CHAPTER I.

EARLY CIRCUMNAVIGATIONS, OR VOYAGES ROUND THE WORLD.

INTRODUCTION.


In this _fourth_ book of the _second_ part of our arrangement, it is
proposed to give a history of the principal Circumnavigations, or
Voyages Round the World, previous to the reign of our present venerable
sovereign. This book, therefore, comprises a period of 226 years, from
the year 1519, when Magellan sailed from Spain on the first
circumnavigation of the globe, till the year 1744, when Commodore Anson
returned to England from a similar expedition. The more recent
circumnavigations, which have taken place since the year 1760, chiefly
under the munificent and enlightened patronage of GEORGE III. or in
imitation of these, and which have largely contributed to extend, and
almost to render perfect, the geography and hydrography of the
terraqueous globe, are intended to form a separate division, in a
subsequent part of our arrangement.

The accurate knowledge which we now possess of the form and dimensions
of this globe of earth and water which we inhabit, has been entirely
owing to the superior skill of the moderns in the mathematical sciences,
as applicable to the practice of navigation, and to the observation and
calculation of the motions of the heavenly bodies, for the ascertainment
of latitudes and longitudes. It would require more space than can be
conveniently devoted on the present occasion, to give any clear view of
the geographical knowledge possessed by the ancients, together with a
history of the progress of that science, from the earliest times,