In 1400 A.D. Europeans probably knew less of the globe than they had during the Pax Romana. Outside of Europe and Mediterranean, little was known, with rumor and imagination filling the gaps. Pictures of bizarre looking people with umbrella feet, faces in their stomachs, and dogs' heads illustrated books about lands to the East. There was the legendary Christian king, Prester John with an army of a million men and a mirror that would show him any place in his realm
Polk was in favor of acquiring both Texas and Oregon because he was a firm believer in manifest destiny. ... This belief that it was inevitable that this land would belong to the US prompted the federal government to acquire lands like Texas and Oregon.
