SECTION X.
Recapitulation of some circumstances respecting Persia.
The empire of Uzun-Hassan is very extensive, and is bounded by Turkey and Caramania, belonging to the Sultan, and which latter country extends to Aleppo. Uzun-Hassan took the kingdom of Persia from Causa [1], whom he put to death. The city of Ecbatana, or Tauris, is the usual residence of Uzun-Hassan; Persepolis, or Shiras [2], which is twenty-four days journey from thence, being the last city of his empire, bordering on the Zagathais, who are the sons of Buzech, sultan of the Tartars, and with whom he is continually at war. On the other side is the country of Media, which is under subjection to Sivansa , who pays a kind of yearly tribute to Uzun-Hassan. It is said that he has likewise some provinces on the other side of the Euphrates, in the neighbourhood of the Turks[3]. The whole country, all the way to Ispahan, six days journey from Persepolis, is exceedingly arid, having very few trees and little water, yet it is fertile in grain and other provisions. The king seemed to me about seventy years of age, of large stature, with a pleasant countenance, and very lean. His eldest son, named Ogurlu Mohamed, was much spoken of when I was in Persia, as he had rebelled against his father. He had other three sons; Khalil Mirza, the elder of these was about thirty-five years old, and had the government of Shiras. Jacub beg, another son of Uzun- Hassan, was about fifteen, and I have forgotten the name of a third son.[4] By one of his wives he had a son named Masubech , or Maksud beg, whom he kept in prison, because he was detected in corresponding with his rebellious brother Ogurlu , and whom he afterwards put to death. According to the best accounts which I received from different persons, the forces of Uzun-Hassan may amount to about 50,000 cavalry, a considerable part of whom are not of much value. It has been reported by some who were present, that at one time he led an army of 40,000 Persians to battle against the Turks, for the purpose of restoring Pirameth to the sovereignty of Karamania, whence he had been expelled by the infidels.[5]
[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.
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]
[1] Astley. I. 9. Clarke, I. 140. Purchas, I. 6. Harris, I. 662.
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.
John 1. of Portugal, married Philippa, the eldest daughter of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, son to Edward III. of England, by whom he had several sons, of whom Don Henry was the fifth . After serving with great bravery under his father at the capture of Ceuta, he was raised to the dukedom of Viseo, and was sent