such diverse and conflicting causes, it has assumed an infinite
variety of forms; and both deserves and demands a more respectful
study as a whole than has generally been given to it.





II

THE ERA OF IBERIAN MONOPOLY


During the Middle Ages the contact of Europe with the rest of the
world was but slight. It was shut off by the great barrier of the
Islamic Empire, upon which the Crusades made no permanent
impression; and although the goods of the East came by caravan to
the Black Sea ports, to Constantinople, to the ports of Syria, and
to Egypt, where they were picked up by the Italian traders, these
traders had no direct knowledge of the countries which were the
sources of their wealth. The threat of the Empire of Genghis Khan
in the thirteenth century aroused the interest of Europe, and the
bold friars, Carpini and Rubruquis, made their way to the centres
of that barbaric sovereign's power in the remote East, and brought
back stories of what they had seen; later the Poli, especially the
great Marco, undertook still more daring and long-continued
journeys, which made India and Cathay less unreal to Europeans,
and stimulated the desire for further knowledge. The later
mediaeval maps of the world, like that of Fra Mauro
(1459),[Footnote: Simplified reproductions of this and the other