For centuries, the center of the commercial universe was the Mediterranean. To the merchants of Venice and Genoa, these waters were the "Established Way." They knew every port, every tax collector, and every prevailing wind. It was comfortable, it was prestigious, and, for a long time, it was enough. But while the Italians clung to their shrinking pond, a few visionaries looked past the Pillars of Hercules toward the "Sea of Darkness" – the Atlantic.