Chapter 31 - Exploring New Worlds / 第三十一章 - 探索新世界

When the Portuguese葡萄牙人/ˌpɔːrtʃuˈɡiːz/ began to sail航行/seɪl/ down the West African coast海岸/koʊst/, trade with Africa became much easier更容易/ˈiːziər/. Instead of hauling goods货物/ɡʊdz/ through the hot dry desert沙漠/ˈdezərt/, merchants商人/ˈmɜːrtʃənts/ from England, France, Spain, and Portugal could travel旅行/ˈtrævəl/ by sea海洋/siː/ down to the West African ports港口/pɔːrts/.

But there was still no simple简单的/ˈsɪmpəl/ way to get to India. To get spices香料/ˈspaɪsɪz/, merchants had to make the long, rough艰难的/rʌf/ journey旅程/ˈdʒɜːrni/ over land. They had to fight off bandits强盗/ˈbændɪts/ and wandering war-bands. And they had to face hostile敌对的/ˈhɑːstəl/ Ottoman奥斯曼/ˈɑːtəmən/ Turks who guarded守卫/ˈɡɑːrdɪd/ the roads to the east.

Many adventurers冒险家/ədˈventʃərərz/ had tried to sail down Africa's coast and find a way to India, but no one had succeeded成功/səkˈsiːdɪd/. An Italian sailor水手/ˈseɪlər/ named Christopher Columbus was determined决心的/dɪˈtɜːrmɪnd/ to find a sea route to India. But Columbus had a new, wild-sounding听起来疯狂的/waɪld ˈsaʊndɪŋ/ strategy策略/ˈstrætədʒi/.

Instead of sailing down the coast of Africa, he planned on sailing due west—straight out into the Atlantic Ocean大西洋/ətˈlæntɪk ˈoʊʃən/. Columbus had spent years studying maps地图/mæps/ and scientific科学的/ˌsaɪənˈtɪfɪk/ reports. He knew that the best scientists科学家/ˈsaɪəntɪsts/ believed the earth to be round圆的/raʊnd/.

And if the earth was round, he should be able to sail right around it and bump into India's eastern coast. But before he could try out his theory理论/ˈθɪri/, Columbus had to convince说服/kənˈvɪns/ someone to pay for his journey. He needed money钱/ˈmʌni/ to buy ships船只/ʃɪps/, money to hire sailors水手们/ˈseɪlərz/, and money to stock the ships with food食物/fuːd/ and water水/ˈwɔːtər/.

At first, Columbus went to the king国王/kɪŋ/ of Portugal. After all, the Portuguese had been trying harder than anyone else to find a sea route to India. But the king's scientists laughed笑了/læft/ at Columbus's maps. "The ocean海洋/ˈoʊʃən/ is much larger更大/ˈlɑːrdʒər/ than you think!" they warned警告/wɔːrnd/ him.

"You'll never be able to store enough food and water for such a long journey!" When the king of Portugal refused拒绝/rɪˈfjuːzd/ to buy ships for Columbus, he tried to interest使感兴趣/ˈɪntrəst/ the kings of France and England in his ideas. Neither king would help him. So finally Columbus went to Ferdinand费迪南德/ˈfɜːrdɪnænd/ and Isabella伊莎贝拉/ˌɪzəˈbelə/ of Spain and told them about his plan.

Ferdinand paid little attention注意/əˈtenʃən/ to these wild ideas, but Isabella was fascinated着迷的/ˈfæsɪneɪtɪd/ by Columbus's new map of the world. And she also realized意识到/ˈriəlaɪzd/ that if Columbus could find a way to India, Spain could become richer更富有/ˈrɪtʃər/ than England or France or Portugal. Spain could become the richest and most powerful强大的/ˈpaʊərfəl/ country in the world.

