This book has been prepared for the purpose of affording material for such an interrelation. The plan of interrelation is simple. As the study of the world as a whole, in the manner already sketched, progresses, the appropriate chapters are read, discussed, and reproduced, and the routes of the various discoverers and explorers traced. No further word seems to the writer necessary in regard to the interrelation. DRESDEN, July 15, 1899. CONTENTS. PAGE BELIEFS AS TO THE WORLD FOUR HUNDRED YEARS AGO . . 9 MARCO POLO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 COLUMBUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 VASCO DA GAMA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 JOHN AND SEBASTIAN CABOT'S VOYAGES . . . . . . . . 44 AMERIGO VESPUCCI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 PONCE DE LEON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 BALBOA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 MAGELLAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 HERNANDO CORTES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 FRANCISCO PIZARRO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 FERDINAND DE SOTO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 THE GREAT RIVER AMAZON, AND EL DORADO . . . . . . 92 VERRAZZANO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 THE FAMOUS VOYAGE OF SIR FRANCIS DRAKE--1577 . . . 108 HENRY HUDSON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 DISCOVERERS AND EXPLORERS. BELIEFS AS TO THE WORLD FOUR HUNDRED YEARS AGO. Four hundred years ago most of the people who lived in Europe thought that the earth was flat. They knew only the land that was near them. They knew the continent of Europe, a small part of Asia, and a strip along the northern shore of Africa. [Illustration: The World as Known Four Hundred Years ago.] They thought this known land was surrounded by a vast body of water that was like a broad river. Sailors were afraid to venture far upon this water, for they feared they would fall over the edge of the earth. Other seafaring men believed that if they should sail too far out upon this water their vessels would be lost in a fog, or that they would suddenly begin to slide downhill, and would never be able to return. Wind gods and storm gods, too, were supposed to dwell upon this mysterious sea. Men believed that these wind and storm gods would be very angry with any one who dared to enter their domain, and that in their wrath they would hurl the ships over the edge of the earth, or keep them wandering round and round in a circle, in the mist and fog. It is no wonder that the name "Sea of Darkness" was given to this great body of water, which we now know to be the Atlantic Ocean; nor is it surprising that the sailors feared to venture far out upon it.