ANDERSON'S POPULAR SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. A READER AND A HISTORY IN ONE BOOK. SECTION I. DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. First America. 1. WHO first discovered America? This question has been discussed by many able writers, but no one thus far has so answered it as to carry conviction to the minds of all persons. It has been claimed by some of these writers that hundreds of years before the time of Columbus, Discovery of navigators from countries on the east and north of the Mediterranean sea sailed to the Atlantic ocean, and then were driven by tempests across the ocean to the continent beyond. Other writers have contended that the honor of the discovery belongs to Wales. Again, we have the tradition of Irishmen having found a beautiful country far to the west of their island, in which they lived for a long time. These are not the only claims that have been put forth; but, among them all, that which has the best evidence to sustain it is in behalf of the people called Scan-di-na'-vi-ans, who occupied the region comprising the countries of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. They were also called Northmen or Norsemen. 2. "The restless activity and adventurous spirit of the Scandinavians were not confined to the Baltic sea. They boldly roamed over the great northern and western oceans, without chart or compass, in quest of adventures and plun The Discoveries. der, or to find out new lands where they might Northmen's form settlements more or less permanent. Their navigators discovered many islands north of Scotland. At a very early period, a Norwegian sea-rover was driven by & storm quite to the Arctic Circle, until he descried a large country which, from its aspect, he called Snoe'-land, or the land of snow, but which has been since more appropriately named Iceland (861). 3. About a century after, Torwald, a jarl (petty king) of Norway, who had been exiled from his native land for having slain his enemy, retired to that island with his son Er'-ik, surnamed Randi, or the Red. After the death of his father, Erik was compelled to leave Iceland for the same reason which had banished Torwald from Norway. Seeking a new asylum, he took ship, and directed his course towards the south-west. He found a small island in a strait, and passed the winter there. In the spring he explored the main-land, and, finding it covered with a delightful verdure, he called it Greenland. 4. There was formerly, say the ancient sagas, a man of Norway who navigated from one country to another with his son Bjarne (byār'-ne), and generally spent the winters in Norway. It happened, once on a time, that they were separated from each other, and Bjarne sought his father in Norway, but not finding him there he learnt that he was gone to the newlydiscovered country of Greenland. Bjarne resolved to seek and find out his father wherever he might be, and for this purpose set sail for Greenland, directing himself by the observation of the stars and by what others had told him of the situation of the land. 5. The three first days he was carried to the west, but afterwards the wind, changing, blew with violence from the north, and drove him southwardly for several days. He at last descried a flat country covered with wood, the appearance of which was so different from that of Greenland, as it had been described to him, that he would not go on shore, but made sail to the north-west. In this course he saw an island at a distance, but continued his voyage, and arrived safely in Greenland, where he found his father (1001). 6. In the following summer, Bjarne made another voyage to Norway, where he was hospitably received by Erik, a dis 1002 The Northmen's Discoveries. 12 tinguished jarl of that country. The jarl, to whom he related his adventures, reproached him for not having explored the new land towards which he had been accidentally driven. Bjarne having returned to his father in Greenland, there was much talk among the settlers of pursuing his discovery. The restless, adventurous spirit of Leif (life), son of Erik the Red, was excited to emulate the fame his father had acquired by the discovery of Greenland. He purchased Bjarne's ship, and manned it with thirty-five men. Leif then requested his father to become the commander of the enterprise. Erik at first declined, on account of the increasing infirmities of his old age. He was, however, at last persuaded by his son to embark; but as he was going down to the vessel on horseback his horse stumbled, which Erik received as an evil omen for his undertaking. 'I do not believe,' said he, that it is given to me to discover any more lands, and here will I abide.' Erik returned to his house, and Leif set sail with his thirty-five companions, among whom was one of his father's servants, a native of the south-countries, named Tyrker (turʼ-ker), probably a German. 