The American Encyclopedia by Thomas H Prescott

590 Pages·2021·4.68 MB·English

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The American Encyclopedia of History,
Biography and Travel, by Thomas H. Prescott

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.

Title: The American Encyclopedia of History, Biography and Travel
Comprising Ancient and Modern History: the Biography of
Eminent Men of Europe and America, and the Lives of
Distinguished Travelers.

Author: Thomas H. Prescott

Release Date: November 28, 2020 [EBook #63912]

Language: English

Character set encoding: UTF-8

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HISTORY ***

Produced by Carol Brown, Richard Hulse and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This
file was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive)

WASHINGTON’S HOUSE, MOUNT VERNON

WASHINGTON’S HOUSE, MOUNT VERNON.

the

AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA

of

HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL,

comprising

ANCIENT AND MODERN HISTORY:

the

BIOGRAPHY OF EMINENT MEN

OF EUROPE AND AMERICA,

and the

LIVES OF DISTINGUISHED TRAVELERS.

Illustrated with over 100 Engravings.

BY THOMAS H. PRESCOTT, A. M.

C O LUMBUS :

published and sold exclusively by subscription,

BY J . & H. MI LLER.

1857.

Entered According to Act of Congress, in the Year 1855, by the

OHIO STATE JOURNAL COMPANY,

In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Southern

District of Ohio.

Printed by Osgood and Pearce.

Bound by H. C Behmer.

columbus, ohio.

PREFACE.

One of the most useful directions for facilitating the study of history, is to begin with authors who present a

compendium, or general view of the whole subject of history, and, afterwards, to apply to the study of any
particular history with which a more thorough acquaintance is desired. The Historical Department of this work has
been compiled with a view to furnishing such a compendium. It covers the whole ground of Ancient History,
including China, India, Egypt, Arabia, Syria, the Phœnicians, Jews, Assyrians, Babylonians, Lydians, Modes and
Persians, together with Greece and Rome, down through the dark ages to the dawn of modern civilization. It also
embraces the history of the leading nations of modern Europe, and of the United States of America.

Wisdom is the great end of history. It is designed to supply the want of experience; and though it does not

enforce its instructions with the same authority, yet it furnishes a greater variety of lessons than it is possible for
experience to afford in the longest life. Its object is to enlarge our views of the human character, and to enable us
to form a more correct judgment of human affairs. It must not, therefore, be a tale, calculated merely to please
and addressed to the fancy. Gravity and dignity are essential characteristics of history. Robertson and Bancroft
may be named as model historians in these particulars. No light ornaments should be employed—no flippancy of
style, and no quaintness of wit; but the writer should sustain the character of a wise man, writing for the instruction
of posterity; one who has studied to inform himself well, who has pondered his subject with care, and addresses
himself to our judgment rather than to our imagination. At the same time, historical writing is by no means
inconsistent with ornamented and spirited narration, as witness Macaulay’s popular History of England. On the
contrary, it admits of much high ornament and elegance; but the ornaments must be consistent with dignity.
Industry is, also, a very essential quality in an accurate historian.

As history is conversant with great and memorable actions, a historian should always keep posterity in view,

and relate nothing but what may be of some account to future ages. Those who descend to trivial matters, beneath
the dignity of history, should be deemed journalists rather than historians. As it is the province of a historian to
acquaint us with facts, he should give a narration or description not only of the facts, or actions themselves, but
likewise of such things as are necessarily connected with them; such as the characters of persons, the
circumstances of time and place, the views and designs of the principal actors, and the issue and event of the
actions which he describes. The drawing of characters is one of the most splendid, as it is one of the most difficult,
ornaments of historical composition; for characters are generally considered as professed exhibitions of fine
writing; and a historian who seeks to shine in them, is often in danger of carrying refinement to excess, from a
desire of appearing very profound and penetrating. Among the improvements that have of late years been
introduced into historical composition, is the attention that is now given to laws, customs, commerce, religion,
literature, and every thing else that tends to exhibit the genius and spirit of nations. Historians are now expected to
exhibit manners, as well as facts and events. Voltaire was the first to introduce this improvement, and Allison,
Macaulay, and others, have adopted it.

