The centuries that have elapsed since the Age of Discovery have seen the end of dreams of easy routes to the East by the north, the discovery of Australasia and Antarctica in place of Terra Australis Incognita, and the identification of the major features of the continental interiors. While, as in earlier centuries, traders and missionaries often proved themselves also to be intrepid explorers, in this period of geographical discovery the seeker after knowledge for its own sake played a greater part than ever before. Roger Barlow, in his Briefe Summe of Geographie, written in 1540–41, asserted that “the shortest ...(100 of 10083 words)
