INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY BOURNE AND BENTON .E¥iSEI> AMD EHLAHffl^l> Class Book Brjl. Copyright )J° JO 77 COP^'RIGHT DEPOSm INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY BY HENRY ELDRIDGE BOURNE )- AND ELBERT JAY BENTON PROFESSORS OF HISTORY IN WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY D. C. HEATH AND COMPANY BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO -1577 BY BOURNE AND BENTON INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY Presents the course recommended for the sixth grade by the Committee of Eight of the American Historical Association. Cloth. 271 pages. Maps and illustrations. HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES Gives prominence to the life and industries of the people, and to the development of the nation. Cloth. 598 pages. Maps and illustrations. D. 0. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS Copyright, 19 12, 19 16 BY D. C. Heath & Company I c 6 APR 19 1916 ©CU428589 *Vv^ i lO - INTRODUCTION This volume is the introductory part of a course in American history embodying the plan of study recommended by the Com- mittee of Eight of the American Historical Association.^ The plan calls for a continuous course running through grades six, seven, and eight. The events which have taken place within the limits of what is now the United States must necessarily furnish the most of the content of the lessons. But the Com- mittee urge that enough other matter, of an introductory character, be included to teach boys and girls of from twelve to fourteen years of age that our civilization had its beginnings far back in the history of the Old World. Such introductory study will enable them to think of our country in its true historical setting. The Committee recommend that about two-thirds of one year's work be devoted to this preliminary matter, and that the remainder of the year be given to the period of discovery and exploration. The plan of the Committee of Eight emphasizes three or four lines of development in the world's history leading up to American history proper. First, there was a movement of conquest or colonization by which the ancient civilized world, originally made up of communities like the Greeks and Phoenicians in the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean Seas, spread to southern Italy and adjacent lands. The Roman conquest of Italy and of the barbarian tribes of western Europe expanded the civiUzed world to the shores of the Atlantic. Within this greater Roman world new nations grew up. The migration of Europeans to the American continent was the final step. *The Study of History in Elementary Schools. Scribner's, 1909. iii iv INTRODUCTION Second, accompanying the growth of the civihzed world in extent was a growth of knowledge of the shape of the earth, or of what we call geography. Columbus was a geographer as well as the herald of an expanding world. A third process was the creation and transmission of all that we mean by civilization. Here, as the Committee remark, the effort should be to ''show, in a very simple way, the civiliza- tion which formed the heritage of those who were to go to America, that is, to explain what America started with." The Committee also suggest that it is necessary "to associate the three or four peoples of Europe which were to have a share in American colonization with enough of their characteristic incidents to give the child some feeling for the name ' England, ' 'Spain,' 'Holland,' and 'France.'" No attempt is made in this book to give a connected history of Greece, Rome, England, or any other country of Europe. Such an attempt would be utterly destructive of the plan. Only those features of early civilization and those incidents of history have been selected which appear to have a vital relation to the subsequent fortunes of mankind in America as well as in Europe. They are treated in all cases as introductory. Opinions may differ upon the question of what topics best illustrate the relation. The Committee leaves a wide margin of opportunity for the exercise of judgment in selection. In the use of a textbook based on the plan the teacher should use the same liberty of selection. For example, we have chosen the story of Marathon to illustrate the idea of the heroic memories of Greece. Others may prefer Thermopylae, because this story seems to possess a simpler dramatic development. In the same way teachers may desire to give more emphasis to certain phases of ancient or mediaeval civilization or certain heroic persons treated very briefly in this book. Exercises similar to those inserted at the end of each chapter offer means of supplementing work provided in the text. The story of American discovery and exploration in the plan INTRODUCTION v of the Committee of Eight follows the introductory matter as a natural culmination. In our textbook we have adhered to the same plan of division. The work of the seventh grade will, therefore, open with the study of the first permanent English settlements. The discoveries and explorations are told in more detail than most of the earher incidents, but whatever is referred to is treated, we hope, with such simplicity and definiteness of statement that it will be comprehensible and instructive to pupils of the sixth grade. At the close of the book will be found a list of references. From this teachers may draw a rich variety of stories and descriptions to illustrate any features of the subject which especially interest their classes. In the index is given the pronunciation of difficult names. We wish to express gratitude to those who have aided us with wise advice and criticism. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. The Scattered Children of Europe 1 II. Our Earliest Teachers 7 III. How the Greeks Lived 18 IV. Greek Emigrants or Colonists 31 V. New Rivals of the Greeks 40 VI. The Mediterranean a Roman Lake 49 VII. The Ancient World Extended to the Shores of the Atlantic 58 VIII. The Civilization of the Roman World .... 69 IX. Christianity and the Roman Empire 80 X. Emigrants a Thousand Years Ago 86 XL How Englishmen Learned to Govern Themselves . 100 XII. The Civilization of the Middle Ages 110 XIII. Traders, Travelers, and Explorers in the Later Middle Ages 132 XIV. The Discovery of a New World 146 XV. Others Help in the Discovery of the New World . 159 XVI. Early Spanish Explorers and Conquerors of the Mainland . . . 170 XVII. The Spanish Explorers of North America . . . 185 XVIII. Rivalry and Strife in Europe 204 XIX. First French Attempts to Settle America. . . . 216 XX. The English and the Dutch Triumph Over Spain . 226 XXI. The English People Attempt to Settle America . 240 XXII. Explorers of North America 253 XXIII. From the Old Home to the New 279 XXIV. Story of Invention and Discovery 305 References for Teachers 339 Index and Pronouncing Vocabulary 345 vii INTEODUCTOEY AMEEICAN HISTOEY CHAPTER I THE SCATTERED CHILDREN OF EUROPE The Emigrant and what he brings to America. The emigrant who lands at New York, Boston, Philadel- phia, or any other seaport-, brings with him something which we do not see. He may have in his hands only a small bundle of clothing and enough money to pay his railroad fare to his new home, but he is carrying another kind of baggage more valuable than bundles or boxes or a pocket full of silver or gold. This other baggage is the knowledge, the customs, and the mem- ories he has brought from the fatherland. He has already learned in Europe how to do the work at which he hopes to labor in America. In his native land he has been taught to obey the laws and to do his duty as a citizen. This fits him to share in our seK- government. He also brings great memories, for he likes to think of the brave and noble deeds done by men of his race. If he is a religious man, he worships God just as his forefathers have for hundreds of years. To understand how the emigrant happens to know what he does and to be what he is, we must study the history of the country from which he comes. 1 2 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY All Americans are Emigrants. If this is true of the newcomer, it is equally true of the rest of us, for we are all emigrants. The Indians are the only native Ameri- cans, and when we find out more about them we may learn that they, too, are emigrants. If we follow the history of our families far enough back, we shall come upon the names of our forefathers who sailed from Europe. They may have come to America in the early days when there were only a few settlements scattered along our Atlantic coast, or they may have come since the Revolutionary War changed the English colonies into the United States. Like the Canadians, the South Americans, and the AustraHans, we are simply Europeans who have moved away. The story of the Europe in which our fore- fathers lived is, therefore, part of our story. In order to understand our own history we must know something of the history of England, France, Germany, Italy, and other European lands. What the early Emigrants brought. If we read the story of our forefathers before they left Europe, we shall find answers to several important questions. Why, we ask, did Columbus seek for new lands or for new ways to lands already known? How did the people of Europe live at the time he discovered America? What did they know how to do? Were they skilful in all sorts of work, or were they as rude and ignorant as the Indians on the western shores of the Atlantic? The answers which history will give to these ques- tions will say that the first emigrants who landed on our THE SCATTERED CHILDREN OF EUROPE 3 shores brought with them much of the same knowledge and many of the same customs and memories which emigrants bring nowadays and which we also have. It is true that since the time the first settlers came men have found out how to make many new things. The most important of these are the steam-engine, the elec- tric motor, the telegraph, and the telephone. But it is t^*''-*^ A Modern Steamship and an Early Sailing Vessel The early emigrants came in small sailing vessels and suffered great hardships surprising how many important things, which we still use, were made before Columbus saw America. For one thing, men knew how to print books. This art had been discovered during the boyhood of Colum- bus. Another thing, men could make guns, while the Indians had only bows and arrows. The ships in which Columbus sailed across the ocean seemed very large and wonderful to the Indians, who used canoes. The ships were steered with the help of a compass, an instru- ment which the Indians had never seen. 4 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY Some of the things which the early emigrants knew had been known hundreds or thousands of years before. One of the oldest was the art of writing. The way to write words or sounds was found out so long ago that we shall never know the name of the man who first dis- covered it. The historians tell us he lived in Egypt, which was in northern Africa, exactly where Egypt is now. Some men were afraid that the new art might Cleopatra Egyptian Phonetic Writing do more harm than good. The king to whom the secret was told thought that the children would be un- wilHng to work hard and try to remember because every- thing could be written down and they would not need to use their memories. The Egyptians at first used pictures to put their words upon rocks or paper, and even after they made several letters of the alphabet their writing seemed Uke a mixture of little pictures and queer marks. Old and New Inventions. Those who first discover how to make things are called inventors, and what they make are called inventions. Now if we should write out a list of the most useful inventions, we could place in one column the inventions which were made before the days of Columbus and in another those which have been made since. With this list before us we may ask THE SCATTERED CHILDREN OF EUROPE 5< 7 xn At f rp S6 A E P R S Growth of Letters of THE Alphabet which inventions we could hve without and which we could not spare unless we were wilUng to become like the savages. We should find that a ^ large number of the inventions which we use every day belong to the set of things older than Columbus. This is another rea- son why, if we wish to under- stand our ways of living and working, we must ask about the history of the countries where our forefathers lived. It is the beginning of our own history. A Plan of Study. The discovery of America was made in 1492, at the beginning of what we call Modern Times. Before Modern Times were the Middle Ages, lasting about a thousand years. These began three or four hundred years after the time of Christ or what we call the beginning of the Christian Era. All the events that took place earlier we say happened in Ancient Times. Much that we know was learned first by the Greeks or Romans who lived in Ancient Times. It is in the Middle Ages that we first hear of peoples called EngUshmen, Frenchmen, Germans, Dutchmen, Italians, Spaniards, and many others now living in Great Britain and on the Continent of Europe. We shall learn first of the Greeks and Romans and of what they knew and succeeded in doing, and then shall find out how these things were learned by the peoples of the Middle Ages and what they added to them. This will help us 6 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY to find out what our forefathers started with when they came to hve in America. QUESTIONS 1. What does the emigrant from Europe bring to America besides his baggage? 2. Why are all Americans emigrants? 3. What did the earliest emigrants from Em^ope to America bring with them? 4. Which do you think the more useful invention — the telephone or the art of writing? Who invented this art? Find Egypt on the map. How did Egyptian writing look? 5. Why was it a help to Columbus that gunpowder and guns were invented before he discovered America? 6. When did the Christian Era begin? What is meant by Ancient Times? By the Middle Ages? By Modern Times? In what Times was the art of writing invented? In what Times was the compass invented? In what Times was the telephone invented? EXERCISES 1. Collect from illustrated papers, magazines, or advertising folders, pictures of ocean steamships. Collect pictures of sailing ships, ships used now and those used long ago. 2. Collect from persons who have recently come to this country stories of how they traveled from Europe to America, and from ports like Boston, New York, and Philadelphia to where they now hve. 3. Let each boy and girl in the schoolroom point out on the map the European country from which his parents or his grandparents or his forefathers came. 4. Let each boy and girl make a list of the holidays which his fore- fathers had in the ''fatherland" or ''mother country." Let each find out the manner in which the holidays were kept. Let each tell the most interesting hero story from among the stories of the mother country or fatherland. Let each find out whether the tools used in the old home were like the tools his parents use here. CHAPTER II OUR EARLIEST TEACHERS Ancient Cities that still exist. In Ancient Times the most important peoples lived on the shores of the Mediterranean. The northern shore turns and twists around four peninsulas. The first is Spain, which sep- arates the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean; the second, shaped like a boot, is Italy; and the third, the end of which looks like a mulberry leaf, is Greece. Beyond Greece is Asia Minor, the part of Asia which Ues between the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea. (See the map on page 33.) The Itahans now live in Italy, but the * Romans Uved there in Ancient Times. The people who Uve in Greece are called Greeks, just as they were more than two thousand years ago. Many of the cities that the Greeks and Romans built are still stand- ing. Alexandria was founded by the great conqueror Alexander. Constantinople used to be the Greek city of Byzantium. Another Greek city, Massiha, has become the modern French city of Marseilles. Rome had the same name in Ancient Times, except that it was spelled Roma. The Romans called Paris by the name of Lutetia, and London they called Lugdunum. Ruins which show how the Ancients lived. In many of these cities are ancient buildings or ruins of build- 7 8 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY ings, bits of carving, vases, mosaics, sometimes even wall paintings, which we may see and from which we may learn how the Greeks and Romans lived. Near Naples are the ruins of Pompeii, a Roman city suddenly destroyed during an eruption of the volcano Vesuvius. For hundreds of years the city lay buried under fif- teen or twenty feet of ashes. When these were taken away, the old streets and the walls of the houses could be seen. No roofs were left and the walls in many places were only partly standing, but things which in other ancient cities had entirely disappeared were kept safe in Pompeii under the volcanic ashes. The traveler who walks to-day along the ruined streets can see how its inhabitants lived two thousand years ago. He can visit their public buildings and their private houses, can handle their dishes and can look at the paintings on their walls or the mosaics in the floors. But interesting as Pompeii is, we must not think that its ruins teach us more than the ruins of Rome or Athens or many other ancient cities. Each has something im- portant to tell us of the people who lived long ago. Ancient Words still in Use. The ancient Greeks and Rom^ans have left us some things more useful than the ruins of their buildings. These are the words in our language which once were theirs, and which we use with slight changes in spelling. Most of our words came in the beginning from Germany, where our English fore- fathers lived before they settled in England. To the words they took over from Germany they added words borrowed from other peoples, just as we do now. We OUR EARLIEST TEACHERS 9 have recently borrowed several words from the French, such as tonneau and limousine, words used to describe parts of an automobile, besides the name automobile itself, which is made up of a Latin and a Greek word. Ruins of a House at Pompeii The houses of the better sort were built with an open court in the center In this way, for hundreds of years, words have been coming into our language from other languages. Sev- eral thousand have come from Latin, the language of the Romans; several hundred from Greek, either directly or passed on to us by the Romans or the French. The word school is Greek, and the word arithmetic was bor- rowed from the French, who took it from the Greeks. Geography is another word which came, through French and Latin, from the Greeks, to whom it meant that which 10 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY is written about the earth. The word grammar came in the same way. The word alphabet is made by join- ing together the names of the first two Greek letters, alpha and beta. Many words about religion are borrowed from the Greeks, and this is not strange, for the New Testa- ment was written in Greek. Some of these are Bible, church, bishop, choir, angel, devil, apostle, and martyr. The Greeks have handed down to us many words about government, including the word itself, which in the beginning meant '' to steer." Pohtics meant hav- ing to do with a polis or city. Several of the words most recently made up of Greek words are telegraph, telephone, phonograph, and thermometer. Many Words borrowed from the Romans. Nearly ten times as many of our words are borrowed from the Romans as from the Greeks, and it is not strange, because at one time the Romans ruled over all the country now occupied by the Italians, the French, the Spaniards, a part of the Germans, and the English, so that these peoples naturally learned the words used by their conquerors and governors. Interesting Ancient Stories. In the poems and tales which we learn at home or at school are stories which Greek and Roman parents and teachers taught their children many hundred years ago. We learn them partly because they are interesting, and because they please or amuse us, and partly because they appear so often in our books that it is necessary to know them if we would understand our own books and language. Who has not OUR EARLIEST TEACHERS 11 heard of Hercules and his Labors, of the Search for the Golden Fleece, the Siege of Troy, or the Wanderings of Ulysses? We love modern fairy stories and tales of adventure, but they are not more pleasing than these ancient stories. The Story of the Greeks. Our language and our books are full of memories of Greek and Roman deeds of cour- The Plain of Marathon age. The story of the Greeks comes before the story of the Romans, for the Greeks were living in beautiful cities, with temples and theaters, while the Romans were still an almost unknown people dwelhng on the hills that border the river Tiber. Memories of Greek Courage. The most heroic deeds of the Greeks took place in a great war between the Greek cities and the kingdom of Persia about five hundred years before Christ. In those days there was no kingdom called Greece, such as the geographies now describe. 12 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY Instead there were cities, a few of which were ruled by kings, others by the citizens themselves. These cities banded together when any danger threatened them. Sometimes one city turned traitor and helped the enemy against the others. The most dangerous enemy the Greeks had, until the Romans attacked them, was the kingdom of Persia, which stretched from the Aegean Sea far into Asia. In the war with the Persians the Greeks fought three famous battles, at Marathon, Ther- mopylae, and Salamis, the stories of which men have always liked to hear and remember. Preparing for Marathon, 490 B.C. To the Athenians belong the glories of Marathon. They lived where the modern city of Athens now stands. The ruins of their temples and theaters still attract students and travel- ers to Greece. The plain of Marathon lay more than twenty miles to the northeast, and the roads to it led through mountain passes. When the Athenians heard that the hosts of the Great King of Persia were approach- ing, they sent a runner, Pheidippides by name, to ask aid of Sparta, a city one hundred and forty miles away, in the peninsula now called the Morea, where dwelt the sturdiest fighters of Greece. This runner reached Sparta on the second day, but the Spartans said it would be against their religious custom to march before the moon was full. The Athenians saw that they must meet the enemy alone — one small city against a mighty empire. They called their ten thousand men together and set out. On the way they were joined by a thousand more, the whole army of the brave little town of Plataea. OUR EARLIEST TEACHERS 13 How the Athenians were Armed. Although the Per- sians had six times as many soldiers as the Athenians, they were not so well armed for hand to hand fighting. Their principal weapon was the bow and arrow, while the Greeks used the lance and a short sword. The Greek soldier was protected by his bronze helmet, solid across the forehead and over the nose; by his breastplate, a leathern or linen tunic covered with small metal scales, Greek Soldiers in Arms From a Greek vase of about the time of the battle of Marathon with flaps hanging below his hips; and by greaves or pieces of metal in front of his knees and shins. He was also protected by a shield, often long enough to reach from his face to his knees. According to a strange custom the Athenians were led by ten generals, each commanding one day in turn. The Battle-ground. Marathon was a plain about two miles wdde, lying between the mountains and the sea. From it two roads ran toward Athens, one along the shore where the hills almost reached the sea, the other up a narrow valley and over the mountains. The Athenians were encamped in this valley, where they 14 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY could attack the Persians if they tried to follow the shore road. The Persians landed from their ships and filled the plain near the shore. They wanted to fight in the open plain because they had so many more sol- diers than the Athenians and because they meant to use their horsemen. For some time the Athenians watched the Persians, not knowing what it was best to do. Half the generals did not wish to risk a battle, but Miltiades was eager to fight, for he feared that delay would lead timid citizens or traitors to yield to the Persians. He finally gained his wish, and on his day of command the battle was ordered. The Battle. The Persians by this time had decided to sail around to the harbor of Athens and had taken their horsemen on board their ships. When they saw the Greeks coming they drew up their foot-soldiers in deep masses. The Athenians and their comrades — • the Plataeans — soon began to move forward on the run. The Persians thought this madness, because the Greeks had no archers or horsemen. But the Greeks saw that if they moved forward slowly the Persians would have time to shoot arrows at them again and again. When the Greeks rushed upon the Persians the sol- diers at the two ends of the Persian line gave way and fled towards the shore. In the center, where the best Persian soldiers stood, the Greeks were not at first successful, and were forced to retreat. But those who had been victorious came to their rescue, attacked the OUR EARLIEST TEACHERS 15 Persians in the rear, and finally drove them off. The Persians ran into the sea to reach the ships, and the Athenians followed them. Some of the Greeks were so eager in the fight that they seized the sides of the ships and tried to keep them from being rowed away, but the Persians cut at thek hands and made them let go. The News of the Victory. The Athenians had won a The Straits of Salamis Where a great sea-fight between Greeks and Persians took place victory of which they were so proud that they meant it never should be forgotten. Their city had suddenly become great through the courage and self-sacrifice of her citizens. One hundred and ninety-two Greeks had fallen, and on the battle-field their comrades raised over their bodies a mound of earth which still marks their tomb. The victors sent the runner Pheidippides to bear the news to Athens. Over the hills he ran until he reached the market place, and there, with the message of triumph on his lips, he fell dead. 16 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY Other Victories of the Greeks. Marathon was only the beginning of Greek victories over the Persians, only the first struggle in the long wars between Europe and Asia. Ten years after Marathon the Spartans won everlasting glory by their heroic stand at the Pass of Thermopylae — three hundred Greeks against the mighty army of the Persian king Xerxes. The barbarian hordes passed over their bodies, took the road to Athens, burned the city, but were soon beaten in the sea-fight which took place on the waters lying between the mainland of Athenian territory and the island of Salamis. This victory was also due to Athenian courage and leader- ship, for the Athenians and their leader, Themistocles, were resolved to stay and fight, although the other Greeks wanted to sail away. Why Marathon is remembered. The victories of Marathon and Salamis were great not only because small armies of Greeks put to flight the hosts of Persia, they were great because they saved the independence of Greece. If the Greeks had become the subjects and slaves of Persia, they would not have built the wonderful buildings, or carved the beautiful statues, or written the books which we study and admire. When we think of the Greeks as our first teachers we feel as proud of their victories as if they were our own victories. The Wars of the Greek Cities. The Athenians had done the most in winning the victory over the Persians, and therefore Athens was for many years the most powerful city in Greece. The Spartans were always jealous of the Athenians, and in less than a century after OUR EARLIEST TEACHERS 17 the victory of Marathon they conquered and humbled Athens. The worst faults of the Greeks were such jeal- ousies and the desire to lord it over one another. Greek history is full of wars of city against city, Sparta against Athens, Corinth against Athens, and Thebes against Sparta. In these wars many heroic deeds were done, of which we like to read, but it is more important for us to understand how the Greeks lived. QUESTIONS 1. What ancient cities still exist? Find them on the map on page 33. (For each difficult name find the pronunciation in the index.) 2. What things do we find in the ruins of ancient cities which tell us how the people hved? 3. From what country did most of our words come in the begin- ning? Why are they now called Enghsh? What peoples used the word geography before we did? About how many words do we get from the Greeks, and how many from the Romans? 4. Which people became famous earher, the Greeks or the Romans? Point out on the map the peninsula where each hyed. 5. Why do we like to remember the brave deeds of the Greeks? 6. Find the city of Athens on the map, page 33. Find Sparta. Where was Marathon? What city won glory at Marathon? 7. What were the worst faults of the Greeks? EXERCISES 1. Collect pictures of ruined cities in Italy, Greece, and Asia Minor, from illustrated papers, magazines, or advertising folders. Collect postal cards giving such pictures. 2. Choose the best one of the Greek stories mentioned on page 11, and tell it. 3. Find out how differently soldiers now are clothed and armed from the way the Greek soldiers were. 4. Find out why a long distance run is now called a "Marathon." CHAPTER III HOW THE GREEKS LIVED The Greek Cities. The Greeks lived in cities so much of the time that we do not often think of them as ever hving in the country. The reason for this was that their government and everything else important was carried on in the city. The cities were usually sur- rounded by high, thick stone walls, which made them safe from sudden attack. Within or beside the city there was often a lofty hill, which we should call a fort or citadel, but which they called the upper city or acrop- olis. There the people lived at first when they were few in number, and thither they fled if the walls of their city were broken down by enemies. In Athens such a hill rose two hundred feet above the plain. Its top was a thousand feet long, and all the sides except one were steep cliffs. On it the Athenians built their most beautiful temples. Private Houses. UnUke people nowadays the Greeks did not spend much money on their dwelhng-houses. To us these houses would seem small, badly ventilated, and very uncomfortable. But what their houses lacked was more than made up by the beauty and splendor of the public buildings, halls, theaters, porticoes, and especially the temples. IS HOW THE GREEKS LIVED 19 I Temples. The temples were not intended to hold hundreds of worshipers like the large churches of Europe and America to-day. Religious ceremonies were most often carried on in the open air. The Parthenon, the most famous temple of Ancient Times, was small. Its principal room measured less than one hundred feet in The Acropolis at Athens as it is To-day length. Part of this room was used for an altar and for the ivory and gold statue of the goddess Athena. The Parthenon. In a picture of the Parthenon, or of a similar temple, we notice the columns in front and along the sides. The Parthenon had eight at each end and seventeen on each side. They were thirty-four feet high. A few feet within the columns on the sides was the wall of the temple. Before the vestibule and entrances at the front and at the rear stood six more columns. The beauty of the marble from which stones and columns 20 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY were cut might have seemed enough, but the builders carved groups of figures in the three-cornered space (called the pediment) in front between the roof and the stones resting upon the columns. The upper rows of stones beneath the roof and above the columns were also carved, and continuous carvings (called a frieze) ran The Top of the Acropolis 2000 Years Ago The Parthenon is the large temple on the right around the top of the temple wall on the outside. The temple was not left a glistening white, but parts of it were painted in blue, or red, or gilt, or orange. Other Greek Temples. This beautiful temple is now partly ruined. Ruins of other temples are on the Acrop- olis, and one better preserved, called the Theseum, stands on a lower hill. There are also similar ruins in many places along the shores of the Mediterranean. The most interesting are at Paestum in Italy (see the picture on page 35), and at Girgenti in Sicily. Long before HOW THE GREEKS LIVED 21 these temples were ruined they had taught the Romans how to construct one of the most beautiful kinds of buildings, and this the Romans later taught the peoples of western Europe. Greek Methods of Building still used. If we look at our large buildings, we shall see much to remind us of the Greek buildings. Sometimes the exact form of Doric Ionic Corinthian Greek Orders of Architecture the Greek building is imitated; sometimes this form is changed as the Romans changed it, or as it was changed by builders who lived after the time of the Romans. If the model of the whole building is not used, there are similar pillars, or gables, or the sculpture in the pediment and the frieze is imitated. The Greeks had three kinds of pillars, named Doric, Ionic, and Corin- thian. The Doric is simple and solid, the Ionic shows in its capital, or top, delicate and beautiful curves, while 22 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY the Corinthian is adorned with leaves springing grace- fully from the top of the pillar. Theaters. The first Greek theater was only a smooth open space near a hillside, with a tent, called a skene, or scene, in which the actors dressed. Later an amphi- theater of stone seats was constructed on the hillside, Ruins of the Greek Theater at Epidaurus and across the open end was placed the scene, which had been changed into a stone building. On its front sometimes a house or a palace was painted, just as nowa- days theaters are furnished with painted scenery. In these open-air theaters thousands of people gathered. Plays were generally given as a part of religious festi- vals, and there were contests between writers to see which could produce the best play. Sometimes the plays fol- HOW THE GREEKS LIVED 23 lowed one another for three days from morning until night. Many of them are so interesting that people still read them, after twenty-five hundred years. The Romans studied them, and so do modern men who are preparing themselves to write plays. The Stadium. A building which somewhat resembled the theater was the stadium, where races were run. The Modern Stadium at Athens The difference was that it was oblong instead of half round. The most famous stadium, at Olympia, was seven hundred and two feet long, with raised seats on both sides and around one end of the running track. The other end was open. About fifty thousand persons used to gather there to watch the races. Porticoes. There were other buildings, some for meeting places, some for gymnasiums, and still others called porticoes, where the judges held court or the 24 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY city officers carried on their business. The porticoes were simply rows of columns, roofed over, with occa- sionally a second story. As they stretched along the sides of a square or market place they added much to the beauty of a city. Greek Sculpture. We know that the Greeks were skilful sculptors because from the ruins of their cities have been dug wonderful mar- ble and bronze statues which are now preserved in the great museums of the world, in Paris, London, Berlin, and Rome, and here in America, in New York and Boston. Museums which cannot have the original statues usually contain copies or casts of them in plaster. The statues are generally marred and broken, but enough remains to show us the wonderful beauty of the artist's work. Among the most famous are the Venus of Melos (or ''de Milo"), which stands in a special room in a museum called the Louvre in Paris; the Hermes in the museum of Olympia in Greece; and the figures from the Parthenon in the British Museum in London. Artists nowadays, like the Roman artists long ago, study the Greek statues and the Greek sculpture, in The Discus-thrower (DiSCOBOLOS) An ancient Greek statue now in the Vatican HOW THE GREEKS LIVED 25 eyOD N A klQMA ' order that they may learn how such beautiful things can be made. They do not hope to excel the Greeks, but are content to remain their pupils. Painting and Pottery. The Greeks were also paint- ers, makers of pottery, and workers in gold and silver. Many pieces of their workmanship have been discov- ered by those who have dug in the ruins of ancient buildings and tombs. What the Boys were taught. The Greek boys were not very good at arithmetic, and even grown men used counting boards or their fingers to help them in reckoning. In learn- ing to write they smeared a thin layer of wax over a board and marked on that. There was a kind of paper called papyrus, made from a reed which grew mostly in Egypt, but this was expensive. Rolls were made of sheets of it pasted together, and these were their books. One of the books the boys studied much was the poems of Homer — the Ihad and the Odyssey — which tell about the siege of Troy and the wanderings of Ulysses. Boys often learned these long poems by heart. They also stored away in their mem- ories the sayings of other poets and wise men, so that they could generally know what to think, having with them so many good and wise thoughts put in such excellent words. A Greek Book The upper picture shows the book open 26 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY Games and Exercises for Boys. It is not surprising that Greek boys knew how to play, but it is surprising that they played many of the games which boys play now, such as hide-and-seek, tug of war, ducks and drakes, and bUnd man's buff. They even " pitched pennies." In school the boys were taught not only to read and write, but to be skilful athletes, and to play on the lyre, accompanying this with singing. The gymnasium was often an open space near a stream into which they could plunge after their exercises were over. They were taught to box, to wrestle, to throw the discus, and to hurl the spear. Military training was important for them, since all might be called to fight for the safety of their city. The Olympic Games. Boys and young men were trained as runners, wrestlers, boxers, and discus throwers, not only because they enjoyed these exercises and the Greeks thought them an important part of education, but also that they might bring back honors and prizes to their city from the great games which all the Greeks held every few years. The most famous of these games were held at Olympia. There the Greeks went from all parts of the country, carrying their tents and cooking utensils with them, because there were not enough houses in Olympia to hold so many people. Wars even were stopped for a time in order that the games might not be postponed. The Rewards of the Victors. The principal contest was a dash for two hundred 3^ards, although there were longer races and many other kinds of contests. Unfor- tunately the Greeks liked to see the most brutal sort of HOW THE GREEKS LIVED 27 boxing, in which the boxer's hands and arms were cov- ered with heavy strips of leather stiffened with pieces of iron or lead. For the games men trained ten months, part of the time at Olympia. The prize was a crown of wild olive, and the winner returned in triumph to his city, where poets sang his praises, a special seat at pub- lic games was reserved for him, and often artists were employed to make a bronze statue of him to be set up in Olympia or in his own city. Greek Games — Running From an antique vase The Government of Athens. The citizen of Athens, and of other Greek cities, had more to do with his govern- ment than do most Americans with theirs. As nearly all work was done by slaves, he had plenty of time to attend meetings. All the citizens could attend the great assembly, or ecclesia, where six thousand at least must be present before anything could be decided. By this assembly foreigners might be admitted to citizenship or citizens might be expelled, or ostracized, from Athens as hurtful to its welfare. 28 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY f^^%^/^ jYjt . B CI/ F i KA I TO I ^t ja\o 1 ArA-^ / kr-PP YTANE YENE OK, , Vb\ il.E^t/^f A/V.MATEYEAAMOAE' F'l illEP EA i^^€^AOENAA^TE ^-Hl '<'* E ^-7 P E Hf i^-^< O N T A \ .P A ^^ /A^^^S £p^r p/\^^4^ f'A^ EriTH \Cin,: ; A i I K A A il K P BT A < I T NO MHNO^,TI-l I I nS\ A Decree of the Council — about 450 b.c. There was a smaller council of five hundred which de- cided less important questions without laying them before the general assembly. This body was chosen by lot just as our juries are, but members of the council -«te^___-,=^ - whose term had ^' ^^^^^''''' A ended had a right to object to any new member as an unworthy citi- zen. A tenth of the council ruled for a tenth of the year, and they chose their presi- dent by lot every day, so that any worthy man at Athens had a chance to be president for a day and a night. Many citizens also served in the courts, for there were six thousand judges, and in deciding important cases as many as a thousand and one, or even fifteen hundred and one, took part. Before such large courts and assemblies it was necessary to be a good speaker to be able to win a case or persuade the citizens. Some of the greatest orators of the world were Athenians, the best known being Demosthenes. Socrates. The Athenians were not always just, although so many of them acted as judges. One court, composed of five hundred and one judges, condemned to death Socrates, the wisest man of the Greeks and one of the wisest in the world. He did not make speeches, HOW THE GREEKS LIVED 29 or write books, or teach in school. He went about, in the market place, at the gymnasium, and on the streets, asking men, young and old, questions about what inter- ested him most, that is. What is the true way to live? If people did not give him an answer which seemed good, he asked more ques- tions, until sometimes they went away angry. Many of them thought because he asked questions about every- thing that he did not be- lieve in anything, not even in the religion of his city. The Death of Socrates, 399 B.C. After a while the enemies of Socrates accused him of being a wicked man who persuaded young men to be wicked. He was tried by an Athenian court, which made the terrible blunder of finding him guilty and condemning him to death. According to the Athenian custom he was obhged to drink a cup of poisonous hemlock. This he did, after talking to his friends cheerily about how a good man should live. As he wrote no books we have learned about him from his friends. The most famous of these was Plato, who is also counted among the wisest men that ever lived. The story of the lives of these men is another gift which the Greeks made to all who were to live after them, and it Socrates After the marble bust in the Vatican 30 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY is quite as valuable as are the ways of building, artistic skill, or great poems and plays. QUESTIONS 1. Why do we wish to know how the Greeks hved? 2. What was an Acropohs? How does the Acropolis at Athens look? 3. On the picture of the Parthenon point out the pediment. Show where the frieze was placed. Find on a map (page 33) Paestum. 4. What did the Greeks first mean by a scene? Why do we still study Greek plays? What is left of the Greek theaters? 5. What was a stadium, a portico, a gymnasium? Do we have such buildings? 6. How do we know that the Greeks made beautiful statues? 7. What games for Greek boys were like our games? Tell about the great public games of the Greeks. 8. How were the Greek rolls or books made? 9. Tell the story of Socrates. EXERCISES 1. Are there any buildings in your town which are like Greek buildings? 2. Find in your town Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian columns. 3. Get from a wall-paper dealer a sample of a frieze for a papered room. 4. What is the difference between the government of Athens and the government of your town? 5. What is the difference between the courts at Athens and the courts in your town? 6. Are Olympic games held now? Where? 7. Which prizes would you prefer, the prizes given to winners at Greek games or the prizes gi^ en to winners in our athletic games? CHAPTER IV GREEK EMIGRANTS OR COLONISTS When the Atlantic was unknown. One of the most important things done by the men of Ancient Times was to explore the coasts and lands of Europe and to make settlements wherever they went. At first they EUROPE Map of the World as described by the Greek Historian Herodotus knew little of the western and northern parts of Europe. Herodotus, a Greek whom we call the ''Father of His- tory," and w^ho w^as a great traveler, said, ''Though I have taken vast pains, I have never been able to get an assurance from any eye-witness that there is any sea on the further side of Europe." By the "further side" 31 32 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY he meant "western," and his remark shows that he did not know of the Atlantic Ocean. He understood that tin and amber came from the "Tin Islands," which he called the "ends of the earth." As tin came from Eng- land, it is plain that he had heard a little of that island. Greek Emigrants. Long before Athens became a great and beautiful city the Greeks had begun to make settlements on distant shores. Those who lived on the western coast of Asia Minor, as well as those who lived where the kingdom of Greece is now, sent out colonists or emigrants. The Greek colonies were very important, because by them the ancient civilized world was made larger, just as by the settlement of America the modern world was doubled in size. The colonists sailed away from home for the same reasons which led our fore- fathers to leave England and Europe for America. They either hoped to find it easier in a new land to make a Hving and obtain property, or they did not like the way their city was ruled, and being unable to change this, resolved to build elsewhere a city which they could manage as they pleased. How they located a New City. There were several different lands to which they could go, just as the Euro- pean of to-day may sail for the United States or South America or Australia. They could attempt to settle on the shores of the Black Sea, or cross over to northern Africa, or try to reach Italy and the more distant coasts of what are now France and Spain. In order to choose wisely, they generally asked the advice of the priests of their god Apollo at his temple at Delphi. These priests 34 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY knew more about good places for settlements than most other persons, because travelers from everywhere came to Delphi and the priests were wise enough to inquire about all parts of the world. The story is told that one group of emigrants was advised to locate their new colony opposite the " city of the bhnd." They discovered that these words meant that an earlier band of emigrants had passed by the wonderful harbor of the present city of Constantinople and had settled instead on the other shore of the Bos- phorus. Taught by the oracle they chose the better place and began to build the city of Byzantium, which later became Constantinople. Mother and Daughter Cities. Solemn ceremonies took place when colonists departed. They carried with them fire from the hearth of the mother city in order to light a similar fire on their new hearth, for every city had its hearthstone and on it a fire that was never quenched. The ties between the mother and the daughter city were close, and the enemies of one were the enemies of the other. He who wished to visit the colony usually went to the mother city to find a ship bound thither. Where the Settlements were made. When the Greek sailors first entered the Black Sea, they thought it a boundless ocean, and called it the Pontus, a word which means ^^The Main." Until that time they had been accustomed to sail only from island to island in the Aegean Sea. After a while they made settlements all around the shores of the Black Sea, and in later times Athens drew from this region her supply of grain. Still GREEK EMIGRANTS OR COLONISTS 35 more important settlements were made in Sicily and southern Italy, for it was through these settlements that some of the things the Greeks knew, like the art of writing, were taught to the Itahan tribes and to the Romans. Dangers of the Voyage. At first Greek sailors feared the dangers of the western Mediterranean as much as those of the Black Sea. They imagined that the huge, misshapen, and dreadful monsters Scylla and Charybdis ^O^ Greek Ruins at Paestdm in Italy lurked in the Straits of Messina waiting to seize and swallow the unlucky passer-by. On the slopes of Mount Aetna dwelt, they thought, hideous, one-eyed giants, the Cyclops, who fed their fierce appetites with the quiver- ing flesh of many captives. Greeks in the West. The earliest settlement of the Greeks in Italy was at Cumae, on a headland at the entrance of the Bay of Naples. Later these colonists entered the bay and founded the ''new city," or Neap- ohs, which we call Naples. Finally there were so many Greek cities in southern Italy that it was named ''Great 36 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY Greece." The Greeks also made settlements in what is now southern France and eastern Spain. The prin- cipal one was Massilia, or Marseilles. Through the traders of this city the ancient world obtained a supply of tin from Britain, a country which is now called England. Greek Colonies as Centers of Civilization. The Greeks in these colonies traded with the natives whose villages were near by, and many of the natives learned to live A Greek Trireme like the Greeks. In this way the Greeks became teachers of civilization, and the Greek world, which at first was made up of cities on the shores of the Aegean Sea, was spread from place to place along the coasts of the Medi- terranean Sea. Greek Ships. The ships of the Greeks were very different from modern vessels. Of course they were not driven by steam, nor did they rely as much on sails as modern sailing ships do. They had sails, but were driven forward mostly by their oars. The trireme, or ordinary war-ship, had its oars arranged in three banks, fifty men rowing at once. After these had rowed several hours, or a ^^ watch," another fifty took their places, and finally GREEK EMIGRANTS OR COLONISTS 37 a third fifty, so that the ships could be rowed at high speed all the time. With the aid of its two sails a trireme is said to have gone one hundred and fifty miles in a day and a night. These boats were about one hundred and twenty feet long and fifteen feet wide. They could be rowed in shallow water, but were not high enough to ride heavy seas safely. They had a sharp beak, which, driven against an enemy's ship, would break in its sides. The Greek grain ships and freight boats were heavier and more capable of enduring rough weather. Alexander the Great, King of Macedon from 336 to 323 B.C. Greek ways of living were also carried eastward as well as westward. The enlargement of the Greek world in this direction was due to Alexander the Great, the most skilful soldier and the ablest leader of men among all the Greeks. Alexander was king of Macedon, and Hke the earlier Greeks he regarded the Persians as his ene- mies, and made war upon them. After conquering the Persians he marched across western Asia until he had reached the Indus River in India. He was a builder of cities as well as a conqueror. He founded seventy cities, and sixteen of them were named for him. The most important was the Alexandria which is still the chief sea- port of Egypt. Greek became the language commonly spoken throughout the lands near the eastern Mediter- Alexander the Great After the bust in the Capi- tol ine Museum, Rome 38 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY ranean. This is the reason why in later times the New Testament was written in Greek. Alexandria. Of this Greek world Athens ceased to be the center and Alexandria took its place. At Alex- andria there was a great library which contained over five hundred thousand volumes or rolls. There also was the museum or university, in which many learned men were at work. The best known of these men was Euclid, who perfected the mathematics which we call geometry, and Ptolemy, whose ideas about geography and the shape and size of the globe Columbus carefully studied before he set out on his great voyage. Alex- andria was also a center of trade and commerce. From Alexandria, because its ships were the first foreign ships to be admitted to a Roman port, the Romans gained their liking for many of the beautiful things which the Greeks made. QUESTIONS 1. Why were the Greek colonies important? Why did the Greeks emigrate to the colonies? 2. Point out on the map, page 33, the lands to which they might go. Name several cities which they built. 3. What were the ties between the daughter and the mother city? 4. Why was a part of southern Italy called Great Greece? 5. Describe a Greek trireme and the way it was managed. 6. Of what country was Alexander the Great king? When did he reign? How far east did he march? What did he do besides win- ning victories? 7. Why was the city of Alexandria famous in Ancient Times? 8. Of what help was Ptolemy to Columbus? GREEK EMIGRANTS OR COLONISTS 39 EXERCISES 1. Find out the colonies we have. For what purpose do Americans go to these colonies? Is it as hard to reach them as it was for the Greeks to reach their colonies? 2. What country now has the most colonies? 3. Learn and tell the story of Ulysses and the Cyclops. 4. Find out what is meant at Constantinople by "the Golden Horn"? Who now Uve at Constantinople, at Naples, at Marseilles? 5. Collect pictures of these cities. REVIEW (Chapters II, III, and IV) Ten things we owe to the Greeks: 1. Many useful words. 2. Many interesting tales. 3. Many examples of heroism. 4. Knowledge of how to construct beautiful buildings. 5. How to carve beautiful statues, rehefs, and friezes. 6. How to write great plays. 7. How to speak before large audiences. 8. Wise sayings of men like Socrates and Plato. 9. Knowledge of geography and mathematics. 