OTHER IMPROVEMENTS IN NAVIGATION
During the last centuries of the Middle Ages the charting of coasts became a science. A sailor might rely on the "handy maps" (portolani) which outlined with some approach to accuracy the bays, islands, and headlands of the Mediterranean and adjacent waters. Manuals were prepared telling the manner about the tides, currents, and other features of the route he intended to follow. The increase in size of ships made navigation safer and permitted the storage of bulky cargoes. For long voyages the sailing vessel replaced the medieval galley rowed by oars. As the result of all these improvements navigators no longer found it necessary to keep close to the shore, but could push out dauntlessly into the open sea.
MOTIVES FOR EXPLORATION
Many motives prompted exploration. Scientific curiosity, bred of the Renaissance spirit of free inquiry, led men to set forth on voyages of discovery. The crusading spirit, which had not died out in Europe, thrilled at the thought of spreading Christianity among heathen peoples. And in this age, as in all epochs of exploration, adventurers sought in distant lands opportunities to acquire wealth and fame and power.
THE COMMERCIAL MOTIVE
Commerce formed perhaps the most powerful motive for exploration. Eastern spices—cinnamon, pepper, cloves, nutmeg, and ginger—were used more freely in medieval times than now, when people lived on salt meat during the winter and salt fish during Lent. Even wine, ale, and medicines had a seasoning of spices. When John Ball [8] wished to contrast the easy life of the lords with the peasants' hard lot, he said, "They have wines, spices, and fine bread, while we have only rye and the refuse of the straw." [9] Besides spices, all kinds of precious stones, drugs, perfumes, gums, dyes, and fragrant woods came from the East. Since the time of the crusades these luxuries, after having been brought overland by water to Mediterranean ports, had been distributed by Venetian and Genoese merchants throughout Europe. [10] But now in the fifteenth century two other European peoples—the Portuguese and Spaniards—appeared as competitors for this Oriental trade. Their efforts to break through the monopoly enjoyed by the Italian cities led to the discovery of the sea routes to the Indies. The Portuguese were first in the field.
220. TO THE INDIES EASTWARD: PRINCE HENRY AND DA GAMA
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR, 1394-1460 A.D.
In the history of the fifteenth century few names rank higher than that of Prince Henry, commonly called the Navigator, because of his services to the cause of exploration. The son of a Portuguese king, he devoted himself during more than forty years to organizing scientific discovery. Under his direction better maps were made, the astrolabe was improved, the compass was placed on vessels, and seamen were instructed in all the nautical learning of the time. The problem which Prince Henry studied and which Portuguese sailors finally solved was the possibility of a maritime route around Africa to the Indies.