The first and lowest use of history is, that it agreeably amuses the imagination, and interests the passions; and

in this view of it, it far surpasses all works of fiction, which require a variety of embellishments to excite and
interest the passions, while the mere thought that we are listening to the voice of truth, serves to keep the attention
awake through many dry and ill-digested narrations of facts. The next and higher use of history is, to improve the
understanding and strengthen the judgment, and thus to fit us for entering upon the duties of life with advantage. It
presents us with the same objects which occur to us in the business of life, and affords similar exercise to our
thoughts; so that it may be called anticipated experience. It is, therefore, of great importance, not only to the
advancement of political knowledge, but to that of knowledge in general; because the most exalted understanding
is merely a power of drawing conclusions and forming maxims of conduct from known facts and experiments, of
which necessary materials of knowledge the mind itself is wholly barren, and with which it must be furnished by
experience. By improving the understanding history frees the mind from many foolish prejudices that tend to
mislead it. Such are those prejudices of a national kind, that have induced an unreasonable partiality for our own
country, merely as our own country, and as unreasonable a repugnance to foreign nations and foreign religions,
which nothing but enlarged views resulting from history can cure. It likewise tends to remove those prejudices that
may have been entertained in favor of ancient or modern times, by giving a just view of the advantages and
disadvantages of mankind in all ages. To a citizen of the United States, one of the great advantages resulting from
the study of history is, that so far from producing an indifference to his own country, it disposes him to be satisfied
with his own situation, and renders him, from rational conviction, and not from blind prejudice, a more zealous
friend to the interests of his country, and to its free institutions. It is from history, chiefly, that improvements are
made in the science of government; and this science is one of primary importance. Another advantage is, that it
tends to strengthen sentiments of virtue, by displaying the motives and actions of truly great men, and those of a
contrary character,—​thus inspiring a taste for real greatness and solid glory.

The second department of our work has been devoted to Biography,—a species of history more entertaining,

and in many respects equally useful, with general history. It represents great men more distinctly, unincumbered
with a crowd of other actors, and, descending into the detail of their actions and character, their virtues and

failings, gives more insight into human nature, and leads to a more intimate acquaintance with particular persons,
than general history allows. A writer of biography may descend with propriety to minute circumstances and
familiar incidents. He is expected to give the private as well as the public life of those whose actions he records;
and it is from private life, from familiar, domestic and seemingly trivial occurrences, that we often derive the most
accurate knowledge of the real character. To those who have exposed their lives, or employed their time and
labor, for the service of their fellow men, it seems but a just debt, that their memories should be perpetuated after
them, and that posterity should be made acquainted with their benefactors. To a volume of biography may be
applied the language of a pagan poet:—

“Here patriots live, who for their country’s good,
In fighting fields were prodigal of blood;
Priests of unblemished lives here make abode,
And poets worthy their inspiring god;
And searching wits of more mechanic parts,
Who graced their age with new invented arts;
Those who to worth their bounty did extend,
And those who knew that bounty to commend:
The heads of these with holy fillets bound,
And all their temples are with garlands crowned.”

In the lives of public persons, their public characters are principally, but not solely, to be regarded. The world

is inquisitive to know the conduct of its great men as well in private as in public; and both may be of service,
considering the influence of their examples. In preparing this department of our work we have aimed to introduce
variety,—​selecting representative men from all the various pursuits of life.

The third department of our work has been designated as the Department of Travel. It embraces the principal