10. Their work as colonists in teaching other peoples to live, and think and act as they did. Two imyortant dates: Battle of Marathon, 490 b.c. Death of Alexander the Great, 323 b.c. CHAPTER V NEW RIVALS OF THE GREEKS The Greek Colonies and the Carthaginians. The Greek colonies were sometimes in danger of being at- tacked by the native tribes whose lands they had seized or by the wilder tribes that dwelt further from the coast. In Sicily their most dangerous neighbors were the Car- thaginians at the western end of the island. The chief town of these people was Carthage, situated opposite Sicily in northern Africa in what is now Tunis. The Carthaginians were emigrants from Tyre and other cities of Phoenicia on the eastern shore of the Mediter- ranean, and because of their many ships held control of a large part of the western Mediterranean. They had colonies even in Spain, where in very early times Phoeni- cian traders had gone to obtain gold and silver. The Greeks and the Romans. In Italy the most dangerous neighbors of the Greek colonists were the Eomans, who lived half-way up the western side of the peninsula along the river Tiber. The history of the Ro- mans, like the history of the Greeks, is full of interest- ing and wonderful tales. Some of them are legends, such as every people likes to tell about its early his- tory. They relate how the city was founded by two brothers, Romulus and Remus; how Horatius defended 40 RIVALS OF THE GREEKS 41 the bridge across the Tiber against the hosts of the exiled Tarquin king; how the farmer Cincinnatus, hav- ing been made leader or dictator, in sixteen days drove off the neighboring tribes which were attacking the Romans and then went back to his plough. The Gauls bum Rome, 390 B.C. The Romans told stories of their de- feats as well as of their victories. One of these tells how hosts of Gauls, a people of the same race as the forefathers of the French, streamed south- ward from the valley of the Po. The Romans were alarmed by such tall men, with fierce eyes, and fair, flowing hair, whose swords crashed through the frail Roman helmets. They sent a large army to stop the invaders, but in the battle, which was fought only twelve miles from Rome, this army was destroyed. The few defenders that were left withdrew to the Cap- itoline, the steepest of the hills over which the city had spread. Some of the older senators and several priests scorned to seek a refuge from the fury of the barbarians, and took their seats quietly in ivory chairs in the market Cliff of the Capitoline Hill 42 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY place or Forum at the foot of the CapitoUne hill. The Gauls at first gazed in wonder at the strange sight of the motionless figures. When one of them attempted to stroke the white beard of a senator, the senator struck him with his staff; then the Gauls fell upon senators and priests and slew them. The Region of the Caudine Forks The sides of the Capitoline hill were so steep that for a long time the Gauls were baffled in their attempts to seize it. At last they discovered a path, and one dark night were on the point of scaling the height when some geese, sacred to the goddess Juno, cackled and flapped their wings until the garrison was aroused and the Gauls hurled headlong down the precipice. The garrison was saved, but the city was burned. This happened in Rome just one hundred years after the battle of Marathon in Greece. The Caudine Forks. Another adventure did not have RIVALS OF THE GREEKS 43 so happy an ending. The Romans were at war with the Samnites, a tribe hving on the slopes of the Apen- nines, who were continually attacking the Greek cities on the coast. The war was caused by the attempt of the Romans to protect one of the Greek cities. The ITALY BEFORE THE GROWTH OF THE ROMAN POWER Roman generals, with a large army, in making their way into the Samnite country attempted to march through a narrow gorge which broadened out into a plain and then was closed again at the farther end by another gorge. When they reached this second gorge they found the road blocked by fallen trees and heaps of stones. They 44 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY also saw Samnites on the heights above them. In alarm they hastened to retrace their steps, only to find the other entrance closed in the same way. After vain at- tempts to force a passage or to scale the surrounding heights they were obliged to surrender. The Samnites compelled the Roman army, both gen- erals and soldiers, each clad in a single garment, to pass ^' under the yoke " made of two spears set upright with one laid across, while they stood by and jeered. If any Roman looked angry or sullen at his disgrace, they struck or even killed him. This was called the disaster of the Caudine Forks, from the pass where the Romans were caught. The Romans, and the Greek Cities. Not many years after this the Romans quarreled with the Greek cities of southern Italy. The Greeks of Tarentum, situated where Taranto is now, called to their aid Pyrrhus, who ruled a part of Alexander's old kingdom. Pyrrhus was a skilful general, and he had with him, besides his foot-sol- diers and horsemen, many trained elephants. A charge of these elephants was too much for the Romans, who were already hard pressed by the long spears of the sol- diers of Pyrrhus. But the Romans were ready for an- other battle, and in this they fought so stubbornly and killed so many of the Greek soldiers that Pyrrhus cried out, " Another victory like this and we are ruined.'' In a third battle, which took place 275 B.C., he was defeated, and returned to Greece, leaving the Romans masters of the Greek cities in Italy. The Romans Conquerors of Italy. By this time there RIVALS OF THE GREEKS 45 were few tribes south of the river Po which did not own the Romans as their masters. All Italy was united under their rule. This was the first step in the conquest of the world that lay about the Mediterranean Sea and in the extension of that ancient world to the shores of the Atlantic and to England. Before we read the story of the other conquests we must inquire who the Roman people were and how they Uved. How the Romans lived. In early times most of the Romans were farmers or cattle raisers. A man's wealth was reckoned according to the number of cattle he owned. Their manner of hv- ing was simple and frugal. Like the Greek, the Roman had his games. He enjoyed chariot-races, but used slaves or freedmen as drivers. He also went to the theater, although he thought it unworthy of a Roman to be an actor. Such an occupation was for foreigners or slaves. Roman Boys at School. The boys at school did not learn poems, as did the Greek boys, but studied the first set of laws made by the Romans, called the Twelve Tables. This they read, copied, and learned by heart. Their interest in laws was the first sign that they were to become the world's greatest lawmakers. Roman Women. In their respect for women the A Roman wearing A Toga 46 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY Romans were superior to the Greeks. The Roman mother did not remain in the women's apartments of the house, as she was expected to do at Athens, but was her husband's companion, received his guests, directed her household, and went in and out as she chose. Patricians and Plebeians. The men of the families which first ruled Rome were called patricians or nobles, while the rest were plebeians or common people. There were also many slaves, but they had no rights. At first only the patricians knew exactly what the laws were, because the laws were not written in a book. When disputes arose between patricians and plebeians about property, the plebeians believed the patricians changed the laws in order to gain an advantage over their poorer neighbors. The story is told that twice the plebeians withdrew from the city and refused to return until their wrongs were removed. Then they compelled the nobles to draw up the laws in a roll called the Twelve Tables. At this time messengers were sent to Athens to examine the laws of the Greeks. The richer plebeians were also grad- ually admitted to all the offices of the Roman republic, and so became nobles themselves. Government at Rome. The Romans had once been ruled by kings, but now their chief officers were consuls. Two consuls were chosen each year because the Romans feared that a single consul might make himself a king, or, at least, gain too much power. The real rulers of Rome, however, were the senators, the men who had held the prominent offices. There were assemblies of the RIVALS OF THE GREEKS 47 people, but these generally did what the senators or other officers told them to do. Among the interesting officers of Rome was the cen- sor, who drew up a list or census of the citizens and of their property. Another officer was the tribune, chosen in the be- ginning by the plebeians to protect them against the patricians. The tribune was not at first a member of the senate, but he was given a seat outside the door, and if a law was proposed that would injure the plebeians, he cried out, ^^Veto," which means '' I forbid," and the law had to be dropped. This is the origin of our word '' veto." How the Romans treated the Italians. The Romans were wise in their deahngs with the cities or tribes which they con- quered. They not only sent out colonies of their fellow-citizens to occupy a part of the lands they had seized, but they also gave the conquered peoples a share in their government, and in some cases al- lowed them to act as citizens of Rome. These new Roman citizens helped the older Romans in their wars with other tribes. In this way Roman towns grad- ually spread over Italy. A Roman Mili- tary Standard 48 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY QUESTIONS 1. What was the name of the dangerous neighbors of the Greeks in Sicily? Find Carthage on the map, page 43. Where did the Carthaginians come from originahy? Find Phoenicia on the map, page 33. 2. Who were the dangerous neighbors of the Greeks in Italy? Find the Tiber and Rome on the map, page 43. 3. Tell the story of the capture of Rome by the Gauls. How long was this after the battle of Marathon? How long after the death of Socrates? How long before Alexander became king of Macedon? 4. Find the land of the Samnites on the map, page 43. Tell the story of the Caudine Forks. 5. What Greek king did the people of Tarentum call to Italy to help them against the Romans? What did he say after his second battle with the Romans? 6. After the defeat of Pyrrhus how much of Italy owned the Romans as masters? How did the Romans treat the Itahans? • 7. Explain how the early Roman ways of hving differed from the ways of the Greeks. 8. How differently did the Romans and the Greeks govern them- selves? EXERCISES 1. Read the story of Horatius in Macaulay's ''Lays of Ancient Rome. " 2. Collect pictures of Rome and Italy. 3. Is there a modern city of Carthage? What country rules over Tunis? Are there now any Phoenicians? 4. Read the description of Tyre in the Bible, Ezekiel xxvii. 3-25, and tell what is said there about the riches of the Tyrians. Find out who destroyed Tyre. An Early Roman Coin CHAPTER VI THE MEDITERRANEAN A ROMAN LAKE Rome in Peril. The conquest of Italy by the Romans took about two hundred and fifty years. The conquest of the peoples living in the other lands on the shores of the Mediterranean took nearly as long again. Only twice in these four or five hundred years was Rome in serious danger of destruction. Once it was by the Gauls, as we have read, who captured all the city except the citadel. The second time it was by the Carthaginians, who Uved on the northern coast of Africa. The Romans were finally victorious over all their enemies because they were patient and courageous in misfortune and refused to believe that they could be conquered. Cause of War with Carthage. The Carthaginians were angry at the way the Romans treated them. They watched with alarm the steady growth of the Roman power, and feared that the Romans, if masters of Italy, would attack their trade with the cities of the western Mediterranean. A quarrel broke out over a city in Sicily. At first the Carthaginians seemed to have the best of it, because' they had a strong war fleet while the Romans had only a few small vessels. But the Romans hurriedly built ships and placed upon each a kind of drawbridge, fitted with great hooks called grappUng-irons. 49 50 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY These they let down upon the enemy's decks as soon as the ships came close enough, and over these drawbridges the Roman soldiers rushed and captured the Cartha- ginian ships. When the Carthaginians asked for peace, the Romans demanded a great sum of money and a promise that the Carthaginians would leave the cities in Sicily which they occupied. Soon afterward the Romans took advantage of a mutiny in the Carthaginian army to demand more money and to seize Sardinia and Corsica. No wonder the Carthaginians were angry. The result was a new and more terrible war. Hannibal. The Carthaginians in the new war were led by Hannibal, who understood how to fight battles better than any of the generals whom the Romans sent against him. The story is told that when he was a boy his father made him promise, at the altar of his city's gods, undying hatred to Rome. Even the Romans thought him a wonderful man. Their historians said that toil did not wear out his body or exhaust his energy. Cold or heat were alike to him. He never ate or drank more than he needed. He slept when he had time, whether it was day or night, wrapping himself in a mil- itary cloak and lying on the ground in the midst of his soldiers. He did not dress better than the other officers, but his weapons and his horses were the best in the army. War carried into Italy, 218 B.C. Hannibal decided that the war should be carried into Italy to the very gates of Rome. He started from Spain, half of which the Carthaginians ruled, marched across southern Gaul, THE MEDITERRANEAN A ROMAN LAKE 51 and came to the foot-hills of the Alps. To climb the Alps was the most difficult part of his long journey. Crossing the Alps. There were no roads across the mountains, only rough paths used by the mountaineers, who constantly attacked Hannibal's soldiers, bursting out suddenly upon them from behind a turn in the trail, or rolling huge rocks upon them from above. The ele- -^^ The Alps that Hannibal had to Cross phants, the horses, and the baggage animals of the army were frightened, and in the tumult many of them slipped over the precipices and were dashed on the rocks below. For five days the army toiled upward, and then rested two days on the summit of the pass. Although the road down into Italy was short, it was steep, and the paths were slippery with ice and with snow trodden into slush by thousands of men and animals. 52 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY In one place there had been a landsUde, and the road along the rocky slope was cut away for a thousand feet. In order to build a new road it was necessary to crack the rocks. This the soldiers did by making huge fires and pouring wine over the heated surface. At last, worn out, ragged, and half starved, the army reached the plains of Italy, but with a loss of half its men. How Hannibal won a Victory. The first great battle with the Romans was fought on the river Trebia in northern Italy, and in it Hannibal showed how easily he could outwit and destroy a Roman army. It was a winter's day and the river was swollen by rains. The two camps lay on opposite banks. In the early morning Hannibal sent across the river a body of horsemen to attack the Roman camp and draw the Romans into a battle. At the same time he ordered his other soldiers to eat breakfast, to build fires before their tents to warm themselves, and to rub their bodies with oil, so that they might be strong for the coming fight. The Romans were suddenly roused by the attack of the Carthaginian horsemen, and, without waiting for food, moved out of camp, chasing the horsemen toward the river. Into its icy waters the Romans waded breast- high, and when they came up on the opposite bank they were benumbed with cold. As soon as Hannibal knew that the Romans had crossed the river he attacked them fiercely with all his troops. Two thousand men whom he had placed in ambush fell upon the rear of their line. Their allies were frightened by a charge of elephants. Seeing that destruction was certain, ten thousand of the THE MEDITERRANEAN A ROMAN LAKE 53 A Roman Soldier best soldiers broke through the Cathaginian Une and marched away. All the rest of the army was destroyed. Roman Endurance. This was not the last of the Roman defeats. Two other armies were destroyed by Hannibal during the next two years. In the battle of Cannae nearly seventy thousand Romans, including eighty senators, were slain. The news filled the city with weeping women, but the sen- ate did not think of yielding. When their allies deserted them, they be- sieged the faithless cities, took them, beheaded the rulers, and sold the inhabitants into slavery. They did not dare to fight Hannibal in the open field, but tried to wear him out by cutting off all small bodies of his troops and by making it difficult for him to get food for his army. They carried the war into Spain and finally into Africa, and when, with a weakened army, Hannibal faced them there, they defeated him. His defeat was the ruin of Carthage, for the unhappy city was compelled to see her fleet destroyed, to pay the Romans a huge sum of money, and to give up Spain to them. Other Roman Triumphs. The war with Carthage ended two hundred and two years before the birth of Christ. In the wars that followed, Roman armies fought not only in Spain and Africa, but also in Greece and Asia. Carthage was destroyed; as was also Corinth, 54 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY a Greek city. Roman generals enriched themselves and sent great treasures back to Rome. Roman merchants grew rich because their rivals in Carthage and Corinth were ruined or because the conquered cities were for- bidden to trade with any city but Rome. All this took a long time and many wars, but in the end the Romans became masters of every land along the shores of the Mediterranean. This was not wholly a misfortune, for the Romans had learned that the Greeks were superior to them in some things and they took the Greeks as their teachers in most of the arts of living. The ancient world became a sort of partnership, and we call its civi- lization Graeco-Roman, that is, both Greek and Roman. The Romans as Rulers. The Romans at first treated the lands in Sicily, Spain, Africa, Greece, and Asia as conquered territories, or provinces, sending to rule over them ofhcers who were to act both as governors and judges. With these men went many tax-collectors or " publicans." The Romans were obliged to leave in most provinces a large body of soldiers to put down any attempt at rebellion. Often the officers and the publicans robbed the country instead of ruling it justly. Evil Results of Conquest. During the wars the Romans had lost many of their simple ways of living. Some had grown rich in the business of providing for the armies and navies, and they were eager for new wars in order to make still bigger fortunes. Hannibal's marches up and down Italy had driven thousands of farmers from their homes, and they had wandered to Rome for safety and food. When the war was over many of them THE MEDITERRANEAN A ROMAN LAKE 55 did not go back to their homes. Those who did found that they could no longer get fair prices for their crops because great quantities of wheat were shipped to Rome from the conquered lands. Wealthy men bought the Uttle farms and joined them, making great estates where slaves raised sheep and cattle or tended vineyards and oHve groves. There was not much work for free men in Rome, for slaves were very cheap. One army of prisoners was sold at about eight cents apiece. In this way the poor were made idle, while the rich sent everywhere for new luxuries. M,.-..Rmv^ MVNERt-C \MPllAT/^P-f-S^VMMO 5vjwtxy*va tOwilTvj xviy. Gladiators After carvings on the tomb of Scaurus Cruel Sports. To amuse the idle crowds, office-seekers and victorious generals provided cruel sports. Savage animals were turned loose to tear one another to pieces. What was worse, human prisoners were compelled to fight, armed with swords or spears. These men were called gladiators, and often were specially trained to fight with one another or with wild beasts. Some Things the Romans learned. But the successes of the Romans brought them other things which were good. They took the buildings of the Greeks as models and built similar temples and porticoes in Rome, espe- 56 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY cially about the old market place or Forum. Their own houses, which in earlier times were nothing but cabins, they enlarged, and if they were rich enough, built pal- aces, adorned with paintings and with statues. Unfor- tunately many of these came from the plunder of Greek cities, for the Romans were great robbers of other peoples. The poorer Romans continued to live in wretched hovels. The Theater. The Romans learned more about the theaters of the Greeks. Their plays were either translated into Latin from Greek or retold in a different manner from the original Gree.k. The Romans did not succeed in writing any plays of their own which were as good as the plays of the Greeks. The New Education of the Romans. The Greeks also taught the Romans how to write poems and histories. The first histories were written in Greek, but later the Romans learned how to write in Latin prose and poetry as good as much that had been written by the Greeks. Greek became the second language of every educated Roman, and thus he could enjoy the books of the Ruins of the Roman Theater at Orange, France THE MEDITERRANEAN A ROMAN LAKE 57 Greeks as well as those written by Romans. The educa- tion of the Roman boy now began with the poems of Homer, and the young man's education was not thought to be finished until he had traveled in Greece and the lands along the eastern Mediterranean. QUESTIONS 1. How long did it take the Romans to conquer Italy? How long to conquer the lands about the Mediterranean? In what "Times" did all this happen? 2. Why did the Carthaginians and the Romans fight? What did Hannibal promise his father? What sort of a leader was Hannibal? 3. How did Hannibal reach Italy? How did he win the battle of the Trebia? 4. Why was he unable to force the Romans to yield? 5. How long before the beginning of the Christian Era did this war with Hannibal close? How long after the battle of Marathon, and after the death of Alexander the Great? 6. What other lands did the Romans conquer? How did they rule these colonies? 7. Were they better for the wealth and power they gained? What became of many of the Italian farmers? Where did the Romans get their slaves? 8. What good things did they learn from the Greeks? What was the Graeco-Roman world? EXERCISES 1. On an outline map of the lands around the Mediterranean mark on each land, Spain, Greece, northern Africa, Asia Minor, and Egypt, the dates at which the Romans conquered each, finding these dates in any brief Roman or Ancient History — Botsford, Myers, Morey, West, Wolfson. CHAPTER VII THE ANCIENT WORLD EXTENDED TO THE SHORES OF THE ATLANTIC New Conquests of the Romans. The Romans had as yet conquered only civihzed peoples Hke themselves, with the exception of the tribes in Spain and southern Gaul. Now the Roman armies were to push northward over the plains and through the forests of Gaul, across the Rhine into unknown Germany, and over the Channel into Britain, equally unknown. They were to be ex- plorers as well as conquerors. In this way they were to carry their civilization to the Rhine and the Atlan- tic, and so increase greatly the part of the earth where men lived and thought as the Romans did and as the Greeks had before them. The ancient civilized world was beginning to move from its older center, the Mediter- ranean, toward the shore of the Atlantic. Ancestors of the French and the Germans. The tribes Uving in Gaul were not at that time called French, but Gallic. The Gauls were like the Britons who lived across the Channel in Britain. The German ancestors of the English had not yet crossed the North Sea to that land. Beyond the Rhine lived the Germans, who had but little to do with the Romans and the Greeks and were still barbarians. The Gauls living farthest away 58 J EXTENT OF THE ANCIENT WORLD 59 from the Roman settlements were not much more civiUzed. The principal difference between the Germans and the Gauls was that the Gauls hved in villages and towns and cultivated the land or dug in mines or traded along the rivers, while the Ger- mans had no towns and dwelt in clearings of the forest. Their wealth, hke that of the early Romans, was their cattle. The land they cultivated was di- vided between them year after year, so that a Ger- man owned only his hut and the plot of ground or garden about it. Some of the towns of the Gauls were placed on high hills and were protected by strong walls. The Terrible Germans. The Romans had at first been afraid of the Gauls, because they had never for- gotten how terribly these people had once defeated them. But since that time they had fought the Gauls so often that they were losing this fear. They now dreaded more to meet the Germans, who seemed like giants because they were taller even than the Gauls. Gallic and German Warriors. The leaders of the Germans were sometimes kings and sometimes nobles whom the Romans called duces, from which comes our word duke. The Gallic chieftains were adorned with Gallic Warriors 60 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY gold necklaces, bracelets, and rings. When they went out to battle, they wore helmets shaped like the head of some ravenous beast, and their bodies were protected by coats of chain armor made of iron rings. Their prin- cipal weapon was a long, heavy sword. Both German and Gallic nobles were accompanied by bands of young men, their devoted followers, who shared the joys of victory or died with them in case of defeat. It was a disgrace to lose one's sword or to survive if the leader was killed. How the Germans lived. When the Germans were not fighting they were idle, for all work was done by women and slaves. They were great drinkers and gam- blers, and often in their games a man would stake his freedom upon the result. If he lost, he became the slave of the winner. The Germans respected their wives, even if they compelled them to do the hard work. The women sometimes went with the men to battle, and their cries encouraged the warriors, or if the warriors wavered, the fierce reproaches of the women drove them back to the fight. Religion of the Germans. We remember the reli- gion of the Germans because four days of the week are named for their gods or the gods of their neighbors across the Baltic. Their principal god was Wodan, or Odin, god of the sun and the tempest. Wodan' s day is Wednesday. Thursday is named for Thor, the North- men's god of thunder. The god of war, Tiw, gave a name to Tuesday, and Frigu, the goddess of love, to Friday. The German, like his northern neighbors, EXTENT OF THE ANCIENT WORLD 61 thought of heaven as the place where brave warriors who had died in battle spent their days in feasting. Julius Caesar. Julius Caesar was the great Roman general who conquered the Gauls and led the first expe- ditions across the Rhine into Germany and over tne Channel into Britain. He was a wealthy noble who, hke other nobles, held one office after another un- til he became consul. He was also a great political leader, and with two other men controlled Rome. We should call them ^^ bosses," but the Romans called them ^^ triumvirs." Caesar in Gaul. As soon as Caesar became governor of the province of southern Gaul, he showed that he was a skilful general as well as a successful politician. He interfered in the wars between the Gauls, taking sides with the friends of the Romans. When a large army of Germans entered Gaul, he defeated it and drove it back across the Rhine. One war led to another until all the tribes from the country now called Belgium to the Mediterranean coast professed to be friends of the Roman people. His campaigns lasted from 58 B.C. for nine years. Two or three times Caesar was very close to ruin, but by his courage and energy he always succeeded in gaining the victory. Vercingetorix, Gallic Hero. The great hero of the Gauls in their struggle with the Romans was Vercin- getorix. He was a young noble who lived in a mountain Julius Caesar Aiter the bust in the Museum at Naples 62 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY town of central Gaul. His father had been killed in an attempt to make himself king of his native city. Ver- cingetorix believed that if the Gauls did not unite against the Romans they would soon see their lands become Roman provinces. As he knew his army was no match for the Romans in open fight, he persuaded the Gauls to try to starve the Romans out of the country. He planned to destroy all village stores of grain, and to cut off the smaller bands of soldiers which wandered from the main army in search of food. Caesar and Vercingetorix. Vercingetorix found the work of conquering Caesar in this way too difficult. He was finally driven to take refuge in Alesia, on a hilltop in eastern Gaul. Here the Romans prepared to starve him into surrender. They dug miles of deep trenches about the fortress so that the imprisoned Gauls could not break through. They dug other trenches to protect themselves from the attacks of a great army of Gauls which came to rescue Vercingetorix. These trenches were fifteen or twenty feet wide; they were strength- ened by palisades and ramparts, and filled with water where this was possible. Several times the Gauls nearly succeeded in breaking through, but the quickness and stubborn courage of Caesar always saved the day. Death of Vercingetorix. Vercingetorix now proved that he was a real hero. He offered to give himself up to Caesar, if this would save the town. But Caesar demanded the submission of all the chiefs. When they had laid down their arms before the conqueror, Vercin- getorix appeared on a gaily decorated horse. He rode EXTENT OF THE ANCIENT WORLD 63 around the throne where Caesar sat, dismounted in front, took off his armor, and bowed to the ground. His fate was hard. He was sent to Rome a prisoner, was shown in the triumphal procession of the victorious Caesar, and was then put to death in a dungeon. On the site of Alesia stands a monument erected by the French to the The Bridge on which Caesar's Army Crossed the Rhine memory of the brave GalHc hero. The defeat of Ver- cingetorix ended the resistance of the Gauls, and not many years afterward their country was added to the long list of Roman provinces. Caesar in Germany. Caesar crossed the Rhine into Germany on a bridge which his engineers built in ten days. He laid waste the fields of the tribes near the river in order to make the name of Rome feared, and then returned to Gaul and destroyed the bridge. Twice he sailed over to Britain, the last time marching a few miles north of where London now stands. His purpose 64 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY was to keep the Britons from stirring up the Gauls to attack him. Other generals many years later conquered Britain as far as the hills of Scotland. The German Hero Hermann. The Romans were not fortunate in their later attempts to conquer a part of Germany. When Caesar's grandnephew Augustus was master of Rome, he sent an army under Varus into the forests far from the Rhine. Hermann, a leader of the Germans, gathered the tribes together and utterly destroyed the army of Varus. Whenever Augustus thought of this dreadful disaster, he would cry out, '' O Varus, give me back my legions!" The Rhine and the Danube became the northern boundaries of the Roman conquests. Gauls and Britons become Roman. Although the Gauls had fought stubbornly against Caesar they soon became as Roman as the Italians themselves. They ceased to speak their own language and began to use Latin. They mastered Latin so thoroughly that their schools were sometimes regarded as better than the schools in Italy, and Roman youths were sent to Gaul to learn how best to speak their own language. The Britons also became very good Romans. Even the Germans frequently crossed the Rhine and enlisted in the Roman armies. When they returned to their own country they carried Roman ideas and customs with them. The Interest of Americans in Roman Successes. For Americans the influence the Romans exerted in Spain, Gaul, Germany, and Britain is more important than their work in the eastern Mediterranean, because from those 66 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY countries came the early settlers of America. The civ- ilization which the Romans taught the peoples of west- ern Europe was to become a valuable part of the civilization of our forefathers. Size of the Roman World. We may realize how large the world of the Romans was by observing on a modern map that within its limits lay modern England, France, Ruins of the Ancient Gauls at Carnac, in Brittany, France Spain, Portugal, the southern part of Austria-Hungary, Italy, Bulgaria, Greece, the Turkish Empire both in Europe and Asia, Egypt, Tripoli, Tunis, Algeria, and Morocco. For a time they also ruled north of the Dan- ube, and the Rumanians boast that they are descended from Roman colonists. The peoples in southern Russia were influenced by the Greeks and by the Romans, although the Romans did not try to bring them under their rule. No modern empire has included so many important countries. If we compare this vast territory with- the scattered colonies of the Greeks, we shall under- stand how useful it was that the Romans adopted EXTENT OF THE ANCIENT WORLD 67 much of the Greek civihzation, for they could carry it to places that the Greeks never reached. QUESTIONS 1. After the Romans had conquered the lands about the Mediter- ranean, into what other countries did they march? 2. Who once hved where the French now hve? Tell how the Gauls Hved. 3. How did the manner of living of the Germans differ from that of the Gauls? Were the Britons similar to the Germans or to the Gauls? 4. What names do we get from the names of the German gods? 5. Who was Julius Caesar? Why did he go among the Gauls? What was the result of his wars with the Gauls? Tell the story of Ver- cingetorix. 6. After the conquest of the Gauls, into what countries did Caesar go? 7. What was the fate of the Roman army in Germany in the time of Augustus? 8. In wliich of these countries did the peoples become much like the Romans? 9. Why have Americans a special interest in the Roman conquest of Gaul and Britain? EXERCISES 1. Caesar and Alexander were two of the greatest generals who ever lived. How many years after Alexander died did Caesar begin his wars in Gaul? What difference was there between what these two generals did? Whose work is the more important for us? 2. Plan a large map of the Graeco-Roman world, pasting on each country a picture of some interesting Greek or Roman ruin. This will take a long time, but many pictures may be found in advertising folders of steamship lines and tourist agencies. A Roman Coin with the Head of Julius Caesar 68 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY REVIEW (Chapters IV, V, VI, and VII) How the Graeco-Roman world was built up : 1. The Greeks drive back the Persians. 2. The Greeks settle in many places on the shores of the Mediter- ranean and Black Seas. 3. Alexander conquers the countries about the eastern Mediter- ranean. 4. The Romans conquer the Greeks in Italy, but learn their ways of living. 5. The Romans conquer the Carthaginians and seize their colonies. 6. The Romans conquer all the lands around the Mediterranean. 7. The Romans conquer Gaul and Britain. Important dates in this work of building a Graeco-Roman world : Battle of Marathon, 490 b.c. Work of Alexander ended, 323 b.c. Romans become masters of Italy, 275 b.c. Romans conquer Hannibal, 202 b.c. Caesar's conquest of Gaul complete, 49 b.c. MENSIS lANVAR DIES-AXXI NON9VINT OlESHORVIIl! NOX HORXIW SOL CAPRICORNO TVTELA IVNONIS PALVS ApVITVR SALIX HARVNOO C/IDITVR SACRIFICAN DIES PtNATIBVS MENSIS FEBRAR DIESXXVHI NONPVINT OIES-HOR-XS NOXHOH-XIU SOLApVARlO TVTELNtPTVNI SEGETES SMMVNTVR VINEARVM SVPERFIC'COLIT HARVNDINES mCENDVNT PAB,ENTAL>A LVPERCALlA CAR^COGNATO TERMINALS ^ MENSIS MARTIVS DIES-XXXI NONSEPTIMAN DIES-.MOR-Xll NOX- HORXII /tQVlMOCTIM */lll KAI.-APR SOL-PlSABVS TVTEL-M>NEW>t >>4t.„ ^^^^H Wall of Aurelian This wall enclossd the ancient city of Rome, It was about thirteen miles in circumference, fifty-five feet high, and had three hundred towers 88 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY on the estates of the rich GaUic nobles. Other Germans, called Goths, worked in Constantinople and the cities of the East as masons, porters, and water-carriers. The Romans had owned so many slaves that they had lost the habit of work and were glad to hire these foreigners. Story of Ulfilas. Many of the Goths who lived north of the Danube had forsaken their old gods and become Christians. They were taught by Bishop Ulfilas, once a captive among them, afterward a missionary. He translated the Bible into the Gothic language, and this translation is the most ancient specimen of German that we possess. Many of the other German tribes learned about Christianity from the Goths, and -although they might be enemies of the Roman government, they were not enemies of the Church. The Goths invade the Roman Empire. The Roman emperors tried to prevent the northern tribes from cross- ing the frontier in great numbers, because, once across, if they did not find work and food, they became plun- derers. Not many years after Constantine's death, a million Goths had passed the Danube and had plundered the country almost to the walls of Constantinople. This was not hke the invasion of a regular army, which comes to fight battles and to arrange terms of peace. The Goths, and the Germans who soon followed their example, moved as a whole people, with their wives and children, their cattle, and the few household goods they owned. Wherever they wished to settle they demanded of the Romans one third, sometimes two thirds, of the land. They soon learned to be good neighbors of the EMIGRANTS A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 89 older inhabitants, although at first they were httle bet- ter than robbers. Alaric, one of the leaders of the Goths, led them into Italy and in the year 410 captured Rome. Alaric did not injure the buildings much, and he kept his men from robbing the churches. Some of the other barbarous tribes who roamed about plundering villages and attacking cities did far greater damage. The Roman government grew weaker and weaker, until one by one the provinces fell into the hands of German kings. Beginnings of England, France, and Germany. Brit- ain was attacked by the Angles and Saxons from the shores of Germany across the North Sea. (See map, page 65.) They drove away the inhabitants or made slaves of them and settled upon the lands they had seized. The country was then called Angle-land or England, and the people Anglo-Saxons or Englishmen. The Roman provinces in Gaul were gradually con- quered by the Franks from the borders of the Rhine, and they gave the name France to the land. At about the same time the other German tribes that had remained in Germany united under one king. The Result of Barbarian Attacks. The part of the ancient world which lay about Constantinople was less changed than the rest during the Middle Ages. The walls of Constantinople were high and thick, and they withstood attack after attack until 1453. Within their shelter men continued to live much as they had lived in Ancient Times. A few delighted to study the writings of the ancient Greeks. In Italy and the other countries of western Europe most of the cities were in ruins. The 90 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY ancient baths, amphitheaters, aqueducts, and palaces of Rome crumbled and fell. The mediaeval Romans also used huge buildings like the Colosseum as quarries of cut stone and burned the marble for lime. This was done in every country where Roman buildings existed. The Amphitheater at Arles The amphitheater at Aries in southern France had a still stranger fortune. It was used at one time as a citadel, at another as a prison and gradually became the home of hundreds of the criminals and the poor of the city. " Every archway held its nest of human outcasts. From stone to stone they cast their rotting beams and plaster and burrowed into the very entrails of the enormous building to seek a secure retreat from the pursuit of the officers of the law.'' EMIGRANTS A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 91 Few persons traveled from Constantinople to Italy or France, and few from western Europe visited Constan- tinople. The men of Italy and France and England did not know how to read Greek. Many of them also ceased to read the writings of the ancient Romans. St. Martin's Church, Canterbury, England This church ia on the site of a chapel built in the sixth century. Its walls show some of the bricks of the original chapel The English become Christians, 597 A.D. Christian- ity had spread throughout the Roman Empire, and it became the religion of all the tribes who founded king- doms of their own upon the ruins of the Empire. The Angles and Saxons, when they invaded Britain, were still worshipers of the gods Wodan and Thor. They had never learned from the Goths of Ulfilas anything about Christianity. One day in the slave market at Rome three fair-haired boys were offered for sale. Gregory, a noble Roman, 92 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY who had become a monk and was the abbot of his mon- astery, happened to be passing and asked who they were. He was told they were Angles. " Angels/' he cried, " yes, they have faces like angels, and should become iiii IIIHIII Gregory and the Little English Slaves companions of the angels in heaven/' When this good abbot became pope, he sent missionaries to Angle-land and they established themselves at Canterbury. Missionaries to the Germans and the Slavs. The conversion of the English helped in the spread of Christianity on the Continent, for Boniface, an English monk, was the greatest missionary to the Germans. He won thousands from the worship of their ancient EMIGRANTS A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 93 gods and founded many churches. The Slavs, who lived east of the Germans, were taught by missionaries from Constantinople instead of from Rome. The Educated Men of the Middle Ages. The mission- aries and teachers of the Church had been educated like the older Romans. They read Roman books, and tried to preserve the knowledge which both Greeks and Ro- mans had gathered. Influenced by them, the emigrants and conquerors from the north also tried to be like the Romans. Educated men, and especially the priests of the Church, used Latin as their language. In this way some parts of the old Roman and Greek civilization were preserved, although the Roman government had fallen and many beautiful cities were mere heaps of ruins. The Vikings. The emigration of whole peoples from one part of Europe to another did not stop when the Roman Empire was overrun. New peoples appeared and sought to plunder or crowd out the tribes which had already settled within its boundaries and were learning the ways of civilization. One of these peoples came from the regions now known as Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. They were called Danes by the English, and Northmen or Normans by other Europeans. They had another name. Vikings, which was their word for sea-rovers. It was their custom to sail the seas and rivers rather than march on the land. They were a hardy and dar- ing people, who liked nothing better than to fight and conquer and rob in other countries. There was not a 94 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY land in western Europe, even as far south as Sicily, that they did not visit. Wherever they went they plundered and burned and murdered, leaving a blackened trail. The Danes in England. The Danes ravaged the eastern and southern shores of England, and after they were tired of robbery, partly because there was little A Viking Ship at Sea left to take, they began to settle in the land. Alfred, the greatest of the early English kings, was driven by them into the swamps for a while, but in the year 878 a.d. he conquered an army of them in battle and per- suaded one of their kings to be baptized as a Christian. Alfred was obliged to allow them to keep the eastern por- tion of England, a region called Danelaw, because the law of the Danes was obeyed there. The Danes become Normans. No more Danes or Northmen came to trouble England for a time, but instead they crossed the Channel to France and rowed up the Seine EMIGRANTS A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 95 and tried to capture Paris. A few years later a Frankish king gave them the city of Rouen, further down the Seine, and the region about it which was called Normandy. These Normans also accepted Christianity. The Vikings become Discoverers. Before another hundred years had passed the North- men performed a feat more difficult than sailing up rivers and burning towns. They were the first to venture far out of sight of land, though their ships were no larger than our fishing boats. These bold sailors visited the Orkney and the Shetland Islands, north of Scotland, and finally reached Iceland. In Iceland their sheep and cattle flour- ished, and a lively trade in fish, oil, butter, and skins sprang up with the old homeland and with the British islands. Before long one of the settlers, named Eric the Red, led a colony to Greenland, the larger and more desolate island further west. He called it Greenland because, he said, men would be more easily persuaded to go there if the land had a good name. This was probably in the year 985. Discovery of Vinland. Eric had a son, called Leif Ericson, or Leif the Lucky, who visited Norway and was well received at the court of King Olaf. Not long before missionaries had persuaded Olaf and his people to give up their old gods and accept Christianity, and Leif followed their example. Leif set out in the early summer Leif Ericson From the statue in Boston 96 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY of the year 1000 to carry the new rehgion to his father, Eric the Red, to his father's people, and to his neigh- bors. The voyage was a long one, lasting all the summer, for on the way his ship was driven out of its course and came upon strange lands where wild rice and grape-vines and large trees grew. The milder climate and stories of large trees useful for building ships aroused the curiosity of the Greenlanders. They sent exploring expeditions, and found the coast of North America at places which they called Helluland, that is, the land of flat stones; Markland, the land of forests; and Vinland, where the grape-vines grow. Hel- luland was probably on the coast of Labrador, Markland somewhere on the shores of Newfoundland, and Vinland in Nova Scotia. The Settlement in Vinland. Thornfinn Karlsefni, a successful trader between Iceland and Greenland, at- tempted to plant a colony in the new lands. Karlsefni and his friends, to the number of one hundred and sixty men and several women, set out in 1007 with three or four ships, loaded with supplies and many cattle. They built huts and remained three or four winters in Vinland, but all trace of any settlement disappeared long ago. They found, their stories tell us, swarthy, rough-looking Indians, with coarse hair, large eyes, and broad cheeks, with whom they traded red cloth for furs. Trouble broke out between the Northmen and the Indians, who outnumbered them. So many Northmen were killed that the survivors became alarmed and returned to Greenland. EMIGRANTS A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 97 Vinland forgotten. The voyages to Vinland soon ceased and the discoveries of Leif and his followers were only remembered in the songs or '' sagas " of the people. They thought of Vinland mainly as a land of flat stones, great trees, and fierce natives. Nor did the wise men of X Q,..r....sul^ 4^>. .^ /^/^'^'• ORKNEY IS. GCOTLAXD fc."^;.;-' ^-■ jTV «<■ • MARKLAND EKGLAND,:ii^ r "^ Discoveries of the Northmen The Amerloan lands they found are marked with diagonal lines Europe who heard the Northmen's story guess that a New World had been discovered. It was probably fortunate that five hundred years were to go by before Europeans settled in America, for within that time they were to learn a great deal and to find again many things which the Romans had left but which in the year 1000 were hidden away, either in the ruins of the ancient 98 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY cities or in libraries and treasure-houses, where few knew of them. The more Europeans possessed before they set out, the more Americans would have to start with. Facsimile of a Bit of an Old Saga Manuscript QUESTIONS 1. What is meant by the ''Middle Ages" or the ''Mediaeval" period? 2. Show on the map, page 65, what part of the Roman Empire was conquered by the Mohammedans. 3. Mention the Roman names of England, France, Germany, and Spain. Why were they changed to what they are now? 4. What people early in the Middle Ages began to emigrate from their homes to the Roman Empire? What did they do for a living? 5. Where did the Goths hve? Who taught them the Christian rehgion? When the Goths entered the Roman Empire what did they ask of the inhabitants? Did they destroy much? How many years separated the capture of Rome by Alaric from its capture by the Gauls? 6. What tribes conquered England or Britain? What tribes conquered Roman Gaul or France? How long before Constantinople was captured? 7. What was the effect of these raids and wars upon many cities? Who tried to keep fresh the memory of what the Greeks and the Romans had done? Who used the language of the Romans? I EMIGRANTS A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 99 8. Tell the story of the way the English became Christians. Who taught the Christian religion to many Germans? From what city did the Slavs receive missionaries? 9. What different names are given to the inhabitants of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden who became rovers over the seas? Where did they make settlements? 10. Tell the story of how Leif the Lucky discovered America. Why did the Northmen leave Vinland? EXERCISES 1. Point out on the map all the places mentioned in this chapter. 2. On an outhne map mark the names of the peoples mentioned in the chapter on the countries where they settled. 3. Ask children in school who know some other language than English what are their names for England, Germany, France, Spain, and Italy. Important dates: Alaric's capture of Rome, 410 a.d. Discovery of America by the Northmen, 1000 a.d. CHAPTER XI HOW ENGLISHMEN LEARNED TO GOVERN THEMSELVES Heroes of the Middle Ages. The Middle Ages, like Ancient Times, are recalled by many interesting tales. Some of them, such as the stories of King Arthur and his Knights, the story of Roland, and the Song of the Nie- belungs, are only tales and not history. Others tell us about great kings, Charlemagne and St. Louis of France, Frederick the Redbeard of Germany, or St. Stephen of Hungary. The hero-king for England was Alfred, who fought bravely against the pirate Danes and finally conquered and persuaded many of them to live quietly under his rule. King Alfred began to reign in 871. King Alfred was a skilful warrior, but he was also an excellent ruler in time of peace. When he was a boy he had shown his love of books. His mother once offered a beautifully written Saxon poem as a prize to the one of her sons who should be the first to learn it. Alfred could not yet read, but he had a ready memory, and with the aid of his teacher he learned the poem and won the prize. At that time almost all books were written in Latin and few even of the clergy could read. During the long wars with the Danes many books had been 100 HOW ENGLISHMEN LEARNED TO GOVERN 101 destroyed. Men found battle-axes more useful than books and ceased to care about reading. King Alfred feared that the Saxons would soon become ignorant barbarians, and sent for priests and monks who were learned and were able to teach his clergy. He sent even into France for such men. Early English Books. As it would be easier for people to learn to read books written in the language they spoke EIST p^SA^ ^ Nyp:ENINSAfV]3^ ^y cahcCo^axL bc^ hcelc7i6 ^eluzren heoponjuccf Extract from the Saxon Chronicle From a copy in the British Museum rather than in Latin, Alfred helped to translate several famous Latin books into English. Among these was a history written by a Roman before the Germans had overthrown the Roman Empire. This history told about the world of the Greeks and the Romans. Alfred commanded some of his clergy to keep a record from year to year of things which happened in his king- dom. This record was called the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and was the first history written in the English language. 