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 GEOGRAPHY

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GEOGRAPHY

PetPr Martyr d'Anghierra {1475-1526), prior of Gra- nada, and a friend of Columbus. It is especially noteworthy for its intelligent observations on ocean currents and volcanoes, which its author doubtless de- rived from missionaries. A most simal contribution was the "Historia natural y moral de las Indias" (1 588), by the Jesuit Jose d'Acosta (15.39-1(500), who lived in Peru from 1571 to 1588, and proved himself one of the most brilliant writers on the natural history of the New World and the customs of the Indians. The first thorough exploration of Brazil was made by Jesuit missionaries, under Father Ferre (1599-16.32) and others. Starting from Quito, Franciscans visited the region aroimd the source of the Amazon in 163.3. Father Laureano de la Cruz penetrated as far as the River Napo in 1047, and in 1650 made a journey by boat as far as the Para River.

To missionaries, also, we ow'e important informa- tion concerning the interior of Africa during the six- teenth, and at the beginning of the seventeenth, cen- tury. The Portuguese priests Alvarez and Bermvidez accompanied the embassy of King Emanuel to King David III of Abyssinia. They sent home valuable reports regarding the countrj'. They were followed by the Jesuits. A. Ternandez crossed Southern Abyssinia, as far as Melinde, in 1613, and set foot in regions which imtil recently were closed to the Euro- peans. Father Paez (1603) and Father Lobo (1623) were the first to reach the source of the Blue Nile. As early as the middle of the seventeenth century the Jesuits drew a map of Abyssinia on the information supplied by these two men and by Fathers Almeida, Mendez, and Telez. It was the best map of Abj's- sinia until the time of Abbadie ( 1810-97). At the re- quest of Bishop Migliore of S. JIarco, the Portuguese Duarte Lopez (1591) wrote an important description of the Congo territory. The "Etiopia Oriental" (1609) by the Dominican Juan dos Santos was an authority on the lake country and eastern Central Africa until Livingstone's transcontinental expedi- tion. The Jesuit mi-ssionaries Machado, Affonso, and Paiva in 1630 even thought of establishing communi- cation between Abyssinia and the Congo territory. The Arabian Leo Africanus, whom Pope Leo X had educated, and who was named after him, wrote a book describing the Sudan. It was published by Ramusio in 1552 and was considered the only reliable authority on this country till the nineteenth century. More careful research led to the sending of mission- aries to Central Asia. The Augustinian Gonzalez de Mendoza made the first really intelligible map of China in 1585, and Father Benedict Goes opened the land route thither, after a perilous journey from India, in 1602. Thereupon the Jesuits Ricci and Schall, both learned mathematicians and astronomers, pre- pared the cartographic survey of the country. Ricci (1553-1610), as the "geographer of China", is justly compared to Marco Polo, the "discoverer of China". Using his notes. Father Trigault issued an historical and geographical treatise on China in 1615. Father Andrada visited Tibet in 1624, and published, in 1626, a book describing it which was afterwards trans- lated into five languages. Borrus and Rhodes pub- lished reports on Farther India.

The science of cartography now made a quite un- expected advance, due to the frequent and repeatedly enlarged editions of Ptolemy's work that were issued by the Benedictine Ruysch (1508), by Bernardus Syl- vanus (1511), Waldseemiiller (1513), and others. Canon Martin Waldseeniiiller's map of the world (St- Di^, 1507) was his most distinguished achievement. It was the first to give to the New World the name of America. Bishop Olaus Magnus, one of the most illus- trious geographers of the Renaissance, made a map of Northern Europe in 1539. He also undertook a long journey in the North in 1518-19 and was the first man to propound the idea of a north-east passage. The

great map-makers Mercator and Ortelius also received devoted help and encouragement from ecclesiastics.

The most important result of the astronomical and physiographical observations made during this period was the discovery and establishment of the heliocen- tric system by Copernicus, canon of Konigsberg (147.3-1543). Celio Calcagnini (1479-1541) had pre- pared the way for this theory. In spite of the fact that his hjT^othesis was in direct contradiction to hitherto accepted interpretations of Holy Writ, such high dignitaries of the Church as Schomberg, Giese, Dantiscus, and others encouraged Copernicus to make public his discovery. Moreover Pope Paul III gra- ciously accepted the dedication of the work " De revolu- tionibus orbium ca?lestium" which appeared in 1543. Among the foremost astronomers was the Jesuit Scheiner (1575-1650). He and his assistant Cysatus were the first to notice the spots on the sun (1612), and founded the science of heliographic physics, of which Galileo had not even thought. The Capuchin monk Schyrl (Schyrheus) de Rheita built a terrestrial tele.scope in 1645 and drew a chart of the moon. Nor did isolated physical phenomena pass unnoticed; at- tempts had already been made to classify them syste- matically. Giovanni Botero ( 1560-1617), secretary to St. Charles Borromeo, ranked with Peter MartjT among the first writers on deep-sea research — or thal- assography, and is considered to be the founder of statistical science. His "Relatione del mare" (1599) is the earliest known monograph on the subject of the ocean. He was followed by the Jesuit Fournier, who.se significant " Hydrographie " (1641) treats encyclopedically of oceanic science. At Ingol- stadt (Eck and Scheiner) and Vienna (Celtes, Stabius, Tannstatter) geography was treated with espe- cial care. The first professor of geography at Wit- tenberg was Barthel Stein, who entered a monastery at Breslau in 1511 and completed a description of Silesia in 1512-13. Cochla'us 1 1479-1552). humanist and theologian, sought to make the scientific study of ancient authors (Meteorology of Aristotle, Geography of Mela) a part of higher education. He instilled a knowledge of geography into his pupils which at that time was without equal. Johann Eck, Luther's op- ponent, wrote a much-praised work on the physical geography of moim tains and rivers for his lectures at Freiburg. The Jesuit Borrus was the forerunner of Halley the astronomer. He drew up a chart showing the magnetic variations of the compass in 1620.

(2) About the middle of the seventeenth century it was left almost exclusively for missionaries, going about their unselfish, silent, and consequently much under-estimated labours, to continue geographical re- search until, towards the end of the eighteenth cen- tury, great expeditions were sent out, supported by states and corporations and equipped with every pos- sible scientific and technical aid and appliance. The missionaries achieved results from their work that en- title them to the credit of having been the pioneers of scientific geography and its strenuous co-operators. Bold expeditions exploring the interior of continents became more frequent. Numerous reports on Canada from the hands of Jesuit missionaries, dated between the years 1632 and 1672, have been preserved. The Franciscan Friar Gabriel Sagard, commonly called Theodat, sojourned among the Hurons from 1624 to 1626. The Jesuits Bouton (1658) and de Tertre (1687) devoted a few pamphlets to the Antilles and the C'arib tribes. It was at that time that the great ■ rivers of .America for the first time became adequately known. Under the leadership of La Salle, the Fran- ciscans Hennepin, de la Ribourde, and Membr6 pene- trated to the threat Lakes and Niagara Falls in 1680 anil the following years. The same men navigated the Mississippi, of which even the Delta had been scarcely known until then. Mexico and California as far as the Rio Colorado were traversed by the Jesuits