Americas

“ When the Great Divider of earth and ocean scooped out the central portion of the two Americas, forming the vast water receptacle now filled by the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, He laid the line of a good deal of man’s destiny in the world. ”

“ It seems equally certain that, whatever the divisions of territory may be, these United States are the living centre, from which already flows the resistless stream which will ultimately absorb in its own channel, and bear on its own current, the whole thought of the two Americas. ”

“ And again, if we look for the natural causes which tend to promote or retard association, we find in climates and continental configurations the chief agencies. The continent of the two Americas, in its greatest length, lies north and south, the eastern continental group extends east and west. ”

“ For the last twenty years there has been a prodigious increase of production and public wealth in the two Americas. This fact accounts for the enormously increased proportion of travellers to Europe drawn from North America, Mexico, Brazil, the Argentine, etc. ”

“ From the northwest, America was discovered and populated.
Men first came into being somewhere in the Old World. From this point of beginning they spread slowly over the face of the earth. In all directions the ancient men traveled, always on foot, always without a goal. After a time Europe, Africa and Asia were populated, but the Americas remained without men. ”

“ In South America a North American or Englishman is popularly called a "Gringo," as in North America a person speaking Italian or Spanish or Portuguese is vulgarly called a "Dago." Neither term has any eulogistic flavour.
Thus we return to the question whence we started, and ask again whether there is any sort of unity or community in the two Americas. Are the peoples of these continents a group by themselves, nearer to one another than they are to other peoples, possessing a common character, common ties of interest and feeling? ”

“ A continent stretching little under 10,000 miles, from south to north, with a maximum breath of 2000 miles, between sea and sea, rivers, such as the La Plata and the Amazon—mountains like that of the Andes, whose highest peak rises 20,280 feet above the sea—Volcanoes, which cast their fires over plains of interminable extent—tropical fruits of every kind—mines of gold and silver the richest the world had ever known—these were some of the features that America brought to light, while it added one-third to the known area, and more than one-third to the commercial resources of the world. ”

“ Two mighty oceans on the east and west, two mighty continents on the north and south, and embracing, in the singular arrangement of its slopes and levels, all the climates and productions of both and of all, it seems to have been, for ages, we know not how far back, the theatre of all the art, the seat of all the power, the centre of all the refinement and luxury, of the western hemisphere. There are some remarkable works of art, and wonderful traces of ancient civilization in South America, as well as some singular remains of a once numerous and powerful people in the north. ”

“ America, and especially Saxon America, with its immense virgin territories, with its republic, with its equilibrium between stability and progress, with its harmony between liberty and democracy, is the continent of the Future,—the immense continent stretched by God between the Atlantic and Pacific, where mankind may plant, essay, and resolve all social problems. ”

“ The legend says that this continent was the first region in which man rose from barbarism to civilization, and that in the course of ages it became a populous and mighty nation from whose shores immigrants went out to settle the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, the valley of the Mississippi, the valley of the Amazon, the Pacific coast of South America, the shores of the Mediterranean, of the Baltic, the Black Sea and the Caspian and the western coast of Europe and Africa. ”

“ Central America, by common assent, not only realizes in its geographical position the ancient idea of the centre of the world, but is in its physical aspect and configuration of surface an epitome of all the countries and of all climes. “High mountain ranges, isolated peaks, elevated table lands, and broad and fertile plains, are here grouped together, relieved by beautiful lakes and majestic rivers; the whole teeming with animal and vegetable life, and possessing every variety of climate from torrid heat to the cool and bracing temperature of eternal spring.” ”

“ Within the mighty domains of our own continent, upon the immense plains reaching from Labrador to the Pacific, upon the sterile coasts of Alaska, in the land of the Montezumas, in Central America, in South America, from Panama to Terra-del-Fuego, equally marvelous have been the steady gains resulting from a Christianity the forces of which, like the waters that enrich the continent, penetrate all the bays and estuaries of human society and influence all classes and conditions of men. ”

“ The discovery of the huge continent of America, thinly inhabited,{v2-252} undeveloped, and admirably adapted for European settlement and exploitation, the simultaneous discovery of great areas of unworked country south of the torrid equatorial regions of Africa that had hitherto limited European knowledge, and the gradual realization of vast island regions in the Eastern seas, as yet untouched by Western civilization, was a presentation of opportunity to mankind unprecedented in all history. It was as if the peoples of Europe had come into some splendid legacy. ”

“ Previously to visiting the United States, I had read most of the American travels which had been published; yet from experience I can say that even those who read most on the Americans know little of them, from the disposition which leads travellers to seize and dwell upon the ludicrous points which continually present themselves.
We know that there is a vast continent across the Atlantic, first discovered by a Genoese sailing under the Spanish flag, and that for many years past it has swallowed up thousands of the hardiest of our population. ”

“ I give credit to the founders of the United States for a better knowledge of geography than that possessed by my countrymen of ancient times and do not assume that the newly formed nation was supposed to comprise the whole continent of North and South America, yet the name chosen is so comprehensive as to lead one naturally to suspect that it was intended to include the entire continent. ”

“ From the time I set my foot on board on my voyage to South America, I have considered myself as an American. Ever since that day the interests of America are the uppermost in my heart. You too, my dear Sir, and the members of your Society, are Americans. I would, therefore, call upon you, as my fellow-citizens, and would rouse you up to the mighty importance of that sacred work in which you are engaged. America, North and South, is the field for your operations. ”

