THE ATLANTIC OCEAN HISTORICAL NOTES In the present day the more civilized nations in habit the shores of the North Atlantic Ocean, but formerly civilization was most largely diffused along the shores of the Mediterranean. It was in that great inland sea, in itself almost an ocean, that navigation made its earliest efforts, and the comparative shortness of the distances between port and port rendered the transit easy, even to imperfect vessels. From their ancient seaports of Tyre and Sidon the adventur ous Phoenician sailors—after thoroughly exploring the Medi terranean, and establishing many flourishing colonies, of which Carthage soon became pre-eminent—pushed boldly through the Straits of Gibraltar, and founded Gades (now Cadiz), on the Atlantic coast of the Iberian peninsula. Further explora tions resulted in the discovery of the Canary Islands to the south, and the British Isles to the north. The Greeks next swept the Mediterranean, and from the Greek colony of Afas sila (Marseilles) an intrepid Grecian sailor followed the coasts of Spain and Gaul, and actually coasted the eastern coast of Britain as far as the Orcades (Orkneys), and thence sailed north to Thule, the precise locality of which is uncertain.
The Punic Wars resulted in the destruction of Carthage, and in the ascendancy of the Roman power. The invasions of Britain by Julius Caesar and other Roman generals led to the frequent navigation of the English Channel and adjacent seas ; and the rude barks of the Jutes, Saxons, and Angles, soon after began to cross the North Sea. Then followed the Danes and Scandinavian Vi-kings, whose savage descents on the more fruitful southern coasts spread terror and dismay for centuries. The reign of Alfred witnessed a victory gained by the first English fleet. About this time, too, the Baltic was navigated, and the North Cape passed ; and in 861 the Faroe Islands were discovered by a Scandinavian vesseL Thence some Norwegian chiefs were driven westwards, dur ing a storm, to Iceland, which was speedily occupied and colonized. In 950 the Icelander Gunbiiim discovered Green land, first colonized in 985. The glory of the first discovery of the continent of America is undoubtedly due to adven turers from Greenland, who, in 1001, came upon regions which they named Winenland, or Vine-land—probably so called from the abundance of a species of vine found there.
Spain and Portugal now took the lead in fostering a spirit of adventure and discovery, and Madeira was visited in 1419 by the Portuguese, Juan Gonsalez and Tristan Vaz.' In 1345 the Canary Isles were rediscovered ; and about 1364 it is said that some sailors from Dieppe coasted the Gulf of Guinea. It is certain, however, that the Portuguese reached the mouth of the Senegal in 1440 ; and, six years later, European vessels anchored off the Cape Verd Islands. Two years after, Cabral discovered the Azores. The mouth of the Congo was reached by the Portuguese, Diego Cam, in 1484 ; and, two years later, Bartholomew Diaz sighted the Cape of Good Hope.
The most important exploit of this period, and the prelude to the discovery of two vast continents, was the voy age of Columbus from Spain to the Canaries, and thence west across the Atlantic. On the 12th of October, 1492, Guan anhani, or San Salvador, one of the Bahama Islands, was sighted by the great navigator, who, after visiting Cuba, and Hispaniola or Haiti, returned to Europe. Next year he sailed from Cadiz, and Jamaica, St. Christopher, Dominica, and other islands bordering on the Caribbean Sea, were dis covered. On the north, Newfoundland had been discovered by Cabot in 1457 ; and exactly forty years after, Vasco de Gama doubled the Cape of Good Hope, and opened the passage by sea to India.
Columbus had set out in 1492 with the idea that any lands he might discover to the west would be the opposite shores of the Indies, and thus originated the name West Indies. In 1498 the continent of America was first sighted west of the island of Trinidad. Amerigo Vespucci and Admiral Ojede, sailing from Cadiz in the year following, coasted the district now called Venezuela ; the whole continent receiving its name "America" after Vespucci. On the 24th of April, 1500, De Cabral was driven on the coast of Brazil,' which Vespucci carefully explored from 1500 to 1504 In 1501, Corteral sailed from Lisbon to Newfoundland, and, following the coast west and north, discovered the river St. Lawrence, and the bleak and barren coasts of Labrador. The following year Columbus explored the shores of the Mexican Gulf.