LA GUERRE DE CHYPRE ET LA BATAILLE DE LePANTE, J. P. Jurien de la Graviere, 1888. By the same author, DORIA ET BARBEROUSSE, 1886. HISTORY OF THE REIGN OF PHILIP THE SECOND (vol. III.), W. H. Prescott, 1858. SEA WOLVES OF THE MEDITERRANEAN, E. Hamilton Currey. This contains a full bibliography. THE NAVY OF VENICE, Alethea Wiel, 1910. THE EASTERN QUESTION (chap. V.), J. A. R. Marriott, 1917. BARBARY CORSAIRS, Story of the Nations Series, Lane-Poole, 1890. DRAKE AND THE TUDOR NAVY (Introduction), J. S. Corbett, 1898. GEOGRAPHY AND WORLD POWER, James Fairgrieve, 1917. CHAPTER VI OPENING THE OCEAN ROUTES 1. PORTUGAL AND THE NEW ROUTE TO INDIA From the days of the Phoenicians to the close of the 15th century, all trade between Europe and Asia crossed the land barrier east of the Mediterranean. Delivered by Mohammedan vessels at the head of the Persian Gulf or the ports of the Red Sea, merchandise followed thence the caravan routes across Arabia or Egypt to the Mediterranean, quadrupling in value in the transit. Intercourse between East and West, active under the Romans, was again stimulated by the crusades and by Venetian traders, until in the 14th and the 15th centuries the dyes, spices, perfumes, cottons, muslins, silks, and jewels of the Orient were in demand throughout the western world. This assurance of a ready market and large profits, combined with the capture of Constantinople by the Turks (1453), their piratical attacks in the Mediterranean which continued unchecked until Lepanto, and their final barring of all trade routes through the Levant, revived among nations of western Europe the old legends of all-water routes to Asia, either around Africa or directly westward across the unknown sea. With the opening of ocean routes and the discovery of America, a rivalry in world trade and colonial expansion set in which has continued increasingly down to the present time, forming a dominant element in the foreign policies of maritime nations and a primary motive for the possession and use of navies. The development of overseas trade, involving the factors of merchant shipping, navies, and control of the seas, is thus an integral part of the history of sea power. The great voyages of discovery are also not to be disregarded, supplying as they did the basis for colonial claims, and illustrating at the same time the progress of nautical science and geographical knowledge. [Illustration: CROSS-STAFF]