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various commemorations of the discovery of the New World during the last two years have quickened the historical instincts of every student, and as the momentous nature of that event in the history of the world becomes more vividly apparent, the essentially historical problem to learn how it all came about becomes more and more fascinating. Columbus became convinced that his project was practicable by the combined force of two lines of influence, the speculative views of Aristotle, Seneca, and Toscanelli, and the results of the Portuguese explorations of the coast of Africa, which at every step winnowed the geographical tradition of its terrifying chaff. According to his son Ferdinand, it was his reflections upon the Portuguese voyages that prompted his careful study of the cosmographers and collection of evidence from every quarter. If they went so far south would it not be possible to go west and strike land?

It is possible that Columbus might have ventured without the incitement of the Portuguese explorations, but without