America was the best-kept secret in history. Before Columbus the peoples of Europe did not even imagine that this continent was here. Their maps and globes of the earth showed only Europe, Asia, and Africa and left no room for another continent. The greatest surprise was that there really was an America. Columbus himself believed that he had reached the shores of Asia. It was another Italian, Anlerigo Vespucci, who suggested that this was a whole new world. And mapmakers wrote the word America on their maps in honor of him. But at first America seemed only an unlucky obstacle between Europe and the riches of India and China. America was discovered by accident.
And what a surprise it was! 〔 ア 〕
Was it really possible that there was an “extra” continent? The Romans had sailed thousands of miles, even to India. The Spanish and Portuguese explored all the way to Iceland and down and around Africa. How could so much of the earth have been kept a secret? If there could be continents that the peoples of Europe never even imagined, how much more might there be in the world that they had not imagined? It was just a few years before the Puritans landed in New England that Shakespeare warned, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio*, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” The American surprise promised a world of endless surprises.
〔 イ 〕 European sailors were afraid to sail straight westward into this vast unknown. That way to Asia seemed too many miles. For you had to be able to go there and back. (1) Finally the bold and enterprising sailor Columbus was willing to take his chance and persuaded a doubting crew to go alone. He knew the winds and the current from sailing far north and south along Europe’s Atlantic coast. And he knew how to bring his ships back.
At first only a vast ocean could have kept America from the greedy adventuring peoples of Europe. And later only the ocean could have carried so many so far seeking homes. They could hardly have come in such large numbers over three thousand miles by land. 〔 ウ 〕There were few highways but any highway robbers who hid behind high rocks and around bends in the road, ready to relieve passengers of their baggage or even of their lives. Unless you walked, you needed teams of horses, which tired, got stuck in the mud, and had to be fed and watered along the way.
But the ocean was convenient and pleasant and usually friendly. Though, of course, the sea was sometimes rough, still often enough it was calm. If you knew the winds and the currents, had a compass, and could follow the stars at night, you would make your way faster and safer than on land. 〔 エ 〕But the winds never had to be fed, and they worked around the clock. On the sea, robbers found no place to hide, and pirates* themselves had to take great risks in the wide ocean. The ocean was lucky in still other ways, for it made people travel in large groups. 〔 オ 〕 Only a large vessel could survive the stormy seas and carry provisions for the seven weeks’ passage. In the Mayflower you were traveling with a hundred other passengers, besides captain and crew. You could walk about the deck, dance and sing and play games on the way. (2)You sailed in a little traveling town. You heard *sermons, made laws, and exchanged stories as you went.
You did not have to trust to innkeepers on the way. The ship carried food and water and could even bring along treasured pieces of furniture, musical instruments, and favorite books. Cows on board, when they were not seasick, could provide fresh milk. By the time (A)( 1 ) ( 2 ) ( 3 ) ( 4 ) ( 5 ) ( 6 ) ( 7 ) ( 8 ) ( 9 ) who were troublemakers and who were leaders. Then when you first stepped on the unmapped coast, you were already surrounded by friends, prepared to work together building houses and churches and schools, hunting turkey, deer, and wild pigeons, and facing the perils of unfriendly residents. The ship landed in a ready-made* community.
As the colonists settled on the Atlantic coast the did not have to wait for roads to be built to receive passengers and produce from the world or to send out their produce in exchange. Safe harbors―Boston, New York, Savannah―opened on ready-made highways to the whole world. The spacious holds of ships that brought settlers could send out furs and corn and rice and tobacco. An elegant London-made coach could be delivered directly to George Washington’s dock at Mount Vernon on the Potomac River.
And what a surprise it was! 〔 ア 〕
Was it really possible that there was an “extra” continent? The Romans had sailed thousands of miles, even to India. The Spanish and Portuguese explored all the way to Iceland and down and around Africa. How could so much of the earth have been kept a secret? If there could be continents that the peoples of Europe never even imagined, how much more might there be in the world that they had not imagined? It was just a few years before the Puritans landed in New England that Shakespeare warned, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio*, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” The American surprise promised a world of endless surprises.
〔 イ 〕 European sailors were afraid to sail straight westward into this vast unknown. That way to Asia seemed too many miles. For you had to be able to go there and back. (1) Finally the bold and enterprising sailor Columbus was willing to take his chance and persuaded a doubting crew to go alone. He knew the winds and the current from sailing far north and south along Europe’s Atlantic coast. And he knew how to bring his ships back.
At first only a vast ocean could have kept America from the greedy adventuring peoples of Europe. And later only the ocean could have carried so many so far seeking homes. They could hardly have come in such large numbers over three thousand miles by land. 〔 ウ 〕There were few highways but any highway robbers who hid behind high rocks and around bends in the road, ready to relieve passengers of their baggage or even of their lives. Unless you walked, you needed teams of horses, which tired, got stuck in the mud, and had to be fed and watered along the way.
But the ocean was convenient and pleasant and usually friendly. Though, of course, the sea was sometimes rough, still often enough it was calm. If you knew the winds and the currents, had a compass, and could follow the stars at night, you would make your way faster and safer than on land. 〔 エ 〕But the winds never had to be fed, and they worked around the clock. On the sea, robbers found no place to hide, and pirates* themselves had to take great risks in the wide ocean. The ocean was lucky in still other ways, for it made people travel in large groups. 〔 オ 〕 Only a large vessel could survive the stormy seas and carry provisions for the seven weeks’ passage. In the Mayflower you were traveling with a hundred other passengers, besides captain and crew. You could walk about the deck, dance and sing and play games on the way. (2)You sailed in a little traveling town. You heard *sermons, made laws, and exchanged stories as you went.
You did not have to trust to innkeepers on the way. The ship carried food and water and could even bring along treasured pieces of furniture, musical instruments, and favorite books. Cows on board, when they were not seasick, could provide fresh milk. By the time (A)( 1 ) ( 2 ) ( 3 ) ( 4 ) ( 5 ) ( 6 ) ( 7 ) ( 8 ) ( 9 ) who were troublemakers and who were leaders. Then when you first stepped on the unmapped coast, you were already surrounded by friends, prepared to work together building houses and churches and schools, hunting turkey, deer, and wild pigeons, and facing the perils of unfriendly residents. The ship landed in a ready-made* community.
As the colonists settled on the Atlantic coast the did not have to wait for roads to be built to receive passengers and produce from the world or to send out their produce in exchange. Safe harbors―Boston, New York, Savannah―opened on ready-made highways to the whole world. The spacious holds of ships that brought settlers could send out furs and corn and rice and tobacco. An elegant London-made coach could be delivered directly to George Washington’s dock at Mount Vernon on the Potomac River.