But when Columbus first brought his plan to Isabella, Spain was in the middle of its war战争/wɔːr/ to conquer征服/ˈkɑːŋkər/ Granada. Isabella was using all of her money to pay soldiers士兵/ˈsoʊldʒərz/ in the Spanish army军队/ˈɑːrmi/. Not until the war was over, seven years七年/ˈsevən jɪrz/ later, could she buy Columbus his ships.

Finally, Columbus was ready to test his new ideas! Isabella provided提供/prəˈvaɪdɪd/ him with three ships, named the Niña尼尼亚号/ˈniːnjə/, the Pinta平塔号/ˈpɪntə/, and the Santa María圣玛丽亚号/ˌsæntə məˈriːə/. She hired sailors, stocked the ships with enough food and water for several months月份/mʌnθs/, and provided Columbus with cloth布料/klɔːθ/, gold黄金/ɡoʊld/, and other goods that he could trade for spices when he reached India.

Christopher Columbus set sail in 1492. As the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa María sailed into the Atlantic Ocean, headed west, the three ships passed other vessels船只/ˈvesəlz/ leaving the Spanish shore. Wails哀号/weɪlz/ and cries rose up from these ships, which were crowded with weeping哭泣的/ˈwiːpɪŋ/ men, women and children. The Jews犹太人/dʒuːz/ were leaving Spain, driven out by the laws Ferdinand and Isabella had passed against them.

Christopher Columbus noted his sighting of these ships in his journal日记/ˈdʒɜːrnəl/ and kept on sailing west, into the huge trackless无路径的/ˈtrækləs/ waters of the Atlantic Ocean. At first, his ships had good winds风/wɪndz/, and the journey went well. But as the days passed by, Columbus's men began to murmur抱怨/ˈmɜːrmər/. When would they come into sight of land?

Spain was growing further and further away. And they could see nothing but more water ahead of them. Strange birds鸟类/bɜːrdz/ flew overhead; odd fish鱼/fɪʃ/ arched out of the water. The seaweed海草/ˈsiːwiːd/ grew so thick that the ships could only inch forward. And the men were growing sick with a disease疾病/dɪˈziːz/ called scurvy坏血病/ˈskɜːrvi/ because they hadn't eaten any fresh fruit or vegetables for so long.

Their gums牙龈/ɡʌmz/ were turning black, and some of the sailors were even dying. "We'll never reach land!" Columbus's men complained抱怨/kəmˈpleɪnd/. "We'll run out of fresh water and die of thirst干渴/θɜːrst/ out here! The world isn't round—the sea goes on forever, and we'll never reach the end of it!" Others said, "What if the ocean runs off the end of the world? We'll sail over the edge边缘/edʒ/ and fall down a never-ending waterfall!"

They plotted to throw Columbus overboard船外/ˈoʊvərbɔːrd/ and turn back home. Finally, afraid that his men would mutiny叛变/ˈmjuːtəni/, Columbus agreed to turn around if land wasn't spotted in three more days. All the next day, Columbus paced around his ship, straining his eyes for a glimpse一瞥/ɡlɪmps/ of land. If no land was spotted, he would have to return to Spain—and waste a lifetime of effort.

The sun had barely risen on the morning of the second day when a seaman海员/ˈsiːmən/, high up in the ship's rigging索具/ˈrɪɡɪŋ/, shouted "Land!" Sure enough, a tiny island岛屿/ˈaɪlənd/ lay just above the horizon地平线/həˈraɪzən/. As the ships drew closer, Columbus realized that the island was surrounded by dozens of others. He was certain that he had reached the islands off the coast of India.

When Columbus and his men landed, Columbus claimed声称拥有/kleɪmd/ the islands for the country of Spain. He found that people lived on the islands, brown-skinned people with black hair who were willing to come out and see the goods he had brought with him from Spain. He called these people Indians印第安人/ˈɪndiənz/. But as Columbus looked around, he grew more and more puzzled困惑的/ˈpʌzəld/.

