8
THE SEAS
.
of the world was soon to receive a great impetus, for from
1420 until his death in 1460,,. Prince Henry of Portugal,
known as the “ Navigator,”rdid all he could to encourage
maritime research and exploration.
During his life+ime
,
much of the coast of western Africa and the eastern parts
of the Atlantic were explored and charted, and his enthusi—
asm may he said to have prepared the way for the great
voyages
of exploration that were to follow.
In
1486
Bartholomew Diaz rounded the Cape of Good Hope and
thus opened up theconnection between the Atlantic and
“Indian
ocèans,
On
October
I2th,
1492,
Christopher
Columbus set‘ foot fon che island known by the natives
as
Guanahani, after having crossed the Atlantic ocean.
This island, which he named San Salvador, is generally
thought to be that now known :as Watling Island.—
For
many years after this, expeditioris sailed to the continent
of America,“ but it was still thought that this continent
was joined to the'most eastern lands then known, as was
considered to be the case in Ptolemy’s
In 1497
Vasco da Gama, r0unding theCape of Good Hope, reached
India for the rst time by sea.
But the nal link in the
chain of knowledge "of the great oceans was forged in
September, 1513, whenVasco Nunez de Balbao laid eyes upon
the Pacic ocean—, ._a mass of glittering waters that dispelled
;for ever the idea that India and America were joined by
'
land;
and
1520 Ferdinand Magellan sailed through
the straits that bear his name into the “ Great South Sea ”
that
Pacic, and although he himself never
_lived to "see the day-”one of his vessels at last reached Spain
.
in 1522, having circumnavigated the globe.
'
'
,
-
J
HISTORY OF
.
pause to
âîËche true meaning ofbceanogràÏäl‘iy:—' It' -isperhaps one
composite of sciences,