sness and ferocity of hostile tribes of men. In short, the
maritime route enabled European traders to see India for themselves, to
examine what were its products and its wants, and by what means a
profitable exchange on both sides could be established; and on this
basis of knowledge, ships could leave the ports of their owners in
Europe with a reasonable hope, via the Cape, of reaching the places to
which they were destined without transhipment or other intermediary
obstacle. This is the explanation to be given of the joy with which the
Cape of Good Hope route was received, as well as the immense influence
it exerted on the future course and extension of trade, and of the no
less apparent satisfaction with which it was to some extent discarded in
favour of the ancient line, via the Mediterranean, Isthmus of Suez and
the Red Sea.

Discovery of America.

The maritime route to India was the discovery to the European nations of
a "new world" quite as much as the discovery of North and South America
and their central isthmus and islands. The one was the far, populous
Eastern world, heard of from time immemorial, but with which there had
been no patent lines of communication. The other was a vast and
comparatively unpeopled solitude, yet full of material resources, and
capable in a high degree of European colonization. America offered less
resistance to the action of Europe than India, China and Japan; but on
the other hand this new populous Eastern world held out much attraction
to trade. These two great terrestrial discoveries were contemporaneous;
and it would be difficult to name any conjuncture of material events
bearing with such importance on the history of the world. The Atlantic
Ocean was the medium of both; and the waves of the Atlantic beat into
all the bays and tidal rivers of western Europe. The centre of
commercial activity was thus physically changed; and the formative power
of trade over human affairs was seen in the subsequent phenomena--the
rise of great seaports on the Atlantic seaboard, and the ceaseless
activity of geographical exploration, manufactures, shipping and
emigration, of which they became the outlets.

Increase of trading settlements and colonies.

The Portuguese are entitled to the first place in utilizing the new
sources of wealth and commerce. They obtained Macao as a settlement from
the Chinese as early as 1537, and their trading operations followed
close on the discoveries of t