defcended to the Normans from their ancestors, or the commercial enterprises of private merchants, which attracted fo little notice, that hardly any memorial of them is to be found in contemporary authors, In a general furvey of the progrefs of discovery, it is fufficient to have mentioned this event; and leaving it among thofe of dubious exiftence, or of fmall importance, we may conclude, that though much additional information concerning the remote regions of the Eaft had been received by travellers who visited them by land, navigation, at the beginning of the fifteenth century, had not advanced beyond the state to which it had attained before the downfal of the Roman empire.

BOOK

I.

plan of dif

covery,

AT length the period arrived, when Providence Firt regular decreed that men were to pass the limits within which they had been fo long confined, and open to themselves a more ample field wherein to difplay their talents, their enterprife, and courage.

The first confiderable efforts towards this were not made by any of the more powerful states of Europe, or by thofe who had applied to navigation with the greatest affiduity and fuccefs. The glory of leading the way in this new career was referved for Portugal, one of the fmalleft and formed by leaft powerful of the European kingdoms. As the attempts of the Portuguese to acquire the

the Portu

I.

BOOK knowledge of thofe parts of the globe with which mankind were then unacquainted, not only improved and extended the art of navigation, but roused such a spirit of curiofity and enterprise, as led to the discovery of the New World, of which I propose to write the history, it is necessary to take a full view of the rife, the progrefs, and fuccefs of their various naval operations. It was in this fchool that the discoverer of America was trained; and unless we trace the steps by which his inftructors and guides advanced, it will be impoffible to comprehend the circumstances which fuggefted the idea, or facilitated the execution of his great defign.

Circumftan

ces which

VARIOUS circumstances prompted the Portuled to this. guefe to exert their activity in this new direc tion, and enabled them to accomplish undertakings apparently fuperior to the natural force. of their monarchy. The kings of Portugal, having driven the Moors out of their dominions, had acquired power, as well as glory, by the fuccefs of their arms against the infidels. By their victories over them, they had extended the royal authority beyond the narrow limits within which it was originally circumfcribed in Portugal, as well as in other feudal kingdoms. They had the command of the national force, could roufe it to act with united

vigour,

I.

vigour, and, after the expulfion of the Moors, BOOK could employ it without dread of interruption from any domeftic enemy. By the perpetual hoftilities carried on for feveral centuries against the Mahometans, the martial and adventurous fpirit which diftinguished all the European nations during the middle ages, was improved and heightened among the Portuguese. A fierce civil war towards the clofe of the fourteenth century, occafioned by a difputed fucceffion, augmented the military ardour of the nation, and formed or called forth men of such active and daring genius, as are fit for bold undertakings. The fituation of the kingdom, bounded on every fide by the dominions of a more powerful neighbour, did not afford free scope to the activity of the Portuguese by land, as the strength of their monarchy was no match for that of Caftile. But Portugal was a maritime state, in which there were many commodious harbours; the people had begun to make fome progress in the knowledge and practice of navigation; and the fea was open to them, prefenting the only field of enterprise in which they could diftinguish themselves.

tempt.

SUCH was the state of Portugal, and fuch the First atdifpofition of the people, when John I. furnamed the Baftard, obtained fecure poffeffion of the

crown

crown by the peace concluded with Caftile, in the year one thousand four hundred and eleven. He was a prince of great merit, who, by fuperior courage and abilities, had opened his way to a throne, which of right did not belong to him. He instantly perceived that it would be impoffible to preferve public order, or domestic tranquillity, without finding fome employment for the restless spirit of his fubjects, With this view he affembled a numerous fleet at Lisbon, composed of all the fhips which he could fit out in his own kingdom, and of many hired from foreigners. This great armament was destined to attack the Moors fettled on the coaft of Barbary. While it was equipping, a few veffels were appointed to fail along the western shore of Africa bounded by the Atlantic ocean, and to discover the unknown countries fituated there. From this inconfiderable attempt, we may .date the commencement of that fpirit of discovery, which opened the barriers that had fo long fhut out mankind from the knowledge of one half of the terrestrial globe,

At the time when John fent forth these ships on this new voyage, the art of navigation was ftill very imperfect. Though Africa lay fo near to Portugal, and the fertility of the countries already known on that continent invited men to explore

I.

explore it more fully, the Portuguese had never BOOK ventured to fail beyond Cape Non. That promontory, as its name imports, was hitherto confidered as a boundary which could not be paffed. But the nations of Europe had now acquired as much knowledge, as emboldened them to dif regard the prejudices and to correct the errors of their ancestors. The long reign of ignorance, the constant enemy of every curious inquiry, and of every new undertaking, was approaching to its period. The light of fcience began to dawn. The works of the ancient Greeks and Romans began to be read with admiration and profit. The sciences cultivated by the Arabians were introduced into Europe by the Moors fettled in Spain and Portugal, and by the Jews, who were very numerous in both these kingdoms. Geometry, aftronomy, and geography, the sciences on which the art of navigation is founded, became objects of ftudious attention. The memory of the discoveries made by the ancients was revived, and the progrefs of their navigation and commerce began to be traced. Some of the caufes which have obftructed the cultivation of fcience in Portugal, during this century and the last, did not exist, or did not operate in the fame manner, in the fifteenth century; and the Portuguese, at that period,

* See NOTE IX.

feem