The language语言/ˈlæŋɡwɪdʒ/ these people spoke sounded nothing like the Indian language he had expected to hear. He saw no gold, no pepper胡椒/ˈpepər/, no nutmeg肉豆蔻/ˈnʌtmeɡ/, no riches. Instead, the people of the islands brought him balls of cotton棉花/ˈkɑːtən/ thread, green and yellow parrots鹦鹉/ˈpærəts/, and strange foods—sweet potatoes红薯/swiːt pəˈteɪtoʊz/ and green peppers. Where were the spices—and the treasures of India?

Of course, Columbus hadn't landed in India. He had landed in the islands off the coast of Florida佛罗里达/ˈflɔːrɪdə/. His maps showed empty water between Spain and India, but two huge, unknown land masses actually lay in his way: North北/nɔːrθ/ and South America南美洲/saʊθ əˈmerɪkə/.

After Columbus explored探索/ɪkˈsplɔːrd/ the islands, he headed back to Spain. He brought Ferdinand and Isabella parrots, sweet potatoes, green peppers, pineapples菠萝/ˈpaɪnæpəlz/, and even several Indians—but no spices or gold. Ferdinand and Isabella agreed to pay for several more voyages航行/ˈvɔɪɪdʒɪz/ to this new land. Columbus traveled back across the ocean and began to work on a map of his discovery发现/dɪˈskʌvəri/.

He still insisted that he had found the sea route to India. But others soon began to realize that Columbus had found something new—a whole new continent大陆/ˈkɑːntɪnənt/. Five years after Columbus landed in the Americas, a Portuguese explorer named Vasco da Gama瓦斯科·达·伽马/ˈvæskoʊ də ˈɡɑːmə/ finally managed to sail around Africa and reach India. The journey took him an entire year to make!

We often talk about Christopher Columbus and his "discovery of America." But although Columbus laid the way for later Spanish explorers探险家/ɪkˈsplɔːrərz/ to come to the Americas, he wasn't the first adventurer冒险家/ədˈventʃərər/ to land in America. The Viking维京人/ˈvaɪkɪŋ/ Leif Ericsson雷夫·埃里克松/liːf ˈerɪksən/ landed in North America long before Columbus was born.

And Columbus wasn't the first to recognize认识到/ˈrekəɡnaɪz/ America as a new continent. He continued to think that he had discovered a new route to the East. The first explorer to realize that this mysterious神秘的/mɪˈstɪriəs/ shoreline海岸线/ˈʃɔːrlaɪn/ was a brand new land was an Italian merchant商人/ˈmɜːrtʃənt/ named Amerigo Vespucci阿美利哥·韦斯普奇/əˈmerɪɡoʊ vesˈpuːtʃi/.

In 1492, when Columbus sailed his three ships from Spain, Amerigo Vespucci was in Spain. He was doing business生意/ˈbɪznəs/ for his employer雇主/ɪmˈplɔɪər/, an Italian nobleman贵族/ˈnoʊbəlmən/. But although Amerigo was a good businessman商人/ˈbɪznəsmən/, he had always wanted to sail to India. He watched with envy嫉妒/ˈenvi/ as Columbus departed on his great adventure.

When Columbus returned with news that he had reached land by sailing west, Ferdinand and Isabella agreed to pay for more expeditions远征/ˌekspəˈdɪʃənz/. Amerigo Vespucci was anxious渴望的/ˈæŋkʃəs/ to apply! He arranged to take three ships of his own out into the Atlantic. Seven years after Columbus's first voyage, Amerigo Vespucci set sail himself.

Over the next ten years, Amerigo made several different journeys to the coast of the Americas. He sailed down South America, almost all the way to the tip of the continent. He sailed up to North America and saw the rivers河流/ˈrɪvərz/ that flowed into the sea. The more Amerigo saw of this land, the more sure he was that Columbus was wrong. This wasn't India, or Asia. This was something else completely.

