LIST OF MAPS
| PAGE | |
| Places of Interest in Connection with Columbus's Earlier Life, | [3] |
| The First Voyage of Columbus, and Places of Interest in Connection with his Later Voyages, | [11] |
| Routes Traversed by De Soto and De Leon, | [27] |
| Cabot's Route. Land Discovered by him Darkened, | [33] |
| Section where Raleigh's various Colonies were Located, | [37] |
| Jamestown and the Surrounding Country, | [48] |
| The Pilgrims in England and Holland, | [67] |
| The Pilgrim Settlement, | [72] |
| The Rhode Island Settlement, | [88] |
| The Pennsylvania Settlement, | [97] |
| Map Showing Routes of Cartier, Champlain, and La Salle, also French and English Possessions at the Time of the Last French War, | [107] |
| The English Colonies and the French Claims in 1754, | [121] |
| The French in the Ohio Valley, | [123] |
| Quebec and Surroundings, | [138] |
| Paul Revere's Ride, | [167] |
| Franklin's Journey from New York to Philadelphia, | [178] |
| Map Illustrating the Battle of Long Island, | [196] |
| Map Illustrating the Struggle for the Hudson River and the Middle States, | [201] |
| Map Showing the War in the South, | [213] |
| The Kentucky Settlement, | [223] |
| Map of Louisiana Purchase: also United States in 1803, | [242] |
| Map Illustrating Two of Andrew Jackson's Campaigns, | [258] |
| Map of the United States showing the Southern Confederacy, the Slave States that did not Secede, and the Territories, | [297] |
| Map Illustrating Campaigns in the West in 1862-63, | [307] |
| The United States Coast and the West Indies, | [315] |
| Portion of the Coast of China and the Philippine Islands, | [325] |
Christopher Columbus.
CHAPTER I
Christopher
Columbus and
the Discovery
of America
[1436-1506]
From very early times there existed overland routes of trade between Europe and Asia. During the Middle Ages traffic over these routes greatly increased, so that by the fifteenth century a large and profitable trade was carried on between the West and the East. Merchants in Western Europe grew rich through trade in the silks, spices, and precious stones that were brought by caravan and ship from India, China, and Japan. But in 1453 the Turks conquered Constantinople, and by frequent attacks upon Christian vessels in the Mediterranean made the old routes unsafe. A more practicable one became necessary.
Already in the early part of the fifteenth century Portuguese sea-captains had skirted the western coast of Africa, and by the close of the century others of their number had rounded the Cape of Good Hope, in their search for a water route to the Indies. But Spain, at that time the most powerful nation of Europe, adopted a plan quite different from that of the Portuguese. What this plan was and how it was carried out, we can best understand by an acquaintance with the life and work of the great sea-captain and navigator, Christopher Columbus.
More than four hundred and fifty years ago there lived in the city of Genoa a poor workingman, who made his living by preparing wool for the spinners. Of his four sons, the eldest was Christopher, born in 1436. Young Christopher was not, so far as we know, very different from most other boys in Genoa. He doubtless joined in their every-day sports, going with them to see the many vessels that sailed in and out of that famous sea-port, and listening for hours to the stories of sailors about distant lands.