The Story of Geographical Discovery - How the World Became Known
Jacobs, Joseph, 1854-1916
English
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Below is a summary of The Story of Geographical Discovery - How the World Became Known
Arms granted to SEBASTIAN DEL CANO, Captain of the Victoria,the first vessel that circumnavigated the Globe
[For a description, see pp. 129-30]The Story of Geographical Discovery
How the World Became Known
By Joseph Jacobs
With Twenty-four Maps, &c.
In attempting to get what is little less than a history of the world,from a special point of view, into a couple of hundred duodecimopages, I have had to make three bites at my very big cherry. In theAppendix I have given in chronological order, and for the firsttime on such a scale in English, the chief voyages and explorationsby which our knowledge of the world has been increased, and thechief works in which that knowledge has been recorded. In the bodyof the work I have then attempted to connect together these factsin their more general aspects. In particular I have grouped thegreat voyages of 1492-1521 round the search for the Spice Islandsas a central motive. It is possible that in tracing the Portugueseand Spanish discoveries to the need of titillating the parchedpalates of the mediævals, who lived on salt meat during winterand salt fish during Lent, I may have unduly simplified the problem.But there can be no doubt of the paramount importance attachedto the spices of the East in the earlier stages. The search forthe El Dorado came afterwards, and is still urging men north tothe Yukon, south to the Cape, and in a south-easterly directionto "Westralia."
Page viBesides the general treatment in the text and the special detailsin the Appendix, I have also attempted to tell the story once morein a series of maps showing the gradual increase of men's knowledgeof the globe. It would have been impossible to have included allthese in a book of this size and price but for the complaisanceof several publishing firms, who have given permission for thereproduction on a reduced scale of maps that have already beenprepared for special purposes. I have specially to thank Messrs.Macmillan for the two dealing with the Portuguese discoveries,and derived from Mr. Payne's excellent little work on EuropeanColonies; Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin, & Co., of Boston, for severalillustrating the discovery of America, from Mr. J. Fiske's "SchoolHistory of the United States;" and Messrs. Phillips for the armsof Del Cano, so clearly displaying the "spicy" motive of the firstcircumnavigation of the globe.
I have besides to thank the officials of the Royal GeographicalSociety, especially Mr. Scott Keltie and Dr. H. R. Mill, for thereadiness with which they have placed the magnificent resourcesof the library and map-room of that national institution at mydisposal, and the kindness with which they have answered my queriesand indicated new sources of information.
J. J.
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