102 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY It was carefully kept for many years after Alfred's death. Another wise thing Alfred did was to collect the laws or ^' dooms '' of the earlier kings, so that every one might know what the law required. The Beginning of a Navy. Alfred has been called the creator of the English navy. He thought that the only way to keep the Danes from plundering his shores was to fight them on the sea. He built several ships which were bigger than the Danish ships, but they were not always victorious, for they could not follow the Danish ships into shallow water. Nevertheless, the Danes could not plunder England as easily as before. The New Army. Alfred organized his fighting men in a better way. In times past the men had been called upon to fight only when the Danes were near, but now he kept a third of his men ready all the time, and another third he placed in forts, so the rest were able to work in the fields in safety. There are good reasons why Englishmen regard Alfred as a hero. William the Conqueror began to rule England in 1066. About a hundred and fifty years after Alfred died, William, duke of Normandy, crossed the Channel with an army, killed the English king in battle, and seized the throne. This was not altogether a misfortune to the English, for they came under the same ruler as the Normans and they shared in all that the men of the Continent were begin- ning to learn. For one thing, builders from the Continent taught the English to construct the great Norman churches or cathedrals which every traveler in England sees. Besides, William the Conqueror was a strong king and put HOW ENGLISHMEN LEARNED TO GOVERN 103 down the chiefs or lords that were inchned to oppress the common people. Henry II. Henry II, one of Wilham's successors, ruled over most of western France as well as over England. His officers and nobles were tired out by his endless traveling in his lands, which extended from the banks of the river Loire in France to the borders of Scotland. The Normans Crossing the English Channel From the Bayeux Tapestry, embroidered in the time of William the Conqueror. The figures are worked on a band of linen two hundred and thirty feet long, and twenty inches wide. Worsteds of eight colors are used All Englishmen and Americans should remember him with gratitude because of the improvements he made in the ways of discovering the truth when disputes arose and were carried into courts. Ordeals and Trials by Battle. Before Henry's reign it was the custom when a man was accused of a crime to find out the truth by arranging a wager of battle or what were called ordeals. The two most common ordeals were the ordeal by fire and the ordeal by water. In the ordeal by fire an iron was heated red-hot, and after it had been blessed by a priest it was put into the hand of the 104 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY man the truth of whose word was being tested, and he had to carry it a certain number of feet. His hand was then bound up and left for three days. If at the end of that time the wound was heaUng, men beheved he was innocent, for they thought God would keep an innocent man from being punished. In the ordeal by water the man was tied and thrown into water which had been blessed by the priest. If he Teial by Battle After a drawing in an old manuscript was guilty, the people thought the water would not receive him. If he sank at once, he was pulled out and treated as if he had told the truth. A wager of battle was a fight between the two men whose dispute was to be settled, or between a man and his accuser. Each was armed with a hammer or a small battle-axe, and the one who gave up lost his case. Trial by Jury. King Henry introduced a better way of finding out the truth. He called upon twelve men from a neighborhood to come before the judges, to promise solemnly to tell what they knew about a matter, and then to decide which person was in the right. They were HOW ENGLISHMEN LEARNED TO GOVERN 105 supposed to know about the facts, and they were allowed to talk the matter over with one another before they made a decision. Later these men from the neighborhood were divided into two groups, one to tell what they knew and the other to listen and decide what was true. Those who told what they knew were called the witnesses, and those who listened and decided were called jurors. The name jurors came from a Latin word meaning to take an oath. Richard the Lionhearted. King Henry had two sons, Richard and John. Richard was the boldest and most skilful fighter of his time. When the news was brought to England that Jerusalem had been captured by the Mohammedans, he led an army to Palestine to recap- ture it. He failed to take the city, but he became famous throughout the East as a fearless warrior and was ever afterwards called the ^' Lionhearted." At his death his brother John became king. He was as cowardly and wicked as Richard was brave and generous. The Great Charter. The leaders of the people, the nobles and the clergy, soon grew tired of John's wicked- ness. In 1215 they raised an army and threatened to take the kingdom from John and crown another prince as king. John was soon ready to promise anything in order to obtain power once more, and the nobles and bishops met him at Runnymede on the river Thames, a few miles west of London, and compelled him to sign a list of promises. As the list contained sixty-three separate promises, it was called the Great Charter or Magna Charta. If John did not keep these promises, the lords 106 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY and clergy agreed to make war on him, and he even said that this would be their duty. Promises of the Charter. Many of the articles of the Great Charter were important only to the men of King John's day, but others are as important to us as to them. In these the king promised that every one should be treated justly. He said he would not refuse A Portion of the Great Charter to listen to the complaints of those who thought they were wronged. The king also promised that he would not decide in favor of a rich man just because the rich man might offer him money. He would put no one in prison who had not been tried and found guilty by a jury. By another important promise the king said he would not levy new taxes without the consent of the chief men of the kingdom. This opened the way for the people to have something to say about how their money should be spent. This right is a very important part of what we call self-government. Promises of the Great Charter renewed. In after- HOW ENGLISHMEN LEARNED TO GOVERN 107 times whenever the Enghsh thought a king was doing them a wrong they reminded him of the promises made by King John in the Great Charter and demanded that the promises be solemnly renewed. In 1265 a great noble named Simon de Montfort asked many towns to send a number of their chief men to meet with the nobles and clergy to talk over the conduct of the king. Others, even kings, soon followed Simon's example by asking the townsmen for advice about mat- 1^ %^^ -A \ I 1 iiiit,ii, , ,„.., ,_^ " Parliament House Westminster Hall Westminster Abbey Where Parliament Met in London in the Fifteenth Century ters of government. After a while this became the cus- tom. Occasionally the king wanted the advice of the clergy, the nobles, and the townsmen at the same time and called them together. The meeting was called a parliament, that is, an assembly in which talking or discussion goes on. The English Parliament. Only the most important nobles or lords could go in person to the assemblies, other- wise the meeting would be too large to do any business. The other lords chose certain ones from their number to go in place of all the rest. We call such men representa- 108 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY tives. In this way, besides the men who represented the towns, there were present these nobles who represented the landowners of the counties. Gradually these nobles and the townsmen formed an assembly of their own, while the greater lords, the bishops, and abbots sat together in another assembly. The two assemblies were called the House of Commons and the House of Lords, and the two made up the parliament. An Assembly of Representatives. This parliament was a great invention. The English had discovered a better way of governing themselves than either the Greeks or the Romans. We call it the representative system. If a Roman citizen who lived far from Rome wanted to take part in the elections, he was obliged to leave his farm or his business and travel to Rome, for only the citizens who were at Rome could have a share in making the laws. It never occurred to the Romans that the citizens outside of Rome could send some of their number as representatives to Rome. The formation of the English parliament was an important step towards what we mean in America by '^ government of the people, for the people, and by the people." QUESTIONS 1. Mention the names of heroes or hero-kings of the Middle Ages. What stories have you learned about these heroes? 2. Who was the hero-king of the Enghsh? How did he early show his love of books? What did he do to help his people to a knowl- edge of books? 3. How did he succeed better than other kings in driving back the Danes? Why has he been called the creator of the Enghsh navy? HOW ENGLISHMEN LEARNED TO GOVERN 109 4. What was the name of the Norman duke who conquered the Enghsh and ruled over them? Did this conquest hinder or help them? 5. Why should we remember Henry II gratefully? Explain an ordeal and a trial by battle. How were the first juries formed and what did they do? How were they afterwards divided? 6. For what was King Richard most celebrated? What sort of a king was his brother John? 7. Why was the Charter which John was forced to grant called ''Great"? Repeat some of its promises. Did the Enghsh soon forget these promises? 8. Who asked the townsmen to send several of their number to talk over affairs with the clergy and the nobles? What was this body finally called? Into what two bodies was it divided? 9. What is a "representative system"? Why was it an invention? What did the Romans do when they hved in towns distant from Rome and wanted to take part in elections or help make the laws? EXERCISES 1. Learn and tell one of the King Arthur stories and a part of the story of the Niebelungs. Find a story about Charlemagne, Frederick the Redbeard, St. Louis, or St. Stephen. 2. Collect pictures of war vessels, those of old times and those of to-day, and explain their differences. 3. Find out how men nowadays decide whether an accused man is guilty. 4. What is the name of the assembly in your state which makes the laws? What assembly at Washington makes the laws for the whole country? CHAPTER XII THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGES What the English owed to their European Neighbors. If the English succeeded better than other Europeans in learning how to govern themselves, one reason was that the Channel protected them from attack, and they could quarrel with their king without running much risk that their enemies in other countries would take advantage of the quarrel to seize their lands or attempt to conquer them. The French were not so well placed. France also was not united like England, and whole districts called counties or duchies were almost independent of the king, being ruled by their counts and dukes. In France it would not have been wise for the people to quarrel with the king, for he was their natural protector against cruel lords. Germany and Italy were even more divided, with not only counties and duchies, but also cities nearly as independent as the ancient cities of Greece. The Europeans on the Continent did many things which the English were doing, and some of these were so well done that the English were ready to accept these Europeans as their teachers. The memory of what the Greeks and the Romans had done remained longer in southern France and Italy because so many buildings no THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGES 111 were still standing which reminded Frenchmen and ItaUans of the people who built them. Classes of People. The people of Europe, as well as of England, were divided into two classes, nobles and peasants. The clergy seemed to form another class A Monk Copying Manuscript Books because there were so many of them. Besides the parish priests and the bishops there were thousands of monks, who were persons who chose to dwell together in mon- asteries under the rule of an abbot or a prior, rather than live among ordinary people where men were so often tempted to do wrong or were so likely to be wronged by 112 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY others. The monks worked on the farms of the monas- teries, or studied in the libraries, or prayed and fasted. For a long time the men who knew how to read were nearly always monks or priests. Outside of the monas- teries or the bishops' houses there were few books. The Nobles. The nobles were either knights, barons, counts, or dukes. In England there were also earls. Many mediaeval nobles ruled like kings, but over a smaller terri- tory. They gained their power because they were rich in land and could sup- port many men who were ready to follow them in battle, or be- cause in the constant wars they proved themselves able to keep anything they took, whether it was a hilltop or a town. Timid and peaceable people were often glad to put them- selves under the protection of such a fighter, who saved them from being robbed by other fighting nobles. Plan of a Mediaeval Castle 1. The Donjon-keep. 2. Chapel. 3. Stables. 4. In- ner Court. 5. Outer Court. 6. Outworks. 7. Mount, where justice was executed. 8. Soldiers' Lodgings THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGES 113 In this way the nobles served a good purpose until the kings, who were at first only very successful nobles, were able to bring nobles as well as peasants under their own rule and to compel every one to obey the same laws. After this the nobles became what we call an aristocracy, PiERREFONDS ^ One of the Great Castles of France proud of their family history, generally living in better houses and owning more land than their neighbors, but with little power over others. Castles. For safety, kings and nobles in the Middle Ages were obliged to build strong stone forts or fortified houses called castles. They were often placed on a hilltop or on an island or in a spot where approach to the walls could be made difficult by a broad canal, or moat, filled with water. At different places along the walls were towers, and within the outer ring of walls a great tower, 114 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY or keep, which was hard to capture even after the rest of the castle had been entered by the enemy. These castles were gloomy places to live in until, centuries later, their inner walls were pierced with windows. Many are still standing, others are interesting heaps of ruins. Knighthood. The lords of the castles were occupied mostly in hunting or fighting. They fought to keep other lords from interfering with them or to win for them- selves more lands and power. They hunted that they might have meat for their tables. In later times, when it was not so necessary to kill animals for food, they hunted as a sport. Fighting also ceased to be the chief occupation, although the nobles were expected to accom- pany the king in his wars. From boyhood the sons of nobles, unless they entered the Church as priests or monks, were taught the art of fighting. A boy was sent to the castle of another lord, where he served as a page, waiting on the lord at table or running errands. He was trained to ride a horse boldly and to be skilful with the sword and the lance. When his education was finished he was usually made a knight, an event which took place with many interesting ceremonies. The young man bathed, as a sign that he was pure. The weapons and arms for his use were blessed by a priest and laid on the altar of the church, and near them he knelt and prayed all night. In the final ceremony a sword was girded upon him and he received a slight blow on the neck from the sword of some knight, or perhaps of the king. His armor covered him from head to foot THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGES 115 in metal, and sometimes his horse was also covered with metal plates. When he was fully armed, he was expected to show his skill to the lords and ladies who were present. The Duties of a Knight. The duties of the knight were to defend the weak, to protect women from wrong, to be faithful to his lord and king, and to be courteous even to an enemy. A knight true to these duties was called " chivalrous," a word which means very much what we mean by the word " gen- tlemanly." There were many wicked knights, but we must not forget that the good knights taught courtesy, faithfulness in keeping promises, respect for women, courage, self-sacrifice, and honor. The Peasants. Most of the people were peasants or townsmen. There were few towns, because many had been burned by the barbarian tribes which broke into the Roman Empire, or had been destroyed in the later wars. The peasants were crowded in villages close to the walls of some castle or monastery. They paid dearly for the protection which the lord of the castle or the abbot of the monastery gave them, for they were obliged to work on his lands three days or more each week, and to bring him eggs, chickens, and a nttle money several times a year. They also gave him a part of their harvest. A Knight in Armor Thirteenth century 116 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY The Townsmen. At first the towns belonged to lords, or abbots, or bishops, but many towns drove out their lords and ruled themselves or received officers from the king. When they ruled themselves, their towns were called communes. The citizens agreed that whenever the town bell was rung they would gather together. View of Carcassonne This is an ancient city in France founded by the Romans Any one who was absent was fined. For them " eternal vigilance was the price of liberty." Some of the belfries of these mediaeval towns are still standing, and remind the citizens of to-day of the struggles of the early days. The men of each occupation or trade were organized into societies or guilds, with masters, journeymen, and apprentices. There were guilds of goldsmiths, ironmong- ers, and fishmongers, that is, workers in gold and iron and sellers of fish. The merchants also had their guilds. In many towns no one was allowed to work at a trade or sell merchandise who was not a member of a guild. THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGES 117 Old Cities which still exist. Many of the towns which grew up in the Middle Ages are now the great cities of England and Europe. Their citizens can look back a thousand years and more over the history of their city, can point to churches, to town halls, and sometimes to private houses, that have stood all this time. They can often show the remains of mediaeval walls or broad streets where once these walls stood, and the moats that surrounded them. The traveler in York or London, in Paris, in Nuremberg, in Florence, or in Rome eagerly searches for the relics about which so many interesting stories of the past are told. Venice and Genoa. One of the most fascinating of these old cities is Venice, built upon low-lying islands two miles from the shore of Italy and protected by a sand bar from the waters of the Adriatic. Venice was founded by men and women who fled from a Roman city on the mainland which was ruined by the barbarians in the fifth century after Christ. In many places piles had to be driven into the loose sands to furnish a foundation for houses. The Venetians did not try to keep out the water but used it as streets, and instead of driving in wagons they went about in boats. They grew rich in trade on the sea, as the Greeks had done in those same waters hundreds of years before. Farther down the coast of Italy were the cities Brin- disi and Taranto, the Brundusium and Tarentum of the Romans. Across the peninsula to the west was another trading city called Genoa, which was the birthplace of Columbus. 118 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY Modern Languages. While the people of mediaeval times were building city walls and towers to protect themselves they were also doing other things. Almost without knowing it they formed the languages which we now speak and write — English, German, French, Italian, and Spanish. The English and German languages are closely related because the forefathers of the English emigrated to Eng- land from Germany, taking their language with them. This older language was gradually changed, but it still remained like German. Dutch is another language like both English and German. There are many words in these languages borrowed from other peoples. Englishmen, because of their long union with western France, borrowed many words from the French. The French did not invent these words, for the French language grew out of the Latin language which the French learned from the Romans. How Modern Languages were formed. In English we have two sets of words and phrases: one is used in writing books or speeches, the other in conversation. When the Gauls learned Latin, the language of Rome, most of them learned the words used in conversation and did not learn the words of Roman books. Before long spoken words differed so much from the older written words that only scholars understood that the two had belonged to the same language. This new language was French. In the same way Italian and Spanish grew out of the ordinary Latin spoken in Italy and Spain. When men began to write books in the new languages. THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGES 119 the changes went on more slowly because the use of words in books kept the spelling the same. Men wrote less in Latin, but it was still used in the religious services of the Church and in the schools and universities. Venice and the Grand Canal Schools in the Middle Ages. In the Middle Ages most boys and girls did not go to school. Education was principally for those who expected to become priests or monks. The schools were in the monasteries or in the houses or palaces of the bishops. The students were taught a little Latin grammar, to write or speak Latin, and to debate. They also learned arithmetic; enough astronomy to reckon the days on which the festivals of the Church should come; and music, so much as was then known of it. Printing had not been invented, so 120 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY there were no text-books for them to study, and written books or manuscripts were too costly. Students hstened to the teacher as he read from his manuscripts and copied the words or tried to remember them. The Beginning of Universities. If students remained in the schools after these things had been learned, they studied the laws of the Romans, or the practise of medi- cine, or the religious questions which are called theology. Some teachers talked in such an interesting way about such questions that hundreds of students came to listen. Like other kinds of workers, who were organized in soci- eties or guilds, the teachers and students formed a guild called a university. The teachers were the master-work- men, and the students were the apprentices. Where the Students lived. In the beginning the uni- versities had no buildings of their own, and the teachers taught in hired halls, the students boarding wherever they could find lodgings. Partly to help students who were too poor to pay for good lodgings, and partly to bring the students under the direct rule of teachers, colleges were built. These were not separate institutions like the American colleges, but simply houses for residence, although later some teaching was done in them. Some Famous Universities. The oldest university was in Bologna in Italy, and teachers began to explain the laws of the Romans to its students eight hundred years ago. The University of Paris was called the greatest university in the Middle Ages. Its students numbered sometimes between six and seven thousand. About the same time the English universities of Oxford and Cam- THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGES 121 bridge were formed, and there, many years later, a large number of the men who settled in America were educated. The Wisdom of the Arabs. Students in these univer- sities obtained several of the writings of the Greeks through the Arabs, the followers of Mohammed, who had conquered most of Spain. Long before Europeans View of New College, Oxford Built in the fourteenth century thought of founding universities the Arabs had flourishing schools and universities in Spain. The capital of the Mohammedan Empire was first at Bagdad on the Euphrates, where once ruled Haroun-al-Raschid, the hero of the tales of the Arabian Nights. What Europeans borrowed from the Arabs. The Arabs had learned much of geography and mathematics from the Greeks, and they also found out much for them- selves. The numerals which we use are Arabic; and algebra, one of our principal studies in mathematics, 122 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY was thought out by the Arabs. Their learned men were deeply interested in the books of Aristotle, an ancient Greek, who had been a r teacher of Alexander the Great. They translated his books into Arabic, &* -', (^ and Christian students in f"" ' Spain translated the Ara- bic into Latin. The great scholars at the University of Paris believed that Aristotle reasoned better than other thinkers, and took as their model the methods of reasoning found in this Latin trans- lation of an Arabic trans- lation of what Aristotle had written in Greek. Builders in the Middle Ages. The Greeks and the Romans had been great builders, but the men of the Middle Ages succeeded in building churches, town halls, and palaces or castles which equaled in grandeur and beauty the best that the ancient builders had made. The large churches or cathedrals seem wonderful because their builders were able to place masses of stone high in the air and to cover immense spaces with beautiful vaulted roofs. Builders nowadays imitate, but not often, if ever, equal them. Fortunately the original buildings are still standing in many English and European cities: The Alcazar at Seville Built by the Moors in the twelfth cen- tury. Note the elaborate decoration of the Moorish architecture THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGES 123 in Canterbury, Durham, and Winchester; in Paris, Char- tres, and Rheims; in Cologne, Erfurt, and Strasbourg; in Barcelona and Toledo; in Milan, Venice, and Rome. Church Building. The Italians began by building churches like Roman basilicas. Roman arches and Notre Dame in Paris View from the rear, showing the arches and buttresses domes, supported by heavy walls, were also used north of the Alps, and the method of building was named Romanesque, or in England, Norman. The architects or builders of western France discovered a way of roofing over just as large spaces without using such heavy walls, so that the interior could be lighted by larger win- dows. Instead of having rounded arches they used pointed arches. The walls between the windows were strengthened by masses of stone called buttresses. The 124 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY peak of the roof of these cathedrals was sometimes more than one hundred and fifty feet above the floor. The glass of the windows showed in beautiful colors scenes from the Bible or from lives of sainted men and women. The outer walls, especially the western front, the door- ways, and the towers, were richly carved and adorned with stat- ues, and often with the figures of strange birds and beasts which lived only in the imagi- nation of the builders. This method of build- ing was named Gothic, and it was used not only for churches but for town halls and The Cathedral at Amiens . A typical Gothic interior priVate hOUSeS. Architects use similar methods of building nowadays. The Renaissance. Men who could build and adorn great churches and town halls and who were eager to study in the new universities should be called civilized. The barbarous days were gone, but men still had much to learn from the ancient Greeks and Romans. Many of the ancient buildings were in ruins, the statues half THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGES 125 buried or broken, the paintings destroyed, and the books lost. Men began to search for what was left of these things and to study them carefully to learn what the Graeco-Roman world had been like. After a while stu- dents could think of nothing else, and tried to imitate, if they could not surpass, what the Romans and the Greeks ■s'l , I?' " ran sl? W St. Peter's at Rome had done. The age in which men were first interested in these things is called the Renaissance or " rebirth,'' because men were so unlike what they had been that they seemed born again. With the beginning of the Renaissance the Middle Ages came to an end. Petrarch. One of the earliest of these " new " men was Petrarch, an Italian poet who lived in the fourteenth century, a hundred years before Columbus. He wished above all things to read, copy, and possess the writings 126 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY of the Romans, and especially of Cicero, an orator and writer who lived in the days of Julius Caesar. Petrarch and his friends searched for the manuscripts of Roman authors which had been preserved, hidden away in monastery libraries. The same love of Roman books seized others, and princes spent large sums of money in collecting and copying ancient writings. At this time a beginning of the great libraries of Europe was made. Petrarch tried to learn Greek, but could find no one in Italy able to teach him. Greek Books brought again to Italy. Shortly after Petrarch died some Greeks came from Constantinople seeking the aid of the pope and the kings of the West in an attempt to drive back the Turks, who had already crossed into Europe and settled in the lands which they now occupy. Unless help should be sent to Constanti- nople, the city would certainly fall into their hands. With these Greeks was one of those men who still loved to read the writings of the ancient authors. He was persuaded to remain a few years in Florence and other Italian cities and teach Greek to the eager Italian scholars. He was also persuaded to write a grammar of the Greek language, in order that after he had returned to Constanti- nople others might be able to continue his teaching. Collectors of books now searched for Greek writings as eagerly as they had searched for Latin writings. Mer- chants sent their agents to Constantinople to buy books. One traveler and scholar brought back to Italy over two hundred. Soon Italy was the land to which students from Germany, France^ and England went to learn THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGES 127 Greek and to obtain copies of Greek books. It was fortunate that so many books had been brought from Constantinople, for at last, in 1453, the Turks captured that city and no place in the East was left where the books of the Greeks were studied as they had been at Constantinople. IIIllMlllllllllllllllftfe, l||l||[||f' A Printing Office in the Fifteenth Century The Invention of Printing. After collectors of Greek and Roman writings had made several good libraries, partly by purchase, partly by copying manuscripts belonging to others, a great invention was made which enabled these writings to be spread far and wide and placed in the hands of every student. This invention was the method of printing with movable types. It is not quite certain who made the invention, although John Gutenberg, of Mainz, in Germany, has generally been called the inventor. Probably several men thought of the method at about the same time, that is, about 1450. 128 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY Different Kinds of Type. In forming their type the German printers imitated the lettering made by copyists with a quill. Their type is called Gothic, and it is still widely used in German books. The Italian printers made their letters more round and simple in shape, imitating the handwriting of the best Italian copyists. This is the Roman type, in which many European peo- ples, as also the English and the Americans, print their books. The Italians also prepared a kind of lettering which, because they were the inventors, is named italic. The Aldine Press. One of the most famous printers of this early time was a Venetian named Aldus Manutius or Manucci. He gathered about him a number of Greeks and planned to print all the Greek manuscripts that had been discovered. This he did in beautiful type, imitated from the handwriting of one of his Greek friends. He sold the books for a price per volume about equal to our fifty cents, so that few scholars were too poor to buy. Some Early Printed Books. Another great printer was the Englishman William Caxton, who learned the art in the Netherlands. Among the books he printed was Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. The first book printed by Gutenberg was the Bible in Latin. Early in the sixteenth century, through the labors of a Dutch scholar, Erasmus, and of his printer, the German Froben, the New Testa- ment in Greek was printed. Architecture and Sculpture. The artists and the architects of this time began to imitate the buildings they found or that they unearthed. They used round arches and domes more than the pointed arches and vaulted THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGES 129 roofs of the Gothic builders. Sculptors pictured in stone the stories of the Greek and Roman gods and heroes. Statues long buried in ancient ruins were dug up, and great artists like the Italian Michel Angelo studied them and rivaled them in the beautiful statues they cut. On every hand men's minds were awakened by what they saw of the work of the founders of the civilized world. Thenne beganne agayne the bataylle of the one parte / And of the other Eneas ascryed to theym and sayd. Lordes why doo ye fyghte / Ye knowe well that the couuenante ys deuysed and made / That Turnus and I shall fyghte for you alle / Facsimile of Part of Caxton's Aeneid (reduced) With the same in modern type QUESTIONS 1. Why did the memory of the Greeks and Romans remain longer in France and Italy than in Germany and England? 2. What different classes of people were there in the Middle Ages? What was the difference between a parish priest and a monk? 3. How did the nobles gain a living? Were they useful? In what sorts of houses did they Uve? Describe a castle. What was the ''keep"? 4. How were the sons of nobles trained? What was a page? How was a young man made a knight? What were the duties of a knight? 5. Were the farmers or peasants prosperous and happy in the Middle Ages? How did the townsmen learn to protect themselves? What was a guild? Why are many Europeans proud of their cities? 6. Why is Venice especially interesting? Why do we remember Genoa? 130 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 7. From what language did French, ItaUan, and Spanish grow? How were the changes made in the old language? Where did the Enghsh get their language? Was it just hke the Enghsh we speak? 8. What did the boys study in the Middle Ages? What did the word "university" mean then? Name two or three universities founded then which still exist. What did the Arabs teach Christian students? 9. What sort of buildings did men in the Middle Ages especially like to build? Are these buildings still standing? Why do we admire these great churches? 10. What do we call the time when men began to study once more Roman and Greek books, and began to imitate the ways of living and thinking common in the Graeco-Roman world? Who was the first of these "new" men? Where especially did men search for Greek books? 11. What invention helped men spread far and wide this new knowledge? How do the Germans come to have "Gothic" type? Where do we get our Roman and italic type? What books did the Venetian printer Aldus print? Name a famous English and a famous German printer. 12. What besides ancient books did the men of the Renaissance like to study and imitate? EXERCISES 1. Find out what titles of noblemen are used now in different European countries. In what country are men often knighted? Why are they knighted? What title shows that a man is a knight? 2. Collect pictures of armor and of castles, especially of castles still standing. Collect pictures of old town walls. 3. Collect pictures of Venice and Genoa, especially from adver- tising folders. 4. Find the names of several large American universities. Do the students live in "colleges" as students did in the Middle Ages? 5. Tell one or two stories from the Arabian Nights. Collect pictures of Arabian costumes and of Arabian buildings in Spain, or Africa, or Asia. 6. Collect pictures of English and European cathedrals. Find pictures of churches in America which resemble them. THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGES 131 REVIEW How ancient civilization was preserved 1. What ruined so many ancient cities? 2". Who tried to preserve the memory of what the Greeks and the Romans had done? 3. What language did the churchmen contmue to user 4 How did the missionaries help? 5. How did Alfred teach the Enghsh some of the things the Romans had known? , . , ,1 r^ ^ \ a 6. What did the Arabs teach the Christians which the Greeks liad known? ^.11 7. What was studied at Bologna? How did the umversities help in preserving the ancient knowledge? 8. What did Petrarch do to find lost books? What did other men of Petrarch's time do? 9 What help came from the invention of printing? 10. From what besides books did the men of the Renaissance learn about the Greeks and the Romans? Husbandman and Country Woman OF Fifteenth Century CHAPTER XIII TRADERS, TRAVELERS, AND EXPLORERS IN THE LATER MIDDLE AGES The Perils of Traders. There was a time in the Middle Ages when merchants scarcely dared to travel from one town to another for fear of being plundered by some robber lord or common thief. If they traveled by sea they might also be attacked by robbers. Some of these robbers, like the Northmen, came from afar, but others were ordinary sailors who put out from near-by ports when there seemed nothing better to do. This state of things gradually changed. The kings or great lords succeeded in protecting merchants on land, and the merchants armed vessels of their own to drive the pirates from the sea. As trade grew greater the towns became richer and stronger and the robbers and pirates fewer, so that the number of merchant ships increased rapidly and long voyages were attempted. Fairs. At first trade was carried on at great fairs, held in places convenient for the merchants of England and western Europe. The fairs lasted about six weeks, and one fair followed another. As soon as the first was over the merchants packed their unsold wares and journeyed to the next. At the fairs were found drugs and spices, cottons and silks from the East, skins and furs 132 TRADERS, TRAVELERS AND EXPLORERS 133 from the North, wool from England, and other products from Germany, Italy, France, and Spain. The Treasures of the East. Men in the Middle Ages were dependent for luxuries upon the lands of Asia which are commonly called the East. By this name we may mean Persia, Arabia, India, China, or the Molucca Islands, where the choicest spices still grow. Spices were a great luxury, and were needed to flavor the food, because the Trader's Caravan Crossing the Desert manner of cooking was poor and there was little variety in the kinds of food. Most of the cotton cloth, the silks, the drugs, and the dyes were also procured from the East. Routes to the East. No one knew that it was possible to reach Asia by sailing around the southern point of Africa or through what is called the Strait of Magellan. The products of the East were brought to Europe by several routes, two reaching the Mediterranean at Alex- 134 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY andria, in Egypt, a third at Antioch, in Syria, and a fourth on the southeastern shore of the Black Sea. The loads were carried by camels in long caravans across the deserts from the Red Sea, or the Persian Gulf, or from northern India. Ships from the Italian cities of Genoa, Pisa, and Venice struggled with one another MAP OF TRADE ROUTES IN THE MIDDLE AGES LAND ROUTES TO THE EAST. LAND ROUTES IN EUROPE ... VENETIAN WATER ROUTE GENOESE WATER ROUTE. for the right to bring back these precious wares and sell them to the merchants of Europe, who were ready to pay high prices. Venetian Traders. Merchants from Germany came to Venice to trade the products of the North for spices, drugs, dyes, and silks, which they carried back across the Alps. Once a year the Venetians sent a fleet of vessels westward through the straits of Gibraltar and along the Atlantic shore as far as Bruges and London. The voy- age was long and dangerous, and the Venetians traded TRADERS, TRAVELERS AND EXPLOITERS 135 in ports on the way. Spices in Bruges sold for two or three times what they cost in Venice. The Crusades. One event that brought to the Vene- tians an opportunity to enrich themselves was the Cru- sades. The Mohammedans had long held a large part of Spain, and towards the end of the eleventh century they threatened France and Italy. They also attacked what was left of the Roman Empire in the East, and the emperors sent to the pope and the western kings frantic appeals for help. Thousands of Frenchmen, Germans, Englishmen, and Italians were suddenly seized with the desire to go to Palestine and drive the Mohammedans from Jerusalem, the Holy City, and from the tomb of Christ. For the next two centuries large armies were sent there, sometimes gaining victories, sometimes being defeated in battle or overcome by disease. What the Venetians gained from the Crusades. Most of the Crusaders went to the Holy Land by sea, and when they had no ships of their own they often took passage in Venetian ships. The Venetians asked large sums for this, and also succeeded in obtaining all the rights of trade in many of the seaports which were captured. Sometimes the Venetians undertook to govern islands like Cyprus and Crete, or territories along the coasts, but their main aim was to increase their trade rather than to build up an empire. The new Venetian Ships. The Crusaders who returned to Europe brought back a liking for the luxuries of the East, and their tales made other men eager for them. For this reason more ships were built to sail in the Mediterra- 136 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY nean. The shipowners attempted to make their ships larger and stronger. They were larger than those built by the English or by other peoples along the Atlantic coast, but they would seem small to us. There is an account of Venetian ships in the thirteenth century which tells us that they were one hundred and ten feet long and carried crews of one thousand men. They relied mainly upon the use of oars, but had a mast, sometimes two masts, rigged with sails, which they could use if the wind was favorable. Venetian Ships Dangers of the Sea. One difficulty about sailing was the lack of any means in cloudy weather, and especially at night, of telling the direction in which they were going. The sailors did not like to venture far from shore, although the open sea is safer during a storm than a wind-swept and rocky coast. At the time when the sailors of the Mediterranean were building up their trade to Alexandria, Antioch, and the Black Sea, two instruments came into use which enabled them to tell just where they were. TRADERS, TRAVELERS AND EXPLORERS 137 Mariner's Compass The Compass. One of these instruments was the com- pass, which the Chinese had long used, and which was known to the Arabs before the Europeans heard of it. If a boy will take a needle, rub its point with a magnet, and lay the needle on a cork floating in water, he will have a rough sort of compass. The point of the needle wherever it may be turned will swing back towards the north, thus guiding the sailors. The compass was known in Europe about 1200. There is a story that at first sailors thought its action due to magic and refused to sail under a captain who used it. But a century later it was in general use, and had been so much improved that even in the severest storms the needle re- mained level and pointed steadily towards the north. The Astrolabe. The other in- strument, called the astrolabe, was a brass circle marked off into 360 degrees. To this circle were fas- tened two movable bars, at the ends of which were sights, or pro- jecting pieces pierced by a hole. The astrolabe was hung on a mast in such a way that one bar was horizontal and the other could be moved until through its sights some known star could be seen. The number of degrees marked on the circle between the two bars told An Astrolabe 138 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY how high the star was above the horizon, and the sailors could reckon the latitude of the place where they were. In a similar way their longitude could be found out. The astrolabe was not so useful as the compass, for it could be used only on clear days or nights. With these two instruments it was possible to sail far out into the Atlantic. By the middle of the fourteenth century ships from Genoa and Portugal had visited the Madeira and the Canary Islands, and even the Azores which are a thousand miles from the mainland. What Men thought about a Sea Route to the East. Men learned more about other strange lands through a Venetian traveler, Marco Polo, who wrote an account of his wonderful journey to the court of the Grand Khan, or Emperor of the Mongols, of his travels through China, and of his return to Persia by sea. Many men in the Middle Ages had beheved that east of Asia was a great marsh, and that because of it even if they succeeded in sailing around Africa it would be impossible to reach the region of the spices and silks and jewels which they so much desired. They also thought that the heat in the tropics was so intense that at a certain distance down the coast of Africa they would find the water of the ocean boiling. These things and the tales of strange monsters that inhabited the deep sea had terri- fied them. The news which Marco Polo brought changed this feeling. The Mongols. The way Marco Polo happened to visit the court of the Mongol emperor was this. The Mongol Tartars were great conquerors, and they not only subdued TRADERS, TRAVELERS AND EXPLORERS 139 the Chinese but marched westward, . overrunning most of •Russia and stopping only when they were on the frontiers of Italy. For a long time southern Russia remained under their rule. Their capital was just north of the Great Wall of China. The Mongol emperor did not hate Europeans, and even sent to the pope for missionaries to teach his people. Marco Polo's father and uncle while on a trading expedition had found their way to his court, and on a second journey, in 1271, they took with them Marco, a lad of seventeen years. The emperor was much interested in his western visitors and took young Marco into his service. Marco Polo's Travels. Marco Polo traveled over China on offi- cial errands, while his father and uncle were gathering wealth by trade. After many years they desired to return to Italy, but the emperor was unwilling to lose such able servants. It happened, how- ever, that the emperor wished to send a princess as a bride to the Khan or Emperor of Persia, also a Mongol sovereign, and the three Polos, who were known to be trustworthy seamen, were selected to escort the princess to her royal husband. After doing this they did not return to China, but went on to Italy. They had been absent twenty-four years, and they found that their relatives had given them up for dead and The Mongol Emperor of Marco Polo's Time After an old Chinese manuscript 140 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY did not recognize tbem. It was like the old story of Ulysses, who, when he returned to his native Ithaca after his wanderings, was recognized by nobody. The Polos proved the truth of what they said by showing the great treasures which they had sewed into the dresses of coarse Map of Marco Polo's Travels The known world is in white, the undiscovered in black, and that first described by Marco Polo is dotted stuff of a Tartar pattern which they wore. They dis- played jewels of the greatest value, diamonds, emeralds, rubies, and sapphires. What Marco Polo told. In the account Marco Polo wrote of his travels and of the countries he had visited he described a wonderful palace of the Great Emperor. TRADERS, TRAVELERS AND EXPLORERS 141 Its walls were covered with gold and silver, the dining hall seated six thousand people, and its ceiling was inlaid with gold. This palace seemed to Marco Polo so large, so rich, and so beautiful that no man on earth could design anything to equal it. The robes of the emperor and his twelve thousand nobles and knights were of silk and beaten gold, each having a girdle of gold decorated with precious stones. Marco Polo told of great cities in China where men traded in the costly wares of the East, and where silk was abundant and cheap. He described from hearsay Japan as an island fifteen hundred miles from the main- land. Its people, he said, were white, civiUzed, and wondrously rich. The palace of the emperor of Japan was roofed with gold, its pavements and floors were of solid gold, laid in plates two fingers thick. Reasons for finding a Sea Route to the East. Tales of such great wealth made Europeans more eager than ever to reach the East. Marco Polo had shown that it was possible to sail past India, through the islands, to the eastern coast of Asia. When printing was invented his account was printed, and the copy of that book which Columbus owned is still preserved. Upon its margins Columbus wrote his own opinions about geography. Other travelers besides the Polos returned with similar tales of the East. Soon, however, all chance to go there by way of the land was lost, because the Mongol emperors were driven out of China and the new rulers would not permit Europeans to enter the country. The ordinary caravan routes to the East were also closed not long 142 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY afterwards. In 1453 the Turks captured Constantinople, drove away the Itahan merchants, and prevented Euro- pean sailors from reaching the Black Sea. Fifty years later the Turks seized Egypt and closed that route also. Fortunately before this happened a better route had been discovered. The Portuguese Sailors. During the Middle Ages the Portuguese princes fought to recover Portugal from the Moors. When this was done they were eager to cross the straits and attack the Moors in Africa. Prince Henry of Portu- gal made an expedition CO Africa and returned with the desire to know more about the coast south of the point be- yond which European sailors dared not ven- ture. Sailors were afraid of being lost in the Sea of Darkness or killed by the heat of the boiling tropics. From his love of exploring the seas Prince Henry has been called ''The Navigator." He took up his residence on a lonely promontory in southern Portugal, and gathered about him learned men of all peoples, Arabian and Jew- ish mathematicians, and Italian mapmakers. Captains trained in this new school of seamanship were sent into the southern seas. Each was to sail farther down the western coast of Africa than other captains had gone. Before Prince Henry died in 1460 his captains had passed Dangers of the Sea of Darkness From an old picture TRADERS, TRAVELERS AND EXPLORERS 143 Cape Verde, and ten years later they crossed the equator without suffering the fate which men had once feared. But they were discouraged when they found that beyond the Gulf of Guinea the coast turned southward aga^in, for they had hoped to sail eastward to Asia. The Portuguese Route to India The broken lines show the old trade routes to the East. The solid line shows the new Portuguese route Cape of Good Hope discovered. At last in 1487 the end of what seemed to be an endless coast was reached. The fortunate captain who accomphshed this was Bar- tholomew Diaz, who came of a family of daring seamen. He had been sailing southward along the coast for nearly eight months, when a northerly gale drove him before 144 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY it for thirteen days. The weather cleared and Diaz turned eastward to find the coast. As he did not see land he turned northward and soon discovered land to the west. This sjiowed that he had passed the southern point of Africa. His crew were unwilling to go farther and he followed the coast around to the western side again. The southern point he called the Cape of Storms, but the king of Portugal, when the voyagers returned, named it the Cape of Good Hope, for now he knew that an expedition could be sent directly to the Indies. Diaz had sailed thirteen thousand miles, and his voyage was the most wonderful that Europeans had ever heard about. The Sea Route to India. Eleven years later the Por- tuguese king sent Vasco da Gama, another captain, to attempt to reach the coast of India by sailing around the Cape of Good Hope which Diaz had discovered. Da Gama was successful and landed at Calicut on the south- western coast of India. He returned to Portugal in 1499, and his cargo was worth sixty times the cost of the voyage. This was the beginning of a trade with the East which enriched Portugal and especially the merchants of Lisbon. QUESTIONS 1. What dangers threatened traders in the Middle Ages who trav- eled by sea or land ? What was a fair ? 2. What products were brought from the East ? By what routes ? Point these out on a map. What rival trading cities were in Italy? How did the Venetians get their wares to London ? 3. Who were the Crusaders ? Why did they attack the Moham- medans ? What did the Venetian traders gain by these wars ? De- scribe a large Venetian ship of this time. TRADERS, TRAVELERS AND EXPLORERS 145 4. When was the compass invented ? Why was it dangerous to sail great seas and oceans without a compass ? Tell how an astrolabe was made. 5. What at first kept men from attempting to sail to eastern Asia ? Who was Marco Polo ? Describe his adventures. How did he return to Venice? How did people learn about the lands he had visited? 6. Why after 1453 was it necessary to find a sea route to Asia? What did Prince Henry the Navigator succeed in doing ? How was the Cape of Good Hope discovered ? Who went with Diaz on this voyage ? 7. Who first sailed to India by the Cape of Good Hope? Was the voyage profitable ? What city was made rich by the new trade ? EXERCISES 1. Find from a map in the geography how many miles goods must have been carried to reach Venice from Persia, India, the Moluccas, or China. How far is it from Venice by sea to Bruges or London? 2. Where and how do we now" obtain cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves ? 3. What line of emperors has been recently ruling over China? Where has been their capital? Find out about the present Mongols. Collect pictures of China and Japan. 