Excerpt from The History of America, Vol. 1: From Its Discovery by Columbus to the Conclusion of the Late War; With an Appendix, Containing an Account of the Rise and Progress of the Present Unhappy Contest Between Great Britain and Her Colonies Such was the progrefs of commerce, navigation, and difcovery among the ancients, rrom the firli dawn of civilization, to the full el'cablilhment of theo Ro man empi1e, the molt enlightened zzra in the ancient wo1ld from which it ap pears, that they were but very imperfectly acquainted even with that portion of the earth which was known to them. They were almofl. Entirely ignorant of thole vaii countries in the north of Europe, which are at prefent fubjeet to the kings of Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Pruflia, and thole which belong to the Ruffian empire. With the north of Afia, and the greater part: of Africa, they were f'till leis acquainted; and the fertile and Opulent countries of India, beyond the Ganges, were to them regions unexplored. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.