In 1898, Sultan Abdul Hamid the Second purchased rifles from Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II for use in subduing revolts and annihilating Turkey's Armenian population. In exchange, the Sultan granted Germany rights to build a Berlin-Baghdad Railway to access Iraq's oil fields.
W.L. Grant continued in the introduction of The Voyages
and Explorations of Samuel de Champlain (1911, The Courier Press, A.S. Barnes Co.): "In the search for these were made the three greatest voyages in history, those of Columbus, of Vasco da Gama, and greatest of all of Magellan. In his search for the riches of Cipangu, Columbus stumbled upon America. The great Genoese lived and died under the illusion that he had reached the outmost verge of Asia; and though even in his lifetime men realized that what he had found was no less than a new world."
Beginning in 1492, Christopher Columbus took FOUR VOYAGES to the New World:1ST VOYAGE (1492-1493), he DISCOVERED land; 2ND VOYAGE (1493-1496), he encountered a hurricane, malaria, and CANNIBALS; 3RD VOYAGE (1498-1500), he faced doldrums, rebellion, and was ARRESTED; 4TH VOYAGE (1502-1504), he survived another hurricane, explored Panama, and was SHIPWRECKED on Jamaica for a year.