4. Read a longer account of Marco Polo. 5. Study the geography of Portugal. Collect pictures of Portu- gal. Find out if many Portuguese are living in the United States. REVIEW Steps Towards the Discovery of America Greek colonies in Italy, Gaul, and Spain. Roman conquest of Gaul, Spain, and Britain. Viking voyages to Greenland and Vinland. Venetian trade in spices with the East, and Venetian voyages to London and Bruges. Marco Polo's travels in China and the East. Portuguese voyages down the coast of Africa and about the Cape of Good Hope. CHAPTER XIV THE DISCOVERY OF A NEW WORLD Christopher Columbus. Six years before Vasco da Gama made his famous voyage to India around Africa and opened a new trade route for the Portuguese mer- chants, another seaman had formed and carried out a much bolder plan. This was Christopher Columbus, and his plan was to sail directly west from Europe into the unknown ocean in search of new islands and the coast of Asia. Columbus, who was a native of Genoa in Italy, had followed his younger brother to Portugal. Both were probably led there by the fame of Prince Henry's explorations. The brothers became very skilful in making maps and charts for the Portuguese. They also frequently sailed with them on their expeditions along the coast of Africa. All the early associations of Columbus were with men interested in voyages of discovery, and particularly with those engaged in the daring search for a sea route to India. How Columbus formed his Plan. Columbus gathered all the information on geography which he could from ancient writers and from modern discoverers. Many of them believed that the world was shaped like a ball. If such were its shape, Columbus reasoned, why might not a ship sail around it from east to west? Or, better, why 146 THE DISCOVERY OF A NEW WORLD 147 not sail directly west to India, and perhaps find many wonderful islands between Europe and Asia? His imagi- nation was also fired by Marco Polo's description of the marvelous riches of China, Japan, and the Spice Islands. But the idea of going directly west into the midst of the unknown and seemingly boundless waste of water, and on and on to Asia, appeared to most men of the fifteenth century to be madness. His Notion of the Distance to Asia. Columbus made two fortunate errors in reck- oning the distance to the ^ Indies He imagined that Asia extended much farther eastward than it actually does, making it nearer Europe, and estimated the earth to be smaller than it is. His figures placed Japan less than 3,000 miles west of he Canary Islands, instead of the 12,000 miles which is the real distance. He accordingly thought Japan would be found about where Mexico or Florida is situated. How he secured Help. Even so, many years passed before Columbus was able to undertake a voyage. He was too poor himself, and needed the help of some govern- ment to fit out such an expedition. He may have tried to get his native city, Genoa, to help him. There is Christopher Columbus The oldest known picture of Columbus, in the National Library, Madrid 148 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY such a story. If he did, it was without success. He tried to obtain the help of Portugal, where he lived a long time, and whose princes were greatly interested in the discovery of new trade routes. His brother visited England in the same cause. Neither of these countries, however, was willing to undertake this expensive and doubtful enterprise. The King and Queen of Spain, to whom Columbus turned, kept him waiting many years for an answer. They thought that they had more important work in hand. There was another king in Spain at the time, the king of the Moors. Ferdinand and Isabella, the Christian king and queen, were trying to conquer the Moors, and thus to end the struggle between Christians and Mo- hammedans for the possession of Spain, which had lasted nearly eight centuries. This war required all the strength and revenue of Spain. Fortunately, just as Columbus was becoming thor- oughly discouraged, the war with the Moors came to an end. Granada, the seat of their former power, was finally taken in January, 1492. Now was a good time to ask favors of the sovereigns of Spain, and to plan large enterprises for the future. Powerful friends aided Columbus to renew his petition, and Queen Isabella was persuaded to promise him all the help that he needed. The Ships of Columbus. Three ships, or caravels as they were called, were fitted out. The Santa Maria was the largest of the three, but it was not much larger than the small sailing yachts which we see to-day. It was about ninety feet long by twenty feet broad, and had a r S CO ^ ° O 5 r o 150 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY single deck. This was Columbus's principal ship or flag- ship. The second caravel, the Pinta, was much swifter, built high at the prow and stern, and furnished with a forecastle for the crew and a cabin for the officers, but without a deck in the center. The third and smallest caravel, called the Nina, the Spanish word for baby, was built much like the Pinta. Ninety persons made up the three crews. The ships were the usual size of those which coasted along the shores of Europe in the fifteenth century. Expeditions had never gone far out into the ocean. Columbus preferred the smaller vessels in a voyage of discovery, because they would be able to run close to the shores and into the smaller harbors and up the rivers. Beginning of the Voyage. The expedition set sail from Palos in Spain, August 3, 1492. It went directly to the Canary Islands. These were owned by Spain, and were selected by Columbus as the most convenient starting- point. The little fleet was delayed three weeks at the islands making repairs. On September 6 Columbus was off again. He struck due west from the Canaries. The Terrors of the Voyage. While the little fleet was still in sight of the Canary Islands a volcanic eruption nearly frightened the sailors out of their wits. They deemed such an event an omen of evil. But the expedi- tion had fine weather day after day. Steady, gentle, easterly winds, the trade winds of the tropics, wafted them slowly westward. But the timid sailors began to wonder how they would ever be able to return against winds which seemed never to change from the east. THE DISCOVERY OF A NEW WORLD 151 Then they came to an immense field of seaweed, larger in area than the whole of Spain. This terrified the sailors, who feared they might be driven on hidden rocks or be engulfed in quicksands. They imagined, too, that great sea-monsters were lurking beyond the seaweed waiting to devour them. A Caravel of Columbus After the reconstructed model exhibited at the Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893 The first Signs of a New Land. In spite of fears and complaints, and threats of resistance, Columbus kept a westward course for more than four weeks. Then as he began to see so many birds flying to the southwest, he concluded that land must be nearer in that direction. He had heard that most of the islands held by the Portu- guese were discovered by following the flight of birds. So on October 7 the westward course was changed to one slightly southwest. From this time on the signs of land grew frequent. 152 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY Floating branches, occasionally covered with berries, pieces of wood, bits of cane, were encouraging signs. Birds like ducks and sandpipers became common sights. The Queen had promised a small pension to the one who should first see land. Columbus had offered to give a silken doublet in addition. With what eagerness the sailors must have kept on the lookout! The great Discovery. At last as the fleet was sailing onward in the bright moonlight Columbus saw a light moving as if carried by hand along a shore. A few hours later, about two o'clock on the morning of October 12, a sailor on the Pinta saw land distinctly, and soon all be- held, a few miles away, a long, low beach. The vessels hove to and waited for daylight. Early the same day, Friday, October 12, 1492, they approached the land, which proved to be a small island. Columbus named it San Salvador, which means Holy Saviour. We do not know which one of the Bahama islands he first saw, but we believe it was the one now called Watling Island. Columbus went ashore with the royal standard and ban- ners flying to take possession of the land in the name of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. Where Columbus thought he was. The astonished inhabitants of the island soon gathered to see the strange sight — the landing of white men in the West Indies. They looked upon the ships as sea-monsters, and the white men as gods. Nor was Columbus less puzzled by what he saw. The people were a strange race — cinna- mon colored, naked, greased, and painted to suit each one's fancy. They had only the rudest means of self- THE DISCOVERY OF A NEW WORLD 153 defense, and were almost as poor as the parrots that chattered in the trees above them. Such savages bore httle resemblance to the people whom Marco Polo said inhabited the Spice Islands. Columbus thought that he had reached some outlying island not far from Japan. A cruise of a few days among the Bahamas satisfied him that he was in the ocean near the coast of Asia, for had not Marco Polo Watling. Island, where Columbus first landed described it as studded with thousands of spice-bearing islands? He had not found any spices, but the air was full of fragrance and the trees and herbs were strange in appearance. Of course if the islands were the Indies, the people must be Indians. Columbus called them Indians, and this name clung to the red men, although their islands were not the true Indies. The Search for the Golden East. Columbus thought that the natives meant to tell him in their sign language of a great land to the south where gold abounded. He set off in search of this, and came upon a land the natives called Cuba. Its large size convinced him that he had at last found the Asiatic mainland, and he sent two 154 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY messengers, one a Jew knowing many languages, in search of the Emperor of China. They found neither cities nor kingdoms, neither gold nor spices. This was a great disappointment to Columbus, but he patiently kept up his search for the riches which he expected to find. The Misfortunes of Columbus. While on the coast of Cuba, Pinzon, the commander of the Pinta, deserted him. Pinzon, whose ship was swifter than the others, probably wished to be the first to get home, in order to tell a story which would gain him the credit of the discovery of the Indies. A few days later Columbus discovered a large island which the natives called Hayti, and which he called Espaiiola or ^^ Spanish Land." At every island he searched for the spices and gold which Marco Polo had given him reason to expect. In a storm off Espanola Columbus's own ship, the Santa Maria, was totally wrecked. Such disasters convinced him that it was high time to return to Spain with the news of his dis- covery. Preparations for Return to Spain. As there was not room for both crews on the tiny Nina, his one remaining ship, it became necessary to leave about forty sailors in Espanola. A fort was built, and supplies were left for a year. Columbus with the rest set off on the return to Spain. Ten Indians were captured and taken with them to show to his friends in Europe. Besides, Columbus hoped that they would learn the language of Spain, and carry Christianity back to their people. The Search for China renewed. There was rejoicing in Palos when the voyagers returned. Great honors THE DISCOVERY OF A NEW WORLD 155 %\ ^^^ A T L A N T I C '^/ OCEAN Isabella PORTO RICO 100 200 Scale of Miles Lands discovered by Columbus are in solid black Map of Lands Discovered by Columbus were bestowed upon Columbus. It was now easy to get men and money for another voyage. In September, 1493, Columbus started to return to his islands, this time with seventeen ships and fifteen hundred men, 156 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY all confident that they would soon see the marble palaces of China, and secure a share in the wealth of the Spice Islands. No one yet realized that a new world — two great continents — lay between them and their coveted goal in Asia. Columbus went di- rectly to Espanola, where he found that his colony of the previous year had been murdered by the Indians. A new settlement was quickly started. A little town called Isabella was built, with a fort, a church, a market place, public granary, and dwelling-houses. Isabella was the first real settlement in the New World. Other Voyages to the New World. Columbus made two other voyages. He continued to search for the coast of Asia, which he believed to be near. He made a third voyage from Spain to the West Indies in 1498. He sailed farther south, and came upon the mainland which later was called South America. A fourth expedition in 1502 touched on the coast that we call Central America. He died soon after this voyage, still believing that he had discovered a new route to the Indies and new lands on the coast of Asia. The sad End of Columbus's Life. The close of his life was a sad one. The lands he had found did not yield the riches which he had expected. The colonists whom he had sent out to the islands had rebelled, and jealous enemies had accused him falsely before the king and queen of misgovernment in his territories. Once his opponents had him carried to Spain chained like a common prisoner. He was given his liberty on reaching Spain, but the people had become prejudiced against him. THE DISCOVERY OF A NEW WORLD 157 Ferdinand, the son of Columbus, tells us that as he and his brother Diego, who were pages in the queen's service, happened to pass a crowd of his father's enemies, the latter greeted them with hoots: '^ There go the sons of the Admiral of Mosqui- toland, the man who has discovered a land of vanity and deceit, the grave of Spanish gentlemen. ' ' Hardships and dis- appointments broke down the great dis- coverer, and he died neglected and almost -SH^ forgotten by the people of Spain. The Columbus Monument at Genoa QUESTIONS 1. What plan did Columbus form ? Why was it bolder than the plan Diaz had carried out in 1487, or even than that Da Gama carried out a few years later ? Why did men like Columbus and Diaz desire to find a sea route to India ? Had anybody before Columbus believed the earth round ? 2. What mistake did Columbus make in estimating the size of the earth ? Why was this a fortunate error ? 158 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 3. From what countries did Columbus try to obtain help ? Why did he find it so hard to secure this ? What event in Spain finally favored his cause ? Who were the Moors ? 4. W^hy was Columbus surprised when he saw the natives in the West Indies ? Why were the Indians on their side surprised ? 5. What islands did Columbus find and claim for Spain on his first voyage ? How many other voyages did he make ? What new lands did he find on his later voyages ? What did he think he had found ? 6. Why did the enemies of Columbus in Spain call him the Admiral of Mosquitoland, the man who discovered a land of vanity and deceit, the grave of Spanish gentlemen ? What did they mean by this ? EXERCISES 1. Find pictures of the ships of Columbus or of the saiUng ships of other explorers of that day. How does the deck arrangement on those differ from the ocean steamships of to-day ? What advantage would ships hke those of Columbus have over present steamships in exploring strange coasts ? What disadvantages ? 2. Draw up a list of reasons why Columbus's sailors were afraid to go on and wished to turn back to Spain. 3. Trace on an outline map the voyage of Columbus. Mark where Columbus foUnd land, and where he expected to find Japan and China. What great mass of land was really very near the island he first discovered ? (See map, page 149.) 4. Find from the maps on page 33 (Greek World), page 65 (Roman World), page 140 (The world after Polo's journey), and page 155 (The world as known after Columbus), how much more the Romans knew of the world than the Greeks had known, the Europeans after Marco Polo's journey than the Romans, and the Europeans after Columbus's voyage than after Marco Polo's journey. Important Date — 1492. The discovery of America by Columbus. CHAPTER XV OTHERS HELP IN THE DISCOVERY OF THE NEW WORLD The Race to the Indies. The discovery of all the lands which make what we call the New World came very slowly. It was the work of many different explorers. Most of the expeditions sent out to the new islands went in search of a passage to India. It was a fine race. Each nation was eager to see its ships the first to reach India by the westward route. All were disappointed at finding so much land between Europe and Asia. It seemed to them to be of little value and to block the way to the richer countries of the East. Gradually, how- ever, they discovered the great continents which we know as North and South America. Columbus had done more than he dreamed, and his discovery was a turning-point in history. John Cabot. John Cabot, an Italian mariner at this time in the service of England, left Bristol in 1497 on a voyage of discovery. This was five years after Columbus discovered the West Indies. Cabot had heard that the sailors of Portugal and of Spain had occupied unknown islands. He planned to do the same for King Henry VII of England. For his voyage he had a single vessel no larger than the Nina, the smallest ship in the fleet of 159 160 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY Columbus. Eighteen men made up his crew. He passed around the southern end of Ireland, and sailed north and west until he came to land, which proved to be the coast of North America somewhere between the northern part of Labrador and the southern end of Nova Scotia. Cabot's Discovery. John Cabot saw no inhabitants, but he found notched trees, snares for game, and needles for making nets, which showed plainly that the land was in- habited by human beings. Like Columbus, Cabot thought he was off the coast of China. The Cabot Voyages forgot- ten. Before the end of 1497 John Cabot was back in Bris- tol. It is almost certain that he and his son, Sebastian Cabot, made a second voyage to the new found lands in the follow- ing year. The Cabot voyages, however, were soon almost forgotten by the people of England. The Naming of the New Lands. Why was our country named America rather than Columbia or New India? Both the southern and northern continents which we call the Americas were named for Americus Vespucius rather than for Ch^;istopher Columbus. This seems the more strange since we know so little about the life of Americus. Americus Vespucius was born in Florence, Italy, and like many other young Italians of that day Sebastian Cabot After the picture ascribed to Holbein OTHER DISCOVERERS 161 entered the service of neighboring countries. He went to Spain and accompanied several Spanish expeditions sent to explore the new continent which Columbus had discovered on his third voyage. Perhaps Americus went as a pilot; he certainly was not the leader in any expedition. But he seems to have written to his friends interesting accounts of what he had seen. In one of these letters Americus seems to have written boastfully of how he had found lands which might be called a new world. He said that the new continent was more populous and more full of animals than Europe, or Asia, or Africa, and that the climate was even more temperate and pleasant than any other region. This was clearly a new world. Why Americus was regarded as the Discoverer of America. The statement of Americus was scattered widely by the help of the newly invented printing press. It was written in Latin, and so could be read by the learned of all countries. They were impressed by the belief of Americus that he had seen a new world and not simply the Indies. This was especially true of men living outside of Spain who had heard little of Columbus or his discovery. Columbus for his part had written as if his great dis- covery was a way to the Indies and the finding of islands on the way thither less important. Besides, when he saw what we call South America he had no idea that it was a new world. The people of Europe either never knew that he had discovered the mainland or had forgotten it altogether. But they heard a great deal about Americus 162 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY and his doings. It is not strange that Americus rather than Columbus was long regarded as the true discoverer of America. Two Names for the New Lands. Even then the new continent might not have been called America but for the suggestion of a young scholar of the time. Martin Waldseemiiller, a professor of geography at the college Nunc vcro & he^ partes Cintlatius luftratsc/ 8C alia quarta pars per America Vcfpuriumcvt itifc^ -ioR qucntibus audietur)inucnta eftrqua non. video cut AtSic^ quis iure vctet ab Americo inuentorc lagads inge Jico nijviroAmetigcnquafiAmerid.terram/fiueAmc licamdicendamtcum 8C Europa & Afia a mulieri^ bus fuafortita Cnt nomina^Eius fitu 8C gentis mo^ res exl)isbims.Aineridnauigationibus qu£ (eqaS turliquideinteUigidatun Facsimile Of the passage in the Cosmographies Introductio (1507), by Martin Waldseemuller, in which the name of America is proposed for the New World of St. Die, now in eastern France, wrote a book on geog- raphy. In his description of the parts of the world unknown to the ancients, he suggested naming the continent stretching to the south for Americus. Waldseemuller thought Americus had been the real discoverer of this continent. He said, ^'Now, indeed, as these regions are more widely explored, and another fourth part has been discovered by Americus Vespucius, I do not see why any one may justly forbid it to be named Amerige — that is, Americ's Land, from Americus, the discoverer." OTHER DISCOVERERS 163 Others adopted Waldseemiiller's suggestion and the name America came into general use outside of Spain. But the Spaniards continued to call all the new lands by the name which Columbus had given them — the Indies. America was at first the name for South America only, but later was also used by writers for the other continent which was soon found to the north. It was natural to distinguish the two continents as South and North America. Balboa. The successors of Columbus kept up a cease- less search for the real Indies, but the more they explored the more they saw that a great continental barrier was lying across the sea passage to Asia. A few began to suspect that after all America was not a part of Asia. Vasco Nunez Balboa was one of these. Balboa was a planter who had settled in Espanola. He fell deeply into debt, and to escape his credi- tors had himself nailed up in a barrel and put aboard a vessel bound for the northern coast of South America. From there he went to the eastern border of Panama with a party of gold seekers. The Indians told him of a great sea and of an abundance of gold on its shores to be found a short distance across the isthmus. It is probable that the Indians wished to get rid of the Spaniards as neighbors. Vasco Nunez Balboa 164 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY Balboa's Discovery of the Pacific. Balboa resolved to make a name for himself and to be the discoverer of the other sea. He set off in 1513. The land is not more than forty-five miles wide at Panama, but it is almost im- passable even to this day. For twenty-two days the hardy adventurers advanced through a forest, dense with thickets and tangled swamps and interlacing vines — so thick that for days the sun could not be seen — and over rough and slippery mountain-sides until they came to an open sea stretching off to the south and west. Balboa called it the South Sea, but it is usually called the Pacific Ocean, the name given it afterward. Balboa had made the important discovery that the barrier of land was comparatively narrow. This gave the impression that North America, too, was narrower than it proved to be, and the search for the passage to the Indies was pushed with greater vigor. Magellan. A Portuguese explorer, Vasco da Gama, had really won the race begun by Prince Henry's navigators and Columbus for India, the land of cloves, pepper, and nut- megs. He had won in 1497 by going around the Cape of Good Hope. Another explorer, Ferdinand Ma- Indies in a long westward voyage lasting two years, from 1519 to 1521. Ferdinand Magellan gellan, finally reached the OTHER DISCOVERERS 165 The Beginning of Magellan's Voyage. Magellan, him- self a Portuguese, tried in vain like Columbus to per- suade the king of Portugal to aid him in his project. He succeeded bet.ter in Spain, and sailed from there in 1519 with a small fleet given him by the young king The Strait of Magellan Charles. The five ships in his fleet were old and in bad repair, and the crews had been brought together from every nation. They sailed directly to South America, and spent the first year searching every inlet along the coast for a passage. They found that the natives of South America used for food vegetables that '^looked like turnips and tasted like chestnuts." The Indians called them '^patatas." In 166 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY this way the potato, one of the great foods of to-day, was found by Europeans. A whole winter was passed on the cold and barren coast of Patagonia. Magellan called the natives ''Patagones,'^ the word in his language meaning big feet, from the large foot-prints which they left on the sand. The Strait of Magellan. Magellan finally found a strait, since named for him the Strait of Magellan, and sailed his ships through it amid the greatest dangers. The change from the rough waters of the strait to the calm sea beyond made the word Pacific or Peaceful Sea seem the most suitable name for the vast body of water which they had entered. The First Voyage across the Pacific. From the western coast of South America Magellan struck boldly out into the Pacific Ocean on his way to Asia. The crews suffered untold hardships. The very rats which overran the rotten ships became a luxurious article of food which only the more fortunate members of the crews could afford. The poorer seamen hved for days on the ox-hide strips which protected the masts. These were soaked in sea-water and roasted over the fire. Magellan was fortunate enough to chance upon the Isle of Guam, where plentiful supphes were obtained. He called the group of small islands, of which Guam is one, the Ladrones. This was his word for robbers, used be- cause the natives were such robbers. The expedition discovered a group of islands afterwards called the Philippines. There Magellan fell in with traders from the Indies and knew that the remainder of the voyage OTHER DISCOVERERS 167 would be through well-known seas and over a route fre- quently followed. Poor Magellan did not live to complete his remarkable voyage. He was killed in the Philippine Islands in a battle with the natives. An Old Map of the New World — 1523 After Magellan's voyage, but before the exploration of North America had gone far Only one of the five ships found its way through the Spice Islands, across the Indian Ocean, around the Cape of Good Hope, and so back to Spain; but this one carried home twenty-six tons of cloves, worth more than enough to pay the whole cost of the expedition. Such was the value of the trade Europe was so eagerly seeking. 168 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY What Magellan had shown the People of Europe. Magellan's voyage had, however, been a great event. Historians are agreed that it was the greatest voyage in the history of mankind. It had shown in a practical way that the earth is a globe, just as Columbus and other wise men had long taught, for a ship had sailed completely around it. But Magellan had also proved some things that they had not dreamed. He had shown that two great oceans instead of one lay between Europe and Asia; he had made clear that the Indies which the Spanish explorers had found, and which other people were beginning to call the Americas, were really a new world entirely separate from Asia, and not a part of Asia as Columbus had thought. QUESTIONS 1. Why were the early American explorers disappointed at finding two continents between Europe and Asia ? 2. What land did John Cabot discover ? Where did he think this land was ? Why did the English people take little interest in this voyage ? 3. Why was our country named America? Do you think that Americus Vespucius deserved so great an honor ? By what name did the Spaniards continue to call the new region ? Why did the Span- iards have one name and the other Europeans another name for a long time? 4. How did Balboa come to find the Pacific Ocean ? Why did men search for a passage between the Atlantic and the Pacific more vigorously after Balboa's expedition ? 5. Why has Magellan's voyage been called the greatest one in history? What three things had Magellan shown the European world ? OTHER DISCOVERERS 169 EXERCISES 1. Make out a list of the explorers mentioned in this chapter who helped in the discovery of the New World, and place opposite the name of each the name of the land he discovered. 2. Trace Magellan's voyage on the map, page 167, and make a list of the lands or countries he passed. Look at the map of North America on this old map, and at the one on page 223. How do you account for the queer shape of North America on the old map ? Important date — 1519-21. Magellan's ship made the first voyage around the world. CHAPTER XVI EARLY SPANISH EXPLORERS AND CONQUERORS ON THE MAINLAND The Civilization of the Mexican Indians. Early Spanish explorers on the coast of Mexico found the Indians of the mainland more highly civilized than the natives of the West Indies. Some of these, especially the Aztecs, lived in large villages or cities and were ruled by powerful chiefs or kings. They built to their gods huge stone temples with towers several stories in height. Their houses, quite unlike those of the other Indians the Spanish had seen, were made of stone or sun-dried brick and coated with hard white plaster. Some of them were of inmiense size and could hold many famiUes. Doors had not been invented, but hangings of woven grass or matting of cotton served instead. Strings of shells which a visitor could rattle answered for door-bells. The streets of the towns were narrow, but were often paved with a sort of cement. Aqueducts in solid masonry somewhat like the old Roman aqueducts, although not so large, carried water from the neighboring hills for fountains and rude public baths. The women wove cotton and prepared clothing for their families. Workmen made ornaments of gold and copper, and utensils and dishes of pottery for every-day 170 EARLY SPANISH EXPLORERS 171 use. The people cultivated the fields around the cities, raising a great variety of foods, and even built ditches to carry water for irrigating the fields. All this was in striking contrast with the simple habits of the West Indians. Cruel Customs of the Aztecs. With all the good features of Mexican life, with all the superiority of the Mexicans over the other Indians, there was much that \Pi' Aztec Sacrificial Stone Now in the National Museum in the City of Mexico was hideous and cruel. The Aztecs, the most powerful tribes, were continually at war with their neighbors. They lived mainly upon the plunder of their enemies and the tribute which they took from those they had conquered. Like all Mexicans, they worshiped great ugly idols as gods and to these their priests offered part of the captives taken in war as human sacrifices. Spanish Ideas of Mexico. The reports of the Aztec civilization and of the treasures of gold, mostly untrue, excited the interest and greed of the Spaniards. Mexico 172 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY seemed like the China which Marco Polo had described, and might offer a chance of immense wealth for those who should conquer it. In truth, Mexican civilization did resemble that of Asia more than anything that the Spaniards had seen. Montezuma, a powerful chief or king of the Aztecs, lived somewhat like a Mongol Emperor of Persia or China. Cortes. In 1519 the governor of Cuba sent Hernando Cortes to ex- plore and conquer Mexico. The expedition landed where Vera Cruz is now situated. The ships were then sunk in order to cut off all hope of retreat for the soldiers. ''For whom but cowards,'' said Cortes, "were means of retreat necessary!" Cortes, with great skill, worked up the zeal of his soldiers to the fury of a religious crusade. All thought it a duty to destroy the idols they saw, to end the practice of offering human sacrifices, and to force the Christian religion upon the natives. The small army marched slowly inland towards the City of Mexico, which was the capital of Montezuma's kingdom. Cortes and his men had learned the Indian mode of fighting from ambush, and also how success- montezuma, the last king of Mexico After Montanus and Ogilby EARLY SPANISH EXPLORERS 173 fully to match cunning and treachery with those vil- lagers who tried to prevent his invasion of their country. How the Spaniards and the Aztecs fought. The Mexi- can warriors, though they fought fiercely, were no match for the Spaniards. The Mexicans were experts with the bow and arrow, using arrows pointed with a hard kind of stone. They carried for hand-to- hand fighting a narrow club set with a double edge of razor-like stones, and wore a crude kind of armor made from quilted cotton. But such things were useless against Spanish bullets shot from afar. The roaring cannon, the glittering steel swords, the thick armor and shining helmets, the prancing horses on which the Spanish leaders were mounted, gave the whole a strange, unearthly appearance to the simple- minded Indians. The story is told that the Mexicans believed that one of their gods had once floated out to sea, saying that, in the fulness of time, he would return with fair-skinned companions to begin again his rule The Armor of Cortes After an engraving of the original in the National Museum, Madrid 174 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY over his people. Many Aztecs looked upon the coming of the white men as the return of this god and thought that resistance would be useless. Such natives sent presents, made their peace with Cortes, and so weakened the opposition to the conquerors. Cortes in Peril. Cortes easily entered the City of Mexico, and forced Montezuma to resign. But here the natives attacked his army in such numbers that he had Cannon of the Time of Cortes After Van Menken. There are in the naval museum at Annapolis guns captured in the Mexican War supposed to be those used by Cortes to retreat to escape capture. The Spaniards fled from the city at night amid the onslaught of the inhabitants fighting for their religion and their homes. The retreat cost the Spaniards terrible losses. Cortes started in the evening on the retreat with 1,250 soldiers, 6,000 Indian aUies, and 80 horses. There were left in the morning 500 soldiers, 2,000 allies, and 20 horses. Cortes is said to have buried his face in his hands and wept for his lost followers, but he never wavered in his purpose of tak- ing Mexico. He was able to defeat the Indians in the open country, and to return to the attack on the capital city. EARLY SPANISH EXPLORERS 175 Capture of the City of Mexico. The siege which fol- lowed, lasting nearly three months, has rarely been matched in history for the bravery and suffering of the natives. The fighting was constant and terrible. The fresh water supply was cut off from the inhabitants in the city, and famine aided the invaders. At length the defenders were exhausted and Cortes entered. It had The City of Mexico under the Conquerors From the engraving in the " Niewe Wereld " of Montanus taken him two years to conquer the Aztecs. A greater task remained for him to do. He was to cleanse and rebuild the City of Mexico, make it a center of Spanish civilization, and Mexico a New Spain. By such work Cortes showed that he could be not only a great conqueror, but also an able ruler in time of peace. Pizarro. A few years after Cortes conquered Mexico a second army conquered another famous Indian king- dom. Francisco Pizarro commanded this expedition, which set out from Panama in 1531. Pizarro had been with Balboa at the discovery of the South Sea or Pacific 176 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY Ocean, and, like his master, had become interested in the stories the Indians told of a rich kingdom far to the south. The golden kingdom which the Indians described was that of the Incas, who hved much as the Aztecs. The Span- iards called the region of the Incas the Biru country or, by softening the first letter, the Peru country, from Biru, who was a native Indian chieftain. Conquest of Peru. Pizarro found the Incas divided as usual by civil wars and incapable of much resistance. One of their rival chiefs was outwitted when he tried to capture Pizarro by a trick, and was himself made a A Stone Idol of the Aztecs . • j i tt pp i i ,, . ,, • u. , . u u prisoner instead. He ottered to It IS more than eight feet high ^ and five feet across, and was dug giyg PizarrO lu retUlTl for Ms up in the central square of the City of Mexico more than ono freedom as much gold as would hundred years ago r*!! i • • i • i i, fill his prison room as high as he could reach. The offer was accepted, and gold, mainly in the shape of vases, plates, images, and other orna- ments from the temples for the Indian idols, was gathered together. The Spaniards soon found themselves in possession of almost $7,000,000 worth of gold, besides a vast quantity of silver. As much more was taken from the Indians by force. The whole was divided among the conquerors. Pizarro's share was worth nearly a million dollars. But EARLY SPANISH EXPLORERS 177 the poor chief who had made them suddenly rich was suspected of plotting to have his warriors ambush them as they left the country, was tried by his conquerors, and put to death. The bloody work of conquest was soon over. Peru, like Mexico, rapidly became a center of Spanish settlement. Emigrants, instead of stopping in the West Indies, had the choice of going on into the newer regions which Cortes and Pizarro had won. Emigrants to Spanish America. It was much harder in the sixteenth century to leave Spain and settle in America than it is to-day. The first and sometimes the greatest difficulty was in getting permission to leave Spain. No one could go who had not secured the king's consent. The emigrant must show that neither he nor his father nor his grandfather had ever been guilty of heresy, that is, that he and his forefathers had been steadfast Cathohc Christians. His wife, if he had one, must give her consent. His debts must all be paid. The Moors and the Jews of Spain could not secure permits to move to the New World. Foreigners of whatever nation were not wanted in the colonies and were usually kept out. Spain tried to keep its colonies wholly for Spaniards. Hardships of the Sea Voyage. Those who did go to the colonies found the voyage dangerous and costly. One traveler has related that it cost him about one hundred and eighty dollars for the passage, and that he provided his own chickens and bread. The danger to sailing ships from storms was much greater than it is to-day for steamships. The voyage required three or four weeks and not imcommonly as many months. 178 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY The Need of Laborers. The hardships and dangers of the voyage and the reports of suffering from famine and disease kept most people from going to the New World. Emigration was slow, amounting to about a thousand a year. There were always fewer capable white laborers than the landowners in the colonies needed for their work, for there was much to do in clearing the land and preparing it for use. The landowners were usually well-to-do Spaniards who did not like to work in the fields themselves. A great many of the laborers who migrated to America served in the army or went to the gold and silver mines of Mexico and Peru. The craze for gold constantly robbed the older colonies of their farm laborers. The landowners in the islands of the West Indies, during the early history of the colonies, made slaves of the Indians and compelled them to take the place of the laborers they needed and could not obtain. Indian Slavery. The people of Europe thought that the whole world belonged to the followers of Christ. Non- Christians, whether Indian or negro, had the choice of accepting Christianity or of being made slaves. The choice of Christianity did not always save them from the fate of slavery. In this the Spaniards were no more cruel than their neighbors the English or the French. The Spanish planters from the beginning forced the Indians to work their farms. The gold seekers made them work in their mines. The labor in every case was hard, and specially hard for the Indian unused to work. The overseers were brutal when the slaves did not do the tasks set for them. EARLY SPANISH EXPLORERS 179 Hard usage and the unhealthful quarters rapidly broke down the natives. The white men also brought into the island diseases which they, with their greater experi- ence, could resist, but from which, one writer says, the IndiUs died like sheep with a distemper. A Spanish Galleon Ships like this carried the Spanish emigrants to America Slavery destroys the West Indians. When the number of the Indians in Espanola and Cuba had decreased so much that there were not enough left to meet the needs of the planters, slave-hunters searched the neighboring islands for others. Finally, when the Indians were nearly- gone, and the planters began to look to the mainland for their slaves, the king of Spain forbade making slaves of 180 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY the Indians. Unfortunately he did not forbid them to capture negroes in Africa for the same purpose, and the change merely meant that negroes took the place of Indians as slaves. The story of the change is in great part the story of the hfe of Bartholomew de Las Casas. Las Casas. The father of Las Casas was a companion of Columbus on his second voyage in 1493. He returned to Spain, taking with him a young Indian slave whom he gave to his son. This youth became greatly interested in the race to which his young slave belonged. In 1502 he went to Espafiola to take possession of his father's estate. The planter's life did not long satisfy him and finally he became a priest. He moved from Espafiola to Cuba, the newer colony. Las Casas became convinced that Indian slavery was wrong, and gave his own slaves their freedom. In his sermons he attacked the abuses of slavery. He visited Spain in order to help the slaves j and secured many re- forms which lessened the hardships of their lot. Since the planters demanded more laborers and Las Casas thought the negro would be hardier than the Indian, he advocated negro slavery in place of Indian slavery as the less of two evils. Finally, in 1542, Las Casas per- suaded his king, Charles V, to put an end to Indian slavery of every form. His success came too late to benefit the natives of the West Indies. They had decreased until almost none were left. It is said that there were two hundred thou- sand Indians in Espafiola in 1492, and that in 1548 there were barely five hundred survivors. The same EARLY SPANISH EXPLORERS 181 decrease had taken place in the other islands. But the work of Las Casas came in time to save the Indians on the mainland from the fate of the luckless islanders. Negro Slavery. Las Casas later regretted that he had advised the planters to obtain negroes to take the place of the Indians. Some - ,.., ^ ,j negroes had been cap- tured by the Portu- ^ ^'" guese on the coast of ' Africa during their explorations and L taken to Europe as slaves. Columbus car- ried a few of these to the West Indies with him, and others had followed his example, but negro slavery had grown very slowly un- til after Las Casas stopped Indian slavery, when it in- creased rapidly in Spanish America. The Missions of the ^f^^j. ^^^ picture by Felix Parra in the Academy, IVIa.illla.Ild Las Casas ^^^^'^i'^*^* Las Casas is supposed to be imploring Providence to shield the natives from Spanish became at one time a cruelty missionary to a tribe of the most desperate warriors lo- cated on the southern border of Mexico, in a region called by the Spaniards the ^'Land of War." Three times a 182 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY Spanish army had invaded the country, and three times it had been driven back by the native defenders. Las Casas wished to show the Spaniards that more could be accomphshed by treating the Indians kindly than by bloody warfare and conquest. He and the monks whom he took with him learned the language of the Indians, and went among them not as conquerors but as Christian teachers. Their gentle manners and endless patience won the friendship of the Indians in time and changed the land of constant warfare into one of peace. They led the natives to destroy their idols and to give up cannibalism. The mission estab- lished among them and kept up by the monks who were attracted to it was only one of a great number which sprang up on the mainland. The Work of the Missions. Influenced by the work of Las Casas against Indian slavery and for Indian missions, the Spaniards bent their efforts to preserve and Christ- ianize the natives wherever they came upon them in America. Catholic priests gathered the Indians into permanent villages, which were called missions. Within about one hundred years after the death of Columbus, or by 1600, there were more then 5,000,000 Indians in such villages under Spanish rule. Priests taught them to build better houses, checked their native vices, and suppressed heathen practices. Every mission became a little industrial school for children and parents alike, where all might learn the simpler arts and trades and the customs and language of their teachers. Each Indian cultivated his own plot EARLY SPANISH EXPLORERS 183 of land and worked two hours a day on the farm belong- ing to the village. The produce of the village farm sup- ported the church. The monks or friars who had charge of the mission cared for the poor, taught in the schools, preserved the peace and order of the village, and looked after the religious welfare of all. Ruins of a Spanish Mission House Gradually Spanish emigrants settled in the mission stations, and planters established farms around them, and they became Spanish villages in every respect like those in the islands or in the Old World, except that many inhabitants in the towns on the mainland were Indians. The emigrants freely intermarried with the Indians and a mixed race took the place of the old inhabitants. The customs, language, religion, and rule of Spain prevailed in this New Spain, though in some ways the new civiliza- tion was not so good as that of the Old World. 184 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY QUESTIONS 1. In what ways did the Aztecs resemble the Europeans? How did they differ from them? Why were the Spaniards particularly anxious to conquer Mexico? 2. Why did many of the Mexicans refuse to fight the Spaniards? How many soldiers and Indian allies did Cortes lose in one battle? How long did it take Cortes to conquer Mexico? 3. What other Indian people was conquered a few years later? By whom? What seemed to be the main object of these conquerors, Cortes and Pizarro, in their expeditions? 4. Why did the Spaniards make slaves of the Indians in the W^est Indies? Why did they later cease making slaves of Indians and begin making slaves of negroes? What share had Las Casas in this change? 5. What good work did the priests and monks in the Spanish Mis- sions accomplish? What became of the Aztecs or other Indian tribes in Mexico? EXERCISES 1. Find all you can about the houses, food, clothing, and occupa- tions of any Indians living in your part of the United States, or if none are there now, learn this from your parents or from some neigh- bor who knew the Indians. Did they resemble the Aztecs in these respects or the West Indians? 2. Review the account of emigrating to Spanish America four hun- dred years ago. Who could not go to Spanish America then? Find out who may not come into the United States to-day. What did it cost one traveler to get to America in the sixteenth century? Find out the cost of a voyage from Europe to America to-day. How long did it take to make such a voyage? Find out the usuafl length of a voyage from Europe to-day. CHAPTER XVII THE SPANISH EXPLORERS OF NORTH AMERICA Ponce de Leon. While men like Cortes were exploring and conquering the countries on the west shore of the Gulf of Mexico, others began to search the vast regions to the north. One of these ex- plorers was Ponce de Leon, who had come to Espanola with Co- lumbus in 1493. He afterwards spent many years in the West Indies capturing Indians, and understood from something they said that a magic fountain could be found beyond the Bahamas which would restore an old man to youth and vigor, if he bathed j -x Ponce de Leon As Ponce de Leon was beginning to feel aged he went in search of this wondrous fountain, but he found instead a coast where flowers grew in great abundance. It was the Easter season in 1513. Since the Spanish call this season Pascua Florida or Flowery Easter, Ponce called the new flowery country Florida. He went ashore near the pres- ent site of St. Augustine, and later, while trying to estab- lish a settlement, lost his life in a battle with the Indians. 185 186 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY Explorations of North American Coast. Other Spanish explorers between 1513 and 1525 followed the whole Gulf coast from Florida to Vera Cruz, and the Atlantic coast from Florida to Labrador. They sought con- tinually for a passage to India. Every large inlet was entered, for it might prove to be the long-looked-for strait. Slowly the coast of North America took shape on the maps of that time. Two fa- mous expeditions into the inte- rior of the country did much to enlarge this knowledge. One was made by De Soto through the region which now forms ^-ii= s^ ^^r^ ■"./ rry seven southern states of the Hernando de Soto United States, and the other was by Coronado through the great southwest. De Soto. Hernando de Soto, a noble from Seville in Spain, had won fame and fortune with Pizarro in Peru. The King of Spain, to reward his bravery and skill in conquering Indians, made him Governor of Cuba. In those days the Governor of Cuba controlled Florida. It was a larger Florida than the present state of that name, for Spanish Florida included the whole north coast of the Gulf of Mexico running back into the continent without any definite boundary. The Story of the Gilded Man. De Soto had heard a fanciful story of a country so rich in gold that its king was smeared every morning with gum and then thickly SPANISH EXPLORERS OF NORTH AMERICA 187 I sprinkled with powdered gold, which was washed off at night. De Soto thought this country might be some- where in Florida, and prepared to search for the Gilded Man, or in the Spanish language El Dorado The Comrades of De Soto. More than six hundred men, some of them from the oldest families of the nobility of Spain and Portugal, flocked to De Soto's banner. They sold their pos- sessions at home and ventured all their wealth in the hope of obtaining great riches in Florida. De Soto's Route through the South of North America. De Soto crossed from Cuba to the west coast of Florida in 1539, and advanced northward by land to an Indian village near Apa- lachee Bay. Here he spent the first winter. A white man, whom the Spanish Knight of Indians had taken captive twelve years ^^™ Century before and finally adopted, joined De Soto and became very useful as an interpreter. In the spring De Soto renewed his explorations. It was like a journey into the interior of Africa. The expedition passed northeasterly through the country now within Georgia and South Carolina, as far, perhaps, as the border of North Carolina. From here it passed through the mountains, and turned southwesterly through Tennessee and Alabama until a large Indian village called Mauvilla was reached. This was near the head of Mobile Bay. Mobile was named from the Indian village Mauvilla. 