[1] Uzun-Hassan, As Formerly Mentioned, Was Prince Of The Turkmans Of The White Sheep Tribe, And Acquired The Dominion Of Western Persia, By The Defeat Of Hassan-Ali Prince Of The Black Sheep Turkmans, Who Is Probably The Person Named Causa In The Text.

- E.

[2] This is a mistake, Persepolis is supposed to have been at, or near Istakar, above twenty miles N.N.E. from Shiras. - E.

[3] Diarbekir, with the cities of Arzunjan, Mardin, Roha, or Orfa, and Siwas, are said to have been committed by Timour to the government of Kara Ilug Ozman, the great grandfather of Uzun-Hassan, who may have retained the original possessions of his tribe after the acquisition of western Persia. - Mod. Univ. Hist. VI. 111.

[4] According to the authors of the Modern Universal History. B. VIII. ch. i. sect. 3. Uzun-Hassan had seven sons: Ogurlu Mohammed, Khahil Mirza, Maksud beg, Jakub beg, Masih beg, Yusuf beg, and Zegnel. Contarini strangely corrupts almost every name that occurs. Uzun-Hassan, he makes Unsuncassan; Ogurlu Mohammed, Gurlu mamech; Kalil mirza, Sultan chali; Yakub beg, Lacubei; Maksud beg, or Masih beg, Masubech; and omits three of the seven. - E.

[5] Uzun-Hassan is said to have been defeated in battle by the Turks, in 1471, near Arzenjan. - Mod. Univ. Hist. VI. 113.

CHAPTER III.

VOYAGES OF DISCOVERY BY THE PORTUGUESE ALONG THE WESTERN COAST OF AFRICA, DURING THE LIFE, AND UNDER THE DIRECTION OF DON HENRY.[1]

INTRODUCTION.

The knowledge possessed by the ancients respecting India, will be the subject of discussion in a future portion of this work. We have now to contemplate the tedious, yet finally successful efforts of the Portuguese nation, in its age of energetic heroism, to discover a maritime passage to that long famed commercial region, some general knowledge of which had been preserved ever since the days of the Persian, Macedonian, and Roman empires. Of all the great events which have occurred in the modern ages, previous to our own times, the voyages and discoveries which were made by the Europeans, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries of the Christian era, are justly entitled to preference, whether we appreciate the vast improvements which they made in navigation, and, consequently, in commerce, - the astonishing abundance of wealth which they brought into Europe, - the surprising feats of bravery which were performed in their various expeditions and conquests, - the extensive, populous, and valuable territories which were subdued or colonized, - or the extended knowledge, which was suddenly acquired of the greater part of the earth, till then either altogether unknown, or very partially and erroneously described. By these discoveries, we allude to those of the southern and western hemispheres, a new heaven and a new earth were opened up to the astonishment of mankind, who may be said to have been then furnished with wings to fly from one end of the earth to the other, so as to bring the most distant, and hitherto utterly unknown nations, acquainted with each other. In the ordinary course of human affairs, it has been observed that similar events frequently occur; but the transactions of these times which we now propose to narrate, were as singular in their kind as they were great, surprising, and unexpected; neither can any such ever happen again, unless Providence were to create new and accessible worlds for discovery and conquest, or to replunge the whole of mankind for a long period into the grossest ignorance.

The merit and glory of these wonderful achievements are unquestionably due to the Portuguese nation, and the first and principal share to the sublime genius of their illustrious prince, the infant DON HENRY, _Duke of Viseo and Grand Master of the order of Christ_, whose enlarged mind first planned the fitting out of maritime expeditions for discovery, and by the imitation of whose example all subsequent discoveries have been accomplished. Every thing of the kind before his time was isolated or accidental, and every subsequent attempt has been pursued on scientific or known principles, which he invented and established. Although America was discovered by Columbus, in the service of Spain, some years before the Portuguese were able to accomplish their long sought route to India; and although the discovery of America was performed infinitely quicker than that of southern Africa and the route to India, Columbus having accomplished his design at the very first attempt, and even without any previous knowledge of the countries he went in search of; while the endeavours of the Portuguese occupied a great number of years in almost fruitless attempts, and extremely tedious progression; yet Don Henry first set on foot the navigation of the ocean through unknown seas, and inspired, other nations with the idea of making discoveries of distant and unexplored regions; and ultimately great as were the discoveries of Columbus, they may be said to have been accidentally made in the erroneous attempt to go by a nearer route to the regions of which Don Henry and his successors had long been in search.

These attempts of the Portuguese had been continued for nearly fourscore years before any of their neighbours seem to have entertained the most distant idea of engaging in foreign discoveries, even viewing their endeavours as downright knight-errantry, proceeding from a distempered imagination, as well in the first promoter as in those who continued to prosecute his scheme. In a word, the relation of these discoveries forms one of the most curious portions of modern history, as comprizing a great number of the most extraordinary transactions that ever happened in any period of the world. For this reason they are well worthy of being particularly narrated, that the curious may be made acquainted with every successive step in such important enterprizes, and by what almost insensible degrees such vast undertakings were ultimately accomplished. And as the intercourse of Europeans has operated a great change in the countries to which they penetrated, and upon their original inhabitants, so that both now appear in a very different light from what they did before these expeditions and discoveries; therefore, every circumstance belonging to these transactions deserves the most serious notice.

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