History of Modern Europe

Preface

A history which, like the present one, compresses the political development of Europe during the last four eventful centuries into a single volume, must needs give the impression of being hurried and superficial, and be guilty of a large number of glaring omissions. In excuse of these shortcomings the author begs leave to call attention to his purpose merely to raise one of those scaffoldings which must precede the erection of an edifice, and which is destined to be cleared away when the edifice is completed. In the author's view his book is no more than an introduction to the field, planned for the convenience of the student who is taking his first survey of this branch of knowledge. In the hope of facilitating the beginner's labors, the text is accompanied with references and illustrated by means of maps and genealogical tables. A word upon the text and the auxiliary features will show how they are correlated.

i. The text presents the political development of Modern Europe in the following order: a Preliminary Survey, introducing the reader to the intellectual, moral, and political conditions of the Renaissance, is followed by three parts, entitled respectively, Part I., The Reformation (i 500-1 648); Part II., The Absolute Monarchy (1648-1789); Part III., Revolution and Democracy (1789-1922). Each part is divided into a convenient number of chapters. As soon as a chapter has been carefully read and fully understood the student should turn to the references.

2. The references at the head of each chapter enable the student to penetrate more deeply into the chapter matter.

vi Preface >

They are of two kinds, first, secondary authorities, pointing a way by which the student may gather additional information, and, second, sources, or rather source readings, facilitating immediate contact with specimens of the original material, upon which, and upon which alone, all solid historical knowledge must in the end be based. With the beginner in mind the author has seen fit to limit his references to books and documents in the English language.

3. The maps, the close perusal of which cannot be too much insisted on, are scattered through the text at the most appropriate places, while the Chronological Table of the Popes (Appendix B) and the Genealogical Tables of the Sovereign Houses (Appendix C), bound together at the end of the volume, should prove helpful in solving problems of succession and family alliances.

At the end of the volume will be found a complete list of the books recommended under the references together with their publishers and prices (Appendix D). In Appendix A I have selected from the complete list of books a small number costing $25-130 and calculated to constitute the nucleus of a serviceable reference library for every student with a serious interest in the period.

A general atlas, always within reach during the preparation of the daily lesson, will be found a most useful supplement to the maps in this volume. Several excellent works of this kind may be recommended to the student: 1. Dow, E. W., Atlas of European History. Henry Holt. New York. 2. Putzger, Historischer Schulatlas; with English Introduction and German-English Glossary. American agents: Lemcke & Buechner. New York. $1.25. Putzger makes a specialty of German history. 3. Gardiner, S. R. A School Atlas of English History. Longmans, Green. London and New York. $1.50.

A word for advanced students and teachers, desirous of

Preface vii

going behind the simple references supplied in this volume. Readers of this class should aim primarily at a first-hand acquaintance with the sources, even though access to them is not always easy and will be found entirely impossible without an extensive knowledge of languages. Of course the sources of Modern European History cannot be classified here. But the following bibliographical works, which enumerate and discuss the sources and authorities, may be set down for the benefit of the more^ambitious student: For General European History.

For English History.

Gardiner and Mullinger. Introduction to the Study of English History. Kegan Paul. London.

For German History.

For French History.

Monod. Bibliographie de VHistoire de France. Librairie Hachette. Paris. 1888 (goes only to 1789). For the History of the Nineteenth Century excellent, though not exhaustive, bibliographies will be found in Seignobos. A Political History of Europe Since 18 14. Translation edited by S. M. Macvane. Henry Holt. New York. Of the greatest importance for the whole period are the various collections of treaties, such as the following: Dumont. Corps Universel Diplomatique . . . contenant un recueil des Traites d' Alliance . . . depuis le Regne de VEmpereur Charlemagne jusqu'a present. Amsterdam. 1726. 8 vols., with Supplements. Garden. Histoire Generale des Traites de Paix . . . depuis la paix de Westphalie.

viii Preface

15 vols. Amyot. Paris. Martens {and others). Recueil de Traites . . . depuis 1761 jusqu'a present. 69 vols., with Supplements and Indexes. Librairie de Dieterich. Gottingen.

The author desires to take this occasion to thank the many friends, and particularly the members of his own department at the University of Chicago, for valuable assistance rendered in the preparation of this book.