188 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY The Alabama Indians, whose name means 'Hhe thicket clearers/^ were near by. Here again De Soto changed his course to the northwest into the unknown interior. The Hardships of the Journey. His army was almost exhausted by the difficulties of the journey. A road had to be cut and broken through thickets and forest, paths ■;^^fx|rf| Indians Broiling Fish had to be made through the many swamps, and fords found across the rivers. It frequently became necessary to stop for months at a time, to let the horses, worn out from travel and starving because of the scarcity of fodder, fatten on the grass. The stores which the army brought with them soon gave out. The men were forced to live like Indians, and were often reduced to using the roots of wild plants for food. Where they could, they robbed the Indians of their scanty stores of corn and beans. Cruel Treatment of the Indians. De Soto was cruel in his treatment of the conquered natives along his route. Many of his officers came with him really for the purpose SPANISH EXPLORERS OF NORTH AMERICA 189 of obtaining Indian slaves for their plantations in Cuba. Indian women were made to do the work of the camp. Indian men were chained together and forced to carry the baggage. The chiefs were held as hostages for the Map of De Soto's Route — 1539-1542 good behavior of the whole tribe. The Indians who tried to shirk work or offered resistance were killed without mercy. De Soto's cruelties made the Indian of the South hate the white men, and left him the enemy of any who should come to those regions in after-years. More than once De Soto narrowly escaped destruction at the hands of the enraged savages. They attacked the Spaniards with 190 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY all their strength at Mauvilla, and again while they were in camp in northern Mississippi for the winter of 1540-1541. These two battles with the Indians cost the Spaniards their baggage, which was destroyed in the burning villages. New clothing, however, was soon made from the skins of wild animals. Deerskins and bear- skins served for cloaks, jackets, shirts, stockings, and even for shoes. The great army must have looked much like a band of Robinson Crusoes. The Discovery of the Mississippi. De Soto marched on northwesterly until May 8, 1541, when he was some- where near the site of the present city of Memphis. There he came upon a great river. One of his officers tells us that the river was so wide at this point that if a man on the other side stood still, it could not be known whether he were a man or not; that the river was of great depth, and of a strong current; and that the water was always muddy. De Soto called it, in his own language, the Rio Grande or Great River, but the Indians called it the Mississippi. Americans have adopted the Indian name. Other Spanish explorers had probably passed the mouth of the Mississippi River before De Soto, and wondered at its mighty size, but De Soto was the first white man to approach it from the land and to appreciate the importance of his dis- covery. Wanderings west of the Mississippi. The Spaniards cut down trees, made them into planks and built barges on which they crossed the Mississippi. Then they wan- dered for another year through the endless woods and SPANISH EXPLORERS OF NORTH AMERICA 191 marshes of the low-lying lands now within the state of Arkansas. They probably went as far west as the open plains of Oklahoma or Texas. In these border regions between the forests and the prairies they met Indians who used the skins of the buffalo for clothmg. _ Death and Burial of De Soto. The severe winter of 1541-1542 discouraged the hardy travelers, who had now Burial of De Soto in the Mississipm spent nearly three years in a vain search. The natives whom they had found made clothing from the fiber m the bark of mulberry trees and from the hides of buffaloes and stored beans and corn for food, but such things seemed of little value to the seekers for the Gilded Man. De Soto returned to the Mississippi and Prepared to establish a colony somewhere near the mouth of the Ked River. It was his purpose to send to Cuba for supplies and, with this settlement as a base, make a farther search 192 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY in the plains of the great West. He did not hve to carry out his plan. Long exposure and anxiety had weakened him. The malaria of the swamps attacked him, and he died within a few days. His body was wrapped in mantles weighted with sand, carried in a canoe, and secretly lowered in the midst of the great river he had discovered. His successor tried to conceal De Soto's death from the Indians. The Spaniards had called their leader the Child of the Sun, and now he had died like any other mortal. They were afraid if the Indians found his body they would cease to believe that the strangers were immortal and would massacre them all. The Indians were told that the great leader had gone to Heaven, as he had often done before, and that he would return in a few days. Results of De Soto's Journey. The weary survivors built boats, floated down the Mississippi into the Gulf, and sailed cautiously along the coasts to Mexico. They had been gone four years and three months, and half of the army which set out had perished. However, the ex- pedition of De Soto will always remain one of the most remarkable journeys in the history of North America. It had extended the Spanish claims far into the interior. With it had begun the written history of the country now composing at least eight states in the United States, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Arkansas. It had perhaps reached the present Oklahoma and Texas, and had certainly passed down the Mississippi River through Louisiana. SPANISH EXPLORERS OF NORTH AMERICA 193 The Story of the Seven Cities. While De Soto was exploring the southeastern part of North America a second expedition searched the southwest. Both were looking for rich Indian kingdoms like Mexico and Peru. The second expedition came about in this man- ner. Some of the Indians from northern Mexico told the Spaniards a strange tale of how in the distant past their ancestors came forth from seven caves. The Spaniards, however, confused the tale with a story of their own about Seven Cities. They believed that at the time Spain was overrun by the Moors in the eighth century, seven bishops, flying from persecu- tion, had taken refuge, with a great company of followers, on an island or group of islands far out in the Atlantic Ocean, and that they had built Seven Cities. Wonderful stories were told in Spain of these cities, of their wealth and splendor, though nobody ever pretended to have actually seen them. The Spaniards thought the Indians meant to tell them of these Seven Cities instead of seven caves. The mistake was natural, as the Spanish explorers had much trouble in understanding the Indian languages. They had long expected to find the Seven Cities in America. Indeed there was rumor that white travelers had seen them north of Mexico. An Indian of North- ern Mexico 194 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY The Journey of Friar Marcos. In 1539 the Viceroy of Mexico sent a frontier missionary, Friar Marcos by name, together with a negro, Stephen, and some Christianized Indians to look for them. Friar Marcos traveled far to the north. He inquired his way of the Indians, always asking them about Seven Cities. He described them as large cities with houses made of stone and mortar. The Indians, half-understanding him, directed him to seven Zufii villages or pueblos. The first of these they called Cibola. Friar Marcos henceforth spoke of them as the Seven Cities of Cibola. The good friar himself never entered even the first of them. His negro, Stephen, had been sent on in advance to prepare the way, but this rough, greedy fellow offended the Indians, who promptly murdered him. When the friar approached he found the Indians so excited and hostile that he dared not enter their village. He did, however, venture to climb a hill at a distance, from which he had a view of one of the cities of Cibola. The houses, built of light stone and whitish adobe, ghstened in the wonderfully clear air and bright sunlight of that region, and gave him the idea of a much larger and richer city than really existed. Friar Marcos, by this time thoroughly frightened, hurriedly retraced his steps. Coronado. There was great excitement in Mexico over the story Friar Marcos told. The account of what had been seen grew, as such stories always do, in the telling and retelling. Nothing else was thought of in all New Spain. The Viceroy of Mexico made ready a great army for the conquest of the Seven Cities of Cibola. He gave SPANISH EXPLORERS OF NORTH AMERICA 195 the command to his intimate friend, Francisco de Coro- nado. Everybody wanted to accompany him, but it was necessary to have the consent of the viceroy. Sons of nobles, eager to go, traded with their more fortunate neigh- bors for the viceroy's permit. Some men who secured these sold them as special favors to their friends. Who- ever obtained one of them counted it as good as a title of mri-: A ZuNi Pueblo from a Distance nobility. So high were the expectations of great wealth when the Seven Cities should be discovered! The Army of Coronado. In the early part of 1540, Coronado set forth from his home in western Mexico near the Gulf of California. He had an army of three hundred Spaniards, nearly all the younger sons of nobles. They were fitted out with pohshed coats of mail and gilded armor, carried lances and swords, and were mounted on the choicest horses from the large stock-farms of the viceroy. There were in the army a few footmen armed with crossbows and harquebuses. A thousand negroes and Indians were taken along, mainly as servants for 196 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY the white masters. Some led the spare horses. Others carried the baggage, or drove the oxen and cows, the sheep and swine which would be needed on the journey. A •j N E W//m E X I C«^0 j N^ I A j^ .'I ^'- ! {SOUTH SEA) PA C I F I C OCEAN Coronado's Route ^ — — — — .— The Route of Coronado small fleet carried part of the baggage by way of the Gulf of California, prepared also to help Coronado in other ways, and to explore the Gulf to its head. SPANISH EXPLORERS OF NORTH AMERICA 197 The Route of Coronado to Cibola. The large army marched slowly through the wild regions of the Gulf coast. Coronado soon became impatient and pushed ahead of the main body with a small following of picked horsemen. They went through the mountainous wilderness of northern Mexico and across the desert plains of south- eastern Arizona. After a march lasting five months, A ZuNi Pueblo over a distance equal to that from New York to Omaha, Coronado came upon the Seven Cities of Cibola; but the real Seven Cities of Cibola as Coronado found them bore little resemblance to what he had expected. The real Seven Cities of Cibola. The first city of Cibola was an Indian pueblo of about two hundred flat- roofed houses, built of stone and sun-dried clay. The houses were entered by climbing ladders to the top and then passing down into the rooms as we enter ships through hatches. The people wore only such clothes as could be woven from the coarse fiber of native plants, or 198 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY patched together from the tanned skins of the cat or the deer. They cultivated certain plants for food, but only small and poor varieties of corn, beans, and melons. They had some skill in making small things for house and personal decoration, mainly in the form of pottery and simple ornaments of green stone. The kingdom of rich cities dwindled to a small province of poor villages inhab- ited by an unwarlike people. We know now that Coronado had found the Zuiii pueblos in the western part of New Mexico. The conquest of these was a wofully small thing for so grand and costly an expedition. No gold or silver or precious jewels had been found. The Canyon of the Colorado. Yet the wonders of the natural world about them astonished and interested the Spaniards. Some of their number found the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River and vividly described it to their comrades. As they looked into its depths it seemed as if the water was six feet across, although in Canyon of the Colorado SPANISH EXPLORERS OF NORTH AMERICA 199 reality it was many hundred feet wide. Some tried with- out success to descend the steep chff to the stream below or to discover a means of crossing to the opposite side. Those who staid above estimated that some huge rocks on the side of the cliff were about as tall as a man, but those who went down as far as they could swore that when they reached these rocks they found them bigger than the great tower of Seville, which is two hundred and seventy-five feet high. Coronado in New Mexico. Coronado marched from the Cities of Cibola eastward to the valley of the Rio Grande River, and settled for the winter in an Indian village a short distance south of the present city of Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Spaniards drove the natives out, only allowing them to take the clothes they wore A Winter in an Indian Village. The soldiers passed the severe winter of 1540-1541 comfortably quartered in the best houses of the Indian village. A plentiful supply of corn and beans had been left by the unfortunate owners. The live stock brought from Mexico furnished an abun- dance of fresh meat. Coronado required the Indians to furnish three hundred pieces of cloth for cloaks and blankets for his men, to take the place of theh own, now worn out. Nor did the officers give the Indians time to secure the cloth that was demanded, but forced them to take theu- own cloaks and blankets off their backs. When a soldier came upon an Indian whose blanket was better than his, he compelled the unlucky fellow to exchange with him without more ado. 200 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY Coronado's strenuous efforts to provide well for the comforts of his men made him much loved by them, but much hated by the Indians. It is no wonder that such treatment drove the Indians into rebellion, and that Coronado was obliged to carry on a cruel war of reconquest and revenge. The Tale of Quivira. An Indian slave in one of the villages cheered Coronado and his followers with a fabu- lous tale about a wonderful city, many days' journey across the plains to the northeast, which he called Quivira. The king of Quivira, he said, took his nap under a large tree, on which were hung little gold bells, which put him to sleep as they swung in the air. Every one in the city had jugs and bowls made of wrought gold. The slave was probably tempted by the eagerness of his hearers to make his tale bigger. He perhaps made it as enticing as he could in order to lead the strangers away to perish in the pathless plains where water would be scarce and corn unknown. The Search for Quivira. The slave's story deceived the Spaniards. Coronado grasped eagerly at the only hope left of finding a rich country and marched away in search of Quivira. He traveled to the northeast for seventy-seven days. There were no guiding land marks. Soldiers measured the distance traveled each day by counting the footsteps. The plains were flat, save for an occasional channel cut by some river half buried in the sand; they were barren, except for a short wiry grass and a small rim of shrubs and stunted trees along the watercourses. SPANISH EXPLORERS OF NORTH AMERICA 201 Quivira. The most marvelous sight of the long journey was the herds of buffaloes in countless numbers. The Indians guided Coronado in the end to a cluster of Indian villages which they called Quivira. This was somewhere in what is now central Kansas near Junction City. The Indians were in all probability the Wichitas. Here again the great explorer met with a bitter disappointment. Indian Tepees Instead of a fine city of stone and mortar, he found scat- tered Indian villages with mere tent-like houses formed by fastening grass or straw or buffalo skins to poles. The people were the poorest and most barbarous which he had met. Coronado was, however, fortunate in securing a supply of corn and buffalo meat in Quivira for his long return journey. Coronado's Opinion of the West. A year later a crest- fallen army of half-starved men clad in the skins of animals stumbled back homeward through Mexico in straggling groups. Great sadness prevailed in Mexico, 202 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY for many had lost their fortunes besides friends and rela- tives in the enterprise. Coronado seemed to the people of the time to have led a costly army on a wild-goose chase. He himself thought that the regions he had crossed were valueless. He said they were cold and too far away from the sea to furnish a good site for a colony^ and the country was neither rich enough nor populous enough to make it worth keeping. Results of Coronado's Explorations. We know better to-day the value of Coronado's great discoveries. He had solved the age-long mystery of the Seven Cities, and explored the southwest of the United States of our day. The rich region now included in the great states of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas had been seen, and it was soon after described for the European world. His men had explored the Gulf of California to its head, and the Colorado River toward its source for two hundred miles. They had proved that lower California was not an island but a part of the main- land. Others soon explored the entire coast of California to the limits of the present state of Oregon. How De Soto and Coronado came near meeting. De Soto and Coronado together pushed the Spanish frontier far northward to the center of North America. A story which was told by De Soto's men shows how close to- gether the two great explorers were at one time. While Coronado was in Quivira, De Soto was wandering along the borders of the plains west of the Mississippi River, though neither knew of the nearness of the other. An Indian woman who ran away from Coronado's army fell SPANISH EXPLORERS OF NORTH AMERICA 203 in with De Soto's, nine days later. If De Soto and Coronado had met on the plains there would have been a finer story to tell, almost as dramatic as the meeting of Stanley and Livingstone in central Africa. One can- not refrain from wondering how different would have been the ending with the two great armies united and encouraged to continue their explorations. QUESTIONS 1. What story had Ponce de Leon heard in the West Indies? What did he find? Why did he call the new country which he dis- covered Florida? What was included in Florida as the Spaniards understood it? 2. What was De Soto looking for in North America? How long did he search? What did he find? Was he disappointed? What was he planning to do when he died? Why was his journey very remarkable? Through what present states of the United States did he pass? 3. Where did the Spaniards expect to find the Seven Cities? Why did he expect to find them there? What was the story of the Seven Cities? Of the Seven Caves? 4. What did Coronado expect to find at the Seven Cities of Cibola? What did he find there? Why did he go far on into North America in search of Quivira? What did he find on the way to Quivira? What did he find Quivira to be? 5. What did Coronado think of his own discoveries? What had he found out of interest or value to the rest of the world? Which of the present states of the United States did his route touch? REVIEW 1. Review the effect of the discoveries of Columbus (map, page 155), Magellan (map, page 169), De Soto (map, page 189), Coronado (map, page 196), on the knowledge of the new world. Important date — 1541 . The discovery of the Mississippi by De Soto. CHAPTER XVIII RIVALRY AND STRIFE IN EUROPE The Rivals of Spain. When the early voyages to America and Asia were ended, the French, the English, and the other northern peoples of Europe seemed to be beaten in the race for new lands and for new routes to old lands. The French had sent a few fishermen to the Banks of Newfoundland, and that was all. The English had made one or two voyages and appeared to be no longer interested. (See page 160.) The Dutch seemed to be only sturdy fishermen, thrifty farmers, or keen traders, occupied much of the time in the struggle against the North Sea, which threatened to burst the dikes and flood farms and cities. The Trade- Winds. The Portuguese and the Spaniards had a great advantage in living nearer the natural starting- point for such voyages. To go to Asia ships went by way of the Cape of Good Hope. To go to America a southern route was taken, for in the North Atlantic the prevailing winds are from the southwest, while south of Spain the trade- winds blow towards the southwest, mak- ing it easy to sail to America. To take the northern route, which was the natural one for French and English sailors, would be to battle against head winds and heavy seas. 204 RIVALRY AND STRIFE IN EUROPE 205 The Spaniards and the Portuguese divide the World. The Spaniards and the Portuguese believed t^at their discoveries gave them the right to all new lands which should be found and to all trade by sea with the Golden East. Two years after the first voyage of Columbus the Spaniards agreed with the Portuguese that a line running 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands should separate the regions claimed by each. The Spaniards were to hold all lands discovered west of that line, and the Portuguese all east of it. This left Brazil within the region claimed by the Portuguese. The rest of North and South America lay within the Spanish claims. It is the future history of this region that especially interests us as students of American history. The Main Question. Were the Spaniards to keep what they claimed and continue to outstrip their northern rivals? The answer to this question is found in the history of Europe during the sixteenth century. Unfortunately for the Spaniards they were drawn into quarrels in Europe which cost them many men and much money. The con- sequence was that they were unable to make full use of their discoveries, even if they had known how. Before Cabot Memorial Tower Erected at Bristol, England, in memory of the first sailor from England to visit America 206 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY the century was ended their rivals, the Enghsh and the French, were stronger than they; and the Dutch, their own subjects, had rebelled against them. The English and the French desire a Share. Men had such great ideas of the immense wealth of the Indies that the successes of one nation made the other nations eager for some part of the spoil. Englishmen and Frenchmen were not likely to allow the Portuguese to take all they could find by sailing eastward around the Cape of Good Hope, and the Spaniards to keep whatever they discovered by sailing directly westward or by following the route marked out by Magellan. Both would search for new routes to the East, and both would lay claim to lands they saw by the way, regardless of any other nation. Many quarrels came from this rivalry, but quarrels arose also from other causes. King Charles and King Francis. About the time Cortes conquered Mexico, his master, King Charles of Spain, began a war against Francis, the king of France. As long as these two kings lived they were either fight- ing or preparing to fight. Had Charles been king of Spain only, there might have been no trouble, but he ruled lands in Italy and claimed others which the French king ruled. He also ruled all the region north of France which is now Belgium and Holland, and he owned a dis- trict which forms part of eastern France near Switzer- land. As he was the German emperor besides, the French king thought him too dangerous to be left in peace. These wars have little to do with American RIVALRY AND STRIFE IN EUROPE 207 history, except that they helped to weaken the king of Spain and to prevent the Spaniards from making the most of their early successes in colonizing. Religion a Cause of Strife. Religion was the most serious cause of quarrel in the sixteenth century, and the king of Spain was the prince most injured by the struggle. At the time of Prince Henry of Portugal and of Columbus all peoples in western Europe wor- shiped in the same manner, taught their children the same beliefs, and in religious matters they all obeyed the pope. But by 1521 this had changed. The troubles began in Germany when Charles V was emperor. Before they were over Philip II, son of Charles, lost control of the Dutch, who rebelled and founded a republic of their own. The English finally became the principal enemies of Spain. The French, most of whom were of the same religion as the Spaniards, came to hate Spanish methods of defending religion, especially after the Spaniards had massacred a band of French settlers in America. The ''Reformers." Many men became discontented at the way the Church was managed. At first all were agreed that the evils of which they complained could be removed if priests, bishops, and pope worked to- gether to that end. After a while some teachers in Emperor Charles V 208 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY different countries not only complained of evils, but refused to believe as the Church had taught and as most people still believed. They did not mean to divide the Christian Church into several churches, but they thought they understood the words of the Bible better than the teachers of the Church. The Reformation. At that time people who were not agreed in their religious beliefs did not live peaceably in the same countries. The princes and kings who were faithful to the Church ordered that the new teachers and their followers should be punished. Other princes accepted the views of the ^^ reformers/^ and soon began to punish those of their subjects who con- tinued to believe as the Church taught. In Germany these princes were called ^'Protestants/' because they protested against the efforts of the Emperor Charles and his advisers to stop the spread of the new religion. This name was afterwards given to all who refused to remain in the older Church, subject to the bishops and the pope. Catholic and Protestant Leaders. The most famous leaders of the Roman Catholics at this time were Igna- tius Loyola, a Spaniard, Reginald Pole, an Englishman, and Carlo Borromeo, an Italian. Loyola had been a soldier in his youth, but while recovering from a seri- ous wound, resolved to be a missionary. With several other young men of the same purpose he founded the Society of Jesus or the Jesuit Order. Of the Protes- tants the greatest leaders were Martin Luther, a German^ and John Calvin, a Frenchman. Luther was a professor RIVALRY AND STRIFE IN EUROPE 209 in the university at Wittenberg in Saxony, which was ruled by the Elector Frederick the Wise. Calvin had lived as a student in Paris, but when King Francis resolved to allow no Protestants in his kingdom, Calvin was obliged to leave the country. He settled in the Swiss city of Geneva. The Lutheran Church. Luther's teachings were ac- cepted by many Germans, especially in northern Ger- many. He translated the Bible into German. After a while his followers formed a Church of their own which was called Lutheran. It differed from the Roman Catholic Church in the way it was governed as well as in what it taught. The French Huguenots. Calvin lived in Geneva, but most of those who accepted his teachings continued to live in France. The nickname Huguenots, or confeder- ates, was given to them. They were not permitted by the French king to worship as Calvin taught, but by 1562 so many nobles had joined them that it was no longer possible to treat them as criminals. They were permitted to hold their meetings outside the walled towns. The leader whom they most honored was Admiral Gaspard de Coligny. Both he and they, as we shall see, soon had reason to fear and hate the Spaniards. But we must first understand the difficulties which the king of Spain had in dealing with his Dutch subjects. The King of Spain and the Netherlands. Philip II in- herited from his father Charles seventeen duchies, counties, and other districts north of France in what is now Belgium and Holland. Charles had known how to manage these 210 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY people, because he was brought up among them. The task of managing them was not easy. Each district or city had its own special rights and its people demanded that these should be respected by the ruling prince. Charles had remembered this, but Philip wished to rule »"i-i.,.. ^iW.^^^^^ ."^ The Dikes along the Yssel in the Netherlands the Nether landers, as these people were called, just as he ruled the people of Spain. Protestants in the Netherlands. The trouble was made worse because many of the Netherlanders became fol- lowers of Luther or Calvin, and brought their books into the country. Now Philip, like his father Charles, was faithful to the teachings of the Church, and thought it was his duty to punish such persons. The result was that Philip soon had two kinds of enemies in RIVALRY AND STRIFE IN EUROPE 211 Amsterdanlc^ Leyde, The Hague/O \-^ ZEE / \o his Netherland provinces, those who did not like the way he ruled and those who refused to believe as the Church taught, and the two united against him. After a while most of the Lutherans were driven away, but the Calvinists kept coming in over the border from France. The Netherlands. The Netherlands, or Low Countries, are well named, especially the northern part where the Dutch live, because much of the land is below the level of the sea at high tide, and some of it at low tide. For sev- eral hundred years the Dutch built dikes to keep back the sea, or pumped it out where it flowed in and covered the lower lands. Occa- sionally great storms broke through the dikes and caused the Dutch months or years of labor. A people so brave and industrious were not likely to submit to the will of Philip 11. The chances that they would rebel were increased by the spread of the new religious views, which the Dutch accepted more readily than their neigh- FRANCE Map of the Netherlands 212 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY bors, the southern Netherlander s. The southern Nether- landers who became Calvinists generally emigrated to the northern cities, like Amsterdam, where they were safer. William of Orange. Wilham, Prince of Orange, was the leader of the Dutch against Philip II. He had been trusted by Charles, Philip's father, who had leaned on his shoulder at the great ceremony held in Brussels when Charles gave up his throne to Philip. William was called the ''Silent,'' because he was careful not to tell his plans to any except his nearest friends. When Philip returned to Spain, William was made governor or stadtholder of three of the Dutch provinces — Hol- land, Zealand, and Utrecht. Philip was angry because William and other great nobles in the Netherlands opposed his way of dealing with the heretics and of ruling the Netherlands. In this both the southern Netherlanders and the northern Netherlanders were united, although the southern Netherlanders remained faithful to the Roman Catholic religion. Spain and England. The Enghsh at first had no reason to quarrel with the king of Spain. They were friendly to the Netherlanders, who were his subjects. During the Middle Ages they sold great quantities of wool to the Netherland cities of Bruges, Brussels, and Ghent, and bought fine cloth woven in those towns. The friendship of the ruler of the Netherlands seemed neces- sary, if this trade was to prosper. It was the trouble about religion which finally made the English and the Spaniards enemies. Henry VIII. During the reign of Henry VIII, King RIVALRY AND STRIFE IN EUROPE 213 of England, the king, the parhament, and the clergy decided to refuse obedience to the pope. The king called himself the head of the Church in England. Lutheran views crept into the country as they had done into the Netherlands, but King Henry at first dis- liked the Luther- ans quite as much as he grew to dis- like the pope. The English Church. So long as Henry lived not much change was made in the be- liefs or the man- ner of worship in the Church. Dur- ing the short reign of his son, the English Church became more like the Protestant Churches on the Continent, except that in England there were still archbishops and bishops, and the govern- ment of the Church went on much as before. When Henry's daughter Mary was made queen she tried to stop these changes, and for a few years her subjects were again obedient to the pope, but she died in 1558 and her half-sister, Elizabeth, became queen. The English Church and the Catholics. In religious Queen Elizabeth 214 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY matters Queen Elizabeth did much as her father and her brother had done. All persons were forced to attend the religious services carried on in the manner ordered in the prayer-book. Roman CathoHcs could not hold any government office. They were punished if they tried to persuade others to remain faithful to the older Church. Costumes at the Time of Elizabeth Phihp did not like this, but for a time he preferred to be on friendly terms with the English. Queen Elizabeth. Queen Elizabeth ruled England for forty-five years. The English regard her reign as the most glorious in their history. Before it was over they proved themselves more than a match for the Spaniards on the sea. They also began to seek for routes to the East and to attempt settlements in America. Their trade was increasing. The Greek and Roman writers were studied by English scholars at Oxford and Cambridge. RIVALRY AND STRIFE IN EUROPE 215 Books and poems and plays were written which were to make the Enghsh language the rival of the languages of Greece and Rome. This was the time when Shakespeare wrote his first plays. QUESTIONS 1. Why was it easier to sail toward America from Spain or Portu- gal than from England? 2. What peoples divided the new world between them? Where did they draw the line of division? 3. Why were the kings of France and Spain rivals? Over what countries did King Charles rule? 4. When did religion become a cause of strife? What king was chiefly injured by such struggles? 5. Who were called ''reformers?" By what other names were they called? ^ ^ o 6. Who were the leaders of the Catholics? of the Protestants? Who were the Huguenots? What was their leader's name? 7. Why did PhiUp II and his subjects in the Netherlands quarrel? 8. What was strange about the land in which the Dutch lived? Who was the hero of the Dutch? 9. Why were the English and the Spaniards at first friendly? What king of England refused to obey the pope? 10. Why do Englishmen think Queen Elizabeth a great ruler? How did Elizabeth settle the question of religion? EXERCISE Collect pictures of the Dutch, of their canals, dikes, and towns. CHAPTER XIX FIRST FRENCH ATTEMPTS TO SETTLE AMERICA Cartier. During the reign of Francis I, the French made the first serious attempts to find a westward route to the Far East and to settle the new lands that seemed to lie directly across the pathway. In 1534 Jacques Cartier was sent with two ships in search of a strait beyond the regions controlled by Spain or Portugal which would lead into the Pacific Ocean. Cartier passed around the northern side of Newfoundland and into the broad expanse of water west of it. This he called the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Cartier at Montreal. Cartier made a second voyage in the following year, exploring the great river which he called the St. Lawrence. He went up the river until the heights of Mount Royal or Montreal, as he called them, appeared on his right hand, and swift rapids in the river blocked his way in front. The name Lachine rapids, or the China rapids, which was afterwards given to these, remains to remind us that Cartier was searching for a passage to China. The First Winter in Canada. Cartier spent the severe winter which followed at the foot of the cliffs which mark the site of the modern city of Quebec. The expedi- tion returned to France with the coming of spring. 216 FRENCH ATTEMPTS TO SETTLE AMERICA 217 Attempts to plant a Colony at Quebec. Several years later, in 1541, Cartier and others attempted to establish a permanent settlement on the St. Lawrence. As it was hard to get good colonists to settle in the cold climate so far north, the leaders were allowed to ransack the prisons for debtors and criminals to make up the necessary num- Map Showing Jacques Cartier' s Voyages Thus; 1st Voyage 2d Voyage 3d Voyage —*—* bers. They selected the neighborhood of the cliffs where Cartier had wintered in 1535, where Quebec now stands, as the most suitable place for their colony. But the settlers were ill-fitted for the hardships of a new settle- ment in so cold and barren a country. Diseases and the hostility of the Indians completely discouraged them, and all gladly returned to France. The zeal of the French for American discovery and 218 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY settlement on the St. Lawrence ceased with Cartier. His hope that the St. Lawrence would prove the long-sought passage to China had to be given up, but the river which he had discovered and so thoroughly explored proved to be a great highway into the center of North America. Coligny's Plan for a Huguenot Colony. Nearly thirty years later the French Protestant leader, Coligny, formed the plan of establishing a colony in America, which would be a refuge for the Huguenots if their enemies got the upper hand in France. An expedition left France in 1564, and selected a site for a settlement near the mouth of the St. Johns river in Florida. It seemed a good place. A fort, called Fort Caroline, was quickly built. But the first colonists were not well chosen. They were chiefly younger nobles, soldiers unused to labor, or dis- contented tradesmen and artisans. There were few farmers among them. The Misdeeds of the Colonists. They spent their time visiting distant Indian tribes in a vain search for gold and silver, or plundering Spanish villages and ships in the West Indies. No one thought of preparing the soil and planting seeds for a food supply. It seemed easier to rob neighbors. The provisions which they had brought with them gave out. Game and fish abounded in the woods and rivers about them, but they were without skill in hunting and fishing. Before the first year had passed the miserable inhabitants of Fort Caroline were reduced to digging roots in the forest for food. Starvation and the revenge of angry Indians confronted them. FRENCH ATTEMPTS TO SETTLE AMERICA 219 Relief sent to the Colony. In August, 1565, just as the half-starved colonists were preparing to leave the country, an expedition with fresh settlers — mostly dis- charged soldiers, a few young nobles, and some mechanics with their families, three hundred in all — arrived in Fort Caroline, the French Settlement in Florida From De Bry's Voyages the harbor. It brought an abundance of supplies and other things needed by a colony in a new country. It looked then as though these Frenchmen would suc- ceed in their plan and establish a permanent colony in America. Fort Caroline and the Spaniards. The French had, however, settled in Florida. Indeed, it would have been difficult to settle in America at any place along the Atlan- tic coast without doing so. The Spaniards regarded all North America from Mexico to Labrador as lying within 220 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY Florida. The attempt of the French to settle on the lands claimed by the king of Spain was sure to bring on a war, sooner or later. The conduct of the French at Fort Caroline in plundering the Spanish colonies in the West Indies made all Spaniards anxious to drive out such a nest of robbers and murderers. Besides, the Spaniards hated Coligny's followers more than ordinary Frenchmen, because they were Huguenots. Menendez. At the time the news reached Spain of Coligny's settlement at Fort Caroline, a Spanish noble- man, Pedro Menendez, was preparing to establish a col- ony in Florida, and thus after a long delay carry out the task which De Soto had vainly attempted. Menendez was naturally as eager as the king to drive out the French intruders. So an expedition larger than was planned at first was hurried off. Menendez was to do three things — drive the French out, conquer and Christianize the Indians, and establish Spanish settlements in Florida. The Defeat of the French Fleet. Menendez with a part of his fleet arrived before Fort Caroline just one week after the relief expedition which Coligny had sent over came into harbor. His ships attacked and scattered those of the French. The vessels of the French for the most part sought refuge on the high seas. They were too swift to be overtaken, but no match for the Spanish in battle. Menendez decided to wait for the rest of his ships before making another attack on Fort Caroline. Meanwhile he sailed southward along the coast for fifty miles till he came to an inlet. He called the place St. Augustine. St. Augustine founded. A friendly Indian chief readily gave his dwelling to the Spaniards. It was a huge, FRENCH ATTEMPTS TO SETTLE AMERICA 221 barn-like structure, made of the entire trunks of trees, and thatched with palmetto leaves. Soldiers quickly dug a ditch around it and threw up a breastwork of earth and small sticks. The colonists who came with Menendez landed and set about the usual work of founding a settlement. Such was the beginning of the Spanish town of St. Augustine, founded in 1565, and the oldest town in the United States. St. Augustine, Florida, as founded by Menendez Pagus Hispanorum as given in Montanus and Ogilby French sail to attack St. Augustine. Both sides pre- pared for a terrible struggle, the French at Fort Caroline and the Spaniards in their new quarters at St. Augustine. The French struck the first blow. A few of the weaker and the sick soldiers were left at Fort Caroline to stand guard with the women and children. The main body aboard the ships advanced by sea to attack St. Augustine, but a furious tempest scattered and wrecked the French fleet before it arrived. 222 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY Menendez destroys Fort Caroline. Menendez now took advantage of the storm to march overland to Fort Caroline, wading through swamps and fording streams amid a fearful rain and gale. His drenched and hungry followers fell like wild beasts upon the few French left in the fort. About fifty of the women and children were spared to become captives. As many men escaped in the forests around the fort, but the greater part were killed. Capture of the shipwrecked French. The French fleet had been wrecked off the coast of Florida a dozen miles south of St. Augustine. A few days later Menendez discovered some survivors wandering along the coast, half starved, trying to live on the shell-fish they found on the beach, and slowly and painfully working their way back toward Fort Caroline. The Frenchmen begged Menendez to be allowed to remain in the country till ships could be sent to take them off, but he was unwill- ing to make any terms with them. Murder of the Captives. The unhappy Frenchmen were taken prisoners, and, a few hours later, put to death. Other shipwrecked refugees were captured a few days later, and these suffered the same fate. Nearly three hundred perished in this cold-blooded manner. It was a merciless deed, and yet such was the character of all warfare at the time. Menendez beheved that he was doing his duty. Nor did the king of Spain think Menendez unduly cruel, for when he heard the story of the fate of the Frenchmen of Fort Caroline he sent this message to Menendez: ''Say to him that, as to those he has killed, he has FRENCH ATTEMPTS TO SETTLE AMERICA 223 North America as known- after the Explorations of De Soto, CORONADO AND CaRTIER done well; and as to those he has saved, they shall be sent to the galleys. '^ 224 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY -0 \ .^^^ 26 50 1 00 150 200 Scale of Miles QUESTIONS 1. Who was the leader in the first French ef- forts to explore and settle in North America? Find as many- reasons as possible why France had not tried to settle in America before. What parts of the continent did Car- tier become inter- ested in? Why was he specially interested in St. Lawrence region? 2. How did Montreal get its name? Why was the name, Lachine rapids, given to the rapids above Montreal on the St. Lawrence river? 3. Why did C artier fail in his attempts to plant a French colony in North America? How much had he and his friends ac- complished for France in North America? FRENCH ATTEMPTS TO SETTLE AMERICA 225 4. Why did Coligny later wish to establish a colony in America? Where did his people try to settle? Find the place on the map on page 224. Give several reasons why they soon got into trouble with the Spaniards. 5. What did the king of Spain send Menendez to Florida to. do? What things did he accomplish? Why do we specially remember St. Augustine? Find it on the map, page 224. EXERCISES 1. Examine the map of North America in 1541 on page 223. What parts of North America were known? What parts were unknown? Can you see why the explorers would search each bay or inlet or great river? 2. Find how far into the continent of North America the French explored the St. Lawrence river, that is, the distance from New- foundland to Montreal by using the scale of miles on a map in one of your geographies. Important Date : 1565. The founding of St. Augustine. CHAPTER XX THE ENGLISH AND THE DUTCH TRIUMPH OVER SPAIN Cruel Treatment of the Netherlanders. Two years after the cruel massacre of the Huguenot colony . in Florida, Phihp II, the King of Spain, decided to put an end to the obstinacy of the Netherlanders, and sent an army from Spain commanded by the Duke of Alva, who was as pitiless as Menendez. Alva began by seizing promi- nent nobles, and he would have arrested the Prince of Orange, but he escaped into Germany. A court was set up which condemned many persons to death, including the greatest nobles of the land. The people nicknamed it the Council of Blood. Alva also turned the merchants against him by compelling them to pay the ^^ tenth penny," that is, one tenth of the price of the goods every time these were either bought or sold. Alva made himself so thoroughly hated that even Philip decided to call him back to Spain. The Beggars of the Sea. Just then something happened which gave Coligny and the Huguenots their chance for vengeance. The men who were resisting the king's officers in the Netherlands had been nicknamed the ^^ Beggars." When they were driven from the cities they took to the sea. The ^^ Beggars of the Sea " sometimes 226 ENGLISH AND DUTCH TRIUMPH 227 found a port of refuge in La Rochelle, a Huguenot town on the western coast of France, and sometimes they put into friendly EngUsh harbors. From these places they would sail out and attack Spanish vessels. When Queen Ehzabeth in 1572 ordered a fleet of these ''Beggars" to leave, they crossed over to their own shores and drove the Spanish garrison out of Brille. This success encour- aged the Dutch and many of the southern Netherlanders to rise and expel the Spanish sol- diers from their towns. The French promise Aid. As soon as Coligny heard the news he urged the French king to send an army into the Netherlands and take vengeance not only for the massacre at Fort Caroline, but also for all the wrongs that he and his father and his grandfather had ever received at the hands of the Spaniards. The French king agreed and wrote a letter to the Netherlanders promising aid. Massacre of Huguenots in Paris. The plan was never carried out. While Coligny and many other Huguenots were in Paris, his enemies attempted to kill him. When the attempt failed these enemies, includmg the kmg s mother, persuaded the king that Coligny and the Hugue- nots were plotting against him, and goaded the kmg into ordering the murder of all the Huguenots in Pans and the Gaspard de Coligny After the portrait in the Public Library, Geneva 228 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY other cities of France. Thousands of Huguenots per- ished. When the Netherlanders heard of what had befallen CoHgny and his followers, they were crushed with grief. Coligny had missed the chance of ven- geance. But the Spanish king was soon to have other enemies besides the Huguenots who were ready to help the Dutch. These new enemies were the Enghsh. The English drawn into the Conflict. The rehgious troubles in England had been growing more serious. Two or three plots were made to assassinate Elizabeth in order to put on the throne Queen Mary of Scotland, who was the next heir. Philip began to encourage these plotters, especially after the pope in 1570 had excommuni- cated Elizabeth and forbidden her subjects to obey her as queen. She was sure to be dragged into the struggle in the Netherlands sooner or later. We have seen that she had once sheltered the '' Beggars of the Sea." The murder of Coligny and his followers frightened the English and made many of them anxious to join in the con- flict before their friends on the Continent, the French Huguenots and the Dutch Calvinists, were utterly destroyed. Growth of English Trade. If England should be drawn into war, her safety would depend mainly upon her ships. Englishmen had always taken to the sea, as was natural for men whose shores were washed by the Atlantic, the Channel and the North Sea, but they were slow in build- ing fleets of ships either for trade or for war. The trade of the country with other peoples in the Middle Ages was carried on mostly by foreigners. Yet since the days of ENGLISH AND DUTCH TRIUMPH 229 Elizabeth's father and grandfather a change had taken place. English merchants found their way to all markets. They also made new things to sell. Refugees driven by the religious troubles from France and the Netherlands brought their skill to England and taught the English how to weave fine woolens and silks. The new English Navy. The Enghsh navy was grow- ing. One of the new ships, The Triumph, carried 450 seamen, 50 gunners, and 200 soldiers. Besides harque- buses for the soldiers, there were many kinds of cannon with strange names, such as culverins, falconets, sakers, serpentines, and rabinets. Four of the cannon were large enough to shoot a cannon-ball eight inches in diameter. But it was on the skill and courage of her men rather than upon the size of her ships that England relied for victory. Sir Francis Drake. One of these men was Francis Drake. He was son of a chaplain in the navy and as a boy played in the rigging of the great ships-of-war, as other boys play in the streets. In time young Drake was apprenticed to the skipper of a small trading vessel. Fortune smiled on the lad early in life. His master died, and out of love for the apprentice who had served him so Sir Francis Drake After the painting at Buckland Abbey, England 230 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY well, left him the vessel. Francis Drake became thus a shipmaster on his own account, and in time the most popular of Queen Elizabeth's sea-captains. Slave-Traders. He often went with his cousin, John Hawkins, on voyages to Africa. They bought negro slaves from slave-traders along the coast, or kidnaped negroes whom they found, and carried them to the Spanish planters of the West Indies. Hawkins and Drake were as devout and humane as other men of their time. They simply could not see any wrong in enslaving the heathen black men in Africa. Besides, they enjoyed the wild life of the slave-trader with its dangers and rich rewards. Why Drake hated the Spaniards. The king of Spain tried to keep the trade in slaves for his own merchants, and attempted to prevent the trade of the English slavers with the West Indies. Spanish ships-of-war ruined one of the voyages from which Hawkins and Drake hoped for large profits. The Spaniards won thereby the undying hatred of Drake. The Dragon of the Seas. It was a time, too, when Drake's countrymen at home shared his intense hatred of the Spaniard. While England and Spain were not at war with one another, English and Spanish traders fought whenever they met on the high seas. The English made the Spanish settlements in America their special prey. At certain times of the year Spanish ships, called govern- ment ships, carried to Spain gold and silver — the royal share of the products of America. Drake, like many another of his countrymen, lay in wait to rob these ships of their precious cargoes. He managed to gather a ENGLISH AND DUTCH TRIUMPH 231 -^-7. fortune by his cunning and courage. More than once he was forced to bury his treasures in the sand to Hghten his ships that they might sail the faster, and escape his pursuers. The Spaniards came to know and to fear Drake as the Dragon of the Seas. Drake's Venture. Drake once formed the plan to take a fleet into the Pacific Ocean in order to plunder the treasure ships where they would be less on their guard. A fleet of five ships was made ready. Con- tributions from wealthy merchants and powerful no- bles, perhaps a gift from Queen Eliza- beth herself, gave him the means for ^^^^^^^ Treasure Ship unusual luxuries in the equipment of his fleet. Skilful musicians and rich furniture were taken on board Drake's own ship, the Pelican, or the Golden Hind as he afterwards christened it. The brilliant little fleet left Plymouth in 1577. One after another of the ships turned back or was destroyed on the long voyage of twelve months across the Atlantic and through the Strait of Magellan. Beyond the Strait of Magellan. The Golden Hind alone remained to carry out the original project. As it 232 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY entered the Pacific Ocean a furious storm drove the Httle vessel southward beyond Cape Horn to the regions where the oceans meet. No one before had sailed so far south. The first Prizes. Drake regained control of his ship when the storm had passed, and sailed northward along the coast, plundering and robbing as he went. Once, as a land-party was searching along the shore for fresh water, it came upon a Spaniard asleep with thirteen bars of silver beside him. His nap was disturbed long enough to take away his burden. Further on they met another Spaniard and an Indian boy driving a train of Peruvian sheep laden with eight hundred pounds of silver. The Englishmen took their place, and merrily drove the sheep to their boats. A treasure ship, nicknamed the Spitfire^ on the way to Panama, was captured after a long chase of nearly eight hundred miles. Drake obtained from it un- known quantities of gold and silver. With such a rich load, his thoughts turned to the homeward voyage. Drake's Voyage around the World. By this time a host of Spanish war-ships were on Drake's track. They expected to capture him on his return through the Strait of Magellan. Drake, now confronted with real danger, cunningly outwitted his enemies. He and many other Englishmen of his day were sure a passage would be found somewhere through North America between the Atlantic and the Pacific. Spanish, French, and English explorers had all carried on the search for this passage. Drake decided to return by such a route, if it were possible. He followed the coast of California, and probably passed that of Oregon and Washington as far as Vancouver. > O > > o 234 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY When it grew colder and the coast turned to the west- ward, he gave up the search. After making some needed repairs in a small harbor a few miles above the modern San Francisco, Drake set out boldly across the Pacific to return home, as Magellan's men had done before him, by going around the world. He touched at the Philippines, visited the Spice Islands, and slowly worked his way around the Cape of Good Hope. The Golden Hind, long since given up as lost, reached England in the fall of 1580, after nearly three years' absence. For a second time a ship had sailed around the world. Drake was the first Englishman to gain the honor. Drake's Reward. Queen Elizabeth liked the story Drake told of outwitting and plundering Spaniards. Arrayed in her most gorgeous robes she visited his ship, where a banquet had been prepared. While Drake knelt at her feet she made him a knight. And so it was that the man whom the Spaniards called with good reason the Master Thief of the Seas, the English called by a new title. Sir Francis Drake, and praised as the greatest sea- captain of the age. His ship, the Golden Hind, was ordered to be preserved forever. The Dutch Struggle against Spain. A few years after Drake returned the English took a deeper interest in the struggle between Philip and the Dutch. Although the Dutch had lost hope of help from the French Huguenots, they resisted Philip's generals more boldly than ever. The Spanish soldiers treated the towns which surren- dered so savagely that the other towns decided it was ENGLISH AND DUTCH TRIUMPH 235 better to die fighting than to yield. The siege of Ley- den became famous because, after food had given out and the inhabitants were starving their friends cut the great dikes in order that the boats of the '^Beggars of the Sea" loaded with provisions might be floated up to the very walls of the city. This unex- pected flood also drove away the Spaniard. Fortu- nately after the res- cue of the city a strong wind arose and drove back the waves so that the dikes could again be replaced. The Death of William of Orange. King Philip had come to the conclusion that unless William of Orange were killed the Dutch could not be conquered, and so he put a price on Prince William's head, offering a large sum of money to any one who should kill him. The first attempts failed, but finally in 1584 he was shot. Sir Philip Sidney. The murder of William alarmed the English for Ehzabeth's hfe, especially as Phihp had already aided men who were plotting against her. She Queen Elizabeth making Drake a Knight 236 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY sent an army into the Netherlands to aid the Dutch, although she had not made up her mind to attack Phihp directly. The army did not give much help to the Dutch, but it is remembered because a noble English poet, Sir Philip Sidney, was mortally wounded in one of the battles. The story is told that while Sidney was riding back, tor- tured by his wound, he became very thirsty, as wounded men always do, and begged for a drink of water. Looking up when it was brought to him he saw on the ground a common soldier more sorely wounded than he. He immediately sent the water to the soldier saying, "Thy necessity is greater than mine." The Invincible Armada. The king of Spain now decided that he- could not subdue the Dutch until he had thoroughly punished the English. He even planned to put himself upon the English throne, claiming that he was the heir of one of the early kings of England. Months were spent in preparing a great fleet, an "Invincible Armada" which was to sail up the Channel, take on board the Spanish army in the Netherlands, and cross over to England. While these preparations were being made with Philip's usual care, Sir Francis Drake swooped down on Cadiz and burnt so much shipping and destroyed so many supplies that the voyage had to be postponed a year. This Drake called "singeing the king of Spain's beard." The Armada in the Channel. It was July, 1588, before the "Invincible Armada" appeared off Plymouth in the English Channel. Many of the Spanish ships were larger than the English ships, but they were so clumsy that the ENGLISH AND DUTCH TRIUMPH 237 English could outsail them and attack them from any direction they chose. Moreover, the Spaniards needed to fight close at hand in order that the soldiers armed with ordinary guns might join in the fray. The English kept out of range of these guns and used their heavy cannon. Destruction of the Armada. With the English ships The Spanish Armada in the English Channel After an engraving by the Society of Antiquarians following a tapestry in the House of Lords clinging to the flanks and rear of the Armada, the Spaniards moved heavily up the Channel. In the nar- rower waters between Dover and Calais the English attacked more fiercely, and sank several Spanish vessels. Soon the others were fleeing into the North Sea, driven by a furious gale. Many sought to reach Spain by sail- ing around Scotland and Ireland, and some of these ships 238 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY were dashed on the rocky shores. Only a third of PhiUp's proud fleet returned to Spain. Effect of the Defeat of the Armada on Spain. This was the last attempt Philip made to attack the English, because Spain had been exhausted in the effort to collect money and supplies for the Invincible Armada. The war dragged on for many years, and the English attacked and plundered Spanish vessels wherever they found them. The Independence of the Dutch. The ruin of the Armada also meant that the Dutch would succeed in becoming independent of the Spanish king. Seven of the northern provinces had already formed a union and had begun to call themselves the Unitdd Netherlands. They were growing richer while their neighboring prov- inces on the south, which had decided to return to their allegiance to Spain, grew poorer:. First Voyage of the Dutch to the East. Even while the fight was going on the Dutch traded in places where Philip had not permitted them to trade while he could control them. One of these places was Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. Here the Dutch obtained spices which the Portuguese brought from the East Indies. But in 1580 Philip seized Portugal, and the Dutch could no longer go to Lisbon. This made them anxious to find their way to the East. In 1595 the first fleet set out. This voyage was unsuccessful, but other fleets followed, until soon the Dutch had almost driven the Portuguese, now subjects of the king of Spain, from the Spice Islands. Soon also Dutch sailors ventured across the Atlantic to the shores of America. ENGLISH AND DUTCH TRIUMPH 239 QUESTIONS 1. What country in northern Europe did Spain rule? What name was given to those who resisted the Spanish officers in the Netherlands? Why were they given this name? 2. What promise did Coligny make to the people of the Nether- lands? Why was he unable to carry it out? What other people were ready to help the Dutch ? Can you give one reason at least why the English were willing to help the Dutch against Spain ? 