voyages of discovery and the lives of great navigators and travelers, since the days of Columbus and Vasco de
Gama. In the history of scientific expeditions, the five following divisions may be made: 1. The earliest age of the
Phœnicians down to Herodotus, 500 years before Christ. The Phœnicians undertook the first voyages of
discovery for commercial purposes, or to found colonies. 2. The travels of the Greeks and the military expeditions
of the Romans, from 500 B. C. to 400 A. D. The Greeks made journeys to enlarge the territories of science. The
armies of Rome, during this period, supplied an extensive knowledge of a part of Asia, Egypt, the northern part of
Africa, and Europe to South Britain. 3. The expeditions of the Germans and Normans until 900 A. D. The
Normans discovered the Faroes, Iceland and Greenland. 4. Besides the commercial and military voyages of the
Arabs and Mongols, the travels of the Christian Missionaries, and other Europeans, down to 1400, furnished
much valuable information. 5. The fifth period, from the year 1400 to the present time, is the period particularly
embraced in this work. During this time, North and South America, a portion of Asia, and the interior of Africa,
have been explored, and the adventurous voyagers in the Arctic and Antarctic seas, have pushed their researches
to within twelve degrees of the poles. Sir J. Ross reached the south latitude of 78 deg. 4 min. in the year 1841.
Such are the results of the labors of four centuries. The knowledge has been slowly gathered, but it will remain a
lasting testimony to the triumphs of intellect. It is but recently that human enterprise has penetrated many of the
secrets of the Antarctic regions,—that realm of mighty contrasts,—and it will doubtless pursue the investigation.
‘Meantime the wintry solitudes of the far south will be undisturbed by the presence of man; the penguin and the
seal will still haunt the desolate shores; the shriek of the petrel and the scream of the albatross will mingle with the
dash and roar of continual storms, and the crash of wave-beaten ice; the towering volcano will shoot aloft its
columns of fire high into the gelid air; the hills of snow and ice will grow and spread; frost and flame will do their
work; till, in the wondrous cycle of terrestrial change, the polar lands shall again share in the abundance and
beauty which now overspread the sun-gladdened zones.’

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY.

ANCIENT HISTORY.

Ethiopian History
18–20

Mongolian History.—​The Chinese
20–26

Caucasian History.—Ancient India—Eastern Nations—The Egyptians—Arabians—

Syria—The Phœnicians—Palestine—The Jews—The Assyrians and Babylonians—The
Medes and Persians—​States of Asia Minor—​The Lydians—​The Persian Empire
26–53

Grecian History.—Early History and Mythology—Religious Rites—Authentic History

—Sparta—Lycurgus—Athens—Persian Invasion—Pericles—Alcibiades—Decline of
Athenian Independence—​Alexander the Great—​Concluding Period
53–78

Roman History.—The Latins—The Kings—The Commonwealth—Struggle between

the Patricians and Plebeians—Invasion of the Gauls—The Samnite Wars—The Punic
Wars—The Revolutions of the Gracchi—Social Wars—Marius and Sulla—Pompey,
Cicero, Cataline, Cæsar—Gallic Wars—Extinction of the Commonwealth—Civil Wars—
Augustus—Dissemination of Christianity—Division of the Empire—Downfall of the
Western Empire
78–112

MIDDLE AGES.

—The Eastern Empire—Constantine—Julian the Apostate—Theodosius the Great—

Justinian; his Code—Arabia—Mohammed—Empire of the Saracens—The Feudal
System—Charlemagne—The New Western Empire—France—The German Empire—
Italy—Spain—General state of Europe—The Crusades—Chivalry—Rise of new Powers
—Wm. Tell—The Italian Republics—Commerce—The Turks—Fall of Constantinople—
Rise of Civil Freedom
112–145

MODERN HISTORY.

Great Britain and Ireland.—Conquest by the Romans; by the Saxons; by the Normans

—Early Norman Kings—William the Conqueror—Henry—Richard Cœur de Lion—John
—Magna Charta—Origin of Parliament—Edwards—Conquest of Scotland—Richard
II—House of Lancaster—House of York—House of Tudor—Henry VIII—​The
Reformation—Edward VI—Queen Mary; Elizabeth—Mary, Queen of Scots—The
Stuarts—Gunpowder Plot—Revolution—Irish Rebellion—Oliver Cromwell—Trial and
Execution of Charles I—The Commonwealth—Subjugation of Ireland and Scotland—The
Protectorate—The Restoration—Charles II—Dutch War—Plague and Fire in London—
The Rye House Plot—Death of Charles II—James II—Expedition of Monmouth—
Arbitrary Measures of the King—The Revolution—William and Mary—Establishment of
the Bank of England—Queen Anne—Union of England and Scotland—Marlborough’s
Campaigns—House of Hanover—George I—Rebellion of 1715–16—George II—​
Rebellion of 1745–46—George III—American Stamp Act—American War of
Independence—French Revolution—Rebellion in Ireland—Union with Great Britain—
War with U. States—George IV—William IV—Queen Victoria—War with Russia—
Alliance with France—​Attack on Odessa—​Operations in the Baltic—​The Crimea—​Battle
of the Alma—Sebastopol described—Allies opening Trenches—Bombardment—
Explosion of French Batteries and Russian Powder Magazine—The Allied Fleet—
Cannonade—Battle of Balaklava—The Turks—The Highlanders—The Russian Cavalry
—Capt. Nolan—Battle of Inkermann—Morning of the Battle—The Attack—The
Zouaves—Chasseurs—Night after the Battle—Council of War—Determination to Winter
—​Reinforcements demanded
145–256

