European coast cities fancied that if they could only discover it, they could keep the trade all to themselves, and thus grow richer and more powerful than their neighbors.
One of the countries which most coveted the Eastern trade was Por´tu-gal, where a bright boy was heir to the throne. This lad, Prince Henry of Portugal, once went with his father to Ceu´ta in Africa. Although then very young, he listened eagerly to the wonderful stories told about Guin´ea, on the southern side of the Sa-ha´ra. He soon began to wonder if it would not be possible to get there by sailing along the coast instead of crossing the African desert. This, you must know, was a great undertaking, because people found nothing to eat or drink there, and suffered much from the heat. Besides, the wind called the simoom raised such clouds of dust that whole caravans were sometimes buried in the sand.
By looking at the maps in your geography, you can see that it was easy to sail from Portugal to Guinea; but at that time people knew nothing of the west coast of Africa. Prince Henry, in hopes of solving the problem, began to study very hard. Before long he read in an old book that a wise man thought it possible to sail all around Africa, and he longed to find out if this was true.
As soon as he grew up, he therefore hired a number of seamen to try it, and showed such interest in sea voyages that he is often called the Navigator. The mariners thus sent out, little by little explored the coast of Africa, and creeping farther south every journey, they discovered the Ma-dei´ra and Canary Islands.
But the sight of the smoke above the volcano of Ten-er-ïfe´ so terrified them that they dared go no farther. It was only some time later that Por´tu-guese mariners reached the Cape Verde Islands and Sen-e-gal´. But one of their number had in the meantime learned, from a Flem´ish seaman, that there was a group of islands westward, and the Portuguese, going there, planted a colony on the A-zores´, which still belong to them.
VIII. YOUTH OF COLUMBUS.
While Henry the Navigator was busy with his discoveries, the rest of the world was not standing still. Although he little suspected it, a boy born in Genoa, about 1436, was to be a far greater navigator than he. This boy was Christopher Columbus.
Although Christopher's father was only a poor wool comber, he managed to send his son to school at Pavia (pah-ve´a). There the little fellow studied hard. But he had no pretty books such as you have now, and had to pore over musty parchments. In spite of that, he took special interest in geography and mathematics. When only thirteen, Christopher was forced to leave school, because his father could not afford to keep him there any longer. After combing wool for a short time, he went to sea with one of his relatives.
A sailor at fourteen, Columbus began to lead a very stirring and adventurous life. Genoa, his native city, was then often at war with other places, and battles were fought on the sea as well as on land. Besides, in going about from place to place, Genoese vessels were frequently overtaken by pirates; so mariners in those days had to know how to fight, as well as how to sail their vessels. Columbus, therefore, had more than one battle with these sea robbers, whose aim was to secure the goods on board his ship. Once he took part in a fight off Cape St. Vin´cent. Here, his vessel having caught fire, he and his crew sprang into the sea to escape the flames. By rare good fortune, Columbus managed to grasp a floating oar, and with this slight help he swam to the distant shore.
In the course of his many journeys Columbus visited all the principal СКАЧАТЬ