Diffused, spread abroad, scattered.

Did not Carthage afterwards become as flourishing as the parent city of Tyre?

In time, Carthage not only equalled Tyre itself, but surpassed it,—­pursuing the course the Phenicians had begun, and sending its merchant fleets through Hercules’ Pillars, (now the Straits of Gibraltar,) along the western coast of Africa, and northwards, along the coast of Europe, visiting particularly Spain, Gaul, &c.  They even undertook voyages, the sole object of which was to discover new countries and explore unknown seas.  The Carthaginians appear to have been the first who undertook voyages solely for the sake of discoveries.

Were not both these celebrated cities destroyed?

Tyre, whose immense riches and power were the subject of many ancient histories, was destroyed by the Grecian Emperor Alexander the Great, and its navigation and commerce transferred by him to Alexandria, a new city which he meditated making his capital.  Alexandria, in a short time, became the most important commercial city in the world.  Thus arose navigation among the Egyptians; it was afterwards so successfully cultivated by them, that Tyre and Carthage (which last, as before mentioned, was subdued by the Romans,) were quite forgotten.

     Transferred, removed.

     Capital, chief city or town in a state or kingdom.

Who was Alexander the Great?

The son of Philip, King of Macedonia, in Greece; he was celebrated for his great ambition, and the number of his conquests; he overturned the Persian empire, and subdued many cities and provinces in the East.

Did not Alexandria undergo the same fate as Tyre and Carthage?

Egypt was at last reduced to a Roman province, after the battle of Actium, and its trade and navigation fell into the hands of the Emperor Augustus, in whose time Alexandria was little inferior to Rome; and the magazines of the capital of the world were supplied with merchandise from the capital of Egypt.  Alexandria, however, at last underwent the fate of Tyre and Carthage, being surprised by the Saracens, who overran the northern parts of Africa; and though it continued, for a while, to enjoy a considerable portion of the commerce of the Christian merchants, it afterwards remained in a languishing condition:  but still, even at this day, it is a place of considerable trade.

Who were the Saracens?

A Mahommedan nation, occupying a portion of what is now called Arabia.  They extended their conquests over a large portion of Asia, northern Africa, and Spain.  Their name is derived from the word Sara, a desert.

What effect had the Fall of the Roman Empire on Navigation?

The fall of the Roman empire not only drew along with it its learning and the polite arts, but also the art of navigation; the Barbarians, into whose hands the empire fell, contenting themselves with enjoying the spoils of those whom they had conquered, without seeking to follow their example in the cultivation of those arts and that learning which had rendered Rome and its empire so famous.