Chicago, 1906

Preface To The New Edition

Tins New Edition is a reprint of the edition of 1906 with additional material bringing the European political movement down to 1922. For former chapter xxvii, On the Threshold of a New Century, has been substituted a new chapter xxvii, Character of European Civilization at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century; while chapter xxviii, European Diplomatic Relations from i%yi to 1914 and the Outbreak of the Great War, and chapter xxix, The War and the Peace, carry the reader through the crisis of the Great War and the equally grave crisis of the Peace.

Chicago, 1921

Contents

PAGE

PREFACE v-viii

INTRODUCTION 1-3

Part I

IV. The Reformation in Germany to the

Peace of Augsburg (1555) . . 59-84

V. The Progress of the Reformation in Europe and the Counter-Reformation of the Catholic Church . 85-106

VI. Spain under Charles I. (1516-56), known as Emperor Charles V., and Philip II. (1556-98); her World Eminence and her Decay . . 107-118

VII. England under the Tudors; Triumph of the Reformation under Elizabeth (1558-1603) ..... 119-156

: Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

VIII. The Revolt of the Netherlands and Triumph of the Seven United Provinces (i 566-1648) 157-177

IX. The Reformation and the Civil Wars

in France 178-202

X. The Thirty Years' War and the

Peace of Westphalia . . . 203-227

PART II The Absolute Monarchy

XI. The Stuarts and the Puritan Revolution 231-273

XII. The Ascendancy of France under

XIII. The Rise of Russia and the Decline

of Sweden . 289-301

XIV. The Rise of Prussia .... 302-322

XV. England and France in the Eighteenth Century 323-340

PART III Revolution and Democracy

XVI. The French Revolution (1789-1815) 343-413

XVII. The Period of Reaction . . . 414-427

XVIII. The Bourbon Restoration and the

Contents xi

CHAPTER PAGE

XIX. The Government of Louis Philippe (1830-48) and the Revolution of 1848 43 8 -444

XX. The Revolution of 1848 in Germany,

Austria, and Italy .... 445-457

XXI. France under Napoleon III. and the

Unification of Italy .... 458-467

XXII. The Unification of Germany . . 468-479

XXIII. Great Britain in the Nineteenth

Century 480-490

XXIV. Russia in the Nineteenth Century;

the Ottoman Emplre and the Balkan Question .... 491-501

XXV. Central Europe from the Unifica-

tion of Italy and Germany to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century . . . . 502-515

XXVI. The Minor States of Europe to

XXVII. Character of European Civilization

XXVIII. European Diplomatic Relations

from 1871 to 1914 and the Outbreak of the Great War . . 548-567

XXIX. The War and the Peace . . . 568-605

APPENDIX A. A Briee List of Books Specially Recommended 607-609

APPENDIX B. Chronological Table of the Popes from the Renaissance to the Present Day 610 xii Contents

APPENDIX C. Genealogical Tables of the

Sovereign Houses of Europe . . . 611-627

TABLE PAGE

I. Spain, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella

of Castile 611

II. The House of Hapsburg . . . 612 III. Spain, The Spanish Bourbons, and their

Neapolitan Branch . . . 613

IV. Portugal 614-615

V. Austria, The House of Hapsburg . . 616

VI. Prussia, The House of Hohenzollern . 617

VII. France, The House of Valois . . . 618

VIII. The House of Bourbon . . 619

IX. The House of Bonaparte . . 620

X. England, The Houses of Tudor, Stuart,

Hanover ; the House of Saxe-Coburg . 62 1 XI. The Dutch Netherlands, The House of

