-
Articles/Ads
Article A VIEW OF THE PROGRESS OF NAVIGATION. ← Page 3 of 5 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A View Of The Progress Of Navigation.
These intrepid navigators extended their commerce as far as the Black Sea , to Bythinia , and Colchis . They were accustomed to make annual voyages through the Palus Meotides for the support of their commerce . They penetrated even to the shores of the Baltic , and brought from thence amber , which they sold again to the different nations on the coasts of the Mediterranean . But the most astonishing effort of their skill and the circumna
courage , was - vigating Africa at a very earl y period . To prove that the PhsenU cians actually performed this voyage , the strongest evidences may be produced . Pliny , 1 . ii . c . 6 9 , tells us on the authority of Colitis Antipater , a celebrated historian who flourished in the time of the sedition of the Gracchi , that in his days two ships sailed from Spain , and went to traffic on the coast of Ethiopia . He adds that Hanno the
Carthagenian , sailed round Africa into the Red Sea , and returned the same way , and that Hami ' lco setting out at the same time sailed northward as far as Thule , which some think was Iceland , but others , with more reason suppose it to be the Shetland islands . He also asserts , on the authority of Cornelius Neoos , a faithfuj and much esteemed historianthat in his time a certain Eudoxusflino
, , ythe pursuit of Ptolemy Lathunus king of Egypt , embarked on the Arabian gulph , and arrived at Cadiz . ' < But the most-circumstantial account of the circumnavigation of Africa which is descended to us , is that related by Herodotus , and
winch tne Phasnicians performed by order of Nechos , king of X % ypt , about 610 years before the Christian sera . The Phanician fleet sailed ' ' from the Red Sea , entered the southern ocean , and kept constantly in sight of land . When autumn approached they went on shore , sowed grain , and watching until it was ripe , gathered in their harvest and reim . barked . Coasting in this manner along the coast of Africathey were two in arriving at the illars of
, years p Hercules ; they entered the Mediterranean , and went up to the mouth of the Nile , in the third year after their setting out . ( Herod . 1 . iv . c . 42 . ) It is worthy of remark , that Herodotus strenuousl y endeavours to throw suspicion and doubts on the truth of this narrative ; and treats as fabulous the very circumstance which confirms the veracity of the story . He could not conceive , he says , how these navi could
gators see the sun in a position contrary to that in which he is seen in Europe ! and yet it is certain , as soon as they crossed the equator , it must appear so to them . ¦ ^ A few years after the expedition performed by order of Nechos , Xerxes charged a Persian of hi gh rank with a similar commission * , but he did not proceed so far as the PhoeniciansStill more recentl
. y the Carthagenians dispatched Hanno , an experienced navigator , to make discoveries on the western coast of Africa . His relation , publi s hed originallyin thePunic language , and afterwards translated into Greek , has come down to us . And by this account we learn ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A View Of The Progress Of Navigation.
These intrepid navigators extended their commerce as far as the Black Sea , to Bythinia , and Colchis . They were accustomed to make annual voyages through the Palus Meotides for the support of their commerce . They penetrated even to the shores of the Baltic , and brought from thence amber , which they sold again to the different nations on the coasts of the Mediterranean . But the most astonishing effort of their skill and the circumna
courage , was - vigating Africa at a very earl y period . To prove that the PhsenU cians actually performed this voyage , the strongest evidences may be produced . Pliny , 1 . ii . c . 6 9 , tells us on the authority of Colitis Antipater , a celebrated historian who flourished in the time of the sedition of the Gracchi , that in his days two ships sailed from Spain , and went to traffic on the coast of Ethiopia . He adds that Hanno the
Carthagenian , sailed round Africa into the Red Sea , and returned the same way , and that Hami ' lco setting out at the same time sailed northward as far as Thule , which some think was Iceland , but others , with more reason suppose it to be the Shetland islands . He also asserts , on the authority of Cornelius Neoos , a faithfuj and much esteemed historianthat in his time a certain Eudoxusflino
, , ythe pursuit of Ptolemy Lathunus king of Egypt , embarked on the Arabian gulph , and arrived at Cadiz . ' < But the most-circumstantial account of the circumnavigation of Africa which is descended to us , is that related by Herodotus , and
winch tne Phasnicians performed by order of Nechos , king of X % ypt , about 610 years before the Christian sera . The Phanician fleet sailed ' ' from the Red Sea , entered the southern ocean , and kept constantly in sight of land . When autumn approached they went on shore , sowed grain , and watching until it was ripe , gathered in their harvest and reim . barked . Coasting in this manner along the coast of Africathey were two in arriving at the illars of
, years p Hercules ; they entered the Mediterranean , and went up to the mouth of the Nile , in the third year after their setting out . ( Herod . 1 . iv . c . 42 . ) It is worthy of remark , that Herodotus strenuousl y endeavours to throw suspicion and doubts on the truth of this narrative ; and treats as fabulous the very circumstance which confirms the veracity of the story . He could not conceive , he says , how these navi could
gators see the sun in a position contrary to that in which he is seen in Europe ! and yet it is certain , as soon as they crossed the equator , it must appear so to them . ¦ ^ A few years after the expedition performed by order of Nechos , Xerxes charged a Persian of hi gh rank with a similar commission * , but he did not proceed so far as the PhoeniciansStill more recentl
. y the Carthagenians dispatched Hanno , an experienced navigator , to make discoveries on the western coast of Africa . His relation , publi s hed originallyin thePunic language , and afterwards translated into Greek , has come down to us . And by this account we learn ,