A first book in American history with European beginnings . route to the East. Her hope was to find a passagearound the southern part of Africa; and year after yearshe sent her ships farther and farther down the westerncoast of that continent searching for a southern passage. From time to time on such voyages there was to beseen among the Portuguese sailors a tall, handsome, ruddyyoung seaman with long flowing hair and commandingblue-gray eyes. Christopher Columbus, he was called. Columbus was born in Genoa, probably about the year57 A FIRST BOOK IN AMERICAN HISTORY 1436. He was the son of a w
A first book in American history with European beginnings . route to the East. Her hope was to find a passagearound the southern part of Africa; and year after yearshe sent her ships farther and farther down the westerncoast of that continent searching for a southern passage. From time to time on such voyages there was to beseen among the Portuguese sailors a tall, handsome, ruddyyoung seaman with long flowing hair and commandingblue-gray eyes. Christopher Columbus, he was called. Columbus was born in Genoa, probably about the year57 A FIRST BOOK IN AMERICAN HISTORY 1436. He was the son of a wool comber. Until his tenthyear Christopher helped his father in his trade. Then hespent four years in the University of Pavia, learning mathe-matics, reading, writing, and the laws of navigation. On leaving Pavia he was sent by his father to some time he sailed up and down the Mediterraneanin merchant vessels. But later he went to Portugal, andfrom there sailed, not only far south along the shores ofAfrica, but also north even as far as The Part of the World Known at the Time of Columbus.(Shown in white.) By the time Columbus sailed the seas the compasshad come into use, thus enabling sailors to tell at anytime which way to turn to get home. Then, too, the explorers had maps of the world. Butmany of the maps were very queer and had pictures ofdreadful sea serpents and horrible monsters drawn be-tween the countless little islands. This was due to thestories told by sailors, who were very superstitious. Inthe dark nights when they were out upon the sea, theywould imagine all sorts of creatures moving in the dark-ness beyond. These stories were fully believed, andwherever a sailor had seen such sights they were put downon the map. 58 COLUMBUS The great trouble was that very few people knew thereal facts. Most of them still thought that the earth wasa flat surface, surrounded on all sides by a large ocean. A very few learned men thought differently. Thesefew said
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