Orange-Nassau . . . . . 622 XII. Sweden, The House of Vasa and Vasa-

Holstein; the House of Bernadotte . 623

XIII. Denmark, The House of Oldenburg; the

House of Glucksburg 624

XIV. Russia, The Houses of Romanoff and Ro-

manoff -Holstein-Gottorp . . . . 625

XV. Italy, The House of Savoy . . .626

XVI. Florence, The House of Medici . . 627

APPENDIX D. General Bibliography . .628-640

INDEX 641

MAPS

i. the voyages of discovery . . Facing page IO

2. ITALY IN THE RENAISSANCE * " 30

3. THE UNIFICATION OF FRANCE . . " " 36

4. THE UNIFICATION OF SPAIN " " 36

5. GERMANY ON THE EVE OF THE REFORMATION

6. THE SWISS CONFEDERATION . . " " 86

7. THE NETHERLANDS AT THE TRUCE OF 1609

8. TERRITORIAL GAINS IN THE PEACE OF WEST-

PHALIA Facing page 224

9. ENGLAND AND WALES (1643) " " 2 5°

10. ACQUISITIONS OF LOUIS XIV. AND LOUIS XV.

11. WESTERN EUROPE AFTER THE TREATIES OF UTRECHT

and rastadt (1713-14) . . Facing page 287

12. SWEDEN AND RUSSIA ON THE BALTIC " " 294

13. THE TERRITORIAL GROWTH OF PRUSSIA " " 314

14. THE PARTITION OF POLAND ." "314

15. EUROPE AT THE HEIGHT OF NAPOLEON'S POWER

16. EUROPE AFTER THE CONGRESS AT VIENNA (1815)

17. THE UNIFICATION OF ITALY . . . Page 464

saii xiv Maps

18. GROWTH OF PRUSSIA EST THE NINETEENTH CEN-

TURY Facing page 472

19. THE BALKAN PENINSULA AFTER THE TREATY OF

Berlin Facing page 496

20. THE RACES OF AUSTRIA-HUNGARY . " " 5 12

21. THE PARTITION OF AFRICA. " " 540

22. THE WORLD POWERS OF I914 " " 556

Introduction

SCOPE AND OBJECT OF THE PRESENT BOOK

This book aims to present the history of Europe during Preliminary the Modern Period. To avoid misunderstanding, I desire at the outset to come to an agreement with the reader upon the term Modern, and to examine the meaning of the elastic word history.

Everybody is agreed that Modern History refers to the recent stages in the development of the human race, but opinions differ widely as to the point where it properly begins. A moment's reflection will show that agreement is not essential, for let it be once understood that history is a continuous and uninterrupted evolution, during which man passes slowly from barbarism to civilization, and it will be granted that hard-and-fast divisions are out of the question. The familiar terms Ancient, Mediaeval, and Modern conveniently designate broad successive stages in the progress of mankind, but it is absurd to pretend that each period has a precise beginning and ending. Modern History, for instance, must begin with the modern man; but as he emerged very gradually from the mediaeval world, it is impossible to say at what exact point his story begins and that of his predecessor terminates. For this reason I am content to conform to the current usage, according to which Modern History begins with the Protestant Reformation. Nobody will dis= pute that by that time the modern man was in full possession of the scene. From the Reformation in the sixteenth century to the early years of the. twentieth century is a period

Introduction of four hundred years, whose story ig to be told in this book.

Far more important and subject to reasonable contention is the term history. In former times all scholars who made it their business to collect the facts of the past were called historians, and the books wherein they recorded them were called histories. Thus it came to pass that the most diversified materials were crowded within the covers of a single work, a history, say of France, telling us of the kings and of their court, of the government and administration, of the economic resources and industrial methods, of religion and morals, and of the progress of the arts. And many people, accepting the old tradition, believe that all these matters should still be included in a book putting forth the pretension to be a history. On the other hand, there is no denying that historical materials have swelled so enormously in the last fifty years that for a single man to acquaint himself with all the various phases of even a limited period of the past is difficult, and to compress them into a single volume an impossibility. We hear much in these days of the principle of specialization, which has been applied, and is destined in still larger measure to be applied, to every form of manual and intellectual labor. Under the specializing influence of our time the province of history has been subdivided into many fields, such as economics, political science, sociology, and diplomacy; and the work which used to be done by the historian alone, now engages the energy of many special groups of investigators. In consequence, the need has been felt on the part of many to redefine history in accordance with the new conditions. But, unfortunately, no general agreement has yet been reached. Pending the settlement, I am prepared to adopt the view which commands the greatest number of adherents, and which affirms that history is concerned primarily with politics, and secondarily

Introduction with everything else in the life of a nation affecting politics. By politics I understand the development of government in the different countries, the work of these governments in making laws and administering home affairs, and the relations of the governments among themselves in peace and war. It is therefore understood that the present volume will treat of the politics of the countries of Europe, not, however, without duly taking note of those changes in economics, morals, religion, art, and literature which are the causes, and therefore furnish the explanation, of every new political upheaval.

PRELIMINARY SURVEY

Chapter I European Society During The Renaissance

References : Adams, Civilization During the Middle Ages, Chapters XII., XV.; Symonds, A Short History of the Renaissance in Italy; Symonds, Renaissance in Italy, especially the volumes, Age of the Despots, Revival of Learning, Fine Arts; Burckhardt, The Civilization of the Renaissance (excellent for the many aspects of Italian culture); Fiske, Discovery of America; Beazley, Prince Henry (of Portugal) ; The Cambridge Modern History, Vol. L, The Renaissance, Chapters I., II., XV., XVI., XVII. ; Cartwright, Beatrice D'Este,>also Isabella D'Este (for court life in Italy).

