[Illustration: THE KNOWN WORLD IN 1490; ROUTES TO INDIA.]

THE PORTUGUESE SEEK A NEW ROUTE.--Clearly an ocean route to the East was
needed, and on the discovery of such a route the Portuguese had long been
hard at work. Fired by a desire to expand Portugal and add to the
geographical knowledge of his day, Prince Henry "the Navigator" sent out
explorer after explorer, who, pushing down the coast of Africa, had almost
reached the equator before Prince Henry died. [2] His successors continued
the good work, the equator was crossed, and in 1487 Dias passed the Cape
of Good Hope and sailed eastward till his sailors mutinied. Ten years
later Vasco da Gama sailed around the end of Africa, up the east coast,
and on to India, and brought home a cargo of eastern products. A way to
India by water was at last made known to Europe. [3]

[Illustration: A CARAVEL, A SHIP OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.]

COLUMBUS PLANS A ROUTE.--Meanwhile Christopher Columbus [4] planned what
he thought would be a shorter ocean route to the East. He had studied all
that was known of geography in his time. He had carefully noted the
results of recent voyages of exploration. He had read the travels of Marco
Polo [5] and had learned that off the coast of China was a rich and
wonderful island which Polo called Cipango. He believed that the earth is
a sphere, and that China and Cipango could be reached by sailing about
2500 miles due westward across the Atlantic.

COLUMBUS SEEKS AID.--To make others think so was a hard task, for nearly
everybody believed the earth to be flat, and several sovereigns were
appealed to before one was found bold enough to help him. He first applied
to the king of Portugal, and when that failed, to the king and queen of
Spain. [6] When they seemed deaf to his appeal, he sent his brother to