History of France.—Clovis, A. D. 486; division of his Empire—The Merovingian

Kings—The Carlovingians—Pepin—Charles Martel—Charlemagne; his Empire—Louis
—Division of the Empire—Charles—Arnulf—Charles the Simple—Invasion of the
Normans—Hugh Capet and his Successors—Philip VI of Valois—Wars with England,
1328–1415—Charles VI—Maid of Orleans—Louis XI—Francis II—France during the
War of Religion—Persecution of the Huguenots—Coligni—The Massacre of St.
Bartholomew, 1572—​Henry III—​Henry IV—​Edict of Nantes—​The Age of Louis XIV—​
Richelieu and Mazarin—Persecution of the Calvinists—Revocation of the Edict of Nantes,
1685—The Last Days of Absolute Monarchy—Louis XV—Louis XVI—The French
Revolution—National Assembly—Mirabeau, Dante, Marat, Robespierre—The 10th of
August—Dethronement of the King—National Convention—Trial and Execution of the
King—Jacobins and Girondists—Exclusion of the Girondists from the Convention—
Execution of the Queen, Madame Elizabeth, and the Duke of Orleans—La Vendee—Fall
of Danton and Camille Desmoulins—Overthrow of Robespierre and the Jacobins—
Reconstruction of the Government—Napoleon Bonaparte—Italian Campaign—
Expedition to Egypt and Syria—Return to France—The First Consulate—Consul for Life
—Duke d’Enghein—Napoleon Emperor—Austrian Campaign—Russians—Battle of
Austerlitz—Confederation of the Rhine—War with Prussia—Alliance of Prussia and
Russia—Victory at Friedland—Peace of Tilsit—Occupation of Portugal—Spain—
Annexation of the Roman States and imprisonment of the Pope—New war with Austria—
Peace of Vienna—Marriage with Maria Louisa—Russian Campaign—Conflagration of
Moscow—Retreat of the French—Alliance of Russia, Prussia, etc.—Congress of Prague
—Austria—Battle of Leipsic—Retreat of the French—Invasion of France by the Allies—
Abdication of Napoleon—Louis XVIII—Escape of Napoleon from Elba—Defeat at
Waterloo—Death at St. Helena—Louis XVIII—​Charles X—Abdication—Louis Philippe
—​Revolution—​Louis Napoleon—​War with Russia and alliance with England and Turkey
256–302

History of Spain.—Gothic Monarchy—The Moors—Castile—Henry IV—​Ferdinand

and Isabella—Conquest of Grenada—Christopher Columbus—Discovery of America—
Charles V—Hernando Cortez—Conquest of Mexico—Francis Pizarro—Conquest of
Peru—Ignatius Loyola—Philip II—War with England—Defeat of the Invincible Armada
—​Philip III—Banishment of the descendants of the Moors—Philip IV—Accession of the
House of Bourbon—Charles III—The Seven Years’ War—Charles IV—​Ferdinand—​
Joseph Bonaparte—Alliance of the Spaniards and English—Return of Ferdinand—
Isabella II
302–312

Germany and Austria.—Division of the Empire of Charlemagne, and formation of the

German Empire—Succession of Henry the Fowler to the throne of Conrad of Franconia
—The Germans build cities—Accession of Hildebrand—Pope Gregory III—​His
Excommunication of Henry IV—Strife of Guelphs and Ghibelines—Pope Adrian IV—​
Tancred—Richard III of England—The House of Hapsburg succeeds that of Swabia—
Death of Albert—​Charles IV issues the Golden Bull—Council of Constance—Martyrdom
of John Huss and Jerome of Prague—Invention of Printing—Luther; the Reformation—
Thirty Years’ War—Peace of Westphalia—Insurrection of Hungarians aided by Turks—
The War of Succession—Prince Eugene—Maria Theresa—Pragmatic Sanction—Revolt
of the Netherlands—Confederation of the Rhine—Congress of Vienna—Hungarian
Revolution of 1848
312–326