Source Readings: Whitcomb, Literary Source Book of the Italian Renaissance (extracts from Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, etc.) ; Robinson and Rolfe, Petrarch (selections from his correspondence); Robinson, Readings in European History, Vol. I., Chapter XXII. ; Vol. II., Chapter XXIII. ; Benvenuto Cellini, Life Written by Himself (full of Renaissance atmosphere); Machiavelli, The Prince (on Italian state-craft) ; Vasari, Lives of the Painters; Castiglione, The Book of the Courtier (excellent for the manners of the great world) ; Old South Leaflets, Nos. 29, 33 (Columbus).

The Introduction has informed the reader what centuries The Renals* I intend to cover and what material I purpose to include in this book. We are now prepared to take up the general features of Europe at the opening of our period. I have already said that the beginning of the sixteenth century is a convenient and traditional starting-point for the Modern Period, and I added that this opinion prevailed because by the year 1500 man, in spite of the mediaeval characteristics which still clung to him, had essentially assumed a modern aspect. The one thousand years before 1500 are generally agreed to constitute the Mediaeval Period, but naturally during these one thousand years Europe, in accordance with the universal law of life, was in perpetual though very gradual transformation. Let no one dream that the long Mediaeval Period presents to the student a single and unchanging face. Especially in its last stage new forces appear which greatly accelerate the evolution of society. In the course of the thirteenth century, and quite distinctly by the beginning of the fourteenth century, man began noticeably to extend his horizon and give proof of a rapidly increasing individual effectiveness. Instead of indolence we meet with stir and strife, instead of indifference we encounter curiosity and gladness. This section of the Middle Ages, approximately covering the two hundred and fifty years from 1250 a.d. to 1500 A.DT7 is therefore very properly called the time of rebirth, or Renaissance. Let us pass in review the main forces and events which produced this astonishing change and supplanted the mediaeval with the modern man.

Mediaeval society is agricultural

I. The Revival of Industry, Commerce, and Town Life.

The early Middle Ages were mainly characterized by the decay of Roman civilization, attended by the first timid steps of the German barbarians and conquerors toward the founding of new states. Economically considered, these centuries constituted an agricultural period, during which the people lived for the most part directly on the soil. The two considerable classes were the landlords, or baronage, who owned the land and the peasants who tilled it. What industry existed was calculated to meet the bare needs of living, and was chiefly confined to the building of rude peasant huts and rough- fashioned though often vast and imposing castles; to the making of primitive yokes, carts, and clothing; to the forging of clumsy weapons; and to such other simple work as could be done by the peasants in their scattered settlements. Until society had acquired a wider outlook and men began to demand something more than just food enough to appease their hunger, and skins and homespuns enough to clothe their nakedness, there would be no need of cities, the first object of which is to furnish comforts by means of manufacture, and to distribute them by means of commerce. Cities, immense cities, had existed when the Roman Empire was at its height, but they had all fallen into decay, and many had perished from the face of the earth. The early Middle Ages were substantially a cityless period. But gradually the raw and vigorous nations which arose upon the ruins of the Roman Empire advanced sufficiently out of their early barbarism to ask for something more than bare necessities. The demand they gradually created for con- The growth veniences and luxuries was soon no longer capable of being met by the casual labor of unskilled peasants, but required • the trained hand of professional craftsmen. Here lies the beginning of the mediaeval town or commune. In Italy, as the land which had bloomed most splendidly under the Roman Empire and had received the least injury from the barbarian invasions, the movement made itself felt first. Decay was checked; a distinct revival followed. The impulse, communicated as early as the eleventh century, was in full swing by the twelfth. Almost at the same time appeared the symptoms of an awakening of city life in France, Germany, and the other countries of Europe.

The cities mean wealth, intellectual stir, and political freedom.

Italy leads in. commerce and industry.