7. They first discovered what they supposed to be one of the countries seen by Bjarne, the coast of which was a flat, stony land, and the background crowned with lofty mountains covered with ice and snow. Pursuing their voyage further south, they now came to another coast, also flat, covered with thick wood, and the shores of white sand gradually sloping toward the sea. Here they cast anchor and made a landing. Pursuing their voyage with a north-east wind for two days and nights, they discovered a third land, the northern coast of which was sheltered by an island. Here they again landed, and found a country, not mountainous, but undulating and woody, and abounding with fruits and berries delicious to the taste. 8. From thence they re-embarked and made sail to the west to seek a harbor, which they at last found at the mouth of a river, where they were swept by the tide into the lake from which the river issued. They cast anchor, and pitched their tents at this spot, and found the river and lake full of the largest salmon they had ever seen. Finding the climate very temperate and the soil fruitful in pasturage, they determined to build huts and pass the winter here." 9. The spot selected, it is supposed, was in the latitude of Boston. "It happened one day. soon after their arrival, that Tyrker, the German, was missing, and as Leif set a great value upon the youth on account of his skill in various arts, he sent his followers in search of him in every direction. When they at last found him he began to speak to them in the German language, with many extravagant signs of joy. They at last made out to understand that he had found vines bearing wild grapes. He led them to the spot, and they brought to their chief a quantity of the grapes which they had gathered. Leif, thereupon, named the country Vinland." 10. The Northmen made settlements in Greenland, as they had previously done in Iceland; but these, after a period of more than a hundred years, perished; and when Columbus set Christopher sail on his eventful voyColumbus. age in 1492, they were entirely forgotten. It is safe to say that Columbus had no knowledge then, or afterward, of a second continent, nor is there any evidence that he even supposed there was a second. His object was to find a short way to the rich country in the south-eastern part of Asia, and the islands near to it, called India, or the Indies. 11. A Venetian traveler, named Marco Polo,1 as well as other CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 1 The first and most extensive traveller among the Eastern nations was Marco Polo, who passed seventeen years in the service of the Khan of Tartary, during which he visited the chief countries and cities of Eastern Idea and Plan of Columbus. 19 travelers, had been to India, and brought back to Europe exciting accounts of the riches to be found there. A considerable commerce was consequently carried on by IndiaVenice and other cities of Italy with that coun- the route to it. try; but the journey was long and dangerous. Vessels sailed through the Mediterranean to the north-east part of Africa, where they were unladen, and the goods were carried on the backs of camels across the isthmus of Suez, and thence again by ship down the Red sea and through the Indian ocean to India. Sometimes the goods were carried overland through Asia. Desiring to share in this profitable trade, the people of Portugal, encouraged and aided by their king, endeavored to find a passage to India-one entirely by waterby sailing along the west coast of Africa, and around its southern point.1 12. The plan formed by Columbus was very different. Believing the earth to be round, he concluded that the shortest way to India was across the Atlantic ocean. It is plain that while he had a correct idea as to the shape Idea and of the earth, he was mistaken as to its size. plan of Columbus Various discouragements, too, beset him, but nothing could shake his determination. Being too poor to fit out an expedition at his own expense he applied for aid, it is asserted, to his native country, Genoa (jen'-o-ah); then to Portugal. In both cases he was unsuccessful. He then turned to Spain, Asia, among them Japan, the existence of which was not previously known. He returned to Venice in 1295; and subsequently a very interesting account of his travels was published, which had a wonderful effect in encouraging geographical research. 164 The crown of Portugal was constant in its efforts, through the fifteenth century, to find a passage round the southern point of Africa into the Indian Ocean, though so timid was the navigation that every fresh headland became a formidable barrier; and it was not till the latter part of the century that the adventurous Diaz passed quite round the Stormy cape, as he termed it, but which John the Second (King of Portugal), with happier augury, called the cape of Good Hope. But before Vasco de Gama had availed himself of this discovery to spread his sails in the Indian seas (1497), Spain entered on her glorious career, and sent Colum bus across the western waters."-Prescott's Conquest of Peru. |