To Ptolemy, however, has geography been more in debted than to any other philosopher. By him it was established on its proper principles, and intimately con nected, both with astronomical observation and mathe matical science. In his famous treatise were the differ ent parts of the earth first described, according to their latitude and longitude ; though, from the imperfection of ancient knowledge, and of ancient instruments, his positions were often extremely erroneous. This work soon rose into high estimation ; and, during the middle ages, both in Arabia and in Europe, the decisions of Ptolemy, in every thing relating to geography, were submitted to as implicitly as those of Aristotle in all the other departments of science.
From the limits of Asiatic geography, as described by Ptolemy, it appears, that not above one quarter of this continent was known to the ancients ; and, for many centuries after his time, little additional knowledge con cerning it was communicated to Europeans.
In the sixth century, Cosmos, an Egyptian merchant, in the course of his traffic, made some voyages to India, whence he acquired the surname of Indico Pleustes ; but afterwards, by a transition not uncommon in that su perstitious age, he renounced all the concerns of this life, and assumed the monastic character. In his soli tude he composed several works ; one of which, digni Red by the name of Christian Topography, has reached our times. This work, amidst the wild and visionary reveries with which it is filled, contains some new in formation concerning the western coast of the peninsu la of India, the island of Taprobanc, and the Persian commerce in the Indian Sea.
In the following century, the Mahommedan conquest extended the knowledge of the Arabians from the shores of the Atlantic to the frontiers of China : But this knowledge, from the insuperab:c aversion, and total want of intercourse between the professors of two rival religions, spread but slowly into Europe. This very i aversion, however, contributed, in another instance, to increase the acquaintance of Europeans with the East, by giving rise to the crusades, or those expeditions for the recovery of the Holy Land, which issued in the con quest of Syria, and the establishment of a Christian kingdom in Jerusalem.
In the year 1245, pope Innocent IV. sent a mission, composed of Franciscan and Dominican friars, to the victorious Zcnglis, emperor of the Mongols. Of these, Carpini and Ascelin reported their relations on their re turn. In 1253, St Louis of France dispatched Rubru
quis, a chosen messenger, to the court of the same prince. These embassies, which proceeded to Kara kunt, the Mongol capital, situated in the remotest parts of Asia, considerably extended our acquaintance with the regions of the East.
At length the discovery of Asia begins to dawn : the Eoan ocean of the ancients disappears, and warlike na tions, and vast empires, emerge from the imaginary waves. To the travels of Marco Polo, a Venetian of noble family, undertaken in the end of the thirteenth century, we are indebted for this important accession of knowledge concerning the extent of the Asiatic conti nent. After trading for some time in many of the opu lent cities of Lesser Asia, he penetrated into the more eastern parts of the continent, as far as to the court of the great khan, on the frontiers of China. During the course of twenty-six years, partly employed in mercan tile transactions, and partly in conducting negociations with which the great khan intrusted him, he explored many regions of the East, which no European had ever visited.
He describes the great kingdom of Cathay, the name by which China is still known in many parts of the East ; and travelled through it from Chanthalu, or Pc kin, on its northern frontier, to some of its most south ern provinces. He visited different parts of Hindos tan, and is the first who mentions Bengal and Guzzerat by their present names, as great and opulent kingdoms. Besides what he discovered in his journics by land, he made more than one voyage in the Indian Ocean, and acquired some information concerning Japan. He visit ed, in person, Java, and several islands contiguous to it, the island of Ceylon, and the coast of Malabar, as far as the Gulf of Cambay ; to all which lie gives the names that they now bear. This was the most extensive sur vey hitherto made of the East, and the most complete description of it ever given by any European ; and in that age, which had scarcely any knowledge of those re gions, but what was derived from the geography of Pto lemy, all Europe was astonished at the discovery of im mense countries opened to their view, beyond what had hitherto been reputed the utmost boundary of the earth in that quarter. From the north of Siberia to the In dian Ocean, from Constantinople to Japan, few objects of consequence have escaped the eye of this inquisitive traveller, whose discoveries form an important epoch in the history of Asiatic geography.