3. Why had English trade grown important? Did this help to make a navy? 4. Why did Enghsh sailors like Drake specially hate the. Spaniards? What was Drake's method of making a living? How did he come to go around the world in 1577-1580? How long was it since Magellan made his voyage? 5. What did the English tliink of Drake ? W^hat did the Spaniards think of him? Why did each people thinly as it did? 6. Why did Philip of Spain have William of Orange killed ? Why did this make the conquest of the Dutch even harder ? 7. Why did PhiUp, king of Spain, try to conquer England and make himself king of that country? How did he try to carry out his plan ? Why were the English victorious in the great battle with the Armada? Where was the battle fought? 8. How did the defeat of the Armada affect Spain's w^ar in the Netherlands? Did all of the Netherlands become independent of Spain ? 9. What trade did the Dutch begin to carry on before their war with Spain ended? 10. What new people became rivals of the Spaniards and French for trade and settlements in America? EXERCISES 1. What parts of North America did Drake visit on his famous voyage around the world? See the map on page 233. 2. What effect did the quarrels in Europe described in Chapters 19 and 20 have upon the progress in exploring and settling America? 3. Find out whether the people of the northern Netherlands and the southern Netherlands are still separate countries to-day. CHAPTER XXI THE ENGLISH PEOPLE ATTEMPT TO SETTLE AMERICA English Interest in America Awakened. Voyages like those made by Sir Francis Drake awakened a desire throughout England to learn more about the New World. Until this time even the great discoveries of Columbus and the Cabots had failed to stir the English people to take part in the exploration and settlement of the Ameri- cas. The principal reason was because their attention was occupied by the struggle between their monarchs and the popes to decide whether king or pope should govern the Enghsh Church. This continued until Queen Elizabeth had been on the throne some years. ' Other sea-captains, hearing of Drake's success, now turned their ships toward the Americas. Many went to the West Indies, as he had done, mainly to seize the rich plunder to be found on board the ships of Spain bound homeward. Some of them explored the coast of North America, hoping to find valuable regions that had not fallen into the possession of the Spaniards. The Northwest Passage. Martin Frobisher made three voyages, the last in 1578, in search of a passage through North America to China. He entered the bay which bears his name, and the strait which was later 240 ENGLISH ATTEMPT TO SETTLE AMERICA 241 called after Hudson, but failed to find a passage Drake attempted to find the western entrance to such a pas- sage in 1579 as a short cut homeward when he tried to avoid his Spanish pursuers. Gilbert A grander scheme was planned by Humphrey Gilbert He wished to build up another England across the sea, just as the people of Spain were building up another Spain. He planned to do this by establishing Charlcote Hall An English Manor House of the time of Queen Elizabeth farms to which he and others might ^^nd laborers who could not find work at home. Queen Ehzabeth liked this plan, and to encourage him, and to repay him for the expense of carrying the emigrants over, she promised him the land for six hundred miles on each side of his "FaTurf of Gilbert's Expedition. Gilbert tried twice to plant a colony in the neighborhood of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Sir Walter Raleigh, his half-brother was one of his captains in the expedition of 1578 He would have been in the disastrous second attempt m 1583 had 242 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY not Queen Elizabeth, full of forebodings of danger to her favorite, refused to let him go. As it was he sent a ship at his own cost. Gilbert took a large supply of hobby- horses and other toys with which to please the savages. Mishap, desertion, and shipwreck pursued the luckless commander. The second expedition left Plymouth with five vessels in 1583. The ship that Raleigh sent, the best in the fleet, deserted before they were out of sight of England. One was left in Newfoundland. The wreck of the largest ship, with most of the provisions, off Cape Breton, so discouraged the crews that they prevailed upon Gilbert to abandon the plan to settle on such barren and stormy shores. Gilbert attempted to return on the Squirrel, the smaller of the two remaining vessels. This was a tiny vessel of scarcely ten tons burden. What was left of the little fleet voyaged homeward by the southern way, and ran into a fearful storm as it approached the Azores. Although Gilbert was urged to go aboard the larger vessel, he refused to desert his companions, with whom he had passed through so many storms and perils, and tried to calm the fears of all by his reply, ''Do not fear. Heaven is as near by water as by land." One night the Squirrel suddenly sank. All on board were lost. Such was the sad ending of the first efforts to estabhsh an English colony in North America. Raleigh. Sir Walter Raleigh took up the interesting plan which his kinsman, Gilbert, had at heart. Raleigh was now at the height of his favor with Queen Elizabeth. ENGLISH ATTEMPT TO SETTLE AMERICA 243 She had made him wealthy, especially by the gift of large estates which she had taken from others. She read- ily promised him the same privileges in America which she had offered to Gil- bert. Raleigh doubtless thought that he might increase his fortune and win glory for himself and for his country by planting English colonies in the New World. No man of the age was bet- ter fitted for the under- taking. He had shown himself a fearless soldier and an able commander in the war against Spain in the Netherlands. He had fortune, skill, and powerful friends. Like Gilbert, he was a friend of poets and scholars and a student of books leader of men. Virginia. Raleigh began in 1584 by sending an expedi- tion to explore the coast for a suitable site for a colony. His men sailed by way of the Canaries, and came upon North America in the neighborhood of Pamhco Sound, avoiding the stormy route directly across the Atlantic which Gilbert had followed. They found, therefore, Sir Walter Raleigh and his Son like Drake, he was a natural 244 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY instead of the bleak shore of Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island, the genial climate of North Carohna and Virginia. They carried home glowing reports of the country. They were particularly pleased with an island in Pamlico Sound called by the Indians Roanoke Island. They noted with wonder the overhanging grape-vines loaded with fruit, the fine cedar trees which seemed to them the highest and reddest in the world, the great flocks of noisy white cranes, and the numberless deer in the forests. The Indians appeared gentle and friendly. Elizabeth was so pleased with the accounts of the country that she allowed it to be called Virginia after herself, the Virgin Queen, and made Raleigh a knight. The first English Colonists. Raleigh made several attempts to plant a colony in Virginia. The most famous one was led by John White in 1587. White had visited Virginia on an earlier voyage, and painted more than seventy pictures of Indian life, representing their dress and their manner of living. These may still be seen in the British Museum in London. His interest in the country and its Indian population made his appointment as governor seem a wise choice. Care was taken in the selection of colonists in order to secure farmers rather than gold-seekers. Twenty-five women and children were included in the colony of about one hundred and fifty persons. Roanoke. White and his followers settled on Roanoke Island. They found that the fort, which one of Raleigh's officers had built some years earlier, was leveled to the ENGLISH ATTEMPT TO SETTLE AMERICA 245 ground. Several huts were still standing, but they were falling to pieces. The first task was to rebuild the huts and move into them from their ships. A baby girl was born a few days after the landing, the first child born of English parents in the New World. Her father, Ana- nias Dare, was one of White's coun- cilors; her mother, Eleanor Dare, was the daughter of Governor White. The baby was given the name Virginia, the name of the country which was to be her home. The Colonists in Danger. The little colony must have foreseen the hostihty of the Indians and a scarcity of food, for before Governor White had been in America two months, he was sent back to England to obtain more provisions. White, from his own account, did not wish to leave his daughter and granddaughter. White's Search for Aid. White returned to England in the fall of 1587 at the wrong moment to ask for aid. All England was alarmed by the rumor that a great Cape Lookout Map of Raleigh's Colonies 246 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY Spanish fleet was about to land an invading army. The friends of Virginia in England were too busy protecting their own homes from the invader to give heed to the needs of the farmer colonists across the sea. White traveled through England, seeking aid for his friends and family, but was disappointed everywhere. Why Raleigh gave no Help. Raleigh had by no means forgotten his colonists, but his queen and his country had the first claim on him through the long war with Spain. Twice during this period, he found time and means to prepare relief expeditions for Virginia. The queen stopped the first one just as it was ready to sail, because all the ships were needed at that moment for service in the war. A second expedition was attacked by the Spaniards and forced to return. The lost Colony. White finally secured passage for himself on a fleet going to the West Indies, not with a fleet and relief supplies of his own, but as a passenger on another man's ship. It was the summer of 1591 when he arrived at Roanoke, four years after his departure. The colonists were not to be found. Their houses were torn down. The chests which they had evidently buried in order to hide them from the Indians had been dug up and ransacked of everything of value. White's own papers which he had left behind were strewn about. His pictures and maps were torn and rotten with the rain. His armor was almost eaten through with rust. One trace of the fate of the settlers was left. The large letters CROATOAN were carved on a tree near the entrance to the old fort. White recalled the agreement ENGLISH ATTEMPT TO SETTLE AMERICA 247 r^C^j-Vii^ made when he left four years before. If the colonists should find it necessary to leave Roanoke, they were to carve on a tree the name of the place to which they were going. If they were in danger or distress when they left, they were to carve a , .^ „ cross over the name of the place. White - '\\?v''&^ found no cross. The ^*^.-* word Croatoan was ;' the name of a small island lying south of Cape Hatteras, where Indians lived who were known to be friendly. White believed his friends to be safe among the Indians at Croatoan, but he could not go farther in search for them because the captains of the ships which brought him An Indian Village in 1589 After a drawing by John White, now in the British Museum over refused to delay longer. They gave many excuses, but were evidently more eager to attack the Spaniards than to find a few luckless emigrants. The fate of Raleigh's colony is one of the puzzles of history. It is believed that they took refuge with friendly Indians, and lived with them until they lost their lives in war or had adopted the ways of their protectors. 248 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY Value of the Efforts of the English and the French. Raleigh had failed to carry out his great plan to plant a new England in America, but he had awakened in his countrymen an interest in America, and made known the advantages of its soil and climate. The French had apparently made no greater headway. Cartier's colony on the St. Lawrence had broken up, and the Spaniards had driven the French colony from Florida. The history of Coligny's colony at Fort Caroline, Cartier's at Quebec, Gilbert's on the coast of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and Raleigh's at Roanoke, had shown how useless were attempts to settle in America which were not strongly supported by friends or by the home government. These attempts to plant colonies in America were not, however, as bad failures as they appeared. Both nations had learned much about the country and about the prepara- tions needed for permanent settlements. What the Spanish had accomplished. In 1600 Spain seemed to have achieved much more than either of her rivals. The map of that time shows Spain in possession of vast territories in North and South America. The English had a small tract, Virginia, in which they had some interest but no colonists. The French regarded the St. Lawrence valley as theirs by right of discovery, but they could point to no settlements to clinch that claim. The Spaniards, on the other hand, counted more than two hundred cities and towns which they had planted in their territories. About two hundred thou- sand Spaniards, farmers, miners, traders, soldiers, and 250 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY nobles, had either migrated from Spain to America or had been born there of emigrants since Columbus's discovery. Five million Indians had come under their rule, and most of them were living as civilized men, and called themselves Christians. One hundred and forty thousand negro slaves had been carried from Africa to the plantations and mines in Spanish America. The City of Mexico, the largest in all America, was much like the cities of Spain. Well-built houses of wood, stone, and mason-work abounded. Churches, monas- teries, a university, higher schools for boys and girls, four hospitals, of which one was for Indians, and public buildings, similar to those in the cities of old Spain, already existed. Spanish life and Spanish culture had spread over a large area in the New World, and the most remarkable fact was that the Old World civilization had been bestowed on the Indian population. As Roman culture went into Spain and Gaul, so Spanish culture went into a New Spain in a new world. The Prospects of the Spanish Colonies. But the out- look for Spain in America was not wholly bright. Her struggle with her Dutch subjects and the war with Eng- land, which grew out of that quarrel, left her completely worn out. She no longer had the people to spare for American settlements. These ceased to grow as they once had. Negroes and Indians outnumbered the Span- iards in most of them. The three races mingled together and intermarried until a new people, the Spanish Ameri- can, differing in color and blood from either of the old races, was formed. ENGLISH ATTEMPT TO SETTLE AMERICA 251 The later Story of Colonization. Spain's rivals — the Dutch, the EngUsh, and the French — were just reaching the height of their power. They had settled their most serious religious differences. Their merchants were eagerly- looking about for commercial opportunities. A con- siderable population in each of them, but more especially in England, was discontented and ready to try its fortunes in a new world. The Spaniards had passed by the best parts of North America as worthless. The people and the unoccupied land were both ready for the formation of colonies on a larger scale. In many ways a greater story of American colonization remains to be told. This will be the story of the Dutch, the French, and the EngUsh colonization of North America. QUESTIONS 1. Why had the English people not taken more interest in America before Drake's time? What finally made the English sea- captains turn to American adventure and exploration? 2. What did Gilbert attempt to do? How many reasons can you find for his failure? 3. Why was Raleigh specially fitted to begin the task of planting English colonies in America? What part of North America did his men select for a settlement? Why did it seem a suitable place? What name was given to the country? 4. Why did Raleigh fail to help his colony at Roanoke? What did White think had happened to them? Why didn't he go in search of them? 5. Why had the French and the English been unsuccessful in their efforts to settle North America? Had they really gained any- thing from all their efforts? 6. What had Spain accomplished since the voyage by Columbus? Why were the prospects of Spain not so bright as they had been? What rivals were ready to begin colonies in America? 252 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY EXERCISES 1. How much territory was Queen Elizabeth wilHng to give Gilbert for his plan in North America? Was there this much (twelve hundred miles) of the Atlantic coast of North America unclaimed by the French and the Spaniards? 2. Find Roanoke Island on the map, page 245. 3. Name the regions in the New World and the East claimed by the English, French, Portuguese, and Spaniards after a century of discovery and exploration (1492-1600). See the map, page 249. What parts of North America were still unknown? With the use of some map of the world to-day make a list of the colonies of the same countries now. REVIEW 1. Prepare a list of the men who took the chief part in discover- ing the New World, and give for each the name of the region he found. 2. What had the Greeks learned to do, the knowledge of which they carried into Italy? What more had the Romans learned to do, the knowledge of which they carried into Spain and Gaul and Britain? What more had the Spaniards, the French, and the Eng- lish learned to do, the knowledge of which they either were already, as in the case of Spain, carrying into Spanish America, or, in the case of England and France, were prepared to carry into North America? CHAPTER XXII EXPLORERS OF NORTH AMERICA A Long Look Ahead. Soon after the year 1600 the work of making settlements in North America was taken on, not only by the Spaniards, but also by their rivals, the French, the Enghsh, and the Dutch. This work is not yet finished, although three hundred years have passed. The work of exploration did not end when settlement began. Sometimes the story of the different settlements, and of the United States into which the settlements finally grew, becomes so interesting that we forget the later explorations. It may be wise, therefore, to pause here and look ahead, in order to see how far the work of exploration was carried, especially before the colonies were united in the new repubUc. We may then ask which of the peoples of Europe were to take part in the settlement of these lands. Afterwards we may ask what tools they had to work with, and what new tools they invented to enable them to subdue the forests, span the rivers, plant and harvest the crops, manufacture goods, and carry all these things rapidly to the places where they were needed. Geographical Ideas of North America. The explorers of the new world had finally discovered that it was made up of two continents and that a great ocean separated them 253 254 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY Early Ideas of the Eastern Coast OF North America from Asia. They had learned something of the eastern and western coasts of North America. They had seen and described a few of the rivers and bays on the coasts, but the narratives of such expeditions as those of De Soto, Coro- nado, and Cartier, sixty or seventy years before the year 1600, had been lost or almost wholly forgotten. The interior of North America was still a blank to most Europeans. The mountain ranges, the great lakes, the chief river courses, were unknown. Some men thought that the Hudson River was connected with the St. Lawrence River, and that a passage would be found from the St. Lawrence to a large inland sea, and possibly to the Pacific Ocean. Others believed that, as in Europe a single range of the Alps separated the Rhine and the Rhone, and as the one flowed into the North Sea and the other into the Medi- terranean, so in America the Alleghanies would be found to separate rivers flowing into the Atlantic from others flowing into the Pacific. If this proved to be true the carries or portages from the Atlantic rivers to the Pa- cific rivers would be few and short. Explorers were still searching for fabled cities of vast wealth, with houses supported upon pillars of crystal and silver, where dishes of gold were common, and where rubies and diamonds EXPLORERS OF NORTH AMERICA 255 were to be had for the gathering. These they unagined would.be found on the way to the Indies. Samuel de Champlain. Already the explorations of De Soto, Cartier, Gilbert, and Raleigh had interested the Spaniards, the French, and the English in exploring certain parts of America, — the South and the Southwest, the St. Lawrence Valley and the At- lantic Coast. One of the French explorers who took up the work started by Cartier was Samuel de Champlain. His early home was a little seaport town on the Bay of Biscay. As a captain in the navy he had won his way to the favor of the King of France. In 1603 he commanded a small ship of twelve or fifteen tons in a fur-trading expedition to the St. Lawrence re- gion. He went as far as the Lachine rapids, but these baffled all his efforts to go on as they had those of Car- tier. Nevertheless, the expedition aroused a desire to know more of the new world. The following year, in company with De Monts, Cham- plain founded a colony on the Island of St. Croix. As the island was too barren, the colony moved to Port Royal on Annapolis basin. Champlain spent his time chiefly in exploring the coast of New England, describ- ing in his reports its beautiful islands, bays, and wooded shores. He missed the best harbors where later the Enghsh located the cities of Portland and Boston. Samuel de Champlain 256 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY In 1608 Champlain was again on the St. Lawrence. This time he had a small body of troops with which to estabhsh a fort. He selected ''the narrows" in the St. Lawrence, called by the Indians Quebec, as the most suitable place. All that remained of Cartier's camp The Defeat of the Iroquois at Lake Champlain After the drawing by S. Champlain in his Voyages. were fragments of a chimney, pieces of hewn timber, and four cannon balls. The new colonists suffered terribly the first winter from poor quarters and poor food. Of the twenty-eight men only eight were alive in the spring, and of these four were ill. Champlain formed alliances with the Algonquin In- dians, who lived on the northern bank of the St. Law- rence River and who were enemies of the powerful Iroquois tribes to the south. Twice Champlain took up the cause of his new allies and waged war against the Iroquois. In 1609, with two white companions and sixty warriors, he EXPLORERS OF NORTH AMERICA 257 voyaged southward, in small canoes, by the river of the Iroquois, the Richelieu of to-day, to a lake now named Lake Champlain. Near Ticonderoga they fought a battle with their enemies. The armor and firearms of Cham- plain and his comrades were too much for the Iroquois, who fled in a panic. In 1615 Champlain, with a dozen whites, again joined an Indian war party. With a small band, early in the summer, he had paddled up the Ottawa River, carrying the canoes around the falls and dragging them through the rapids wherever the forest was too dense for a carry. Arriving at Lake Nipissing, they entered the French River, and floated down to Lake Huron. This proved to be the most direct route from Montreal to Lake Huron and Lake Superior, and it soon became the fur traders^ highroad to the West. Champlain' s party skirted the eastern shores of Georgian Bay, passing thousands of tiny islands. They found an Indian village of two hun- dred cabins near the lower end of Lake Simcoe ; this was only one of the many Huron villages. Like all the Indians of this region, they were continually at war with the Iro- quois, and invited Champlain to join them. Glad to have an opportunity to learn more of the Iroquois country, and to please his Indian friends, he, with a dozen other Frenchmen, joined a horde of several hundred Indians. They floated down a stream to the southward, carrying their canoes through the forest, until they reached the northeastern shore of Lake Ontario; thence they followed the eastern shore of the lake and passed into .the country of the Iroquois at the southeast. 258 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY They came upon their foe a few miles south of Lake Oneida. The Indian aUies behaved so badly that it was necessary to beat a retreat. Champlain was wounded and had to be carried part of the way back. He was, he tells us, '^bundled in a heap" in a basket on the shoul- ders of his friends. This expedition ended Champlain' s part in the Indian wars and his explorations of New France. He had trav- ersed the chief rivers which flow into the St. Lawrence, and three great inland seas, one of which bears his name and the other two Indian names. Two or three little set- tlements, — Port Royal, Quebec, Montreal, — half trad- ing posts, half mission stations, had been established chiefly through his efforts. But more than that, his stories of his voyages revealed to the French a New France. John Smith. The French were not the only ones to explore the continent of North America at the opening of the seventeenth century. In 1607, the year before Champlain founded Quebec, an English trading com- pany established a settlement at Jamestown in Virginia. This company, called the London Company, took up the task begun by Humphrey Gilbert and Walter Ealeigh. Christopher Newport, one of Raleigh's sea-captains, com- manded the little fleet of three ships which the London Company sent to carry laborers to Virginia. One of Newport's passengers was Captain John Smith. Smith told many stories of his adventures in European armies, how he fought the Turks, how he was a captive in Turkey, and how he escaped from captivity. One week after the party landed in Virginia, while the laborers were build- EXPLORERS OF NORTH AMERICA 259 ing the fort, Newport set out to explore the James River. Captain John Smith accompanied him. They followed the river up to the falls on the site of Richmond. This was the beginning of Smith's explorations in Virginia. In December, 1607, Smith started out for himself to explore the Chickahominy River. ^ He followed the course of the river as far as he could in his shallop, then took a canoe with two white men and two Indian guides. Jamestown in 1622 The small party was suddenly attacked by a force of 200 Indians. Smith's white comrades were killed, and he was taken captive. How he escaped from death is one of the puzzles of history. Smith's own story was that Pocahontas, the daughter of the chief, threw herself in the way of the Indians, who were making ready to beat out his brains; that she pled with her father for the life of the Englishman, and that the chief granted her request. Whatever happened. Smith soon reappeared at Jamestown. Smith was more fortunate in his other expeditions 1 An Indian name which means "the coarse-pounded corn people" or, in short, "the hominy people." 260 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY among the Indians. He undoubtedly saved the colony from starvation by the trade in corn which he carried on with them. In these expeditions most of the rivers of lower Virginia were traced. Smith, like others of his Captain John Smith's Map of New England time, thought a channel might be found which would lead to the Pacific. In the summer of 1608 he explored the Rappahannock River, the Potomac River, and Chesa- peake Bay. His map of Virginia and his description of the country which he had explored, of its native people and its resources, were of great service to the English who wanted to know about the colony. EXPLORERS OF NORTH AMERICA 261 In 1609 Smith returned to England. Ever restless, he was soon serving others in efforts to explore and plant English colonies in America. In 1614 he sailed along the coast, which he named ''New England." The map of this region was sent to Prince Charles, afterwards Charles I, who gave names to many places on it. Some of these, Plymouth, Charles River, and Cape Ann, are still used. It is not too much to say that Smith's work greatly increased English interest in two regions in North Amer- ica — Virginia and New England. Within six years after Smith's explorations on the coast of New England, the Pilgrims chose one of the little harbors which he had discovered and named as the place for a settlement. This was Plym- outh, founded in 1620. The French now had one, the Eng- lish two fields of colonization in North America. Henry Hudson. During the summer of 1608, after his ex- ploration of Chesapeake Bay, Captain John Smith wrote to his friend. Captain Henry Hud- son, that he had found no pas- sage through the continent, but that one might be found farther north. Henry Hudson was an Englishman who had already become famous as an Arctic explorer. In 1607 and again in 1608 he tried to find a route to Asia across the North Pole, first by Green- Henrt Hudson From the painting said to be from life, in the possession of the Corpora- tion of the City of New York. 262 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY land and second by Nova Zembla. In these expeditions he had been nearer the North Pole than any explorer before him. In 1609 Hudson entered the employ of the Dutch East India Company. It fitted out the Half Moon, sl ship of 80 tons burden. Hudson's task was to discover for this Company a route to the East through the Arctic waters around Nova Zembla. His crew soon grew muti- nous under the hardships of Arctic exploration. More- over, the sea about Nova Zembla was full of ice and blocked his progress. Hudson probably recalled Captain John Smith's letter, for instead of returning to Holland he shaped his course toward North America. There was still a chance that he might make a valuable discov- ery for his employers. He sailed past the St. Lawrence, the little known regions about Cape Cod, and Sandy Hook. His first explorations were in Delaware Bay, but the strong current of the Delaware River convinced him that he was not yet in the long sought strait. He next followed the coast northward. Early in September, 1609, the Half Moon sailed by Sandy Hook, past an island which the Indians called Manhattan, and up a river which now is named Hudson. Its deep channel and tidal waters seemed to the explorer like those of a strait. Hudson proceeded onward until shallow water about Albany proved longer search vain. This was about six weeks after Champlain's battle with the Iroquois on the shores of Lake Champlain. Hudson, then only a short distance farther south, found the same Indians to be a '^ friendly and polite people." His report EXPLORERS OF NORTH AMERICA 263 to the Dutch East India Company, while not announcing a passageway to Asia, told of something equally valuable. He showed the Dutch the opportunities for colonization and trade in North America. He told of the eagerness of V""' ,■y^^-i3a The " Half Moon " in the Hudson River the Indians to trade, especially in fruit, in tobacco, in corn, and in furs. ''The land," he wrote, "is the finest for cultivation that I ever in my life set foot upon, and it also abounds in trees of every description." Hudson stopped at an English port on his return voy- age. There his work for the Dutch ended, for King James ordered him not to leave England except in the service of his own country. An English company again sent him in search of a passage through Arctic w^aters. He made his way into the bay which later bore his name. Here his ship was caught by the coming of winter. He 264 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY lost his life when his crew rose in mutiny. His explorations had several important results. They revived the Arctic whale fisheries, aroused interest in the North American fur- trade, and, with those of Captain John Smith and Samuel de Champlain, proved that there was no such passage or strait through the continent of North America as geog- raphers had long hoped to find. What is of great im- portance to Americans is that he interested the Dutch in trade and settlement on the Hudson. The Dutch East India Company sent ships to trade for furs with the Indians there, and a few years later, in 1623, established a colony on Manhattan Island. Such were the beginnings of New Netherland. New Sweden. The bounds of Florida, of Virginia, New England^ New Nether- land, and New France were none of them fixed. Each party claimed vast areas overlapping the lands of its neighbors. Both the English and the Dutch claimed the Delaware coun- try. The Virginians had named the cape, the bay, and the river in honor of Lord Del- aware, one of their govern- ors. The Dutch established trading posts on the Dela- ware. Both Dutch and Enghsh fur-traders visited the Delaware Indians in order to share in the annual harvest of furs. Early Dutch and Swedish Settlements EXPLORERS OF NORTH AMERICA 265 In 1638 a Swedish company built a fort near Wilming- ton, which was called Christina. Swedes made scattered settlements and called the country New Sweden; but Sweden, like the German States, was more interested in gaining lands in Europe among the Poles and Slavs than among the North American Indians, and gave the settlers on the Delaw^are no assistance. In 1655 the Dutch from New York took possession of New Sweden, only to lose it when the English, nine years later, in 1664, conquered New Netherland. These events left the English without a rival claimant on the coast from Florida to Nova Scotia. Several hundred Swedes in the Delaware Valley, and sev- eral thousand Dutch colonists, a few on the Delaware and more on the Hudson, were left. They were obliged to live under the government of England, and soon saw the English outnumber them as the colonies of New York, New Jer- sey, and Pennsylvania grew. English Explorers of the AUeghanies. The explorations of De Soto, Smith, Hudson, and Champlain were only the beginnings of dis- covery in North America. Smith and Champlain were followed by other explorers for the English and French, who became keen rivals in the race for the interior. While the distance from the English settlements to the Mis- sissippi Valley was the shorter, the French had the ad- vantage at the start, for from Quebec canoe highways French Fur-trader 266 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY extended either by the St. Lawrence or the Ottawa River to the heart of the continent. The men who tried to push Smith's work farther west- ward soon reached dense forests and range after range of mountains. Nevertheless, Uttle by httle, Virginia lV\f pioneers explored this mountainous >^>^j^^ V^ viL- country. The fur-traders were nat- i]^ urally foremost in seeking new In- ^^y,,. j^ dian tribes and in finding paths ';^V^' through the mountains. In 1671 ^'-^^x " -^^^^ Henry ^ was one of the frontier xk^Ak-^^^ forts of Virginia and one of the lead- ^ ing fur-trading posts of the English. Pack-trains, made up sometimes of scores of horses laden with hatchets, Beaver stn?werthe staple kettleS, bkuketS, gUUS, aud tHukctS, in the fur trade. joumeyed to the Indians in the great Appalachian highlands and returned loaded with furs. Those who had charge of these pack-trains were the heroes of EngHsh exploration of the country to the west; their names are unknown. This was true on the frontier of every colony. Captain Abraham Wood, a successful Virginia planter, was in command of Fort Henry, and was greatly inter- ested in the fur-trade. Many of the pack-trains from Fort Henry were his ventures. In 1671 Wood sent an expedition ^^for finding out the ebbing and flowing of the Waters on the other side of the Mountains in order to the discovery of the South Sea." He seemed to think ^ This later became Petersburg, Virginia. EXPLORERS OF NORTH AMERICA 267 that his men would find the Pacific Ocean where the state of Kentucky now hes. Captain Thomas Batts and Robert Fa 11am led Wood's expedition. Twelve days of traveling brought them into the mountains. They left their horses and advanced on foot with the aid of an Indian guide. After days of hard climbing and httle food they passed the highest ranges and descended into the A^alley of the New River. Their guide deserted them and their food gave out. Before they turned back they had reached the point where the New River breaks through the mountains on its westward course toward the Ohio, the Mississippi, and the Gulf of Mexico. Two years later Wood sent James Needham and Gabriel Arthur to find a southwestern path through the mountains. They set out with several Indian helpers, two horses for each, and food for three months. They journeyed southwest over the North Carolina Blue Ridge. All the Indians, except one, deserted them, and nearly all the horses died. They pushed forward on foot into eastern Tennessee among the Cherokee Indians. Span- iards from Florida had already traded with these In- dians. Needham returned to Fort Henry, and Arthur remained among the Cherokees to learn their language. He joined them in their wars. During such an expedi- tion on the Ohio River, Arthur was captured. When his captors, the Shawnee Indians, had scrubbed his face with water and ashes, and so found that he was white, they spared his life. He was later allowed to return to Fort Henry. 268 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY The hardy English explorers had accomplished much. They had discovered pathways across the mountains and had found the westward flowing rivers. They had established a friendly trade with many Indian tribes, but only the fur-traders were ready to take advantage of what they had done. The mountains remained for a century a barrier to the English settlers. French Explorers. The French met no such barrier as the Alleghanies. The Great Lakes which Champlain had reached were a nat- ural highway, stretching hundreds of miles into the Northwest. Indian paths for carrying canoes con- nected the rivers flowing into the Great Lakes with others flowing into the Mississippi. The explorer, ■^ ,\^' the missionary, the sol- dier, and the fur-trader traveled whither they would in a canoe. Neither rapids, fafls, or carrying places were obstacles like mountain ranges. Discovery of the Mis- sissippi. Champlain had found Lake Huron in 1615. In 1634, one of his agents entered Lake Michigan. It was not long before French missionaries, fur-traders, and soldiers had explored every shore of the Great Lakes. Showing the Mountain Barrier that faced the english and the Chain of Lakes and Rivers that LED the French to the Interior EXPLORERS OF NORTH AMERICA 269 Lake Erie was the last, because the powerful Iroquois tribes, who hated the French, made journeys by way of the Niagara River dangerous. Indian stories of ^'a great water" which emptied in a still greater sea attracted the French. In 1673 the governor of Canada sent Louis Joliet, a fur-trader and explorer, in search of this water. Father Jacques Marquette, the Jesuit missionary in charge of the pali- saded mission-house and chapel at the Straits of Mackinac, accom- panied Joliet. WTiile Joliet wxnt to explore, Marquette went to preach to the Indians. The two, with five companions, started from Mackinac in birch canoes. Their course lay across Lake Michigan to Green Bay, up the Fox River, over a carry to the Wisconsin River. The Indians they met on the way told them stories not unUke those told to Columbus about the ocean, namely, that the great river was full of monsters able to eat men and canoes. None the less the Indians guided them through the maze of lakes and marshes, choked with rice, which form the headwaters of the Fox and the Wisconsin.^ ^ Marquette, trying to wTite in English letters the Indian name which we write "Wisconsin," called it the " Mesconsing." Another explorer wrote it as " Ouisconsin." Jacques Marquette From the statue in the Capi- tol at Washington. 270 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY Marquette and Joliet paddled down the Wisconsin until they floated out on a broad swift river, larger than Map to illustrate French Explorations any seen before. This made them eager to learn into what ocean it flowed, whether into the Pacific or the Atlantic; so they floated down its mighty current for EXPLORERS OF NORTH AMERICA 271 days, passing broad prairies and vast herds of buffaloes. They visited Indian tribes which had never seen white men. Finally the stories of the Indians, together with the distance traversed, convinced them that the Mississippi flowed into neither ocean, but into the Gulf of Mexico. This discovery led them to fear that if they went farther they would fall into the hands of the Spaniards who fre- quented the coast of the Gulf. Although they had reached the mouth of the Arkansas River, they were still 800 miles from the mouth of the Mississippi. The discoverers returned to Canada by way of the Illinois and the Des Plaines rivers and Lake Michigan. Joliet hurried to Quebec with the news. The discovery of De Soto more than one hun- dred years earlier had been nearly forgotten. The French had discovered the Mississippi anew. The story of this great voyage, lasting four months, and covering more than 2500 miles, and of the vast country found, brought forward a new and greater explorer. La Salle. The continuation of Joliet's work fell to La Salle. The Governor of Canada gave him the government and the property of Fort Frontenac, together with a tract of land around the fort.^ Located Robert Cavelier, Sieur DE La Salle ^ Fort Frontenac was situated near the present citj' of Kingston, Ontario. 272 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY on the St. Lawrence near Lake Ontario, Fort Frontenac was an excellent base for trade with the Indians and for western explorations. La Salle saw his opportunity. He would explore the Mississippi, plant colonies and forts along its course, and so add another great province to New France. The St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes would form one highway into it, the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi River would form another. A colony near the mouth of the Mississippi would control one entrance, Quebec the other. It was a vision of France in America as it might become. To carry out the grand project La Salle had a vessel constructed above Niagara Falls to convey supplies to the head of Lake Michigan. His men built a fort at the mouth of the St. Joseph River and began another on the Illinois River, near the present site of Peoria.^ Canoes were to be used to carry goods and passengers either by the St. Joseph River and the Kankakee to the Illinois River, or by the Chicago River and the Des Plaines to the Illinois River. La Salle also set his men to building a vessel for traffic on the Illinois and the Mississippi. The first vessel was wrecked in a storm on Lake Michi- gan. The fort and the vessel on the Illinois were de- stroyed during the absence of La Salle, partly through treachery among his own men, partly by an Indian raid. Undaunted by these disasters, La Salle undertook to carry out his explorations by canoes alone. There was first the long voyage from Fort Frontenac to the fort on the St. Joseph River, slow paddling in heavily laden ^ La Salle called it CreveccEur, from a place in Netherlands. EXPLORERS OF NORTH AMERICA 273 canoes. The Indians insisted on taking their women with them to do the camp w^ork. They paddled across to the Chicago River, thence they dragged their canoes and suppUes on sledges to the open water on the Illinois River. Day after day, week after week, through the winter, and well into the spring, the explorers floated down the Illinois and the Mississippi. The strange life of the In- dians along the Mis- sissippi fascinated them. Some lived in rude cabins of bark, some in dwellings built of sun-baked mud mixed with straw. La Salle found them friendly and ever ready to exchange presents. They gave him corn, beans, and dried fruits. At last, in the spring of 1682, La Salle's little fleet arrived at the Gulf of Mexico. The difficult voyage upstream was made with- out accident. A new fort was built on a high cliff over- looking the Illinois River. La Salle called it St. Louis, in honor of his king.^ Part of La Salle's project had now been carried out. In 1680 La Salle had sent Father Hennepin and two companions, with canoes laden with presents for the Indians, to explore the upper waters of the Mississippi. These men went as far as the Falls of St. Anthony, near ^ The cliff later came to be known as "Starved Rock." The Site of Fort St. Louis on the Illinois River 274 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY the present cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. After some remarkable adventures among the Sioux Indians, they fell in with a party of French explorers and fur- traders from Lake Superior. ^ The two parties returned by the Wisconsin River to Canada. La Salle went to France to procure aid and colonists for a series of settlements on the Mississippi. He secured both. In 1684, with four ships laden with soldiers and settlers, he sailed for the Gulf of Mexico and the Missis- sippi. The Spaniards captured one of the ships on the way. The others missed the mouth of the Mississippi, and sailed on until they were far away on the coast of Texas. The commander of one of the remaining vessels deserted, sailing back to France. The other two ships were wrecked on sand-bars. The loss of their ships and their supplies brought the remnant of the band close to starvation. Disasters haunted the unfortunates. La Salle was murdered by a faithless follower. Some took refuge among the Indians; others made their way on foot across Texas and Arkansas to the Arkansas River, where they obtained a boat from the Indians. These finally made their way to Canada and told the story of La Salle's death. This greatest of French explorers had lost his fortune and his Ufe, but he had given to France the new province of Louisiana. Others would carry forward the task which he had begun. Spanish Explorations in the Southwest. La Salle's plan for a colony at the mouth of the Mississippi and 1 This expedition was led by another of the famous French explorers in North America, Du Lhut. His name, slightly changed, is the name of the city at the head of Lake Superior, Duluth. EXPLORERS OF NORTH AMERICA 275 his expedition along the coast of Texas offended the Spaniards. They had explored the coast of the Gulf of Mexico from Florida to Mexico and laid claim to it all. They sent four expeditions to find and destroy him. One of these found the wrecked vessels on the coast of Plan of a Spanish Mission Settlement Texas; a fifth discovered the deserted camp and a few of his followers living among the Indians. Since Coronado's journey other Spanish explorers had slowly pushed through other parts of the southwest. Onate gathered 130 soldiers with their families for a settlement in New Mexico. It required 80 wagons for their supplies and they drove 7000 cattle. The expedi- tion passed El Paso, ''the ford" of the Rio Grande, and made its way up the valley into the mountains. In a fer- tile plain, near the present Santa Fe, Ofiate located his town. The Indians were induced to build a dam and irrigating ditches for the colonists. Ofiate used the best of his men in exploring the country. He searched to the eastward into northwest Texas for the kingdom of Qui- vira and to the westward as far as the mouth of the Col- 276 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY orado River for the fabled cities of Cibola, for which Coronado had looked in vain.^ In 1680 the Spanish had a colony in New Mexico with a population equal to that of the English in Rhode Island. California. In California was placed another outpost of Spanish civilization. While Onate was investigating V ) Monterey in the Seventeenth Century From a drawing by Captain Smyth, in Forbes's California. the region around Santa Fe, Sebastian Vizcaino explored the coast of California. He entered the 'harbors where San Diego and Monterey stand and sailed beyond the Golden Gate, but without seeing the wonderful San Francisco bay. For a time the Spanish government was more energetic than either of its rivals in North America. It despatched explorers, soldiers, and priests into the regions it claimed, stretching from Texas to the Oregon country. 1 See pages 197 and 200. EXPLORERS OF NORTH AMERICA 277 Russian Discovery of Alaska. With England, France, and Spain the roll of nations struggling for a share of North America was not complete. Russia took a part, although a httle late. Peter the Great ordered Vitus Behring, a Dane in his service, to cross Siberia and ex- plore the seas beyond Asia. It required years to prepare for such an undertaking. The 7000 mile journey from Petrograd to Petropavlovsk on Kamchatka required sev- eral years more. Boats had to be built. In one voyage Behring sailed across the sea and the strait which to-day bear his name. In a second voyage, in 1741, he sailed eastward and then northward from Pet- ropavlovsk until he came to the Alaskan coast near Mt. St. Elias. He stopped only to fill his water casks and started for Kamchatka. His course led along the south shore of Alaska, past the chain of islets and rock reefs which are called the Aleutian Islands. Although he reached a point only two hundred miles from home, he lost his way and was forced to stop for the winter. Be- fore the long dark months were ended, Behring and half his crew died from hardships. Those who returned to Asia carried furs of the sea-otter of very great value. They had discovered a new land and a product almost as precious as gold. Within five years 77 Russian companies were engaged in trading for sea-otter among the Aleutian Islands and on the coast of Alaska. Russian adventurers of every rank rushed to these Alaskan waters in search of furs, much as the Spaniards had gone into Mexico and Peru for gold and silver. Few Russians went to Alaska to 278 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY live, because, if for no other reason, there was so much unoccupied land in Asia. Nevertheless, Russia had be- come one of the rival claimants for the lands and treasures of North America. QUESTIONS 1. Why were explorers eager to go to North America about 1600? 