These sailors had no dread at all of a sea called the Mediterranean, upon which they made voyages without fear of danger. This sea was named the Mediterranean because it was supposed to be in the middle of the land that was then known. On this body of water the sailors were very bold, fighting, robbing, and plundering strangers and foes, without any thought of fear.
They sailed through this sea eastward to Constantinople, their ships being loaded with metals, woods, and pitch. These they traded for silks, cashmeres, dyewoods, spices, perfumes, precious stones, ivory, and pearls. All of these things were brought by caravan from the far Eastern countries, as India, China, and Japan, to the cities on the east coast of the Mediterranean.
This caravan journey was a very long and tiresome one. Worse than this, the Turks, through whose country the caravans passed, began to see how valuable this trade was, and they sent bands of robbers to prevent the caravans from reaching the coast.
| A Caravan. |
As time went on, these land journeys grew more difficult and more dangerous, until the traders saw that the day would soon come when they would be entirely cut off from traffic with India and the rich Eastern countries. The Turks would secure all their profitable business. So the men of that time tried to think of some other way of reaching the East.
Among those who wished to find a short route to India was Prince Henry of Portugal, a bold navigator as well as a studious and thoughtful man. He was desirous of securing the rich Indian trade for his own country. So he established a school for navigators at Lisbon, and gathered around him many men who wanted to study about the sea.
Here they made maps and charts, and talked with one another about the strange lands which they thought might be found far out in that mysterious body of water which they so dreaded and feared. It is probable that they had heard some accounts of the voyages of other navigators on this wonderful sea, and the beliefs about land beyond.
There was Eric the Red, a bold navigator of Iceland, who had sailed west to Greenland, and planted there a colony that grew and thrived. There was also Eric's son Leif, a venturesome young viking who had made a voyage south from Greenland, and reached a strange country with wooded shores and fragrant vines. This country he called Vinland because of the abundance of wild grapes. When he returned to Greenland, he took a load of timber back with him.
Some of the people of Greenland had tried to make a settlement along this shore which Leif discovered, but it is thought that the Indians drove them away. It may now be said of this settlement that no trace of it has ever been found, although the report that the Norsemen paid many visits to the shore of North America is undoubtedly true.