Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1892-09-03
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY.
Some Of the queer Teachings Of Old and
NELL KH0icH Writers,

IefCnl uuG IMAM II seems 10 tut wen
Informed man of today, says the YRu
kee Blade
AS to the shape Of the earth the an
clients differed. OF course in extreme
antiquity every one Who thought about
the matter at all believed the world TO
be fat. Homer evidently regarded it
as Of comparatively little extent and he
thought the ocean was a mighty stream
which flowed around it, OF cour5e in
his time the earth was supposed 10 hc
the center Of thc universe, and the sum.
moon and stars were supposed to be
large balls Of Gre few miles up in
the air, attached in some mysterious;
manner TO the walls Of the sky, which
reyolyed around the earth, taking the
stars with them.
The universe was "a very small a1.air
which the gods, who dweltu upon the top
ofOympus 10y no means 81 very lofts
mountain ruled over as they thought
best The gods themselves were NOT
very exalted beings. and had dis
graceful rows among themselves, aad
did what seems today like some very
silly aud imprudent things
A ceW hundred years later In the time
of Aristotle, a more correct but very
far from perfect idcu Of the world had
been obtained. Aristotle thought the
worlI was spherical although several,
ancient philosophers who succeeded
him did not agree with him.
BUT very little was known with -"
gard to the extent of the world m
Aristotle's day, i'm the fourth century
before Christ and but very little more
w9s known about it $500 years latcr
In the time of Columbus. lin 1000
years lhc world had Ina reality To
uouadcd rather than advanced H.
was the popular belief i'm the time of
Columbus that Che world WAS ha.
though many contemporary scholars
thought different The great einIza.
dons of tho world at that time Wcp'
grouped about the Mediterranean sea.
although England WAS % considerable
power aud the Scaudiuau1ns were %
great maualnOe people Bur Europeans
at chat tlng knew but listle of Asia
and but little OF Africa. lud America
of COURSE was undrpWael off, Evon ar
ter Columbus had discovered the latt'l
continent Le was pctcct ohliviols Of
the fact lie thought Hayti was &.
pangu. or Japan, and for a long time
regarded Cuba as a part of the main
land of Asia.
Medieval Europe knew but very little
eastern and northeastern Asia. Mlur
Of the most learned coSmoEuphers Of
the time taught that Asia stretched
eastward indefinitely and NO one ina
agined that it had am eastern 2ous
washed by the ocean Ii was seriousl'
taught hat Asia was a land of vas
sWamps inhabited by monster sepcnH
and dragons. This was the opinion That
stll Fe,aiIod up TO within 200 years o.
tie time OF Columbus.
at this time two Venetian erlmuJs
by the name OF Polo Went on a vas
trading expedition To- the uttcmos
parts Of Asia, They We're gone many
years Upon their return the son Of
one Of them, Il young man tanned Mare
Polo, wrote a fun account Of their tray
els, described the empire Of thc 1rcat
Khan-thc Chinese emporcr-and ne
vcaled the fact that Asia was bounded
ON the east side by a vast ocean. He
described this eastern coast minutely.
with all its vast cities and its wealth
Of precious stones and spices.
1t was from reading this book tina
the imagination Of Columbus was fired
aud EC conceived the hold conception OF
reaching this eastern coast of Assn
by sailing toward the west around the
earth.
So when he discovered Cuba ne had
not doubt that he had landed upon the
coast of Asia and that De ooked upon
the same scenes tllAr Marco Polo had
gazed upon POO years before
Anica was an unknown continent as
wen as Asia. Until q few years aftc
the great discovery Of Coiumbls no
one had sailed around it, and it was
quite generally thought as it had been
previously thought ia regard TO Asia,
that the African continent extended
ON and on indefinitely II was supposed
that far to the south was the zone of
heat. in which no human being could
live. This was 10y no means an Ia
reasonable inference TO the an'ients
They knew that the further they saiied
TO the north the colder it grew. and tbat
10 the extreme north was a region U'
perpetual ice and snow They alS1
knew tina. the farther they sailed 10
the south the warmer it grew and what
was more natural than for them To
suppose that If they went far enough
in that direction they would come upon
lands that were parched and baNra
and upon seas that boiled, where moth
ing could I've but salammders. The
anclents peopled aIl the seas with nor
rors Unknown and distant couuttos
were to their superstition, peop.cd
with "gorgous, hydras and chimeras
dire" The distant seas were filed with
monstrous dragons and serpents, of
which tho sea serpent is today per.
haps a surytval1he unknown oceans
were Hled with whirlpools that sucked
the mariners that were sacriligeous