A history of the United States for schools . books on geography, both written many centuriesbefore, were considered great authorities on all disputed 24 INTRODUCTORY. Ch. II. points. One of these books was written in Greek aboutAncient A. D. 150, by Claudius Ptolemy, a native ofvafidSof Egypt; the other was written in Latin stillgeography, earlier, about a. d. 50, by Pomponius Mela, anative of Spain, A glance at the two maps here in-serted 1 will show how both these geographers believed inthe existence of a great unvisited continent south of theequator; only, Ptolemy believed this i
A history of the United States for schools . books on geography, both written many centuriesbefore, were considered great authorities on all disputed 24 INTRODUCTORY. Ch. II. points. One of these books was written in Greek aboutAncient A. D. 150, by Claudius Ptolemy, a native ofvafidSof Egypt; the other was written in Latin stillgeography, earlier, about a. d. 50, by Pomponius Mela, anative of Spain, A glance at the two maps here in-serted 1 will show how both these geographers believed inthe existence of a great unvisited continent south of theequator; only, Ptolemy believed this imaginary continentto be joined to Africa and to Asia, while Mela believedit to be separated by an ocean intervening. Accordingto Ptolemy, it would be impossible to sail from Spainaround Africa into the Indian Ocean. According toMela, such a voyage could be made without even cross-ing the equator. Therefore, when, in 1471, Portuguesesailors crossed the equator without finding an end to theAfrican coast, the prospect was discouraging. Ptolemy. EQUATOR UNKNOWN LAND PTOLEMYS IDEA OF THE WORLD, A. D. I50. might turn out to be right; and at any rate a voyage toAsia in this direction was going to be a very long inquiring minds began to ask if there could possi-bly be any shorter route. Among these inquiring spirits^ Both are greatly simplified by the omission of details. 13. 14- THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 25 was Christopher Columbus/ a native of Genoa, who cameto Lisbon about 1470 and took part in some of the ex-ploring voyages on the African coast. The solution ofthe question was very startling.
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