1806. [Sidenote: The Thirst for New Territories] The desire for new territory, for the propagation of religion, and, above all, for the precious metals, were the chief motives which prompted the voyages of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. These motives have remained operative; and to them has been added in more recent times the spirit of pure adventure and the interest in science, together with, increasing measure, the effort to secure trade. But the extension of trade followed slowly in the wake of discovery. China and Japan remained almost closed. The policy of Spain sought to restrict her American waters to her own ships, and the commerce they carried was scanty. Communication remained slow and dangerous across the oceans till the introduction of steam vessels (1825-1830). [Illustration: The Hereford Map: about 1307 Note Paradise at the top, and Jerusalem in the centre The Fra Mauro Map: about 1457 Babylon is shown in the centre of the map The World as Known on the Eve of Discovery of America (Drawn by Martin Behaim in 1492) The World as known in 150 A.D. From a map by Ptolemy, who appears to have had knowledge of the sources of the Nile THE FIRST MAPS: SOME EARLY GEOGRAPHERS’ IDEAS OF THE WORLD] [Illustration: THE MODERN REPRESENTATION OF THE WORLD: SHOWN ON THREE DIFFERENT PROJECTIONS In each case the British Empire is shaded ] [Sidenote: Round the World in 40 Days!] Land transport, though it had steadily increased in Europe, remained costly as well as slow till the era of railway construction began in 1829. The application of steam as a motive power and of electricity as a means of communicating thought has been by far the greatest factor in this long process of reducing the dimensions of the world, which dates back as far as the domestication of beasts of burden, and the invention, first of paddles and oars, and then of sails. The North American Continent can now be crossed in five days, the South American (from Valparaiso to Buenos Ayres) in under two, the Transandine tunnel having now been pierced. The Continent which stretches from the Baltic to the North Pacific can now be traversed in twelve days. By means of the Trans-Siberian line and its steamship connection with the ports of Japan, it is now possible to go round the globe in less than fifty days. Indeed, the journey has recently been done in forty days. Nor is this acceleration of transit more remarkable than its practical immunity, as compared with earlier times, not only from the dangers for which Nature is answerable, but from those also which man formerly interposed.