In the world's infancy oceans were unknown seas upon which the vessels
of the ancients rarely ventured beyond the sight of land; without the
compass the interminable blue water was a terrible wilderness full of
awe and wonder. The Phoenicians, who first circumnavigated Africa by
passing through the then existing canal between Suez and the Nile,
coasted the whole voyage, as did in later years the famous Portuguese,
Vasco di Gama, and stations were formed along the shores at convenient
intervals. Hanno the Carthaginian coasted to an uncertain and contested
point upon the western shores of Africa, but no ocean commercial port
was known to have existed in the early days of maritime adventure. The
Mediterranean offered peculiar advantages of physical geography; its
great length and comparatively narrow width embraced a vast area, at the
same time that it afforded special facilities for commerce in the
numerous ports and islands that would form a refuge in stress of
weather.

The countries which surrounded this great inland sea were rich; the
climate throughout its course combined the temperate with almost
tropical, according to the changes of seasons; accordingly, the
productions of the earth varying upon the northern and southern coasts,
were all that could be required for the necessities of the human race.
In this happily situated position commerce was first cradled, and by the
interchange of ideas and natural productions, artificial wants were
mutually created among the various countries around the great sea
margin; the supply of these new requirements and exchange of commodities
established trade. With the development of commerce, wealth and
prosperity increased; nations became important through the possession of
superior harbours and geographical positions, and the entire maritime
strength and commercial activity of the ancient world was represented by