The result of the new economic demands was to draw the peasants in increasing numbers into small community settlements, frequently around some castle or monastery, and oi these some of the more favorably situated presently grew tc be considerable towns. Their quiet lanes became crowded thoroughfares; they resounded with the whirr of loom or beat of hammer upon anvil; they widened at intervals into market squares, where busy trade chattered and bargained around well-stocked booths. These activities not only brought wealth, but made men more self-reliant, stirred them with new thoughts. We are all aware that intercourse, involving human attrition, travel, strange sights, is the best available education. This advantage the townsmen enjoyed, and were soon raised by it to a higher plane of civilization than the governing classes. They grew restive under the feudal yoke, demanded that they be given the control of their own affairs, and ended by rising in revolution against their privileged oppressors. It is of immense importance to the history of the world that the new people, that is, the burghers, were victorious. They wrested from the feudal powers charters of liberties, by which they constituted their towns republics — sporadic germs of freedom and progress in the dreary deserts of feudalism. Their democracy had generally a less liberal character than that of the present day, as only the well-to-do were given the right to vote and hold office; but it was none the less a very real growth, and in any case marks the appearance of that political principle of popular government which is one of the most constant interests of the modern age.

In Italy sprang up not only the first but also the most vigorous city republics. Venice, Genoa, Pisa, Milan, and Florence acquired a wealth and civilization which made them shine out like points of light in their own day, and still invest them with an aureole to our admiring eyes. They developed the industrial arts, such as the weaving of silk and wool, and the forging of armor and weapons; and they exchanged these articles upon the marts of the Orient for carpets, sugar, fruits, and, above all, spices, used much more freely then than now 1 ; or, in the ports of the North Sea, for fish, amber, and lumber. The whole Mediterranean Sea, together with the Atlantic Ocean as far north as the Baltic, was drawn into the field of enterprise of these Italian cities, and was furrowed in every direction by their galleys. That the cities of the north were not slow to see the advantages of this activity is made evident by the great league of German towns, called the Hanse, which monopolized the trade of the northern coasts and grew powerful enough to depose and set up kings.

Starting with the eleventh century began that great move- The Crusades ment known as the Crusades. The Crusades were, on the orientto surface, an unsuccessful two hundred years' war of the Euro P e - Christian west against the Mohammedan east for the recovery of the Holy Places of Palestine; but, deeply considered, they were a commercial movement which introduced the European nations to the luxurious markets of Asia, and powerfully stimulated their curiosity and enterprise. The mental and material benefits which resulted from this intercourse were largely appropriated by the cities of Italy, partly because they were earliest on the ground, and partly because they enjoyed a geographical advantage over all competitors. In fact, the Crusades brought to the hard-headed merchants of Venice and Genoa nothing less than the commercial monopoly of the east.

Naturally, as the towns and nations lying farther to the The wealth of the east stimulates dis-

1 In mediaeval times people not only spiced their dishes more liberally covery. than we do, but also seasoned their wines and medicines with spices. The spices most in demand were pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger. Other Oriental products, such as camphor and indigo (for dye- :ng cloths), were also highly prized.

io European Society

west developed, they began to be filled with the desire of breaking through the trade monopoly enjoyed by the Italian cities and of sharing in its immense benefits. The problem before them was to find a route to the Orient other than the Mediterranean Sea, controlled by Genoa and Venice. The coming of the Turks, who by the fifteenth century were beginning to render the Mediterranean traffic uncertain, made it still further urgent to find another passage to the spice lands. Portugal first began the search, conducting her enterprises on the theory that it was possible to break through, or sail around, Africa. Thus began the discoveries, a direct consequence, as will be seen, of the Crusades, which, in their turn, are intimately linked with the whole movement of the revival of industry, commerce, and town life.

i7. The Discoveries.

The The long chain of voyages which ended by making known

voyages'. 686 to man all the important seas and lands of our planet, must be reckoned among the most conspicuous events of the Renaissance. They constitute the Age of Discovery, a period when this plain earth suddenly gave birth to miracles. The brilliant story begins with the Portuguese exploration of the African coast. The first impulse to this enterprise was given by a prince of the royal house, Henry, famous in chronicle as Prince Henry the Navigator, although he seems never to have sailed beyond the waters of his native land. His service consisted in rousing in others an enthusiasm for discovery and in tirelessly fitting out new expeditions. Prince Henry began this work about 1426, and devoted himself to it until his death in 1460. By that time the Azores and Cape Verde Islands had been discovered and the coast of Africa had been traced almost to the equator. Still the shore did not take the desired angle to the northeast which would show that the continent had been rounded. At last, in i486, Diaz was

During the Renaissance II

rewarded with success and sailed a few leagues around the Vasco da Cape of Good Hope; and twelve years later (1498) Vasco da i n dh^ 1498. Gama crowned a century of heroic effort by sailing across the Indian Ocean to Calicut in Hindostan, thus reaching the Orient by the long-sought independent route. Europe was now furnished with spices from Lisbon more cheaply than by the Italian cities, to whom Portuguese enterprise had delivered a mortal blow. Their heyday was over, and their decline began.

