The great Explorations

The most important exploration of this period was made by Alexander The Greatin the yaers 330-323 B.C. when accompanied by land surveyors and scribes to record details of the countries through which he passed, he marched his armies through persia to Indisa , and, like a true explorer, returned by a different route.

In the 2nd and 1st century B.C.The Romans in the expansion of their empire penetrated up the Nile , as far north as the Baltic , and west ward across Europe.

Westwards exploration was extended by the Norsemen first by their discovery of Iceland  about A.D. 982, and finally by their reaching the mainland of North America about four years later. 

At about the same time the arabs were voyaging far afield in the Indian ocean , ranging fronm Spain to China , and as the south as Madagascar . Their greatest traveler was Ibn Batutawho visited every Moslem Country in a remarkablke series of journeys that lasted almost thirty years. Budhist Missionaries , passing to and fro from India to China across the deserts of Tagla Makan and Gobi , had come across what came to be known as the Jade Route, along which for centuries traders carried jade vfrom Himalyas to China in exchange far silk. 

In the same periodenvoys were sent by the Pope to great Khan of the Mughal Empire , and thus opened up the way forthe Poles , father and son - Venetian jewel merchants and the most famous land travellers of the age who journeyed twice across the Asia. 

By A.D. 1487 the Portuguese had coasted down Africa and in that year the Cape of Good Hope was rounded by Bartholomew Diaz. Thus opened the great age of Discoveries., and in thirty years all the unkown oceans were crossed  -  Columbus reaching America in 1492. Vascodama reaching India in 1498 and Magellan sailing across the Pacific and round the whole world in 1521.   

Following on the hills of Columbus , the Portuguese spread down through Brazil, and the Spaniards endeavoured to corss the continent that lay between them and the riches of the east . In A.D. 1513 Balbao crossed the Isthumus of Panama and a few years later Cortez conquered Mexico and reached the Gulf of California . The English and the French gained footings in North America and with the Dutch , began to seek a north west Passage in the Arcticas a route to China . By A.D. 1650 the existence of all the continents except America had been proved.