Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typ...os. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. THE COUNTBY AND ITS RESOURCES. DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT?PHYSICAL ASPECTS AND TERRI- TORIAL EXTENT THE CLIMATE AND ITS VARIATIONS THE GULF-CURRENT AND ITS EFFECTS?THE MINERALS AND THE METALS COAL, IRON, GOLD, SILVER, PETROLEUM. DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT. Arout twelve centuries ago, Virgillius, au Irish missionary bishop in Germany, was imprisoned by the pope, for advancing the idea that the earth was n sphere instead of a plain, and that the inhabitants of Europe had their antipodes on the other side of the globe. For centuries the idea was almost forgotten with the bishop, but reappeared in the person of a young Genoese, who lived on the shores of the Mediterranean. He rightly inferred that another country lay beyond the "dark unlawim sea" that rolled west of the pillars of Hercules?those gates of Africa and Europe that shut in the old world, and shut out the new. Through years of anxious waiting, and a series of difficulties, he led the way, until his feet stood on the ever-green shore of a West India Isle, when he exclaimed with exuberant delight, " Gloria in e.xcehi Dei:" Glory to God in the highest. He called the island "SanSalvador," made a great discovery, found a new world, and changed the highway of commerce from the Arabian Desert, and the Cape of GoodHope to the Atlantic Ocean and the American continent. A shorter way to India was not discovered, but a larger and a richer continent was added by Columbus to those already known. The discovery of America, the invention of printing, and the great Reformation, were events that followed each other in rapid succession?creating a new era of maritime discovery, scientific knowledge, and religious life. The night of the dark ages was far spent, and the dawn of civilization was begun; the day of freed...Detailed info »« Brief info