“ South America.—Sailing now across the Pacific ocean, we come to the western continents. Let us first visit South America, It lies chiefly in the Torrid zone, and is very hot and very moist. Here we find one of the largest rivers and the longest mountain range in the world.
South America is the nearest continent to us, but its people are very different from us. They speak languages unlike ours, and are not nearly so busy as we are. ”

“ AMERICA.—On the Western Continent, Mexico and the South-American dependencies of Spain and Portugal gained their independence in connection with political revolutions in the European countries to which they had been attached. The United States, in the enjoyment of peace, and favored by great material advantages, advanced with marvelous rapidity in population and in wealth. ”

“ A vast continent, with its magnificent lakes and primeval forests, its boundless prairies and wonderful natural features, its Mississippi, its Niagra, and its young and vigorous civilization! But to see this great country to any purpose, one must study it well,—and that requires more time than we have at our disposal now. We must leave America, therefore, for a prolonged visit on some future occasion. ”

“ America, Spanish, the islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico, till lately belonging to Spain, though the designation is often applied to all the countries in N. America where Spanish is the spoken language.
American Fabius, George Washington.
American Indians, a race with a red or copper-coloured skin, coarse black straight hair, high cheek-bones, black deep-set eyes, and tall erect figure, limited to America, and seems for most part fast dying out; to be found still as far south as Patagonia, the Patagonians being of the race. ”

“ It is usual to speak of America as “a continent without a history.” The folly of such a statement is extreme. For centuries prior to European occupation Central America was the seat of civilisations boasting a history and a semi-historical mythology second to none in richness and interest. ”

“ The peoples who reared the great earth-mounds of the Middle West, those who carved the curious sculptures of Central America, those who built the cave-dwellings of Arizona, those who piled stone upon stone in the quaint pueblos of New Mexico, those who drove Ponce de Leon away from the shores of Florida, and those who greeted the Pilgrims with, "Welcome, Englishmen!"—all these, beyond a doubt, were of one widely varying race. ”

“ THE most interesting period in the history of the discoveries on the American continent was in that part of the sixteenth century when the efforts of the Spanish people were directed to pushing from the already settled coast lands and isthmuses into the interior of both North and South America. ”

“ What would be the course of a ship in sailing from the Galapago islands to the mouth of the Amazon river? [Pg 58]
South America is an exceedingly rich and fertile country, producing in abundance gold and silver, and the necessaries and luxuries of life.
The most prominent feature of this country is the range of mountains which extends through the western part from north to south. The region to the west from this range is an immense plateau, elevated twelve thousand feet above the level of the sea; owing to this elevation, this tract enjoys a cool and healthy climate. ”

“ Continent of South America At day break today we made the Land which Provd to be the Continent of S. America in Lat. 21.16; about ten we saw a fishing boat who told us that the countrey we saw belongd to the Captainship of Espirito Santo.
Doctor Solander and myself went on board this boat in which were 11 men (9 of whom were blacks) who all fishd with lines. ”

“ South America, with the wonders of the Amazon and the pampas and the high fauna of the Andes, is there. Our own continent also contributes largely, for the Rockies and the Selkirks still hold wonders for the eyes of youth. ”

“ Across the borders of the United States—almost within arm's reach of the eager, stirring, high-strung men of the new generation, there were tens of thousands of square miles of undeveloped territory—territory that was fabulously rich in ore, in timber, in oil, in fertility. On every side the lands stretched away—Mexico, the West Indies, Central America, Canada—with opportunity that was to be had for the taking. ”

“ In the description of the natural features of a region, little regard is paid to the artificial boundaries of political divisions and subdivisions. Thus, in the treatment of North America, which is preceded by a sketch of North and South America together, each of the general topics, surface, climate, life, etc., is dealt with for the whole continent, the portion of each of these features that becomes the share of one or another country being pointed out later. ”

“ A number of people from North America, the relics of that populous continent, had set sail for the East with mad desire of change, leaving their native plains for lands not less afflicted than their own. ”

“ America follows with an account of the progress of discovery, a geographical sketch of South America, the Andes and the Mountain States, Chili, Peru, Bolivia, etc., the Great Plains of South America, Central America, North America, Canada, a historical sketch of the United States, the Eastern States, States of the Mississippi valley, the prairies, the Western States and territories, California. ”

“ The History of South America may contain much of general interest; it possesses, moreover, a special interest for merchants, settlers, sailors, and travellers, who may have passed, or may be likely to pass, a portion of their lives on the continent in question; nor should some knowledge of an important portion of the globe be excluded from the sphere of inquiry of any educated person. ”

“ The fact that civilizations having such analogies are developed in isolated quarters of the globe, separated from each other by broad seas and lofty mountains, and thus indicating a uniformity of mental operation and a unity of mental inspiration, added to the fact that the evidence is of a preponderating character that the American continent received its population from the old world, leads us to the truth that God “hath made of one blood all nations of men.” ”

“ Many wise men have at last concluded that our great continent was originally settled by two different peoples. One was an indigenous race,—created here, belonging exclusively to this country; and the other came to North America from Asia by way of Behring's Straits, or the Aleutian islands. In support of this they call our attention to the great difference between the northern and the southern Indians. ”

“ IN the central part of the North American continent, along the valleys of the Mississippi and the Ohio, from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes, the land was, in a very remote age, settled by a people akin to those of Mexico and Central America. ”