By PRAGYANSHARMA POLAVARAPU
In the great Age of Discovery ,explorers, inventors, discoverers,philosopher took a daring scientific view and wanted to understand many unknown and frightening things of nature like travelling to ends of the great seas and oceans. Till then the sailing ships moved from one port to next known port very carefully . They did not venture into the great unknown oceans—probably due to fear that entire oceans will tumble into unknown abyss from the end of flat table earth!
But in Age of Discovery a great truth appeared to have
dawned on many senior experienced weather beaten sailors that oceans are not so
frightening and that the earth is round and that if one sailed straight in
forward direction he most probably may return to his home port after at
least two or three years. They half believed and half doubted the words
of natural philosophers( scientists and university scholars) that
earth may be a huge round sphere. The time was 15th and
16th centuries and Newton’s Gravitation Law was not yet
discovered. But after Galileo invented telescope and showed that Jupiter
had round moons revolving round it, everybody understood that that moon is also
such sphere travelling the skies. Existence of these real shapes of roundness,
these real spheres , gave courage to sailors that Earth due to some mysterious
reasons and powers of god almighty may be really floating in space just like
moons of Jupiter and our own moon.
So some reckless weather- beaten sailors took courage and
wanted to risk their lives and to sail round earth by travelling in a straight
forward direction come what may. They were optimistic that at least after three
four years, even after loss of a few dozen or a few hundred sailors their
ships(their group of ships) may return to the home port from where they
started.
And lo! Some sea captains took real risk and travelled in a forward
straight-line direction into the great unknown oceans and seas in well known
safe sea routes . And ,most unbelievably, they returned home though with a far
reduced crew after a few years . people at home could not believe their
eyes seeing the bearded soldiers. The daring captains returned to home ports to
hero’s welcome. Some captains died on the way in storms or due to disease
or due to capture by some wild tribals. Whole ships disappeared without
trace. Some luckily returned (like legendary Greek sailors of yore)
to get heroe’s welcome and earned immortal frame.
Names of a few such heroes are given below.
(1) Fedinand Magellan (1480-1521) the Portuguese captain
(2)Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) a great Spanish sailor
(3) Amerigo Vespucci(1451-1512).
(4) John Cabot (1450-1498) Italian sailor .
(5) Portuguese sailor Vasco da Gama(1460-1524)
There were great sailors and adventurers of other countries like india,china etc who explored the world in past centuries . Great kings from those countries established overseas empires and built great temples ,forts etc.
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