Global Positioning System Reference
In-Depth Information
these famous names, and all of their achievements that make up such a
significant part of history, were motivated by the lure of the Spice Islands.
Columbus was not trying to find America; he was looking for the Indies,
where the spices came from. Magellan, rounding Cape Horn, was not
trying to circumnavigate the world; he was searching for spices. The search
for the Northeast Passage over the top of Asia was a search for a quick route
to the spiceries. The first attempts at a Northwest Passage across the top of
Canada were to find a quicker route to the spiceries. European ships, once
they had found their way, buzzed around the Moluccan archipelago likes
wasps around a jam jar. For three centuries, the spice of life in Europe was,
well, spice (fig. 6.2).
Prince Henry the Navigator set up a ''school for exploration'' at Sagres,
in Portugal. Here, mariners from around the Mediterranean world learned
navigation, improved their vessels, and developed ocean-going ships (the
caravel
in particular; see fig. 6.3). Henry sought to systematize the study
of navigation and so improve upon current practices. Under his direction,
fleets of small Portuguese ships felt their way down the west coast of Africa
and into the Atlantic. The verdant and unpopulated island of Madeira was
FIGURE 6.2.
Spices!
Photo courtesy of heydrienne.