2. In what settlements in North America did Champlain have a part? What discoveries did he make? What parts of the present United States did he explore? 3. How much did the English learn about North America from Captain John Smith? What did Henry Hudson learn from him? 4. By what route did Henry Hudson try to find a passage to Asia? Why did he explore the Hudson River? Why did he not continue his explorations for the Dutch? 5. What did the Virginians learn about the Alleghanies from explo- rations? What led the Virginians to explore the country beyond the Alleghanies? 6. What advantage had the French over the English in the explora- tion of North America? What did Joliet and Marquette do? 7. What was La Salle's plan? What did he accomplish? 8. What part of America did the Spaniards explore and settle? What part did the Russians claim? Why were the Russians interested in the New World? EXERCISES 1. In connection with the explorations of Champlain review those of Cartier; of La Salle, those of De Soto; of Ofiate, those of Coronado. 2. Trace on an outline map the explorations of each one mentioned in this chapter. What parts of the continent were not known? 3. What parts of the world are still unknown? Tell the story of some explorer who is living now. CHAPTER XXIII FROM THE OLD HOME TO THE NEW Claims in North America. Almost everyone has heard how men used to stake out claims in the goldfields of California. That was w^hat the rulers of Europe tried to do in North America, but they did not wait for their discoverers to see the whole country. The King of Spain acted as if all of it lay within his claim, long before Cor- tez had conquered Mexico or De Soto had found the Mississippi or Coronado had crossed the western plains. The Spaniards staked out more than they could use; just as if a gold seeker should claim a whole mountain instead of a few square rods. Neither the English nor the Dutch nor the French agreed to let the Spanish claim alone. However, their way of making claims was no better. The English did not wait for Needham to cross the Alleghanies before they gave to the settlers on the Atlantic Coast, or to the Companies which sent the settlers, all the lands back of the settlements clear through to the Pacific Ocean. And they did not take back the claims when they found that the Pacific Ocean, instead of being just on the other side of the mountains, was two or three thousand miles away. When, therefore, the French explored the Mississippi Valley and established trading stations and settlements, 279 280 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY they had to plant them inside the Enghsh claims. They paid no more attention to these than did the English to the Spanish claims. A claim had to be made good. To do this, many thousand men and women had to be sent across the seas to occupy the country, cut down trees, make roads, build houses, raise crops, and make clothing and tools. Rivals in Europe. We have already seen that in the hundred years which followed the discovery of Colum- bus Spain at first had the advantage. Her ports were close to the route that ships commonly took on their westward voyages. We have also seen how Spain lost that advantage, because she used up her men and her money in quarrels with the French, the Dutch, and the English. Portugal was ruined at the same time, for Philip II of Spain seized the throne of Portugal, and his enemies became the enemies of Portugal. The Dutch especially were busy in the Far East plundering the Por- tuguese trading stations and founding colonies of their own. Some of the most valuable Dutch colonies, which raise spices and coffee, once belonged to Portugal. We must now learn more about Spain and Portugal and their rivals, in order to understand which was to succeed best in settling that part of North America lying within the United States. Races of Europe. We know very little about the early inhabitants of Europe. If we find that a people living at one end of Europe speaks a language similar to that of a people living at the other end, we think that the two must belong to the same race. There are other signs. FROM THE OLD HOME TO THE NEW 281 A House of the Early Celts like height, the shape of the head, and the complexion, by which we divide Europeans into races. The usual divisions are called Celtic, Latin, Teutonic, and Slavic. The people of England were called Britons and the people of France Gauls at the time of Caesar's conquest. Both were Celts. The Britons were the same people as the Welsh, and much like the Scotch and the Irish, who are also Celts. In France the Celts learned the Latin language and the Roman ways from their Roman con- querors, and the present lan- guage of the French is an outgrowth of Latin. Conse- quently the French are also called a Latin people. In the same way the Spaniards, who were originally akin to the Celts, were conquered by the Romans and are called Latin. Both French and Spaniards, therefore, have two race names. The Scotch and the Irish were never con- quered by the Romans; they are Celtic and not Latin. The Italians are Latin and not Celtic. The Teutons include not only the Germans in Germany and Austria, but also the Danes, Norwegians, and Swedes, and most of the Enghsh. We remember that the name England came from Angle-land, the country of the Angles, a German tribe, and that the name Anglo-Saxon con- tains the name of another and greater German tribe, the Saxons. We also remember that the English language 282 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY belongs to the German or Teutonic group of languages, although the English have borrowed many words from the Greeks and still more from the Romans. The Slavs occupy large parts of eastern Europe, and they include the Poles, Bohemians, Russians, Serbians, and others.^ Spain. We have read about Spain in the chapters on the discoveries and the early explorations. The name, Spain, was at first the name of the whole peninsula, and it covered several kingdoms — Aragon, Castile, Navarre, Portugal, and Grenada. We sometimes speak of the monarchs who befriended Columbus as Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, because each had a sep- arate kingdom. Grenada was captured the year Colum- bus discovered America, and Navarre was soon added. As Ferdinand and Isabella had only one child, that child inherited all the kingdoms, and Philip II was that child's grandson. The people of Aragon were more inclined to become seamen than the Castilians, but Aragon faced the Mediterranean Sea and not the Atlantic Ocean. Portugal. Portugal had early become an independent kingdom. The Portuguese were on the border of the ocean, and were always great sailors. However, they usually sailed down the coast of Africa and around to the East Indies. Neither the Portuguese nor the Span- iards were eager to form the kind of settlements where men were busied mainly in tilling the soil and subduing ^ Those who are studying the earUest history of mankind are now indined to divide the races somewhat differently, into Mediterranean, Alpine, and Teutonic or Nordic. Peoples that have been called Celtic are thought to be partly Mediterranean, coming originally from North Africa, and partly Alpine, coming originally from Western Asia. FROM THE OLD HOME TO THE NEW 283 the wilderness. They preferred to seek for gold and silver, or to go on distant voyages to the East for spices, or to spend their lives fighting the ''Infidel," as they called the Mohammedans, or in conquering the heathen. It was not from Portugal and Spain that the central part of North America was to receive its inhabitants. England in 1600. The reason why Americans in the United States are English speaking is that the early London Bridge in 1600 English explorers and settlers chose lands easily reached from the sea, which was the highway from western Europe. Another reason is the eagerness of thousands of Englishmen to seek for new homes. The difference between the England of 1600 and the British Empire of to-day is very great. It has long been the boast of the British that the sun never sets on their Empire, which includes Canada, many islands and trad- ing cities on the Pacific Ocean, Burmah, India, and Egypt, 284 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY not to mention lands farther south, Hke AustraHa and South Africa. In 1600 England did not possess a single colony. She was not even united with Scotland in what we call Great Britain, although, in 1603, after the death of Queen Eliza- beth, her cousin James, King of Scotland, became King of England also. Wales had been under EngUsh rule many years, and Ireland had been conquered, although the inhabitants of western Ireland paid very little atten- tion to their English rulers or to English laws. The number of people in all the British Isles was only seven million. The busy manufacturing towns of northern England — Manchester, Sheffield, Birmingham — were still small. Liverpool, the great western port, was only a village. The early emigrants from the British Isles were mainly English. Later thousands of Scotch or Scotch-Irish left for America, and still later many Irish. Government in England. The government of the British Isles was a monarchy in 1600; it is a monarchy still, but it has changed very much. At that time the real ruler was the King, although if he needed money or wanted to make new laws he had to gain the consent of the House of Commons and the House of Lords, which made up parliament. Now the real rulers are the prime minister and the other members of the cabinet, and they are as much the choice of the people as is our President. Their plans have to be accepted by the King, whether he likes them or not. However, for more than two hun- dred years after the first English settlements in America were made, ordinary Englishmen had little to say about FROM THE OLD HOME TO THE NEW 285 what should be done, and the King and his nobles decided everything. Ordinary men, therefore, had a better chance in America. Thousands of them left England because they did not like what the King and the nobles did. Reasons for Leaving England. Religious customs also have changed. In the days of Queen Elizabeth every- ^ - 6. A Street in Worcester, England, in 1600 After an old print. one had to attend churches conducted as she and her advisers ordered. If anyone refused, he was fined or imprisoned. When King James and his son King Charles ruled there was a bitter quarrel between the King and many Englishmen called Puritans, who wished changes to be made in manner of worship. Thousands of Puritans sailed to America. They were followed by many Quakers and others who refused to worship as the laws of Eng- land commanded. This was only the beginning of emi- 286 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY gration for religious reasons. In later times other reasons were stronger. After the colonies grew into the United States and became possessed of millions of acres of land in the Mis- sissippi Valley and the West, many men left England be- cause their chance to obtain a farm or to get high wages was far better in America. Many also wished to live in a country where neither kings nor nobles existed, and where every man could be valued for what he could do rather than for the position his father or his grandfather held. An Older Germany. The Germany of 1600 was very different from the Germany of to-day. The Germans had an empire at that time, but it had a longer name and less power than the present German Empire. Its name was the Holy Roman Empire of the German Na- tion. It had long ceased to have any Romans, it was no holier than the French or the English kingdoms, and it was too weak to deserve the name Empire. Its bound- aries were not the same as those of Germany now, for it included Bohemia and Austria, and had a slight control over what are now Belgium and the Netherlands. More- over, it did not include the northeastern part of Ger- many, which was the original Prussia. The country was divided into several hundred states, some of them very small. In southern Germany they were so small that with a modern automobile one could have driven through half a dozen in an hour. Seven of the rulers were called Electors, others land- graves, others margraves, archbishops, bishops, dukes, counts, and barons. These rulers occasionally met the FROM THE OLD HOME TO THE NEW 287 Emperor, whose ordinary residence was at Vienna, in an assembly called a Diet, but they rarely found anything important upon which they could agree. Sometimes they made war upon each other. One dreadful war of this kind is called the Thirty Years' War because it lasted that length of time. About one-third of the German people perished before it was over. Religion was a frequent reason for quarrels. In nearly every state the people had to worship as the ruler ordered. The country people were mostly serfs, although the serfs in France and England had been freed long before. The only chance an ordi- nary man had to take part in the government was as an officer of his ruler or as a member of a council in one of the self-governing cities, called Free or Impe- rial Cities. After all, an ordinary man had not even this chance, for unless he belonged to certain well-to- do families he remained a farm laborer or a mechanic or a tradesman all his life. German Emigrants. The Germans of those days had good reasons for emigrating, but the government was not strong enough to join in the struggle with Spain, France, and England for colonies. If the people emigrated they usually had to go to colonies which the English founded. Portrait Showing Costume of German Man and Woman in Seventeenth Century 288 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY That is the reason why in this country there are so many persons of German descent. For about fifty years Ger- many has been a strong Empire, quite capable of having colonies of her own, but so many important industries are now carried on in Germany that Germans prefer to stay in their own country, and fewer and fewer emi- grate to the United States or anywhere else. Moreover, they now have a share in their own government and can vote for members of the imperial assembly or Reichstag, which meets in Berlin and advises with the ministers of the Emperor. Ancient France. France in 1600 was smaller than it is now. Part of the lands on its northern and eastern border were counties and duchies belonging to the Holy Roman Empire. The rest of the country, unlike Ger- many, was not divided into little states, each independent of the King. It is true that there were counts and dukes, lords big and little, but they were not powerful enough to resist the King. He was already an absolute monarch, which means that he could change the laws without ask- ing permission of any parliament. The assembly of churchmen, nobles, and citizens >vhich he could call together rarely met. He was supposed to be wise and just as a ruler, although some kings are not. If he wished to change the laws, he must think out the new laws care- fully with the help of his ministers. When completed, the laws were sent to the judges, who could find fault and ask the King to correct what he had done. This kind of government lasted in France until a little more than a hundred years ago. . FROM THE OLD HOME TO THE NEW 289 Shortly after our American Revolution a great Revo- lution broke out in France. For a time the French had a republic. Then a successful general, Napoleon Bona- parte, made himself Emperor. None of these new gov- ernments in France lasted more than twenty years, when another republic was founded in 1870. This still exists. Few French Emigrants. When the first French ex- plorers were trying to make settlements in the valley of the St. Lawrence, France had fifteen million inhabitants, about one-third as many as it has now. There were few large towns on the western coast opposite America, and so not many Frenchmen were eager to find homes in the new lands. Frenchmen, too, have never been as ready as Englishmen to emigrate from their country. In the first place, their country is larger than Great Britain, and has a better climate. There are beautiful mountains, valleys, and plains, so that if a Frenchman does not like his sur- roundings he can change them without leaving France. Only once, and then because of religious troubles, did many Frenchmen seek a refuge in other lands. This was when Louis XIV in 1685 took from the Huguenots their right to worship as their fathers had worshipped for a hundred years. Within a few years, more than two hundred and fifty thousand people left France and settled in Germany, Holland, England, and America. Before Italy was United. Italy in 1600 was divided Hke Germany, although the states were not so small. Venice and Genoa, the rich trading cities of the north- east and the northwest, were republics which ruled over 1 good deal of country beyond their walls. Venice had 290 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY colonies across the Adriatic on the coast of Dalmatia and of Greece; she also owned the distant island of Crete. In the northwest, beyond Genoa, between the Apen- nines and the Alps, was a little country called Piedmont, or foot of the mountain, which together with Savoy on the French side of the Alps was ruled by a family of princes named the House of Savoy. From this family is descended the King who now reigns in Italy. Between Piedmont and Venice lay the Duchy of Lombardy, with Milan as its capital. Farther south was the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, of which Florence, once a famous city republic, was the cap- ital. Beyond that were the States of the Church, with the Pope as ruler, and the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily. For two hundred and fifty years more these states were to be separate and then, after a hard struggle, in which Gari- baldi, Cavour, and Victor Emmanuel were the heroes, all these states were united and Victor Emmanuel became King. This work was finished in the same year in which Germany became an Empire and France a Republic. Emigrants from Italy. Before Italy was united not many Italians emigrated. Meanwhile, the population had grown so fast that many families resolved to seek their fortunes in North or South America, especially in the United States and in the Argentine Republic. Some also went away only for a part of the year, returning to Italy after the crops were gathered, sometimes buying a little farm in the homeland and settling there once more. The Dutch. Other peoples gave many emigrants to the United States, either in the early days when there FROM THE OLD HOME TO THE NEW 291 were few settlements on the Atlantic coast, or later when the United States had grown to be a great nation. Among these were the Dutch, whose heroic struggle with Spain has already been described, the Danes, the Norwegians, the Swedes, the Finns, the Russians, the Roumanians, the Magyars, the Croatians, and the Greeks. The Dutch were as bold sailors as the English. We have learned already how Dutch sailors in 1595 found their way to the Far .l!^' / V ^j^^^ Costumes of the Holland Dutch IN 1630 East. Soon they sailed westward. They were not led to leave their country because they disliked their govern- ment or the religion which their govern- ment favored, for then* government was a re- public, and there was more religious liberty in the Netherlands than elsewhere in Europe. They were great traders, and in the new world they were anxious to buy furs to carry back to Europe. Some were ready to go to the new world in order to find larger farms than they could own at home. The Men of the North. In those days there was no separate kingdom of Norway, but Norway was a part of Denmark. Finland was a part of Sweden. The Swedes were the only ones of these northern peoples to attempt to obtain colonies in America at this time. Sweden was 292 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY a very strong kingdom. A few years later it was to have as king Gustavus Adolphus, one of the greatest soldiers that ever lived. For a time it looked as if he would con- quer nearly all the lands around the Baltic Sea and make it a '^ Swedish Lake." It was shortly after he was killed in battle, and when Sweden was still very powerful, that the Swedes became eager to share in the fur trade of America. This led them to try to found a colony. When it failed they ceased to be much interested in America until after the United States had won its independence. Russia. Only in recent years have emigrants from Russia, Roumania, and Greece reached the United States. In 1600 Russia had not long been free from the Mongols, an Asiatic people which had swarmed all over eastern Europe. The first Czar or Emperor of Russia to make Russia known as a great European country was Peter, who ruled a century later. He changed the dress of the Russians, made them cut off their long coats and clip their long beards, so that they looked more like western Europeans. He visited the countries of western Europe and carried back to Russia a knowledge of western ways of building ships and cultivating the soil. He also per- suaded many foreign artisans and farmers to visit his land and teach his people. Roumania and Greece. Both Roumania and Greece were at that time ruled by the Turks. The Greeks have been an independent people for only about one hundred years and the Roumanians about for fifty years. The Roumanians tell us that they are descended from the an- cient Roman colonists who lived on the north bank of the FROM THE OLD HOME TO THE NEW 293 Danube. The Greeks still love to think of the glorious deeds of the Athenians and the Spartans. They point out to travelers the ruins of the old temples and theaters. Like their ancestors they are traders and travelers, and so in recent times many of them have left their country to seek their fortune at the ends of the earth. Hungarians. The Magyars are the principal people living in Hungary. Their ancestors came from western Asia and conquered the great plains of the middle Danube. Their Kingdom is nearly a thousand years old, and the title of their King, who is also Emperor of Austria, is Apostolic King of Hungary. The reason for this title is the fact that a crown was sent to Stephen, the first king, by the Pope. Hungary is so closely united to Austria, though it is supposed to be a separate kingdom, that we call the two Austria-Hungary. Croatia is treated as a part of Hungary, but it is like a state within a state, and the Croatians would prefer to be independent. As has been the case with the Greeks, most of the Hungarians and the Croatians in the United States left their country within the last forty years. Some left, however, after Hungary failed to gain complete independence of Austria, during a revolutionary war in 1849. Where Homes were Found. This does not complete the list of peoples who have given some of their sons and daughters to form the American people. The chil- dren of Europe did not create within the territory which is now covered by the United States a group of nations, like another Europe. For the most part, whatever their race or language, they settled side by side and grew into 294 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY one people. At first it looked as if a New Spain, a New France, a New Netherland, and a New England would divide the map of North America, and even the central part of it, the present United States. But none of the countries which had colonies would agree to share lands with its rivals. On the Atlantic coast, as well as farther inland, the claims of Spain, France, the Netherlands, and England overlapped. Final ownership would not, however, be decided mainly by princes and kings, but by the pioneers who were eager to settle in the new lands. Success would belong to those who had the most energy and the greatest numbers. The English Settlements. The Spaniards had a small settlement at St. Augustine, Florida, for more than a hundred years before their rivals began to found colo- nies, but the population of St. Augustine was almost wholly made up of soldiers and negro laborers. Spaniards did not go to Florida to make farms and homes. The country about St. Augustine was still the haunt of the Indians. Champlain and the other French leaders found it equally hard to obtain French settlers for their colony on the St. Lawrence. It was different where the Eng-lish founded settlements. The first colonists at Jamestown and Plymouth and Salem suffered hardships, chiefly because they were obliged to wait for supplies from England, and because there were no houses for them when they landed. When a colony was well started, the newcomers found places where they could live until they had built houses for themselves, and, what was equally important, found work to do. FROM THE OLD HOME TO THE NEW Parts of North America Occupied or Explored about 1650 296 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY The English came to America to make homes. They were not dependent upon the homeland, as were the French or the Spaniards. They raised their own food and de- fended themselves from their enemies. Hundreds of new families arrived each year, and every family found a refuge mm^ Copyright, 1891, by A. S. Burbank A View of Plymouth in 1622 in an English colony. The number of such colonies in- creased in a few years, as Maryland, the Jerseys, the Carolinas, and Penn's lands in Delaware and Pennsyl- vania were added. New settlers found a place farther inland. The Dutch and the French. Even before the English conquered the Dutch settlements on the Hudson, Eng- lishmen had begun to settle there. They soon outnum- bered the Dutch. The result was that the Dutch settlers after a time forgot their language and many of their customs, and became much like their English neighbors. Many French Huguenots, driven from France, and for- FROM THE OLD HOME TO THE NEW 297 bidden to settle in Canada, found a refuge in the English colonies. They were scattered among the towns from Boston to Charleston. In 1700 five hundred obtained land for farms in Virginia near the seacoast. The larg- est number settled at Charleston, South Carolina. The French, like the Dutch, soon ceased to differ very much from their English neighbors. Family names, such as Bowdoin, Faneuil, Revere, Bayard, and Marion, remained to tell the story of their origin. German Homes among the English. The Germans, like the French Huguenots, had no German colony in which they might begin life anew when times became too hard in the fatherland. Penn's description of his Holy Experiment on the Delaware, by which he meant a refuge for the homeless and persecuted of all countries, was translated into German and was read by Germans near Frankfort who were anxious to migrate to a new country. In 1683, only two years after the founding of Philadelphia, Francis Daniel Pastorius led such a band to Penn's colony. They bought land a few miles north of Philadelphia, and called their settlement Germantown. The stories of the new world, which they sent back to their old homes in the Rhine Valley, started a German emigration which for some years was almost as large as the English emigration. For a brief time, in 1709 and 1710, most of the German emigrants were attracted toward New York. The Gov- ernor of that colony, eager for laborers, induced nearly three thousand to settle in the midst of the English and Dutch. Some stopped in New York City, some settled 298 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY on the Hudson River, while others journeyed to the Mo- hawk and Schoharie rivers. A Hne of German names like Newburgh, Rhinebeck, and Germantown on the Hudson, Palatine, Mannheim, and Frankfort on the The Stadt Huys, New York, 1679 Mohawk, and Weiserdorf (Middleburg) and Blenheim on the Schoharie, mark the course of German advance in New York. Names like Frankfort show the part of Ger- many from which the emigrants came; others like Weis- erdorf (Weiser's town) recall the leading families among the settlers. The valleys these Germans chose for their homes bore a striking similarity in scenery and climate to those from which they had come. The Germans found a welcome in the other colonies. Newbern in North Carolina and Ebenezer in Georgia were German centers. Many were scattered among the FROM THE OLD HOME TO THE NEW 299 Home of a German Pala- tine IN the Mohawk Val- ley English settlers. The kind treatment of the Quakers in Pennsylvania attracted the larger number of the Germans who came to America before the Revolution. Names of many towns in eastern and central Pennsylvania, like Womelsdorf, Hamburg, Man- heim, and Strasburg, help us to locate their settlements. They spread southwestward from cen- tral Pennsylvania across Mary- land and into the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. Others over- flowed Penn's colony to the eastw^ard into New Jersey. Wherever the Germans settled in large numbers they built churches and schools. They kept their language and cus- toms, and set up printing presses for their own books and newspapers. To English travelers their towns seemed a foreign land. The Germans were building almost a new Germany within the territories of the English. Scotch-Irish Settlements. Another people who sought homes in America were the Scotch-Irish. They were the descendants of Scotch who long before had migrated from Scotland to the north of Ireland. Like the Germans, the Scotch-Irish found Pennsylvania more attractive than the other colonies. They settled chiefly in the foothills of the Alleghanies. Those who came later, in- stead of pushing on across the ranges of mountains in western Pennsylvania, moved southwestward, especially through the Cumberland Valley into Maryland and Virginia. Many settled near the Germans in the Shen- 300 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY andoah Valley. During the period of the large emigra- tion from the north of Ireland, 1714-1775, they spread throughout the Appalachian Highland, back of the col- onies from Pennsylvania to Georgia. Half of the popu- lation of the north of Ireland was drawn away to America and became our first Highlanders. ^o^" Map of Pennsylvania in 1717-1745 Rapid Settlement of English Regions. It was natural that people who left their kindred and friends in the old world for the American wilderness should prefer neigh- bors from their homeland. The Dutch desired to settle among those in New York who had come from Holland. The Germans sought German sections. Some, too, tried to find places where the colonists held the same religious beliefs. English Puritans generally went to New Eng- land, because there they would find neighbors whose FROM THE OLD HOME TO THE NEW 301 religious beliefs were also theirs. However, many Puri- tains went into other colonies. Annapolis, Maryland, and several towns of northern New Jersey were settled by them. English Catho- lics found a refuge in Maryland. Quakers naturally entered one of Penn's colonies, either Pennsylvania or Delaware. Members of the Enghsh Church settled in the older towns along the coast from New York to Georgia, where the religious cus- toms were similar to their ^ld Swede's Church, Wilmington, Delaware own. While the Spanish government allowed none but Spaniards to settle in its colonies, and the French allowed only French Catholics to settle in Canada and Louisiana, the English made their colonies the haven of the unfor- tunate and the persecuted of every country. Therefore, the Enghsh colonies grew rapidly in size and strength. By actual settlement the English were making good their vast claims in North America. Later Explorers. While these settlements were being made on the Atlantic coast, in the valleys, and on the slopes of the Alleghany Mountains, a struggle began be- tween the English and French for the Mississippi Valley. This ended in a victory for the English. The French territory in Canada and Illinois, which Champlain and 302 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY La Salle had won, passed to England. Shortly afterward, thirteen of England's colonies in America quarrelled with King George III and parliament. The quarrel led to war, and war brought about the independence of the colonies. During this War of the Revolution the col- onies united and formed our Republic, the United States of America. When peace was made the new country included the territory from the Atlantic coast to the Mississippi River. Since that time the United States has acquired Louisiana, Florida, Texas, Oregon, California, the Mexican territory between Texas and California, and Alaska. The explora- tion and settlement of these lands were just as important as in the case of the thirteen colonies. Many great ex- ploring expeditions, like those of Lewis and Clark into the Northwest, and of Zebulon Pike into the Southwest, showed the Americans what they had obtained. Thou- sands of Europeans came every year to share in these lands with the older Americans. Not only the English, the Irish, the Germans, and the Swedes, but also many new peoples — the Italians, the Greeks, the Hungarians, and the Slavs — have joined in the formation of a United States of America far larger than the thirteen colonies which broke away from Great Britain. The work of exploration is not yet ended. The United States has for many years employed in its Coast Survey trained men who carefully chart the safe channels and the dangerous rocks and shoals of all its coast and inland waters. Another group of men, known as the Geological Survey, carries forward in a painstaking manner the ex- FROM THE OLD HOME TO THE NEW 303 ploration of the land. The most recent work undertaken by the Coast Survey and the Geological Survey is in Alaska. What was once done by explorers with little training, though much courage, is now done by men highly trained; as well as courageous. QUESTIONS 1. What nations in Europe had claims hi North America? How coukl such claims best be made good? 2. What advantage had Spain in the attempt to secure territory in North America? How did Spain lose that advantage? 3. By what signs do historians divide people into races? What are the chief races in Europe? To what race do the English belong? French? Germans? Swedes? Spaniards? Itahans? Poles? Bohemians? Russians? 4. Why did the English rather than the Spaniards succeed with their colonies? How large a kingdom was England in 1600? How was it governed? How is it governed now? Why did ordinary men wish to leave England for America? 5. What was the name of the old German Empire? What countries were included? Who governed it? Why did the Germans desire to emigrate? Why do fewer Germans emigrate now? 6. How was France governed in 1600? How is it governed now? Why did so few French emigrate to America? Who were the Huguenots? 7. In what two ways is the history of Italy like that of Germany? To what countries have the Italians recently begun to emigrate? 8. What other European countries have given many emigrants to the United States? 9. Where did the English settle? Why did the earhest colonists suffer more hardships than the later colonists? W^here did the Dutch usually settle? The French Huguenots? The Germans? The Scotch- Irish? Why did the emigrants prefer neighbors from the homeland? Did religious behef have any influence on the places chosen by the emigrants? 10. Why did the English colonies grow so rapidlj^? What terri- tories did the United States acquire after it became an independent republic? What work of exploration is still going on? 304 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY EXERCISES 1. Review what is said in earlier chapters about Spain; about France; about England. 2. Make a list of the present colonies of Great Britain. When did the British lose the thirteen colonies in America? 3. Learn something of England of to-day; of France; of Germany; or of some other country in which you are interested. 4. Study maps of the thirteen states which once were English colo- nies, making a hst of names of towns which the English borrowed from towns in the home country. Make another list of towns in the regions settled by Germans, the names of which have been borrowed from their homeland. Make a list of towns which have Indian names. 'I CHAPTER XXIV STORY OF INVENTION AND DISCOVERY Tools to Work with. Men have discovered other things besides rivers, islands, and continents. They have found out how to make tools and machines to enable them to put new lands to good use. Such discoveries are called inventions. In the first chapter we have seen that the early settlers of America brought with them a knowledge of many important inventions. There are other inventions which they did not possess, but which we use so constantly that we cannot imagine how we could get on without them. These newer inventions have been necessary for the work Americans have done during the last one hundred years. Without the steam- engine, the locomotive, the steamboat, and many other pieces of machinery, vast stretches of prairie, forest, and mountains could not have been changed into fertile farms, rich mines, and busy towns. In the present chapter we shall first see what the early settlers started with, then the many important inventions made about the time of the Revolutionary War, and lastly the great inventions of the nineteenth century. In this way we shall understand how many different kinds of persons have helped in making the United States of the present day, — not only the discoverers and ex- 305 306 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY plorers, but also the inventors, and the skillful workmen who have made their inventions of practical use. Compass, Ship, and Gun. We have read how the Greeks had ships which depended much upon oars, and that men in the Middle Ages, especially the Vene- tians, succeeded in building stanch sailing ships. Ships, therefore, did not need to be invented but to be improved, if they were to make the long, stormy voyages to India and to America. After the voyage of Columbus many improvements were made, and yet the ships the English used were small compared with sailing ships of the present day. The EngUsh continued to use a compass similar to the one Columbus had. Only in recent years has it been much changed. Guns and gunpowder had been in use about as long a time as the compass. They were important to the explorers, because with such weapons they could defend themselves against the at- tacks of Indians. Gunpowder was made out of saltpeter, charcoal, and sulphur. The hardest task was to mix these in the best proportions and to keep them mixed until the powder was needed. By the time the explorers began their work in America the Europeans had learned to mix the three things in the form of small grains. They used larger grains for cannon. Hunters, explorers, and soldiers carried the powder separately from the bullets. At a later time paper cartridges were invented, which saved time in loading the gun. The guns were very different from a modern rifle. Some were called matchlocks, others snapchances. About STORY OF INVENTION AND DISCOVERY 307 1635, a little while after Boston was settled, the flintlock was invented. These guns were so named from the way in which the hammer of the gun struck a spark, which lighted the powder in the pan at the side of the barrel and sent a flash through the vent into the charge within Flintlock Matchlock the barrel. The flintlock had a piece of flint in the hammer. The only trouble was that sometimes the powder in the pan got wet and the gun would not go off. It took much longer to load a gun when the powder and bullets had to be dropped down the muzzle and rammed ^'home" than it does now when five cartridges can be slipped in at the breech at one time, and there is no danger of wetting the powder. Light and Heat. The colonists were not well pro- tected against the cold and the dark. They were better off than the Indians. The Indians warmed themselves at an open fire on the earth in the center of their huts, over which they also did their cooking. In ancient times the people of Europe lived in much the same way. The Romans set an iron or brass pot full of burning charcoal in the living-room. Even at the present time many families in Italy and Spain use similar pots, called braziers. In the latter part of the Middle Ages fire- places were invented. By this arrangement the smoke is carried up the chimney, although unfortunately much 308 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY of the heat goes up with it. Early settlers in America, with their knowledge of the fireplace, were able to make their cabins warmer and brighter than the huts or wig- wams of the Indians. Old-Time Fireplace As the settlers did not know how to make stoves they cooked in the fireplaces. Often in very old houses the fireplace in the kitchen still contains the crane, a hori- zontal swinging bar of iron, with pot-hooks hanging on it. At the side is built a brick oven in which to bake bread, pies, and puddings. At night fires were banked with ashes, for there were no matches, and it was not easy to make a new fire. The only way was to strike a spark by means of a flint and a piece of steel, or to rub two sticks together, or better still, to run to a neighbor's house for a live coal of fire. STORY OF INVENTION AND DISCOVERY 309 Sometimes the fireplace furnished the hght to read by at night. Pine-knots were used as Hghts, and in the better houses candles. After the colonists learned how to catch whales, well-to-do settlers, especially on the New England coast, used sperm oil in lamps. The Settler's Tools. The first settlers at James- town and Plymouth had only hand tools — the ax, the saw, and the hoe. With such tools it was slow work to raise food. Nor could they obtain enough food from England, because voyages were long and the ships were Tinder Box, Flint, and Steel ^^ Farming Tools of the Early Settlers small. The corn they bought from the Indians saved them more than once from starvation. The Indians also taught them to cut a girdle around a large tree. This killed the tree, and the settler was not obliged to cut it 310 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY down before he planted his crop. The Indians told the settlers to manure the soil by placing dead fish in the hills where the corn was planted. Within twelve years the colonists obtained from England horses, oxen, wagons, plows, and harrows. A list of the tools left by a well-to- do New England farmer in his will, about the year 1648, included a wagon, a plow, a harrow, a grindstone, two scythes, a saddle, a side-saddle, two horse collars, two yokes for oxen, two chains, an iron crowbar, a saw, a maul, and some wedges. The Plow. The settler's plow would seem clumsy to us, for few improvements had been made in it from very ancient times. The earliest plow was a forked stick. Some farmer added to it a second stick, fastened in such a way that an ox or an ass might be hitched to it. From pic- An Old-Time Plow . i i j. i, tti x • tures drawn by the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, we know that they used a similar rough wooden plow, tipped with iron. Before settlements in America were begun, a wooden board was added to keep the earth from falling into the furrow again. Such plows broke the ground but did not turn it over. They were hard to keep in the ground, and twice as hard to pull as modern plows. Any farmer or blacksmith handy with tools could make plows of this kind, and yet for a long time they were scarce among the colonists. Often a man who owned a plow went about plowing for his neighbors, as owners of threshing machines do to-day. STORY OF INVENTION AND DISCOVERY 311 Spinning Wheel and Colonial Loom Spinning and Weaving. While the settler was busy felUng trees, clearing the land, and raising crops, his wife and daughters not only cooked the meals, but also spun yarn and wove cloth, and cut and made clothing. In the early days in Massachu- setts the law said that all the girls should be taught to spin. Each woman was expected to spin three pounds of yarn, cot- ton, or wool, every week for thirty weeks of the year. The reason for this was that there were then no spinning or weaving mills either in Europe or America. It was not un- til the time of the Revolutionary War that machinery for spinning and weaving was invented. In the meantime, as for hundreds of years before, yarn was spun on a wheel ^p turned by hand and the threads were woven into cloth on a handloom. Printing. Printing was invented about fifty years before Columbus discovered America. The presses ^ upon which books were first printed were worked by hand. Only one sheet could be printed at a time. See pages 127-128. Franklin's Printing Press In the custody of the Smith sonian Institute. 312 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY Although this sheet might contain four or eight pages, much time was required to print a book. One of these presses was set up in Massachusetts shortly after the colony was founded, but most of the books in the col- onies were brought from England and Europe. Wagons and Coaches. Coaches and carriages were just coming into use in England when the early settle- CoNESTOGA " Wagon and Stage Coach ments in America were begun. Only a few were used in the colonies for more than a hundred years, because there were scarcely any wagon roads. Travelers went on horseback and merchants sent goods from place to place loaded on horses. Shortly after the Revolutionary War, roads were improved and regular lines of coaches were established between the principal towns. In order to carry goods special wagons were built for heavy loads. The best known was the Conestoga wagon, drawn by six powerful horses. Coal. The first explorers of America sought gold, silver, and spices. They did not imagine that beneath STORY OF INVENTION AND DISCOVERY 313 many a hillside lay a mineral more valuable even than gold. This was coal. Coal was known in England but seldom used. In America there was little need to search for it, because wood was so plentiful. About 1750, coal was discovered near Richmond, Virginia. Forty years later anthracite coal was found by a hunter while walking on the banks of the Lehigh River in eastern Pennsylvania. Some persons thought this hard coal good chiefly for making sidewalks. As yet there were no grates in which it could be burned, but in 1812 a manufacturer named Joseph Smith began to make grates for anthracite coal. Iron and Steel. The colonists used few things made of iron. Their tools, swords, and guns were ordinarily manufactured in England. Skillful farmers and black- smiths sometimes made bars of iron into nails or rude utensils. Although iron ore was plentiful, few iron fur- naces existed. At first the ore was obtained from ponds or bogs near the coast. The method of smelting the ore was not much better than that used in ancient times. The ore was poured in small pieces into a charcoal fire or mixed with charcoal in a furnace. The melted metal sank to the bottom in a lump. It was then taken out and pounded into the shape desired, or melted again and run into molds. By heating it in a special furnace with a small percentage of carbon it could be turned into steel. An Age of Invention. Just before our Revolutionary War skillful workmen, chiefly in England and Scotland, made one new machine after another. These machines were so wonderful in their effects upon industry, and there were so many of them, that the time should be called 314 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY the Age of Invention. Although the Americans were thinking about how to win their independence and how to start their new government, they soon adopted the new inventions. They also added several important inven- tions of their own. Inventors worked together in a strange way. Two or three men in one part of the country would be busily engaged in the construction of spinning or weaving machines, while others in some distant town were trying to improve the methods of smelting iron ore, the material from which strong machinery must be made, and still others were at work upon a steam engine which would furnish the necessary power. Sometimes an invention would put one set of workmen ahead of another set. For example, the weavers invented a machine that enabled them to use thread faster than the spinners could produce it. Then the spinners discovered a machine by which they distanced the weavers. It was the same way with iron. At first those who melted the ore found a process by which they could produce the crude blocks or ''pigs'^ faster than others could refine these and turn them into bars to be made up into tools and utensils. By and by a process known as '^puddhng'' was discovered and the balance was restored. Spinning Jenny and Power Loom. The invention of the first machine to take the place of the spinning- wheel was due, it is said, to an accident. James Har- greaves, an English weaver, entered his wife's room so suddenly that she upset her spinning-wheel. Har- greaves noticed that the wheel kept on turning as it STORY OF INVENTION AND DISCOVERY 315 Hargreaves's Spinning Jenny lay on the floor, and the thought came to him, ^'Why not have this wheel turn several spindles instead of one?" He named his new machine '^ Spinning Jenny" in honor of his wife. His later machine could spin 30 threads at once. After- wards it was combined with the good points of another machine and hun- dreds of threads were spun at the same time. The spinners could now spin more thread than the weavers could use; until Edmund Cartwright, a clergyman, invented a loom which could be run by power and which gradually replaced the hand-looms. Coal and Iron. One trouble with the old way of mak- ing iron was that too much wood was burned for charcoal. Englishmen began to fear that their forest trees would soori be gone. They, therefore, bought a good deal of iron in Sweden and Russia. The only way out of the dif- ficulty was to discover how to use mined coal in an iron furnace. Whenever they tried it the iron became so brittle that it had to be thrown away. Finally an Englishman succeeded in making coke out of coal. Coke was quite as good as charcoal for smelting iron. Other men in- vented a new kind of draught or blast so that the furnace could be sufficiently heated. Still other men improved the method of turning iron into steel. Soon not only machines, but also bridges and boats were made of iron. 316 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY Watt's Steam Engine The Steam Engine. Men had dreamed for ages of using the steam which escaped from a boihng kettle as a power for doing work. James Watt showed how to introduce the steani first at one end of a cyhnder and then at the other, so as to drive a piston back and forth. His engines could do more work than a large number of horses, and could be used where water-wheels could not be set up. As coal and iron were often near together, it was natural to build the mills for the new machinery in the neighborhood of the mines, whether water-power existed there or not. American Inventions: the Stove. In 1742 Benjamin Franklin invented a cast- iron heater which could stand in a chimney. ''Our ancestors," he said, ''never thought of warming rooms to sit in; all they purposed was to have a place to make a fire in by which they might warm themselves when cold." Franklin planned another kind of stove which would burn either wood or coal, and in which the smoke would ''all be turned into flame." He also tried to make Franklin's Model of the Penn- sylvania Fireplace STORY OF INVENTION AND DISCOVERY 317 a furnace which would heat a whole house. Other men invented stoves, but it was not until 1830 that they came into common use. The Cotton Gin. The Enghsh machines for spin- ning and weaving created a great demand for cotton. No place in the world was better suited to cotton grow- ing than the fertile lands of the southern states. There Improved model. Whitney's model. Cotton Gins was one difficulty: it was slow work to separate the seed from the fiber. A workman could clean only five or six pounds a day. Eli Whitney, a graduate of Yale College, who became a teacher in Georgia, invented a machine in which cylinders covered with teeth drew the fibers through a grating of wires, tearing the seed away. This invention, called the cotton gin, could clean 300 pounds of cotton in a day. Its use made cotton planting very profitable. A Wonderful Century. It is easy to see that the in- ventions made in the eighteenth century were very important, but those of the nineteenth century seem 318 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY still more wonderful. The story of them would fill many books. Here we can only give a few facts about the greater inventions which have helped the farmer, the manufacturer, the trader, and, indeed, everyone, what- ever he does or wherever he lives. Inventors could not have succeeded in making such useful machines had they not also invented tools with which to work in iron and steel. These are called machine tools. They include hundreds of appliances for handling iron or steel at every stage from the molten metal to the finished pieces which are ready to be put together in the most delicate machinery. There are giant hammers, immense rollers, saws that cut iron like wood, planes that shave bars of steel as if they were pine, chisels that cut into steel blocks as easily as into chalk, and dies that shape hot metal as if it was putty. These tools are so made that they do their work more accurately than even the most skillful human hand. Equally important was the improvement in the method of manufacturing steel. In 1856 Henry Bessemer, an Englishman, discovered a cheap method — since called the Bessemer method — of converting iron into steel. The Americans at once adopted it, and soon equaled other nations in the manufacture of both iron and steel. Better Implements for the Farmer. As men learned how to work more skillfully in iron and steel they began to improve the implements which the farmers needed. One of these was the plow. We do not know who in- vented the iron plow. It is probable that many work- men, each