History of Russia.—Russia rescued from the Tartars by John Basilowitz—Michael

Theodorowitz, First of the House of Romanoff, Czar of Muscovy—Reorganization of
Russia by Alexis—Reign of Peter the Great—Foundation and embellishment of St.
Petersburg—Succession of the Czarina Catherine—Catherine II—Annexation of the
Crimea—​Dismemberment of Poland—​Kosciusko—​Suwarrow—​Resignation of Stanislaus
—Paul—War against the French Republic—Assassination of Paul—Alexander—
Coalition against Napoleon, by Austria and England—Peace of Tilsit—Napoleon declares
war against Russia—Smolensko—Burning of Moscow—Constantine—Nicholas—
Extirpation of Poland—Siege of Sevastopol by France, England, and Turkey—Death of
Nicholas—​Succession of Alexander II
326–334

HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.

I.
Colonial History.—Discoveries of Cabot—The Huguenots—Sir Walter

Raleigh—Champlain—Henry Hudson—Virginia—Jamestown—John Smith—
Pocahontas—Indian War—Gov. Berkeley—Nathaniel Bacon—New England
Colonies—Puritans—Principles of their early Government—Quaker Persecution
—Pequod Indian War—King Philip—Royal Governors—Salem Witchcraft—
Connecticut—Rhode Island—Dutch Settlement of New Amsterdam—Indian
War—Annexation of New Amsterdam to the English Colonies, and change of
name to N. York—Lord Baltimore—Civil War—Carolina—Wm. Penn—Indian
Treaty—Frame of Government—Oglethorpe—Wesley—Whitfield—Principles
and characteristics of the Colonists
334–363

II.
Contest of France and England for America.—King William’s War—The

French War—The Ohio Company—George Washington—Braddock—Gen.
Wolfe—​Rising Colonial prosperity
363–368

III.
The Revolution.—Stamp Act—N. Y. Congress—War of publications against

Britain—Boston
Massacre—Tea
Party—Lexington—Declaration
of

Independence—Franklin,
Lafayette,
Kosciusko—Trenton—Brandywine—

Burgoyne’s Defeat—Alliance of France and America—Baron Steuben—
D’Estaing—Stony Point—Arnold—Col. Hayne—Capitulation of Cornwallis—
Treaty at Paris—Washington—Paralyzed condition of the Government—
Massachusetts Rebellion 1786—Formation of Government by the Constitutional
Convention
368–394

IV.
Constitutional History.—Federalists and anti-Federalists—Defeat of Harmar

and St. Clair—Prohibition of the Slave Trade—Death of Washington—Purchase
of Louisiana—​War with Tripoli—​Embargo Acts—​War with England—​Campaign
of 1812—American Naval Victories—Perry’s victory on Lake Erie—Gen.
Harrison—Treaty at Ghent—Battle of New Orleans—Seminole War—Lafayette
—Tariff—U. S. Bank—Nullification—Compromise of 1820—Commercial
Bankruptcy—Annexation of Texas—Mexican War—Discovery of Gold in
California—​Gadsden Treaty
394–413

BIOGRAPHICAL DEPARTMENT.

Hernando Cortez
415

William Penn
441

Benjamin Franklin
467

Peter the Great
475

Count Rumford
498

Nicholas Copernicus
523

Tycho Brahe
526

Galileo
528

Kepler
531

Sir Isaac Newton
533

Huygens
536

Halley
537

Ferguson
539

Sir William Herschel
544

Simon Bolivar
547

Francia, the Dictator
554

Alexander Wilson
562

James Watt
569

John Howard
572

Lord Byron
598

Percy Bysshe Shelley
612

Oliver Goldsmith
615

Edward Gibbon
619

David Hume
623

Alexander Pope
627

John Adams
634

Thomas Jefferson
644

Samuel Adams
649

James Otis
651

Fisher Ames
653

Aaron Burr
655

Alexander Hamilton
657

Patrick Henry
660

John Hancock
664

Ethan Allen
665

Benedict Arnold
667

Horatio Gates
680

Thaddeus Kosciusko
681

Nathaniel Green
685

Frederick William Augustus Steuben
688

Baron de Kalb
689

Richard Montgomery
690

Gilbert Motier Lafayette
691

Israel Putnam
696

Stephen Decatur
698

Isaac Hull
700

Oliver Hazard Perry
702

John Marshall
704

John Paul Jones
706

Andrew Jackson
710

Winfield Scott
713

Zachary Taylor
714

John E. Wool
724

Daniel Webster
726

Henry Clay
732

Levi Woodbury
735

Robert Rantoul
737

Franklin Pierce
740

Samuel Finley Breese Morse
741

M. Daguerre
747

Victor Hugo
749

Omar Pasha
751

Edward Everett
753

Washington Irving
754

William Cullen Bryant
756

George Bancroft
756

William Hickling Prescott
758

Hiram Powers
759

DEPARTMENT OF TRAVEL.