He wrote a letter信件/ˈletər/ to his Italian employer, saying "I am sure that we have found a new land. The coastline海岸线/ˈkoʊstlaɪn/ and the number of rivers make me certain of it." So although Columbus discovered America, Amerigo Vespucci was the first to realize that he had found a new continent. And since Amerigo wrote and published出版/ˈpʌblɪʃt/ many accounts记述/əˈkaʊnts/ of his travels, more people read about his voyages than about the journeys of Columbus.

When a famous geographer地理学家/dʒiˈɑːɡrəfər/ made the first maps of the new lands, he decided to name this new part of the world "America," after Amerigo Vespucci. Others suggested that it would be fairer to call it "Columbia," but the name "America" stuck. Columbus was the first European to land in America, and Amerigo Vespucci was the first to realize that America was a new continent.

But another explorer, Ferdinand Magellan费迪南德·麦哲伦/ˈfɜːrdɪnænd məˈdʒelən/, was the first to actually carry out Columbus's original最初的/əˈrɪdʒənəl/ plan, and get to India by sailing west. Magellan was a Portuguese sailor who set out for the Americas after Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci had both returned. Magellan knew that Vasco da Gama, who had managed to sail around Africa and get to India by going east, had taken a whole year on his voyage.

He thought that it would be much quicker更快/ˈkwɪkər/ to sail west to the Americas, turn south and go down around South America, and then sail on to India. Of course, Magellan didn't really think he would have to go all the way to the southern tip of South America. He was sure that a river was bound to cut all the way across South America. All he had to do was sail down the coast, find that river, and sail into it.

In 1519, Magellan set off. He spent weeks sailing down the coast of South America. Every time he found a river, he would turn and sail into it, hoping that it would lead him all the way across South America. But each river only led him to a dead end死胡同/ded end/. When Magellan was almost all the way to the southern end of the South America, he found a river that took him all the way across to the other side of the continent.

But the journey through this river was a stormy暴风雨的/ˈstɔːrmi/ one. The water was so rough that rowboats划艇/ˈroʊboʊts/ had to pull his ship along. Gales大风/ɡeɪlz/ howled along the narrow passageway通道/ˈpæsɪdʒweɪ/. It took more than a month for Magellan to sail down this river. Finally, he came out into the ocean on the other side. The water was so smooth and still, after the choppy water of the passage, that he named this ocean the Pacific太平洋/pəˈsɪfɪk/, which means "calm."

Today we call the river that cuts through the southern tip of South America the Straits of Magellan麦哲伦海峡/streɪts ʌv məˈdʒelən/. "Let's go home!" Magellan's sailors begged him. "We've found the way through!" But Magellan refused. He was sure that India must be close by. But it wasn't. Magellan and his sailors pushed on for more than three months, with nothing but water in sight.

They ran out of food. The sailors grew so hungry饥饿/ˈhʌŋɡri/ that they ate sawdust锯末/ˈsɔːdʌst/. They were almost out of water. Finally, they sighted land. The ships anchored抛锚/ˈæŋkərd/, and Magellan's men got busy loading up fresh water and food. But as he looked around him, Magellan realized that he had still not arrived at India. He was on a group of small islands, far off the coast of China中国/ˈtʃaɪnə/. (Today we call these islands the Marianas马里亚纳群岛/ˌmæriˈænəs/.)

He ordered his sailors to board the ships and sail on. In a few days, he sighted another group islands ahead of him. Now was he approaching India? No; these islands were the Philippines菲律宾/ˈfɪlɪpiːnz/, south of China. Would Magellan ever reach India? He never did. In the Philippines, gathering water and food for yet another try at India, Magellan agreed to help a local warrior战士/ˈwɔːriər/ chief fight a battle with another tribe部落/traɪb/.

In this battle, Magellan was killed. But his lieutenant副官/luˈtenənt/ continued the voyage without him. Magellan had begun with five ships and 280 men. Now there was only one ship left, with thirty-five men aboard. But Magellan's lieutenant sailed this last ship west towards home. He went south of India, around the tip of Africa, back up the African coast, and finally back to Europe. Magellan had died before reaching India—but his ship was the first one to sail all the way around the whole world.