In doing this

　　In doing this, they were, in a fashion, making new discoveries. ForEurope was wholly ignorant of the western coast of Africa, beyond theCanaries, when their expeditions began. But all men of learning knew that,five hundred years before the Christian era, Hanno, a Carthaginian, hadsailed round Africa under the direction of the senate of Carthage. Theefforts of the King of Portugal were to repeat the voyage made by Hanno.
　　In 1441, Gonzales and Tristam sailed as far as Sierra Leone. They broughtback some blacks as slaves, and this was the beginning of the slave trade.
　　In 1446 the Portuguese took possession of the Azores, the mostwestern points of the Old World. Step by step they advanced southward,Moncler Jackets For Women,and became familiar with the African coast. Bold navigators were eager tofind the East, and at last success came. Under the king's orders, in August,1477, three caravels sailed from the Tagus, under Bartolomeo Diaz, forsouthern discovery. Diaz was himself brave enough to be willing to go onto the Red Sea, after he made the great discovery of the Cape of GoodHope, but his crews mutinied, after he had gone much farther than hispredecessors, and compelled him to return. He passed the southern cape ofAfrica and went forty miles farther,cheap north face down jacket. He called it the Cape of Torments,"Cabo Tormentoso," so terrible were the storms he met there. But whenKing John heard his report he gave it that name of good omen which it hasborne ever since, the name of the "Cape of Good Hope."In the midst of such endeavors to reach the East Indies by the longvoyage down the coast of Africa and across an unknown ocean, Columbuswas urging all people who cared, to try the route directly west. If the worldwas round, as the sun and moon were, and as so many men of learningbelieved, India or the Indies must be to the west of Portugal. The value ofdirect trade with the Indies would be enormous. Europe had alreadyacquired a taste for the spices of India and had confidence in the drugs of India. The silks and other articles of clothing made in India, and thecarpets of India, were well known and prized. Marco Polo and others hadgiven an impression that there was much gold in India; and the pearls andprecious stones of India excited the imagination of all who read histravels.
　　The immense value of such a commerce may be estimated from onefact. When, a generation after this time, one ship only of all the squadronof Magellan returned to Cadiz, after the first voyage round the world, shewas loaded with spices from the Moluccas. These spices were sold by theSpanish government for so large a sum of money that the king wasremunerated for the whole cost of the expedition, and even made a verylarge profit from a transaction which had cost a great deal in its outfit,cheap adidas shoes for sale.
　　Columbus was able, therefore, to offer mercantile adventurers thepromise of great profit in case of success; and at this time kings werewilling to take their share of such profits as might accrue.
　　The letter of Toscanelli,north face outlet, the Italian geographer, which has been spokenof, was addressed to Alphonso V, the King of Portugal. To him and hissuccessor, John the Second, Columbus explained the probability ofsuccess, and each of them, as it would seem, had confidence in it. ButKing John made the great mistake of intrusting Columbus's plan to anotherperson for experiment. He was selfish enough, and mean enough, to fit outa ship privately and intrust its command to another seaman, bidding himsail west in search of the Indies, while he pretended that he was on avoyage to the Cape de Verde Islands. He was, in fact, to follow the routeindicated by Columbus. The vessel sailed. But, fortunately for the fame ofColumbus, she met a terrible storm, and her officers, in terror, turned fromthe unknown ocean and returned to Lisbon. Columbus himself tells thisstory. It was in disgust with the bad faith the king showed in thistransaction that he left Lisbon to offer his great project to the King andQueen of Spain.