adding a little, changed one part after another STORY OF INVENTION AND DISCOVERY 319 until the whole was perfected. It is certain that Thomas Jefferson helped to give the moldboard such a shape that it would turn the soil thoroughly and easily. The new iron plow came into use about 1819, and Jethro Wood of New York was one of the most successful makers. Some farmers feared that the iron would poison the ground and spoil their crops, and they clung to the clumsy wooden plow. Another tool for caring for growing crops and pro- tecting them from weeds is the cultivator. The farmer formerly hoed the weeds out of his corn fields, but with a cultivator he can do the work of many men with hoes. '''(!;,f r /li/, lull *;r:''i/#fe,i,iifc The First Type of McCormick Reaper Mower, Reaper, Harvester. Many attempts were made to construct a machine which would mow grass or reap grain. Cyrus H. McCormick, in 1831, was success- ful. His father, a farmer in the Shenandoah Valley, had begun the work, and he took up the plan and built a successful machine. The first machines were used for cutting grass as well as grain. Soon a machine was made 320 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY for each kind of work. Then the reaper was improved, so that the grain dropped from the platform of the reaper tied in bundles. From that time to this constant im- provements have been made. Now similar machines harvest rice, peas, and corn. Threshing Machines. After the reapers were in- vented the next step was to find some way of threshing the grain faster than with the flail. With the aid of the plow and the reaper the farmer could stack more grain than he could thresh. Again the inventors came to the rescue. Indeed, a machine was ready, invented by a Scotchman fifty years before. All that was necessary was to introduce it into the United States. To the early threshing machines were gradually added grain feeders, straw stackers, and grain measurers. In California and other places where the farmer has no fear of rain, and the grain can be dried thoroughly before it is cut, the harvester and the thresher are com- bined into one mammoth machine drawn by many teams of horses or by a steam engine. Such machines cut, thresh, clean, and put the grain into sacks, ready to be hauled to market. According to the Department of Agriculture, it used to take three hours and thirty minutes of labor to produce each bushel of wheat, but with the new machines it takes ten minutes. These machines are necessary in the United States, where land is still plentiful and farm laborers are scarce. In many parts of Europe, however, land is dear and laborers many, so that the scythe, the cradle, and the flail are still used. STORY OF INVENTION AND DISCOVERY 321 There are many other new tools and machines which the farmer possesses. With their help he has brought into cultivation millions of acres in the Middle and Far West. The United States has become one of the world's granaries. Cities have sprung up in which are mills to turn the grain into flour and merchants to forward grain and flour to cities farther east and to Europe. Steamboats and Locomotives. The lack of roads was one of the difficulties the colonists met even after many settlements had grown into large towns. Ordi- nary roads were not enough, because the distances were so great and because only a small load could be carried on one cart. The first good highways were the rivers, but boats were stopped by rapids or falls or shallow water. Europeans had long been accustomed to build canals to carry the boats where there were no rivers. The Americans built a great canal from Albany to Buffalo. As it connected with Lake Erie it was called the Erie canal. Other canals were built, but canal boats moved only as fast as the horses which drew them could walk. It was impossible to cover quickly the distances between different parts of this great country until steamboats and railways were invented. The First Steamboats. It took men a long time to discover how to use Watt's steam engine to run a boat. Robert Fulton, son of an Irish immigrant, was the suc- cessful inventor. He fitted his boat with side wheels turned by an engine. He called it the Clermont, but his neighbors named it Fulton's Folly. They proved to be foolish rather than he, for the steamer 322 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY plowed its way up the Hudson until it reached Albany. This first trip took 32 hours. The next year the Clermont made the voyage two or three times a week. Steamboats were soon used along the coast and on the lakes as well as on the rivers. In 1811 a boat built at Pittsburgh steamed down the Ohio and the Mis- sissippi to New Orleans. Eight - years later 21 were The "Clermont" built on the Ohio River alone. In that year, also, a steamboat, aided by sails, crossed the Atlantic Ocean. From that day to this steamboats for inland waters and steamships for the The " Savannah " The first steamship that crossed the Atlantic. ocean have been growing larger, until now the ships on the lakes carry thousands of tons of ore and the ocean STORY OF INVENTION AND DISCOVERY 323 steamships are floating towns, which carry on a single trip two or three thousand passengers. A New Compass. Sailors since 1600 have learned much about the compass. They have found out that it does not point due north, but varies, in some parts of the world more, in others less. They have found out also that the magnetic needle is disturbed by the large amount of steel and by the many electrical appliances on a modern ship. To correct mistakes from such causes a new compass was invented in 1910. It was suggested by the gyroscope. If a gyro wheel is suspended freely it spins in the same direction that the earth turns. In the new compass the wheel is suspended in a vacuum and is revolved rapidly. It then takes the position of the earth. The officers can readily see the direction in which their ship is going along the surface of the earth. Unlike the old compass, it is not disturbed by the steel of the heaviest armored ship. The Sextant. The sextant has taken the place of the crude astrolabe. Newton, the great astronomer, was its inventor. It came into use about 1730. With its aid the officers of a ship are able to see in what latitude they are. They can also tell exactly when it is noon, and with their ship's clock set for noon at Washington or Greenwich, they know in what longitude they are. Locomotives. Railwaj^s were built before steam engines able to draw trains were invented. The cars were at first drawn by horses. George Stephenson, an Enghshman who was an engineer of a coal mine, thought Watt's steam engine could be reconstructed in such a 324 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY way that it could propel itself and pull a train of cars. His first locomotive was built about 1814, but ten years passed before he succeeded in introducing it on a railway. A railway six miles long, running from Charleston, South Carolina, was the first in the United States to use the new locomotives. Soon hues running a short The First Locomotive Built in the United States Drawn on the same scale as the modern locomotive shown behind it. distance west from Baltimore and Philadelphia adopted them. The early locomotives and trains were very different from those we see to-day. The cars resembled stage-coaches of that time. The locomotives were small and could not draw a heavy load. After a while loco- motives were of two kinds, one for freight and the other for passenger traffic. One could draw enormous loads slowly and the other could draw a few passenger cars at great speed. Every few years changes and improve- ments are made in the shape and in the machinery of the locomotive. The Dynamo. With the steamboat and the locomotive men could reach rapidly any part of the country where business called them. They could send their goods north or south, east or west, wherever it seemed profitable. For a long time the steam engine had no rivals, but two have appeared which have driven the steam engine out STORY OF INVENTION AND DISCOVERY 325 of many factories and from many roads. These rivals are the electrical and gasoline engines. The electrical engine depends on the dynamo, a machine named after the Greek word for power. Inventors in Europe and the United States, working at the same time, produced this invention. The first dynamos were built just after our Civil War, but they did not come into common use until about 1880. The dynamo may be turned by a steam engine, a gasoline motor, or by a water wheel. In many places the power obtained at a great fall in a river is made to turn a series of dynamos, and the elec- tricity created in this way is distributed on wires to distant places. When it is brought to a locality it is made to turn motors in factories and street cars, to light the streets and houses, to furnish heat for cookstoves, and to run the simpler machinery of the household. Several railroads use electric locomotives. Gasoline Motors. The gas-engines were first built in Germany about ten years after the first dynamos. The explosion of a mixture of gas and air drives a piston which in turn moves the wheels. This engine has sev- eral advantages over the steam engine. It is simpler 326 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY to run and lighter in weight. The gas can be made from alcohol as well as from gasoline. The newest uses of the gas-engine are for the auto- mobile, the motor boat, and the aeroplane. An engine capable of doing the work of a hundred horses can be put into such compact form that it can drive a flying machine two miles high or at the rate of 150 miles an hour. Telegraph. Electricity is used to send messages be- tween places long distances apart. The credit of invent- ing the telegraph is claimed by Englishmen and Germans as well as by Americans. The first successful line was built in England, but a better system was invented by an American, Professor Samuel F. B. Morse, of the Uni- ' w "h'"a t"'|||,"h"a t "h" o "o d''^4 ^^ *R o "u "^ ij! *h'vt m,/ — ^#afe*iiasa=>e;i^g^^s.jga3sJ^J^g^^^i^ — The First Telegraph Message in the Morse Alphabet versity of the City of New York. With money given by Congress a line was built from Washington to Baltimore. Business men saw how useful the telegraph would be and built lines all over the country. The Enghsh and the Germans adopted Morse's system. Other inventors improved the telegraph. One found out how to send two messages in opposite directions at the same moment over a single wire; another how four messages could be sent at once; others how an electric cable could be laid under the ocean, so that messages could be sent from one continent to another. The most recent invention is the instrument by which messages can STORY OF INVENTION AND DISCOVERY 327 Telephone Receiver be sent without wires, ''by wireless/' as we say. This invention has proved of the greatest value in sending calls from a ship in distress to other ships many miles away. The inventor's name is Marconi. Telephone. Alexander Graham Bell, a teacher of the deaf, while studying the human ear, thought of a plan for ''talking by tele- graph." After years of work he exhibited at the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia, in 1876, a successful instrument. Men called him "a crank who says he can talk through a wire." His invention was quickly adopted in America and Europe. Now we have the telephones without wires, like wireless telegraphy. Household Machinery. The inventions of the eigh- teenth ■ and nineteenth cen- turies took many industries out of the household to the factory. One of these was spinning and weaving. Women ceased to spin, ex- cept as employees in spin- ning mills. They still did their sewing by hand. The inventor who hghtened this work was Elias Howe. For several years he was kept by poverty from carrying out his plans, but in 1846 he Howe's Sewing Machine 328 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY completed his machine. This machine in a sewing race distanced five of the swiftest hand sewers. Machines on the same plan were soon ready to sew leather and make shoes. Other machines were invented which cut and sewed button-holes. In recent years machines have been made to lighten such household tasks as washing and ironing clothes, washing and drying dishes, cleaning rugs and carpets, and removing dust. Light and Heat. About 1830 men learned how to make friction matches. At first they were expensive and householders kept paper tapers to carry Hght from one room to another. A few years earlier a method had been discovered by which gas was obtained from coal. Companies were soon formed in many cities and large towns, in order to furnish the inhabitants with the new gas. The gas was also used to light the streets, which made them safer and pleasant er at night. Just before the Civil War petroleum was discovered. The crude oil was found by sinking deep wells. The chief oil fields were in northwestern Pennsylvania. From there the oil was sent to Cleveland, Erie, Pittsburgh, and other cities to be refined. It was then called kero- sene oil and was widely used for lighting houses. From crude oil gasoline also was made. In many parts of the United States, especially in the Ohio valley, gas was found by digging wells several hun- dred feet deep. This natural gas can be used for fuel as well as for lighting, and is much cheaper than gas made of coal. STORY OF INVENTION AND DISCOVERY 329 As the knowledge of electricity increased this was used for lighting. In 1878 Charles F. Brush invented the arc light for streets and parks. The following year Thomas A. Edison made an electric hght for houses. A View in the Oil District in 18G8 Many changes have taken place in methods of heating. Stoves have been improved and furnaces of all sorts have been built. Some of these furnaces heat air and dis- tribute it to all the rooms of the house. Others dis- tribute hot water or steam in pipes or radiators. In the larger cities central heating plants are built, and pipes are laid through streets, in order that houses and shops may be heated without separate stoves or furnaces. Sanitation. As cities have grown large, one of the most difficult tasks has been the removal of refuse. In early times, and in some parts of the world now, the gutters were the only sewers. Waste was thrown out of the windows and doors, often w^ithout warning passers-by. One of the consequences was that there were frequent 330 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY plagues or epidemics, which killed thousands of people. In the Middle Ages a great plague called the Black Death killed about a third of the inhabitants of Italy, France, and England. The builders of American cities have profited by lessons learned in Europe. They have decreased the danger of disease by keeping houses and streets clean. They have built sewers to carry off waste water and have arranged that carts call regularly at the houses for garbage, ashes, and other refuse. As the size of the cities has increased the sewers have had to be rebuilt and made larger. The cost of such work has made taxes heavy, but everyone understands that such expense is necessary. Another task is to dispose of the waste when once it has been carried by sewer or by cart beyond the limits of the city. If the city is situated on the bank of a large river, the most convenient way is to throw the refuse into the stream. This is often dangerous for cities located farther down the river. Moreover, many cities are not located on large rivers. It is becoming the common practice for them to build what are called sewage disposal plants, in order to destroy what is harm- ful and to save what may be used as fertiUzers or for other purposes. If the people of a city are to be protected from disease they must have an abundance of pure water to drink and to cook with. Cities have spent many milhons in build- ing aqueducts from distant lakes or in filtering the water from streams near by. Some of these aqueducts almost equal those which the Romans built to furnish Rome STORY OF INVENTION AND DISCOVERY 331 with water from the hills beyond the Campagna. The main difference is that the w^ater is carried often in im- mense iron pipes rather than in a stone trough on the tops of high arches. War upon Disease. Diseases which once ravaged not only the cities but also the countryside have been almost conquered. The most familiar case is that of smallpox, which through the introduction of vaccination is now a rare disease. Typhoid fever is fought by the same method. A great victory has been gained over a dreadful epi- demic known as yellow fever. During the recent war with Spain, Dr. Walter Read, a surgeon in the American army, discovered that typhoid fever was carried from person to person by flies. Two years later, in 1900, while in Havana, Cuba, he found out that yellow fever was carried in the same way by a peculiar species of mosquito. The first thing to do was to destroy the mosquitoes. Under the leadership of Dr. William C. Gorgas, Havana was freed from danger of the disease. The southern cities of the United States, which used to have annual epidemics of yellow fever, no longer fear this dreaded scourge. Dr. Gorgas soon afterwards became sanitary officer of the Panama Canal Zone, and made it a safe place in which workmen can live. The men engaged in building the canal were even healthier than workmen engaged upon similar tasks in the United States. The discovery that disease can be carried by flies, mosquitoes, rats, and other vermin has led the officials 332 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY of many cities to wage war steadily upon all such pests. The only successful means is to keep the streets and yards clean, to remove stagnant pools, and to drain swamps and marshes. In destroying mosquitoes pe- troleum has been used. To conduct successfully the fight against filth and disease a new profession, that of sanitary engineer, has grown up. Relief of Pain. One of the triumphs of the nineteenth century was the discovery of a method by which the pain caused by a surgical operation could be prevented. Sir Humphrey Davy, an English chemist, suggested as early as 1800 that drugs could be used to deaden pain. Nearly fifty years passed before any one found out how to do it. Then two dentists, Dr. Horace Wells and Dr. W. G. T. Morton, each succeeded in different ways. Other discoveries have been made until now there are several methods by which surgeons and dentists relieve the pain of their patients while operations are being performed. The drugs used are called anaesthetics. The advantage of anaesthesia is not only the relief given to the patient, but also the quiet and freedom in which the surgeon may complete his task, even if it requires an hour. Many delicate operations, impossible without anaesthetics, may thus be safely performed. Guarding against Infection. One of the serious dangers from wounds comes from the minute living forms which are likely to get into them. These hving forms, called germs, are too small to be seen without the aid of a microscope. Many diseases are due wholly to the presence in the human body of harmful germs. STORY OF INVENTION AND DISCOVERY 333 The surgeon's task is twofold. He must perform the operation and must protect the wound against a raid of germs. Half a century ago a famous English surgeon, Sir Joseph Lister, began to use certain drugs to kill the germs that had invaded wounds. These drugs were called antiseptics, because they prevented sepsis or poisoning. The only trouble with them was that they often hurt the tissues of the patient as much as the germs. A better method has been discovered more recently. This is the simple method of keeping the wound clean, keeping all the instruments clean, and keeping clean all the hands that touch either the instruments or the patient. To find the right word to describe it the surgeons went to the Greek language, as they had for the words anaes- thetics and antiseptics. They took the last part of antisepsis and instead of anti used a, which in Greek means ^'no" or ^Svithout." So the new word was asepsis, that is, without poisonous decay. The Calendar. If we look at letters written twenty- five years before the Revolutionary War, we sometimes see that they have two dates, one called Old Style, the other New Style. These dates are twelve days apart. Russians, Roumanians, and Greeks still use an Old Style calendar. The difference between the two is now thirteen days. The Old Style calendar is sailed the Julian calendar, and the New Style the Gregorian calendar. The ar- rangement of the year in twelve months was the inven- tion of the Romans, and the name of the months are Roman. Two are named for Emperors, July for Julius 334 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY Caesar and August for Augustus. If we did not know that their year began in March, it would seem strange that they called our ninth month September or Seventh, our tenth month October or Eighth, our eleventh month Ninth, and our twelfth month Tenth. It is also said that they originally divided the year into only ten months, and that January and February were added later. At the time when Juhus Caesar became master of the Roman Republic the calendar was full of errors. He determined to correct it, and so the new calendar was named for him. This calendar provided a year of 365 days and once in four years an extraordinary year of 366 days. The average, or 365i days, was about eleven minutes longer than the solar year. The consequence was that after a few hundred years the spring equinox began to come too early according to the calendar. Although the error was noticed in the Middle Ages, no successful attempt was made to correct it until 1582. At that time Pope Gregory XIII, with the aid of astron- omers, arranged a system which should bring the calendar year and the solar year into agreement. The important feature of this plan was not to treat as an extraordinary, or leap, year the century years whose figures were not divisible by 400. For example, 1700, 1800, and 1900 were not leap years, although 1600 was. Pope Gregory found it difficult to carry his system out, for the struggle between CathoUcs and Protestants was at its height, and Protestant countries refused to abide by his decision. He wisely went forward with the plan and declared that in 1582 the 5th of October should be STORY OF INVENTION AND DISCOVERY 335 called the 15th. Within a short time Catholic countries accepted the new calendar, which has been named for Pope Gregory. Protestant countries waited a long time. Not until 1752 did the English Parliament make the new calendar legal. As the difference then amounted to twelve days September 3d, became September 14. Until 1752 the English began the year on March 25th. According to the Old Style, or Julian Calendar, together with this custom about the beginning of the year, George Washington was born February 11, 1731 instead of February 22, 1732. The Printed Page. This has been not only an Age of Invention, but an age of books, magazines, and news- papers. If a reader of the Boston News Letter, begun in 1704, could see the Sunday edition of a great city daily, he would be as much astonished as he would be by the railroad trains and automobiles. His newspaper appeared once a week and was a mere leaflet. Three inventions have contributed to the modern newspaper, the magazine, and the multitude of books. The first is the machinery for the manufacture of paper. Paper was formerly made entirely from cotton and linen rags. The need for a cheaper paper led to the invention of machines to grind soft poplar, pine, or spruce into a pulp, which is then dried and rolled into sheets. The second invention is the linotype, or ''line-o'-type," with which a printer can set a line of type as easily as one can write the words with a typewriter. The third invention is the great printing press, with its pages of type fastened on rollers, which can print 200,000 copies of 8 pages, fold, 336 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY and pile them in an hour. One of these machines con- tains 100,000 pieces of metal and costs $90,000. Wonderful as these machines are, we must not forget that many of the books made on the old presses were beautifully printed and contained words as wise as any contained in the books of the present day. What to Remember. The brief story of the inventions of the last one hundred and fifty years may well fill us with astonishment. Lest we become proud of our suc- cesses we should think of the tasks yet to be done. One of these is to check the waste of resources, which threatens to reduce those who come after us to the position of our early ancestors. For example: some of our best pieces of machinery obtain only a small percentage of the power stored in the coal which they consume. Our fields of natural gas and of petroleum are fast being exhausted. Our hillsides are being stripped of their forests. The tasks for inventive minds are now as great as they were before the days of Hargreaves, Watt, Whitney, Stephenson, Fulton, and Bessemer. QUESTIONS 1. What older inventions did the first colonists have? 2. How did the Indians light their wigwams and warm themselves? What w^as the Roman way of providing warmth in their living-rooms? When were fireplaces invented? 3. What tools did the settlers have? What did they learn from the Indians? How did the settler's plow differ from those used in ancient times? 4. What was the work of colonial v/omen? 5. How did the colonists travel and ship their goods? 6. Why did the colonists before the Revolution make such Httle use of coal? STORY OF INVENTION AND DISCOVERY 337 7. What great English inventions were made just before the Ameri- can Revolution? Tell the story of each. 8. Who invented the stove? What was the advantage of this invention? 9. What is the cotton gin? Who was the inventor? What was its effect? 10. Name the inventions of the nineteenth centur}^ wliich help the farmer do his work. How did the farmers in colonial times do each kind of work? 11. What was the invention of Robert Fulton? What effect has it had? 12. Describe the new compass. Why is it better than the old kind? 13. Who invented the locomotive? Where was it first used in the United States? 14. What is the dynamo? What is an electric motor? A gas- engine? What changes have these made in our methods of living and of work? 15. Who invented the telegraph? What improvements have been made since its invention? Who invented the telephone? 16. What machinery has been invented to lighten household tasks? 17. What changes have taken place in the nineteenth century in the methods of heating and lighting houses? For what invention is Charles F. Brush famous? Thomas A. Edison? 18. What are some great discoveries in the war upon diseases? Some for the relief of pain? Those for guarding against infection? i9. What change was made in the calendar in the colonies in 1752? 20. What inventions have made the modern newspaper and book possible? EXERCISES 1. Learn from the newspapers the implements used in warfare to- day and compare them with those used in colonial times. 2. Wherever possible visit a museum and examine the old tools, the machines, and the models of inventions which are shown. Bring in descriptions of them. 3. Prepare a hst of the effects of the inventions for the farm. 4. Why were the improvements in methods of making iron and steel of special importance? 338 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 5. Why can more people live in cities now than in colonial times? 6. In what ways was the colonial home more like a factory than the modern home? 7. Have you seen any changes in methods of work take place in your neighborhood? 8. What is done in your district to make it a more healthful place to live in? To prevent the outbreak of a plague? Or to protect the people from disease? 9. What are some of the tasks for future inventors? REFERENCES FOR TEACHERS The following references are given in the hope that they will be helpful to the teacher. The list is by no means exhaustive, but enough are given so that one or more books for each subject should be found in any fairly equipped school or public library. Some of these books may be assigned to the brighter or more ambitious members of the class for home read- ings. Extracts from others may be read to the class directly. Still others will furnish the teacher a variety of stories or fuller statements of fact upon matters treated briefly in the text. A Bibliography of History for Schools and Libraries by Andrews, Gambrill and Tall (Longmans, 1911), will give many more references and further information regarding those that are given here. A. ANCIENT TIMES. The Greek People. (For use with chapters ii, iii, and iv.) (a) Histories of the Greeks. Holm, History of the Greeks, 4 volumes, is the most trustworthy history of the Greeks. Bury, A History of Greece, 2 volumes; Botsford, History of the Ancient World; Goodspeed, History of the Ancient World; Myers, Ancient History; Wolf son. Essentials in Ancient History; and West, Ancient World, have brief accounts of the Greeks. (6) Versions of some famous old Greek stories, especially the story of Hercules and his Labors, the Search for the Golden Fleece, the Trojan War, and the Wanderings of Ulysses. A, J. Church, Stories from Homer; C. M. Gayley, Classical Myths; H. A. Guerber, Myths of Greece and Rome; and the same author's The Story of the Greeks; Haaren and Poland, Famous Men of Greece; C. H. and S. B. Harding, Stories of Greek Gods, Heroes and Men; Charles Kingsley, Heroes, or Greek Fairy Tales. Hawthorne, in Tanglewood Tales, has retold the story of the Search for the Golden Fleece in a specially interesting manner. Bryant's translation of the Odyssey is one of the best known versions of that story and may generally be found in public libraries. (c) Short Biographies of some Greek Heroes. Short accounts of the lives of such heroes as Miltiades, Themistocles, Socrates, Alexander, 339 340 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY and Demosthenes will be found in Cox, Lives of Greek Statesmen; Haaren and Poland, Famous Men of Greece; Jennie Hall, Men of Old Greece; Harding, Stories of Greek Gods, Heroes and Men; E. M. Tappan, The Story of the Greek People; and Plutarch's Lives. There are several abridged editions of the latter, but those by C. E. Byles, Greek I^ives from Plutarch, and Edwin Ginn, Plutarch's Lives, are best adapted to the use of schools. (d) Various features of Greek Life, as the home, the schools, food, clothing, occupations, amusements, or government have been de- scribed in the books on Greek Life. Among these are Bliimner, Home Life of the Ancient Greeks (translated by Alice Zimmern); C. B. Gulick, The Life of the Ancient Greeks; Mahaffy, Social Life in Greece; and T. G. Tucker, Life in Ancient Athens. (e) Descriptions of Athens and Alexandria. Descriptions of these great centers of Greek civilizcition will be found in any history of Greece; that in Gulick, Life of the Ancient Greeks, ch. 2, or Tucker, Life in Ancient Athens, for Athens, and in Draper, Intellectual Development of Europe, I, pp. 187-204, for Alexandria, will serve the purpose. (/) A description of the battle of Marathon, abridged from the His- tory of the World by Herodotus, will be found in F. M. Fling's Source Book of Greek History. This little book gives many incidents in Greek History as the Greek writers told them. (g) A description of the materials, methods of building, decoration of public buildings, and the uses of the temples, theaters, gymnasia, and stadia in Fowler and Wheeler's Greek Archaeology, ch. 2; and Tarbell's History of Greek Art. (h) Some may wish to read the careful statement in Holm's History of the Greeks, Vol. I, pp. 103-121, on the Truth about the Old Greek Legends, or the same author's account. Vol. I, pp. 272-295, of Emigration to the Colonies in the Olden Day. B. ANCIENT TIMES. The Roman People. (For use with chap- ters V, vi, vii, viii and ix.) (a) Histories of the Romans. Either Botsford, History of Rome; Pelham, Outlines of Roman History; How and Leigh, History of Rome; or Schuckburgh, History of Rome; though the last two do not cover the entire period of Roman history. Duruy, History of Rome, 8 volumes, is attractive in style and supplied with a great variety of pictures and other illustrative matter. REFERENCES FOR TEACHERS 341 Botsford, History of the Ancient World; Goodspeed, History of the Ancient World; Myers, Ancient History; Wolf son, Essentials in Ancient History; and West, Ancient World, give short accounts of the chief events in Roman history. (b) Versions of famous old Roman stories, especially the wanderings of Aeneas, the Story of Romulus and Remus, of the Sabine Women, Horatius at the Bridge, and Cincinnatus. A. J. Church, Stories from Virgil; C. M. Gayley, Classical Myths; H. A. Guerber, Myths of Greece and Rome; the same author's Story of the Romans; Haaren and Poland, Famous Men of Rome; and Harding, City of Seven Hills. Macaulay, Lays of Ancient Rome, gives the story of Horatius at the Bridge, together with several other stories from early Roman history. (c) Versions of the German myths about Odin (Wodan), Thor, Freya, and Tyr {Tiw). C. M. Gayley, Classical Myths; Guerber, Myths of Northern Lands; Haaren and Poland, Famous Men of the Middle Ages; Mary E. Litchfield, The Nine Worlds; H. W. Mabie, Norse Stories; Eva March Tappan, European Hero Stories; Alice Zim- mern, Gods and Heroes of the North. (d) The Story of Hermann (or the struggle between the Romans and Germans) is told by Arthur Gilman, Magna Charta Stories, pp. 139-155; and by Maude B. Dutton, Little Stories of Germany. (e) Short Biographies of some famous Romans. Short accounts of the lives of Romulus, the Gracchi, Caesar, Cicero, and Constantine are given in Haaren and Poland, Famous Men of Rome; Harding, The City of Seven Hills; and several of them in Plutarch's Lives. A simple account of the Life of Hannibal, the Carthaginian enemy of Rome, will also be found in these books. (/) Interesting phases of Roman Life : for example, the Roman boy, country life in Italy, the Roman house, traveling, amusements, etc. See W. W. Fowler, Social Life at Rome in the Age of Cicero; H. W. Johnston, The Private Life of the Romans; S. B. Platner, To- pography and Monuments of Ancient Rome; T. G. Tucker, Life in the Roman World of Nero and St. Paul. Many phases of Roman life are described in F. M. Crawford's Ave Roma. (g) For descriptions of incidents in Roman history and phases of Roman life as the Greek and Roman writers told them, see Bots- ford, Story of Rome, and Munro, Source Book of Roman History. C. THE MIDDLE AGES. (For use with chapters x, xi, xii, and xiii.) (a) Histories of the people of Europe in the Middle Ages. G. B. Adams, Growth of the French Nation; U. R. Burke, A History of Spain 342 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY from the Earliest Times to the Death of Ferdinand the CathoHc; J. R. Green, Short History of the English People; E. F. Henderson, A Short History of Germany ; H. D. Sedgwick, A Short .History of Italy. (6) Collection of stories adapted to children of the grades: The Story of Beowulf, King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, the Treasure of the Niebelungs, and of Roland. These stories have all been written many times, and any librarian can give the reader copies of them as told by several writers. The following is a partial list only: A. J. Church, Heroes and Romances; E. G. Crommelin, Famous Legends Adapted for Children; H. A. Guerber, Legends of the Middle Ages; Louise Maitland, Heroes of Chivalry; and Eva March Tappan, European Hero Stories; James Baldwin, The Story of Roland; Frances N. Greene, Legends of King Arthur and His Court; Florence Holbrook, Northland Heroes (BeowuK); Sidney Lanier, The Boy's King Arthur; Stevens and Allen, King Arthur Stories from Malory. (c) Famous Men of the Middle Ages; for example, Charlemagne, King Alfred, Rollo the Viking, William the Conqueror, Frederick Barbarossa, Richard the Lion-Hearted, King John, Saint Louis of France, Marco Polo, and Gutenberg. See A. F. Blaisdell, Stories from English History; Louise Creigh- ton, Stories from English History; Maude B. Dutton, Little Stories of Germany; H. A. Guerber, The Story of the English; Haaren and Poland, Famous Men of the Middle Ages; Harding, The Story of the Middle Ages; S. B. Harding and W. F. Harding, The Story of England; M. F. Lansing, Barbarian and Noble; A. M. Mowry, Fii'st Steps in the History of England; L. N. Pitman, Stories of Old France; Eva March Tappan, European Hero Stories; H. P. Warren, Stories from English History; Bates and Coman, English History as told by the Poets. Edward Atherton, The Adventures of Marco Polo, the Great Traveler, is a convenient modernized version of Polo's own story of his travels. Marco Polo's descrip- tion of Japan and Java has been reprinted in Old South Leaflets, Vol. II, No. 32. (d) Viking Tales. The interesting stories of the Northern discoveries and explorations have been told many times. Jennie Hall, Viking Tales, includes the story of Eric the Red, Leif the Lucky, and the attempt to settle in Vinland (Wineland). (e) The Trial of Criminals in the Middle Ages — Ordeals. Other kinds of Ordeals than those described in this book will be obtained REFERENCES FOR TEACHERS 343 in Ogg, Source Book of Mediaeval History, pp. 196-202; Pennsylvania Translations and Reprints, Vol. IV, No. 4. pp. 7-16; or in Thatcher and McNeal, Source Book, pp. 401-412. See Emerton, Introduc- tion to the Middle Ages, pp. 79-81, for excellent explanation of mediaeval methods of trial. (/) Famous accounts of how the People of England won the Magna Charta. Use either Cheyney, Readings in English History, pp. 179-181; Kendall, Source Book of English History, pp. 72-78; Robinson, Readings in European History, Vol. I, pp. 231-333; or Ogg, Source Book of Mediaeval History, pp. 297-303. (g) Simple descriptions of Mediaeval Life. Maude B. Button, Little Stories of Germany; for example, the chapters on How a Page be- came a Knight, and A Mediaeval Town. S. B. Harding, The Story of the Middle Ages, especially the chapters describing life in castle, life in village, and life in monastery. Eva March Tappan, Euro- pean Hero Stories, especially the topic. Life in Middle Ages, p. 118, the Crusades, p. 136, and Winning the Magna Charta, p. 111. D. THE BEGINNINGS OF MODERN TIMES. The Discovery OF America. (For use with chapters xiv to xxi inclusive.) (a) Histories of American Discoveries and Explorations. E. G. Bourne, Spain in America; Fiske, Discovery of America, 2 volumes; and Parkman, Pioneers of France in the New World. (6) Short, easy biographies of famous explorers. (Da Gama, Columbus, Magellan, De Soto, Coronado, Cartier, Drake, and Raleigh.) Foote and Skinner, Explorers and Founders of America; W. F. Gordy, Stories of American Explorers; W. E. Griffis, The Romance of Discovery; Haaren and Poland, Famous Men of Modern Times; Higginson, Young Folks' Book of American Explorers; Jeannette B. Hodgdon, A First Course in American History, Book I; W. H. Johnson, The World's Discoverers, 2 volumes; Lawyer, The Story of Columbus and Magellan; Lummis, The Spanish Pioneers; Mara L. Pratt, America's Story for America's Children, Book,2; Gertrude V. D. Southworth, Builders of our Country, Book I; Rosa V. Winterburn, The Spanish in the Southwest. (c) Stories of explorations as told by the explorers themselves. Columbus' own account of his discovery of America is in Hart, Source Readers in American History, No. 1, pp. 4-7. Early accounts of John Cabot's discovery and of Drake's Voyage in Hart, Source Readers, No. I, pp. 7-10, 23-25. The Death and Burial of De Soto as described by one of his followers, in Hart, Source Readers, pp. 16-19. The Old South Leaflets, No. 20, Coronado; Nos. 29 and 344 INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY 31, Columbus; No. 31, the Voyages to Vinland; No. 35, Cortes' Account of the City of Mexico; No. 36, The Death of De Soto; Nos. 37 and 115, the Voyages of the Cabots; No. 89, The Found- ing of St. Augustine; No. 92, The First Voyage to Roanoke; No. 102, Columbus' Account of Cuba; No. 116, Sir Francis Drake on the Coast of California; No. 118, Gilbert's Expedition; No. 119, Raleigh's Colony at Roanoke. (d) The Stories of Indian Life in Spanish America, of Cortes, Coronado, and the Seven Cities of Cibola, and of the Missions. (See Rosa V. Winterburn, The Spanish in the Southwest.) INDEX Acropolis, 18, 20. Africa, explored, 142-144. Aldine Press, 128. Alexander the Great, 7, 37. Alexandria, founded, 7, 37, 38; end of trade route, 133. Alfred, Eng, 94, 100-102. Alps, Hannibal crosses, 51-52. Alva, in Netherlands, 226. America, discovered by Columbus, 156; origin of name, 160-162. Amphitheater, at Rome, 74; Aries, 90. Anglo-Saxons, 89, 91-92. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 101-102. Apollo, 32. Aqueducts, Roman, 72-73; Aztec, 170. Arabic numerals, 121. Arabs, 86, 121-122; see Moham- medans. Arches, Roman, 74, 76; triumphal, 77; Gothic, 123; in Renaissance, 128. Architecture, Greek, 18-24, 55; Roman, 74-77; early Church, 76; Mediaeval, 102, 122-125; Renaissance, 128-129. Aristocracy, origin of, 113. Armada (ar-ma'da), expedition of, 236. Arms, Athenian, 13; Gallic, 60; Mediaeval, 114-115; Aztec, 171. Arthur, King, 100. Astrolabe, 137-138. Athens, 12, 16, 17, 18, 27-29, 34, 37. Augustus, Emperor, 64, 70. Azores, 138. Aztecs, 170, 173. Bahama Islands, 152. Balbo'a, 163-164. Basilicas, 76. Bayeux tapestry (bd-ylj), 103. Beggars of the Sea, 226, 235. Black Sea, 34, 134. Bologna (bo-lon'ya). University of, 120. Boniface, 92-93. Books, Greek, 25; carried to Italy, 126; see printing, 127-128. Borromeo (b5r-r6-me'o), 208. Boxing, Greek, 26. Britain, 36, 58, 63-64; name changed to England, 86, 89, 91. Byzantium (bi-zS,n'shi-um) , founded, 7, 34; named Constantinople, 83. Cabot, John, 159. Cabot, Sebastian, 160. Caesar, Julius, 61-64, 69-70. Calvin, John, 208-209. Cambridge, University of, 120. Canary Islands, 138, 148. Cannae, battle of, 53. Canterbury, 92. Cape of Good Hope, 143, 144, 168, 234. 315 346 INDEX Cape Horn, 232. Caroline, Fort, settlement, 218; destroyed, 222. Carthaginians, 40, 49-53. Cartier, Jacques (kar"tya'), 216-218. Castles, 110-114. Cathedrals, 102, 123-124. Caudine Forks, 42-44. Caxton, WiUiam, 128. Census, Roman, 47. Charles V of Germany (Charles I of Spain), 166, 180, 206-207, 208. Charybdis (ka-rlb'dfe), 35. China, 137-140, 154-156. Christianity, 81-84, 91-93. Cibola; see Seven Cities. Cincinnatus, 41. Clergy, 110-111. CoUgny (k6"len'ye"), 218, 227. Colonies, Greek, 32-36, 40, 44, 66; Roman, 47, 54; Spanish, 177- 182, 220, 248-250; French, 216- 224; English, 243-248. Colorado, Canyon of, 198. Colosseum, 74-75, 90. Columbus, Christopher, 38, 117, 141; discoveries of, 146-158; 161-164, 168. Compass, origin of, 137. Constantine, 83. Constantinople, founded, 7, 34, 83; renamed, 89; educated men of, 91, 93; taken by Turks, 126, 127. Consuls, at Rome, 46. Corinth, 17. Corinthian pillars, 21-22. Coronado, Francisco, 194-203. Cortes, Hernando, conquest of Mexico, 172-175. Courts, Greek, 28-29; English, 103-105. Crusades, 135. Cuba, 153-154, 180, 186. Cumse, 35. Danes, 93-94, 100, 102; see North- men, Normans. Dare, Virginia, 245. Delphi, 32, 34. Demosthenes (dS-mos'the-nez), 28. De Soto, Fernando, 186-193. Diaz, Bartholomew, 143-144. Discus thrower, 24, 26. Doric pillars, 21. Drake, Sir Francis, adventures in America, 229-232; voyage around world, 232-234; attack on Spain, 236. Duke, origin of word, 59. Dutch, 211-212; war for inde- pendence, 226-227, 234-236, 238. East, The, defined, 133; search for sea routes, 141-142, 146-157. Education, Greek, 25-26; Roman, 45, 56; Mediaeval, 93, 114, 119- 122. Egyptians, 4. EUzabeth, Queen, 213-214, 228, 231, 241. England, first known, 36; inhabited by Britons, 58; conquered by Romans, 63-64; name, 86, 89; christianized, 91-92; Danes in, 94; in Middle Ages, 100-108, 110, 111; aids Dutch, 228; navy, 229; war with Spain, 236-238. English explorations and colonies, 159, 240-248. English language, origin, 8-9, 100, 118. Erasmus, 128. Eric the Red, 95-96. INDEX 347 Espanola (6s-pan-yo'ld), 154, 155, 156, 180. EucHd, 38. Fairs, Mediaeval, 132-133. Ferdinand, King, 148. Florida, origin of name, 185; ex- ploration, 186-187; St. Augus- tine in, 220-221. France, see Gauls, 36, 41; name, 86, 89; Danes in, 94-95; in Middle Ages, 110, 123; sailors of, 204; colonies in America, 216-224. Francis I, King, 206. French language, 9-10, 118. Friar Marcos, 194. Friday, origin of name, 60. Frieze, 20. Frobisher, Martin, 240. Gama, Vasco da, 144. Games, Greek, 26; Roman, 45, 55. Gauls, 41-42, 58-64, 89. Genoa, 117, 134, 138, 147. Germany, language, 8, 118; early, 58-61, 63-64; name, 86; early emigrants from, 87-89; mission- aries to, 92-93. Gilbert, Humphrey, 241-242. Girgenti (jgr-jgn'te), temple at, 20. Gladiators, 55. Gothic architecture, 123-124. Goths, 88-89, 91. Government, at Athens, 27-28; at Rome, 46-47, 69-70, 108; in England, 107-108. Gracchi, Tiberius and Caius, 69. Great Charter, 105-106. Greece, language of, 8-10, 37-38, 56-57, 89-91, 122-127; early history, 11-17; manner of living in, 18-29; colonies, 31-38; rivals, 40; conquered by Rome, 54; and the Renaissance, 126-129. Greenland, 95-96. Gregory, Pope, 91-92. Guam, 166. Guilds, 116. Gutenberg (goo'ten-b6rk), John, 127, 128. Gymnasium, Greek, 23, 26. Hannibal, 50-53. Hawkins, John, 230. Hayti; see Espanola. Henry, Prince, the Navigator, 142. Henry II, of England, 103-105. Henry VIII, of England, 212-213. Hercules, 11. Hermann, 64. Hermes, 24. Herod'otus, 31. Homer, 25, 57. Horatius, 40. House of Commons, 108. House of Lords, 108. Houses, Greek, 18; Roman, 56; Aztec, 170; in Cibola, 197. Huguenots (hu'ge-nots), origin of, 209; in America, 218-224; and Dutch, 227. Iceland, 95-96. Incas, 176-177. India. 37, 144, 153, 167. Indians, origin of name, 153; of Mexico, 170-175; of Peru, 176- 177; as slaves, 154, 178-180; mis- sions to, 182-183; and De Soto, 188-190, 192; in Cibola, 197; in Quivira, 201; at Roanoke, 246-248. Indies, 149, 153, 159, 164. 348 INDEX Ionic pillars, 21. Isabella, Queen of Spain, 148. Isabella, town in Espaiiola, 156. Italy, 35, 44-45, 47, 49, 54, 86-87, llQ-lll; Greeks in, 35; Romans masters of, 44-45, 47; farmers in, 54; Goths invade, 89; Medi- aeval, 110-111; Renaissance in, 125-129. Japan, 141, 147, 153. Jerusalem, 105. Jews, 80-82. John, King of England, 105-106. Jury, origin of, 104-105. Justice, Greek, 28; English, 103- 105. Justinian, 77. Karlsefni (karl'sef-ne), 96. Knights, 114-115. Las Ca'sas, 180-182. Latin, words, 9, 10; literature, 56; learned by the Gauls, 64; in Middle Ages, 93, 101, 118, 119; in Renaissance, 126, 127. Law, Roman, 45, 46, 77-78; Eng- lish, 102-104. Leif Ericson, 95-97. London, 7, 24. Loyola, Ignatius (lo-yo'lii), 208. Luther, Martin, 208-209. Madei'ra Islands, 138. Magellan, 165-168. Magellan, Strait of, 166, 232. Magna Charta, 105-106. Marathon, 11-15. Marco Polo, 138-140. Marseilles (mar-salz'), 7, 36. Mary, Queen of England, 213. Menendez, Pedro (ma-n6n'dath), 220-224. Mexico, conquest of, 170-175, 178, 181-183, 193, 195, 202, 250. Michel Angelo (mi"k6l-an'je-lo), 129. Middle Ages, defined, 5, 86; close, 125. Miltiades (mil-tl'd-dez), 14. Missionaries, 88, 91-93, 95. Missions, Spanish, 181-183, 250. Mississippi River, discovery of, 190. Modern Times, defined, 5. Mohammedans, 86, 105, 121-122, 135. Moluccas, 133. Monasteries, 84, 110-111. Mongol Tartars, 138-139. Montezuma, King of Aztecs, 172- 174. Montreal, 216. Moors, 86, 142, 148. Mosaics, 78. Naples, 35. Navy, English, 102, 229; in battle against the Armada, 236-237. Netherlands, revolt of, 209-212, 226-227, 234-236, 238. New Testament, Greek, 37; first printed, 128. Nobles, 110-115. Norman architecture, 123. Norman Conquest, 102-103. Normans, 95, 102. Northmen, 60, 93-97. Notre Dame (no'tr' dam'), in Paris, 123. Odin, 60. . Olympia, 23, 24, 26, 27. Olympic games, 26-27. INDEX 349 Ordeals, 103-104. Oxford, University of, 120. Pacific Ocean, 163, 166, 232-234. Paestum (pes'tum), 20, 35. Paintings, Greek, 25. Panama, 163, 175. Pan'theon, 75. Papyrus (pd-pi'rws), 25. Paris, 7, 24, 120. Parliament, English, origin of, 107- 108. Par'thenon, 19-20, 24. Patagonia, 166. Patricians, 46. Paul, the Apostle, 81. Peasants, 110-115. Pediment, 20. Persia, 11-16, 37. Peru, conquest of, 175-177. Petrarch (pe'trark), 125-126. Pheidippides (fi-dip'6-dez), 12, 15. Phihp II, 209-212, 226, 238. PhiUppines, 166, 234. Phoenicia, 40. Pizarro, Francisco (pl-zar'ro), con- quest of Peru, 175-177. Platffians, 12, 14. Plato, 27. Plebeians, 46, 47. Pompeii (pom-pa'ye), 8. Pompey, 69. Ponce de Leon (pon'tha da la-on'), 185-186. Pope, the Bishop of Rome, 84. Porticoes, 23-24. Portugal, sailors of, 138, 142-144, 146, 148, 165; and the New World, 205. Potato, found by Magellan, 166. Pottery, Greek, 13, 25, 27; Aztec, 170; Zuni, 198. Printing, invented, 127-128. Ptolemy (tol'g-mi), 38. Pyrrhus (pir'us), 44. Quebec, 216-217. Quivira, 200-201. Raleigh, Sir Walter, 241-248. Renaissance (ren"e-sans'), 124-129. Richard, the Lionhearted, 105. Roads, Roman, 71-72. Roanoke, 243-248. Roman Empire, size, 66; origin, 70. Roman type, 128. Romans, language, see Latin; early, 11; contact with Greeks, 35, 37, 40; wars in Italy, 41-45; early manner of hving, 45-47, 55-56; war with Carthage, 49-54; con- quer Gaul and Britain, 59-66; Empire of, 69-70; civilization of, 70-78; Christianized, 82-83; empire ruined, 86, 88-89; Utera- ture of, influence, 125-127. Romanesque architecture, 123. Romulus, 40. Salamis, 16. Samnites, 43-44. San Salvador, 152. St. Augustine, 220-221. Sardinia, 50. Saxons, 101. Sculpture, Greek, 24. Scylla (sll'd), 35. Senators, at Rome, 46, 69. Seven Cities of Cibola, 193-198. Shakespeare, 215. Ships, Greek, 36; early English, 102; Venetian, 135-136; of Co- lumbus, 148-150; of EngUsh navy, 229. 350 INDEX Sicily, 35, 40, 49, 54. Sidney, Sir Philip, 235-236. Simon de Montfort, 107. Slaves, Greek, 27; Roman, 45, 46, 55; Indians as, 178-181; Negroes as, 180, 181. Slave-trade, Spanish, 181; English, 230. Socrates (sok'rd-tez), 28-29. Spain, early settlements in, 36, 40, 50; Romans capture, 53, 54; name, 86; Arabs in, 121-122, 148; Columbus and, 146-157; claim to New World, 204-205; colonies of, 154, 156, 177-179, 220-224, 248-251; war with Netherlands, 226-227, 238; war with England, 236-238. Sparta, 12, 16, 17. Spice Islands, 147, 153, 156, 168, 234. Spice trade, 133, 135, 147, 168, 234. Stadium, 23. Statues, Greek, 24, 129. Temples, Greek, 19. Theater, Greek, 22; early Roman, 45; later, 56. Thebes, 17. Themistocles (the-mis'to-klez), 16. Thermopylae (ther-mop'i-le), 16. These'um, 20. Thor, 60. Thursday, origin of name, 60. "Tin Islands," 32, 36. Towns, in Middle Ages, 116-117. Trade, Mediaeval, 132-135. Trade-winds, 204. Trebia, battle of, 52-53. Trial by battle, 104. Tribune, Roman, 47. Trireme, 36. Troy, 11, 25. Turks, 86, 126, 127, 142. "Twelve Tables," 45, 46. Tyre, 40. Umias, 88, 91. Ulysses, 11, 25. Universities, 120-122. Venice, 117, 119, 134-136. Venus of Melos, 24. Vercinget'orix, 61-63. Vespucius, Americus, 161-164. Veto, at Rome, 47. Vikings, 93-97. Vinland, 96-97. Virginia, origin of name, 243-244; colony in, 244-248. Watling Island, 152. Wednesday, origin of name, 60. West Indies, 153-156, 160, 164, 170, 178, 180, 218, 230. White, John, 244-248. William the Conqueror, 102. William of Orange, 212, 226, 235. Wodan, 60. Women, Roman, 45-46. W^ords, 8-10. Writing, art of, 4. Xerxes (ziirk'zez), 16. Zuiii, 198. INDEX TO SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTERS Aeroplane, 326. Agricultural inventions, 318-320. Alaska, discovery of, 277-278. AUeghanies, exploration of, 265-268. Anaesthetics, 332. Antiseptics, 333. Arthur, Gabriel, 267. Asepsis, 333. Automobile, 326. Batts, Captain Thomas, 267. Behring, Vitus, 277-278. Bell, Alexander Graham, 327. Bessemer, Henry, 318. Brush, Charles F., 329. France, colonies of, 258, 274. description of, 288-289. explorers of, 255, 268-274. Franklin, Benjamin, 316. Fulton, Robert, 321-322. Gas-engines, 325-326. Germans, settlements of, 287-290, 302. Germany, description of, 286-287. Gorgas, Dr. William C, 331. Great Lakes, 257, 268. Greece, 292-293, 302. Gun, improvement of, 306-307. Gunpowder, manufacture of, 306. Cable, the Atlantic, 326. Calendar, the, 333-335. California, 276, 302. Celtic race, 281. Champlain, Samuel de, 255-258. Chimney, invention of, 307-308. Coaches, 312. Coal, 312-313, 315. Compass, improvement of, 306, 323. Cotton-gin, 317. Hargreaves, James, 314-315. Harvester, 319-320. Heating, method of, 307, 328. Hennepin, Father, 273-274. Household inventions, 327-328. Howe, Elias, 327. Hudson, Henry, 261-264. Huguenots, 289, 296-297. Hungary, 293, 302. Huron, Lake, discovery of, 257. Dutch, 262-264, 290-291, 296. Davy, Sir Humphrey, 332. Dynamo, 324-325. Edison, Thomas A., 329. Electric inventions, 324-327. Emigration, causes of, 285-286, 287, 289, 290, 291. England, description of, 283-286. explorers of, 258, 261, 266-267. settlements of, 294-296, 300-301. Fallam, Robert, 267. Fireplace, 307-308. Florida, 264, 275, 302. Indians, 256-257, 259-260, 262, 267, 269, 271-275, 307. Irish, 302. Iron, 313, 315, 318. Italy, 289-290, 302. JoKet, Louis, 269-271. La Salle, 271-274. Latin race, 281. Lewis and Clark, expedition of, 302. Lighting, method of, 307-308, 328. Lister, Sir Joseph, 333. Locomotive, 321, 323. Louisiana, 302. 352 INDEX Marconi, invention by, 327. Marquette, Jacques, 269-271. Matches, 308. McCormick, Cyrus H., 319. Michigan, Lake, discovery of, 268. Mississippi, discovery by French, 268-274. Morse, Samuel F. B., 326. Morton, Dr. W. G. T., 332. Mower, 319-320. Needham, James, 267. Netherland, colony of, 264. New England, 261. New Sweden, 264-265. Oil, discovery of, 328. Onate, explorations by, 275-276. Oregon, 302. Pastorius, Francis Daniel, 297. Petroleum, 328. Plow, 310, 319. Portugal, 282-283. Printing, 311-312, 335. Quebec, 256, 258. Races of Europe, 280-282. Railroads, 323-324. Read, Dr. Walter, 331. Reaper, 319. Roumania, 292. Russia, 277-278, 292. Sanitation, 329-330. Scotch-Irish, settlements of, 299-300. Sewing machine, 327. Sextant, 323. Ship, improvement of, 306, 321-322. Slavic race, 281-282. Slavs, 282, 302. Smith, Captain John, 258-201. Smith, Joseph, 313. Spain, 282, 294. Spinning, 311, 314-315. Steamboat, 321-322. Steam-engine, 316. Steel, 313-314, 318. Stove, 316. Sweden, 264-265, 291-292, 302. Telegraph, 326. Telephone, 327. Teutonic race, 281-282. Texas, 274-276, 302. Threshing machine, 320. Virginia, 258-260. Vizcaino, Sebastian, 276. Wagons, 312. Watt, James, 316. Weaving, 311, 314-315. Wells, Dr. Horace, 332. Whitney, Eh, 317. Wireless systems, 327. Wisconsin, 269. Wood, Captain Abraham, 266. Wood, Jethro, 319.