Historical Sketch of Naval Architecture
761

Early Maritime Discoveries
774

Christopher Columbus
775

Ferdinand Magellan
800

Sir Francis Drake
802

Henry Hudson
804

Le Maire and Schouten
805

Captain James
806

William Dampier
811

Captain Woodes Rogers
814

John Clipperton
815

Commodore Anson
817

Captain Byron
823

Captain Wallis
829

De Bougainville
832

Captain James Cook
837

Captains Portlock and Dixon
864

Monsieur De La Perouse
870

George Vancouver
891

Perry’s Voyages
896

Sir John Franklin
920

Travels in Africa—​Parke, Denham, Clapperton, Lander and others
927

Samuel Hearne
953

John Lewis Burkhardt
955

James Bruce
958

John Ledyard
966

John Baptist Belzoni
967

George Forster
974

Edward Daniel Clarke
976

Richard Pococke
979

Overland Journey to India
981

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

page.

Opium Smuggling
22

Japanese Funeral Procession
23

Aga
30

Japanese Agriculture
31

Terrace of St. Peter’s
126

Gibraltar
127

Marine Arsenal, Constantinople
232

Place of Kossuth’s Imprisonment
233

Castle of Eisenstadt
322

King of Denmark
323

Captain Smith and Pocahontas
336

Providence, R. I.
338

Newport, R. I.
339

New Haven, Conn.
342

Philadelphia, Pa.
343

Halifax, N. S.
348

Lake George
349

Castle William
354

Castle Garden
355

Wilmington, N. C.
358

Prison, Phila.
359

Fort Putnam
364

Pillar Rock
365

Place des Armes, New Orleans
370

Blackwell Penitentiary
371

Columbus, O.
402

Depot, Cleveland, O.
403

Cincinnati, O.
406

Sandusky City, O.
407

Battle Monument, Baltimore
410

Bombardment of Vera Cruz
411

State House, Wisconsin
414

View on Grand River, Ohio
570

Bridge, Conneaut River, O.
571

Kosciusko’s Monument
683

Paul Jonas
707

Gen. Scott
712

Fort Ancient
716

Milford, near Cincinnati, O.
717

Gen. Wool
725

Daniel Webster
728

Residence of Daniel Webster
729

Henry Clay
733

Hon. Levi Woodbury
734

Birth Place of John Q. Adams
736

Franklin Pierce
738

William R. King
739

Euclid Creek, O.
742

Red Bank
743

Prof. Morse
744

Daguerre
746

Victor Hugo
748

Omar Pasha
752

Disappointed Gold Seekers
760

Gold Seeker’s Grave
760

Naval Architecture, from the tenth to the seventeenth century (17 Engravings)
762–770

City of Panama
812

Panama Gate
813

City of Havana
818

Scene in Havana
819

Adelaide
824

Bathurst, N. S. W.
825

Valparaiso
834

Iron Bridge, Jamaica
835

Sidney, N. S. W.
856

Humboldt
857

California
874

Ranche
875

Post Office
876

River-bed Claim on the Turon
877

Removing Goods
878

Dry Diggings
879

Portraits of Sir John Franklin’s Expedition, (9 Engravings)
922–926

Calcutta
973

Rail Road Bridge
964

Elk Creek
965

East Branch Rocky River
982

West Branch Rocky River
983

AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA.

View of St. Louis, Missouri

VIEW OF Sᵀ. LOUIS

(MISSOURI.)

THE

AME RI C AN E N C YC L O P E D I A

OF

HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.

DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY.

ANCIENT HISTORY.