The discoveries of the Portuguese stimulated their neigh- The Spanish bors, the Spaniards, to make similar efforts. As early as voyages ' the second century after Christ the Greek astronomer Ptolemy had put forth the hypothesis that the earth was round, but as he had little secure information he made the mistake of calculating the earth's circumference at much too small a figure. The ideas of Ptolemy had been allowed to fall into partial oblivion in the Middle Ages, but in the fifteenth century, owing to the Portuguese successes, the Ptolemaic geography was again taken up, and the theory argued and defended by scientific men that the Oriental spice and treasure lands, vaguely called India, could be reached by a western route. The most fervent exponent of this idea was Christopher Columbus (1446-1506), an Italian mariner from Columbus

rcnch.cs

Genoa. He laid his plan before the various governments America, most likely to be interested, and finally secured the support of 1492# Isabella, queen of Castile. He was supplied with three small caravels, the Santa Maria, the Pinta, and the Nina, and on August 3, 1492, set sail from Palos, a port of western Spain. On October 12th he touched at San Salvador, in the Bahamas, and before he returned had discovered Cuba and Hayti. Owing to Ptolemy's understatement of the earth's circumference, Columbus believed that he had reached the east coast of Asia, the region of the fabled India, and the name Indians, which he consequently applied to the aborigines, has clung to them ever since. The great discoverer drew much immediate honor from his adventure; he was made admiral, was invested with the viceroyalty of the new lands, and was received into the hereditary nobility of Spain. But chagrin and suffering forced their company upon him, and on one occasion he was arrested and sent, a prisoner in irons, from the world he had discovered to the country which he had enriched. On his death, in 1506, near Valladolid, he was rapidly forgotten, and by a tragic mishap the world which he had, so to speak, called out of the void 1 was not named after him, but after a relatively unimportant traveller and geographer, the Florentine Amerigo Vespucci. Between 1492 and 1506 Columbus made four voyages across the Atlantic, but the later ones did not add very materially to the information supplied by the first, and the great pathfinder died, as he had lived, under the erroneous impression that he had reached Asia and the Indian spice lands.

In consequence of these successes discovery became a passion, especially among the Portuguese and Spaniards. Though the seas were wide and perilous, every adventurer's soul felt a personal summons to strike out into the unknownregions, whence fame and riches beckoned. No period of history is more astir with action and enterprise, more illumined with the light of romance. Voyage followed upon voyage, each contributing its mite to the completion of the world's geography. In 1497 John Cabot, a Venetian citizen in the employ of Henry VII. of England, first reached the coast of North America, and in 1499 Pinzon, who had accompanied Columbus on his first voyage, skirted the shore of Brazil. The climax of this period of enterprise was reached when Magellan, a Portuguese in the Spanish service, at-

1 It may be noticed in passing that the Northmen, coming from Iceland, had discovered America in the tenth centurv and called it Vinland. But as their discovery was not followed up, it had no results for civilization, and does not detract in the least from the well-earned fame of Columbustempted in 1519 to find a passage to Asia around the southern Magellan sails point of America. Having successfully rounded Cape Horn, world, he was the first to furrow the Pacific, and in 1522, after a journey of three years, his ship, Victoria, reached its European starting-point. Magellan himself did not live to see the end, for he was killed upon the Philippine Islands, but the honor, nevertheless, of the first circumnavigation of the globe belongs to him.

As the discoveries had their beginning in man's commercial instincts, the opening of new markets, of new fields of enterprise, was the most immediate benefit which they conferred. But other results followed. Full of a new Colonization, energy, the European nations presently resolved to Christianize these new regions and settle them with colonists, in other words, to convert them into a new and larger Europe. This movement was likely to prove entirely successful only in the savage and sparsely settled continents of North and South America. In the more advanced and thickly inhabited regions of Asia the natives would find resources in themselves, enabling them to resist European assimilation. In consequence, we note a difference: Asia remained, as at first, merely a field of commercial exploitation; the Americas, however, were actually overrun and Europeanized.