The first authentic account that we have of any consi derable portion of the earth's surface, is derived from the writings of Moses. The object of that writer, indeed, was not to teach men a system of geography; and therefore the information which he affords regards the earth, consi dered rather as the habitation of moral beings, than as the subject of physical research. We learn, however, from his writings, that, 1700 years before Christ, a commercial intercourse subsisted between the Midiaiiitcs, %Nit° inhabit ed the country on the northern extremity of the Persian Gulf, and Egypt, by way of Palestine. From that period, till within 500 years of the Christian era, the Hebrew wri tings make frequent allusions to the commerce of eastern countries, and it is probable that the PInmlicians were at this time acquainted with many countries, particularly to the west, of which history makes no mention. The geo graphy of the Hebrews themselves, however, does not ap pear to have extended, at this period, beyond Mount Cau casus to the north, the entrance of the lied Sea to the south, and the Archipelago to the west, including the countries of Asia Minor, Armenia, Assyria, and Arabia in Asia, with Egypt, and a little of Abyssinia in Africa. The Greeks, about the same period, reckoning Delphi the cen tre of the habitable world, were acquainted with little more than the country included under the name Greece, together with the islands in the Archipelago, the western part of Asia Minor, the sea-coast of Egypt and Lybia in Africa, and a little of the south of Italy. Beyond this cir cle all was involved in darkness and conjecture. .With regard to the Egyptians, with whom it has been supposed that the science of geography originated, there are no au thenticated facts to show, that they had ever been distin guished for enterprise or adventure, previous to the period of which we are speaking, still less that they had ever led the way in geographical discoveries. From the peculiar circumstances of their situation, they must have been ob liged, at an early period, to apply themselves to topogra phy, as they did to geometry; but there is every reason to believe that, for their knowledge of foreign countries, they were indebted to the Phoenicians and others who visited them for the purpose of commerce.
Such was the condition of the most enlightened nations of the world with regard to geographical knowledge, at the commencement of the fifth century, before the birth of Christ. In the course of the next seventy years, however, many interesting and important discoveries were made by the Greeks. Colonies of that people, either driven from their native country by intestine commotion, or induced by the prospect of wealth to go in quest of new settlements, successively established themselves in Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, and even some of the southern provinces of Spain. For their success in these enterprises, they are said to have been greatly indebted to the geographical and nautical charts which they contrived to obtain from the Phoenicians, and which, with the sphere alleged to have been constructed by Anaximander the Milesian, and disci ple of Thales, were the first attempts of which we have any authentic information, towards delineating the whole, or any considerable portion of the earth's surface. But
whatever might have been the merits of Anaximander's globe, or of the Phoenician maps, it is certain that the Greeks had not borrowed from either, any correct notions with regard to the figure of the earth. It was reserved for Herodotus to contradict, from his own personal obser vations, the idea of the habitable world being a circular plane, surrounded by the river Ocean. This distinguished writer, who has been styled the father of history, and who, as an attentive and intelligent traveller, has never been surpassed, perhaps seldom equalled by any, either in an cient or modern times, was a native of Halicarnasus, in lesser Asia. Imbibin7, in all probability, that spirit of commercial enterprise 'for which his countrymen were dis tinguished, and possessing confidence in himself sufficient to raise him above vulgar prejudices, and opinions not founded in facts, he pushed his researches into many coun tries, which till that time had never hecn explored. He visited the Greek colonies on the Black Sea, and measured the extent of the latter from the Bosphorus and the mouth of the Phasis at the eastern extremity. He traversed the country between the Borysthenes and Hypanis, now a part of southern Russia, explored the coasts of the Pains Mceotis, (sea of Azof) and obtained correct information with regard to the situation and extent of the Caspian Sea. He visited Babylon and Suza, and was well acquainted with the greater part of the Persian monarchy. He tra velled through the whole of Egypt, where he obtained a great deal of interestinp. information respecting the cara vans from the interior of Africa, and also visited the Gre cian colonies of Cyrene. From his description of the straits of Thermopylx, it is obvious that he had been in Greece, and he traced the course of the lster (Danube,) from its mouth almost to its source. Ile terminated this career of discovery and adventure, as useful to others as honourable to himself, in the southern part of Italy, where it is also supposed that he finished his much admired his tory.
In estimating the extent of the geographical information furnished by Herodotus, we are by no means to limit it to the circle which he described, and which we have just traced out. Possessing in an eminent degree those quali fications which distinguish the intelligent traveller from the mere tourist, he was enabled to collect much valuable information respecting countries which he had no oppor tunity of visiting ; and the accounts which he gives of these countries have been confirmed by the most unques tionable of all evidence, the striking similarity in the cha racteristic features of their ancient and modern inhabitants. Viewing it in this light, the geography of I lerodotus ex tended to the greater part of Poland and European Russia, western Tartary, the country on the Indus from its source to the confines of the Cashmere, Arabia, and the northern parts of Africa. He sometimes mentions Carthage, and gives an account of a traffic carried on without the inter vention of language, between the Carthaginians and a na tion beyond the Pillars of Hercules, which has been consi dered as applicable to that of Senegambia. There is no thing explicit, however, in the text of Herodotus, with re gard either to the name or the situation of the country.