The general consent of mankind points to the region of Central Asia as having been the original seat from

which the human race dispersed itself over the globe; and accordingly, it is this region, and especially the western
portion of it, which we find to have been the theatre of the earliest recorded transactions. In short, it was in
Central Asia that the first large mass of ripened humanity was accumulated—a great central nucleus of human life,
so to speak, constantly enlarging, and from which emissaries incessantly streamed out over the globe in all
directions. In process of time this great central mass having swollen out till it filled Asia and Africa, broke up into
three fragments—thus giving parentage to the three leading varieties into which ethnographers divide the human
species—the Caucasian, the Mongolian, and the Ethiopian or Negro—the Caucasians overspreading southern
and western Asia; the Mongolians overspreading northern and eastern Asia; and the Ethiopians overspreading
Africa. From these three sources streamed forth branches which, intermingling in various proportions, have
constituted the various nations of the earth.

Differing from each other in physiological characteristics, the three great varieties of the human species have

also differed widely in their historical career. The germs of a grand progressive development seem to have been
implanted specially in the Caucasian variety, the parent stock of all the great civilized nations of ancient and
modern times. History, therefore, concerns itself chiefly with this variety: in the evolution of whose destinies the
true thread of human progress is to be found. Ere proceeding, however, to sketch the early development of this
highly-endowed variety of our species in the nations of antiquity, a few observations may be offered regarding the
other two the Ethiopian and Mongolian—which began the race of life along with the Caucasian, and whose
destinies, doubtless, whatever may have been their historical functions hitherto, are involved in some profound and
beautiful manner with the bearing of the race as a whole.

ETHIOPIAN HISTORY.

A German Historian thus sums up all that is known of Ethiopian history—that is, of the part which the great

Negro race, inhabiting all Africa with the exception of the north-eastern coasts, performed in the general affairs of
mankind in the early ages of the world:—‘On the history of this division of the species two remarks may be made:
the one, that a now entirely extinct knowledge of the extension and power of this branch of the human family must
have been forced upon even the Greeks by their early poets and historians; the other, that the Ethiopian history is
interwoven throughout with that of Egypt. As regards the first remark, it is clear that in the earliest ages this branch
of the race must have played an important part, since Meroe (in the present Nubia) is mentioned both by
Herodotus (b. c. 408) and Strabo (a. d. 20); by the one as a still-existing, by the other as a formerly-existing seat
of royalty, and centre of the Ethiopian religion and civilization.[1] To this Strabo adds, that the race spread from
the boundaries of Egypt over the mountains of Atlas, as far as the Gaditanian Straits. Ephorus, too (b. c. 405),
seems to have had a very great impression of the Ethiopians, since he names in the east the Indians, in the south
the Ethiopians, in the west the Celts, in the north the Scythians, as the most mighty and numerous peoples of the
known earth. Already in Strabo’s time, however, their ancient power had been gone for an indefinite period, and
the Negro states found themselves, after Meroe had ceased to be a religious capital, almost in the same situation
as that in which they still continue. The second remark on the Negro branch of the human race and its history, can
only be fully elucidated when the interpretation of the inscriptions on Egyptian monuments shall have been farther
advanced. The latest travels into Abyssinia show this much—that at one time the Egyptian religion and civilization
extended over the principal seat of the northern Negroes. Single mummies and monumental figures corroborate
what Herodotus expressly says, that a great portion of the Egyptians of his time had black skins and woolly hair;
hence we infer that the Negro race had combined itself intimately with the Caucasian part of the population. Not

these notices only, but the express testimonies also of the Hebrew annals, show Egypt to have contained an
abundance of Negroes, and mention a conquering king invading it at the head of a Negro host, and governing it
for a considerable time. The nature of the accounts on which we must found does not permit us to give an
accurate statement; we remark, however, that the Indians, the Egyptians, and the Babylonians, are not the only
peoples which aimed at becoming world-conquerors before the historic age, but that also to the Ethiopian stock
warlike kings were not wanting in the early times. The Mongols alone seem to have enjoyed a happy repose
within their own seats in the primitive historic times, and those antecedent to them; they appear first very late as
conquerors and destroyers in the history of the west. If, indeed, the hero-king of the Ethiopians, Tearcho, were
one and the same with the Tirhakah of the book of Kings (2 Kings, xix. 9), then the wonder of those stories
would disappear which were handed down by tradition to the Greeks; but even Bochart has combatted this
belief, and we cannot reconcile it with the circumstances which are related of both. It remains for us only to
observe, by way of summary, that in an age antecedent to the historic, the Ethiopian peoples may have been
associated together in a more regular manner than in our own or Grecian and Roman times; and that their distant
expeditions may have been so formidable, both to the Europeans as far as the Ægean Sea in the east, and to the
dwellers on the Gaditanian Straits (Gibraltar) on the west, that the dim knowledge of the fact was not lost even in
late times. In more recent ages we observe here and there an Ethiopian influence, and especially in the Egyptian
history; but as concerns the general progress of the human species, the Negro race never acquired any vital
importance.

