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As time went on, these land journeys grew more difficult and more
dangerous, until the traders saw that the day would soon come when
they would be entirely cut off from traffic with India and the rich
Eastern countries. The Turks would secure all their profitable
business. So the men of that time tried to think of some other way
of reaching the East.
Among those who wished to find a short route to India was Prince Henry
of Portugal, a bold navigator as well as a studious and thoughtful
man. He was desirous of securing the rich Indian trade for his own
country. So he established a school for navigators at Lisbon, and
gathered around him many men who wanted to study about the sea.
Here they made maps and charts, and talked with one another about the
strange lands which they thought might be found far out in that
mysterious body of water which they so dreaded and feared. It is
probable that they had heard some accounts of the voyages of other
navigators on this wonderful sea, and the beliefs about land beyond.
There was Eric the Red, a bold navigator of Iceland, who had sailed
west to Greenland, and planted there a colony that grew and thrived.
There was also Eric's son Leif, a venturesome young viking who had
made a voyage south from Greenland, and reached a strange country with
wooded shores and fragrant vines. This country he called Vinland
because of the abundance of wild grapes. When he returned to Greenland,
he took a load of timber back with him.
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