Cushing, Principles of Human Geography (2d ed., 1922); E. Huntington and F. W. Williams, Business Geography (1922); William H. Emmons, Geology of Petroleum (1921); and C. C. Colby, Source Book for the Economic Geography of North America (1921).

SELECTED READINGS

Harper's Atlas of American History, introduction by D. R. Fox.

SCHLESINGER, A. M., New Viewpoints in American History, Chaps. I, II and III.

SEMPLE, E. C., American History and Its Geographic Conditions, Chaps. I-III.

BRIGHAM, A. P., Geographic Influences in American History, Chaps. I–III. COLBY, C. C., Source Book for the Economic Geography of North America, Chaps. VIII-XII.

CHAPTER II

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF
COLONIZATION

Medieval Commerce.-The discovery of America was brought about by a train of circumstances extending back through centuries of European history and culminating at the end of the fifteenth century. Intellectual, political, and, above all, economic factors contributed to make this a turning point in world history. The fifteenth century and beginning of the sixteenth marked the height of the Renaissance, a period of inquiry and dissatisfaction with the old order. In political life the modern state was being erected on the ruins of feudalism; with the national state came a cessation of the private warfare of the Middle Ages, greater protection to travelers and merchants, and fewer tolls. More settled conditions encouraged the extension of trade and commerce, and the revived economic life led naturally to exploration and discovery. The latter was aided by the compass and astrolabe, by that time in general use; while the news of scientific and commercial progress was disseminated by means of the printing press, invented about the middle of the fifteenth century.

But more important than any motive yet mentioned was the desire on the part of the Europeans to find a quicker and cheaper route to the East. From immemorial antiquity Europe had been dependent upon Asia for most of her luxuries and many of her necessities. The importance of spices in the Middle Ages is difficult to appreciate to-day, when meat is kept fresh by cold storage or curing, but the monotonous diet and coarse food of those times made spices and condiments so desirable that they were frequently sent as gifts of honor from one sovereign to another. Pepper from the Malabar coast of India was a staple import during the Middle Ages and used by all who could afford it. Cloves, cinnamon, nutmegs from the Moluccas and sugar from Arabia and Persia were more expensive and less commonly

used, but in great demand. Apothecaries obtained many of their drugs from Asia; among them rhubarb, balsam, gums, aloes, cubebs, and camphor. The precious stones which adorned the persons of the upper classes in Europe came almost exclusively from the East.

Trade with the East, however, was not confined exclusively to such luxuries as spices, drugs, and precious stones. An important class of wares which served manufacturing industries, namely dyestuffs, found their source here. Indigo was the chief staple of Bagdad, while Brazil-wood, producing a red dye, came from India. Other dyes, when the best quality was demanded, were imported from the East. Alum, considered indispensable for fixing colors in dyeing and one of the most desirable products of the Levant trade, was procured mainly in Asia Minor. Manufactured products, superior in workmanship, material, and design to anything known in Europe, came also from the East: glass and cutlery from Damascus, Samarkand, and Bagdad; porcelain from China; a great variety of cottons and silks from India, China, Persia, and Asia Minor. Persian rugs, Cashmere shawls, taffeta silk, damask linen, and japanned ware, all testify to the Eastern origin of the most sought after textiles, rugs, tapestries, and household luxuries.

In return for these products Europe could offer only woolen fabrics and such metals and minerals as arsenic, antimony, quicksilver, tin, copper, and lead. Although these products were much valued in the East, their weight and bulk made transportation on the long overland routes an arduous and unrewarded task. The balance of trade was consequently always in favor of Asia, and Europe was gradually being drained of gold and silver, a situation from which she was eventually saved only through the mines of Mexico and Peru.

While trade with the Near and the Far East was a leading factor in the economic life of the Middle Ages, little was known by Europeans of Asia or the routes thereto. Trade had flourished in ancient times, but during the barbaric invasions of the fifth century and the succeeding conflicts this commerce had been largely broken up. A general awakening of economic life in the

eleventh century set in motion with renewed vigor the intercourse with the East, a movement greatly aided by the Crusades (10951270). Not alone did the Crusades enlarge the vision and knowledge of Europeans by introducing them again to the learning and products of Asia, but it laid the foundations for the prosperity of the Italians in this trade. Towns at the extreme south of the Italian peninsula, such as Bari, Trani, Brindisi, and Taranto, sprang into importance, as did Amalfi on the bay of Naples, Genoa at the head of the Tyrrhenian Sea, and Venice at the head of the Adriatic.

Medieval Trade Routes.—The products of the East reached Europe over three main trade routes, of which the oldest and most important during the greater part of the Middle Ages was the central passage. Merchandise was gathered from India and the Far East and brought to Ormuz at the north of the Persian Gulf, and thence to Bossorah at the mouth of the Tigris and up the valley to Bagdad. From Bagdad the routes spread like a fan either north to Tabriz, westward to Antioch, Damascus, or Jaffa, or southwest to Alexandria. From here and other ports on the eastern Mediterranean the products found their way to Europe. The southern route was chiefly a sea route leading from India (usually Calicut on the southwestern coast) across the Arabian Sea to the Red Sea. The cargoes in most cases were landed on the western coast and transferred to caravans, which carried them to the Nile, upon which they were floated down to Cairo. This route, although attended by difficulties of navigation, was undoubtedly the cheapest and quickest, and at the close of the Middle Ages the most important. The northern route, which was entirely overland, was in reality a system of routes leading from the inland provinces of China and India to Samarkand and Bokhara on the western slope of the Tian-Shan Mountains. At Bokhara the routes branched, one leading into the Caspian and up the Volga to central Russia and the Baltic, while the other continued west through Tabriz and Armenia to Trebizond on the Black Sea and thence to Europe.

The terminal points, then, of the eastern trade were such cities as Trebizond on the Black Sea, Constantinople on the Bosphorus,

purchased what goods had escaped destruction from the elements and confiscation by pirates. The bulk of the Levant trade during the five hundred years from 1000 to 1500 rested in the hands of the Italians, and the three cities of Venice, Genoa, and Pisa struggled for supremacy in this trade, while Florence became a

Acre, Beirut, Tripoli, Laodicea, and Jaffa on the Syrian coast, and Alexandria at the mouth of the Nile. At these cities, and even in such inland points as Damascus, Aleppo, and Antioch, merchants from Spain, France, and Italy met the caravans and