At The Period When The Roman Empire Was Destroyed,
Little More Was Known; And During The Middle Ages, Geography Was
Feebly
assisted and extended by a desire to possess the luxuries of the East,
(which seems to have been as
Powerful and general with the conquerors of
the Romans as with the Romans themselves,) by the religious zeal of a few
priests, and by the zeal for knowledge which actuated a still smaller
number of travellers.
The desire of obtaining the luxuries of the East, however, was the
predominating principle, and the efficient cause of the extension of
geography. Actuated by it, the passage of the Cape of Good Hope was
accomplished; the eastern limits of Asia were reached; America was
discovered, and even the Frozen Seas were braved and carefully examined, in
the hope that by them a speedier passage might be found to the countries
which produced these luxuries. At length the love of conquest, of wealth,
and of luxury, which alone are sufficiently gross and stimulating in their
nature to act on men in their rudest and least intellectual state, and
which do not loose their hold on the most civilized, enlightened, and
virtuous people, was assisted by the love of science; and though when this
union took place, little of the globe was unknown, as respected its grand
outline, and the general extent and relative situation of the seas and
lands which compose its surface, yet much remained to be accomplished in
determining the details of geography; in fixing accurately and
scientifically the situation of places; in exhibiting the surface of the
land, as it was distinguished by mountains, plains, lakes, rivers, &c.; in
gaining a full and accurate knowledge of the natural history of each
country, and of the manners, customs, institutions, religion, manufactures
and commerce of its inhabitants.
Before we give a sketch of the progress of commercial enterprize during the
last hundred years, it will be proper to notice the advancement of
geographical science during the same period, and the assistance which was
thus afforded, as well as from other sources, to those who travelled both
by sea and land, for the purpose of discovering or exploring foreign and
distant countries. This part of our subject seems naturally to divide
itself into three parts; viz. the improvement of maps, which was equally
advantageous to sea and land travellers; those particulars which rendered
navigation more safe, easy, and expeditious; and those particulars which
bestowed the same benefit on land travellers.
The science of geography dates its origin, as we have already mentioned,
from Mercator, though he was unable to point out and explain the law,
according to which the projection which bears his name might be laid down
on fixed principles: this was effected by an Englishman of the name of
Wright. Mathematical geography, strictly so called, seems to have owed its
origin to the discussion respecting the flattening of the Poles, which took
place, in the beginning of the eighteenth century, among Newton, Huygens,
and Cassini, and which was afterwards continued by some of the most
distinguished mathematicians and natural philosophers of France and
England.
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