The foregoing observations may be summed up in this proposition:—That in the most remote antiquity, Africa

was overspread by the Negro variety of the human species; that in those parts of the continent to which the
knowledge of the ancient geographers did not extend—namely, all south of Egypt and the Great Desert—the
Negro race degenerated, or at least dispersed into tribes, kingdoms, etc., constituting a great savage system
within its own torrid abode, similar to that which even now, in the adult age of the world, we are vainly attempting
to penetrate; but that on the coasts of the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, the race either preserved its original
faculty and intelligence longer, or was so improved by contact and intermixture with its Caucasian neighbors, as to
constitute, under the name of the Ethiopians, one of the great ante-historic dynasties of the world; and that this
dynasty ebbed and flowed against the Caucasian populations of western Asia and eastern Europe, thus giving rise
to mixture of races along the African coasts of the north and east, until at length, leaving these mixed races to act
their part awhile, the pure Ethiopian himself retired from historic view into Central Africa, where he lay concealed,
till again in modern times he was dragged forth to become the slave of the Caucasian. Thus Negro history hitherto
has exhibited a retrogression from a point once occupied, rather than a progress in civilization. Even this fact,
however, must somehow be subordinate to a great law of general progress; and it is gratifying to know that, on
the coast of Africa, a settlement has recently been formed called Liberia, peopled by liberated negro slaves from
North America; and who, bringing with them the Anglo-American civilization, give promise of founding a cultured
and prosperous community.

MONGOLIAN HISTORY—​THE CHINESE.

As from the great central mass of mankind, the first accumulation of life on our planet, there was parted off

into Africa a fragment called the Negro variety, so into eastern Asia there was detached, by those causes which
we seek in vain to discover, a second huge fragment, to which has been given the name of the Mongolian variety.
Overspreading the great plains of Asia, from the Himalehs to the Sea of Okhotsk, this detachment of the human
species may be supposed to have crossed into Japan; to have reached the other islands of the Pacific, and either
through these, or by the access at Behring’s Straits, to have poured themselves through the great American
continent; their peculiarities shading off in their long journey, till the Mongolian was converted into the American
Indian. Blumenbach, however, erects the American Indian into a type by himself.

Had historians been able to pursue the Negro race into their central African jungles and deserts, they would no

doubt have found the general Ethiopic mass breaking up there under the operation of causes connected with
climate, soil, food, etc., into vast sections or subdivisions, presenting marked differences from each other; and
precisely so was it with the Mongolians. In Central Asia, we find them as Thibetians, Tungusians, Mongols
proper; on the eastern coasts, as Mantchous and Chinese; in the adjacent islands, as Japanese, etc.; and nearer
the North Pole, as Laplanders, Esquimaux, etc.; all presenting peculiarities of their own. Of these great Mongolian
branches circumstances have given a higher degree of development to the Chinese and the Japanese than to the
others, which are chiefly nomadic hordes, some under Chinese rule, others independent, roaming over the great
pasture lands of Asia, and employed in rearing cattle.

There is every reason to believe that the vast population inhabiting that portion of eastern Asia called China,

can boast of a longer antiquity of civilization than almost any other nation of the world, a civilization, however,
differing essentially in its character from those which have appeared and disappeared among the Caucasians. This,
in fact, is to be observed as the grand difference between the history of the Mongolian and that of the Caucasian
variety of the human species, that whereas the former presents us with the best product of Mongolian humanity, in
the form of one great permanent civilization—​the Chinese—​extending from century to century, one, the same, and
solitary, through a period of 3000 or 4000 years; the latter exhibits a succession of civilization—the Chaldean, the
Persian, the Grecian, the Roman, the modern European (subdivided into French, English, German, Italian, etc.,)