Having thus given a general and cursory view of the present state of Asia, we shall conclude this article with a short account of the progressive geography of this most ancient quarter of the globe. And here it cannot but strike us as a remarkable fact, that while America, which was only discovered about three centuries ago, has been already explored in nearly all its extent,—Asia, the earliest seat of civilization, whence light and knowledge passed into Europe, has been so slowly unveiled. Its interior is yet but little known ; its northern regions are but a new discovery, and the eastern coasts have been first delineated by recent navigators. The spirit of dis covery was but just beginning when America was found out ; and the discovery of a new world was an event so extraordinary, that it almost entirely attracted the lately curiosity of Europe. It was not until the sources of gratification in this quarter were exhausted, that it was directed to the old continents of Africa and Asia. America, too, by its extent of sea coast, and its numerous navigable rivers, was more accessible than either of the other continents by navigation ; which cir cumstance, with the more simple character of its in habitants, drew to this quarter of the 'world, those who would not have ventured upon a journey through the jealous and arbitrary governments, the deceitful hordes, and wandering banditti of Asia. Besides, America was not merely an object of curiosity, but also of conquest, which in every age has been one of the chief sources of discovery. To this cause, more perhaps than to any other, is to be ascribed the rapid disclosure of this por tion of the globe. About this period the nations of Eu rope began to thirst after foreign settlements ; and to the newly discovered world were they allured by the prospects of easy conquest, and undisturbed possession. Whatsoever territories they explored, they annexed to their dominions ; and thus at no distant period from its first discovery, had the knowledge and the colonies of the Europeans extended from one end to the other of this immense continent.
But for the commencement of the geography of Asia, we must look back to a period much more remote than the discoveries of Europeans; to a period when Europe itself, lost in ignorance and barbarism, was an object of discovery to the more enlightened Asiatics. To fix, with any degree of accuracy, the point whence disco very began, and the earlier course of its progress, the want of authentic records of those first ages of the world renders exceedingly difficult. The Chinese, the Hindoos, the Persians, the Assyrians, and the Egyptians, have each preferred their several claims to precedence in the list of nations, and the career of improvement, and each have had their several abettors. Without en tering, however, into the particulars of this controversy, or determining what people are the most ancient, we shall merely state, that the concurring testimony of an tiquity points out the eastern shores of the Mediterra nean as the earliest seat of civilization, and the Assy rians, or Phoenicians, as the first nation who contributed to extend our knowledge of the habitable globe. Their neighbours, the Egyptians, were not perhaps less early.
nor less highly civilized, but their habits and manners were altogether unfriendly to the purposes of discovery. The fertile soil and mild climate of Egypt produced the necessaries and comforts of life in such profusion, as to render its inhabitants so independent of other countries, that it became early an established maxim in their poli cy to renounce all intercourse with foreigners. In con sequence of this, they held all seafaring persons in detes tation, as impious and profane ; and fortifying their har bours, they denied strangers admission into them. The reign of Sesostris, indeed, was favourable to the exten sion of geographical knowledge, and he is even said to have been the first who invented maps. The enterpri sing ambition of that prince, disdaining the restraints imposed upon it by these contracted ideas of his sub jects, prompted him to render the Egyptians a commer cial people. In the course of his reign he so completely succeeded, that (if we may give credit to some histo rians) he was able to fit out a fleet of 400 ships in the Arabian Gulf, which conquered all the countries stretch ing along the Red Sea to India. At the same time, his army, led by himself, marched through Asia, and sub jecting to his dominion every part of it, so far as the banks of the Ganges, he crossed the river, and advanced to the eastern ocean. But these efforts produced no permanent effect, and appear to have been so contrary to. the genius and habits of the Egyptians, that on the death of Sesostris, they resumed their ancient maxims, and returned to their Former seclusion from the rest of mankind.
The character of the "Plicenicians was very different. Every circumstance in their situation was favourable to the commercial spirit. The territory which they pos sessed, was neither large, nor fertile. It was from com merce only that they could derive either affluence or dominion. Accordingly, the trade carried on by the Pheenicians was extensive and adventurous; and such was the wealth which flowed upon them from this source, that the merchants of Tyre were denominated Princes, and her traffickers the Honourable of the Earth. To the west their trade extended with Europe and Africa as far as the Atlantic ocean; and to the cast, they began that commerce with India which has since passed through so many successive hands, and uni formly raised the nations by whom it was carried on to opulence and power. History likewise records, and with strong circumstances of probability, that a Phoeni cian squadron, taking its departure from the Red Sea, doubled the southern promontory of Africa, and arrived, at the end of three years, by the straits of Gades, or Gibraltar, at the mouth of the Nile: thus at that early period accomplishing what is deemed one of the most important efforts of modern navigation. The Phoeni cians, therefore, are to be regarded as the first people who, by means of their widely extended commerce, dis closed any considerable portion of Asia, their native continent, to the view of mankind; and by the planta tion of colonies in Africa and Greece, opened up a chan nel through which knowledge and civilization were af terwards diffused through Europe.