The Age of Exploration The age of exploration was one of the most significant periods in history. It was influenced by the time renaissance and Crusades and ended with the Columbian Exchange and discovery of America. The British, Spanish, and Portuguese were the main explorers of this time. After it was discovered that there were spices in Asia through trading and the Crusades, it was a mystery of what everywhere else had. Better ships were now being produced and held the Early Age of Exploration.
What are the facts about Christopher Columbus? The Myth of Christopher Columbus Schoolchildren are taught that Christopher Columbus wanted to find America, or in some cases that he wanted to prove that the world was round. He convinced Queen Isabela of Spain to finance the journey, and she sold her personal jewelry to do so. He bravely headed west and found the Americas and Caribbean, making friends with natives along the way. He returned to Spain in glory, having discovered the New World.
Six Degree of Seperation: Event 1: Columbus discoverys the New World - 1492 Italian explorer Christopher Columbus convinced the Spanish monarchs to sponsor his voyage with three ships: the Santa Maria, the Pinta, and the Santa Clara. After six weeks of his first voyage, Columbus and his fellow seafarers stumbled upon the New World. Columbus's discovery would later lead to the Europeans colonizing on this new unknown land. Event 2: The Tready of Tordesillas - 1494 One of the first Europeans to take advantage of Columbus's discovery was the Spaniards. Since the New World offered raw materials such as gold and silver, the Spaniards were eager to start colonizing and conquering the New World.
(p. 1 European Exploration) In October 1492, Columbus landed on the island of Hispaniola (present-day Haiti and Dominican Republic). Columbus believed that he was in the outer islands of the Far East, and he made three more voyages in search of a path to Asia. During the last three voyages, Columbus reached the major islands of the Caribbean, which he named the West Indies. It was not until 1507, a year after Columbus's death, that cartographer Amerigo Vespucci suggested that Columbus had landed on an entirely new land that was far from Asia. (p. 2 European Exploration) Although Spain's new claims created the Spanish Empire, the extent of its lands was still unknown.
Columbus underestimated the circumference of the earth by one-fourth and he believed him and his men could reach Japan by sailing 2,400 miles west from the Canary Islands. Until his death in 1506, he insisted that he had reached Asia. But he quickly recognized that the new lands could be a source of wealth from precious minerals and sugar cane. The 15th and 16th century voyages of discovery brought Europe, Africa, and the Americas into direct contact producing an exchange of foods, animals, and diseases that scholars call “The Columbian Exchange.”
The Mayflower Voyage The group that set out from Plymouth, in southwestern England, in September 1620 included 35 members of a radical Puritan faction known as the English Separatist Church. In 1607, after illegally breaking from the Church of England, the Separatists settled in the Netherlands, first in Amsterdam and later in the town of Leiden, where they remained for the next decade under the relatively lenient Dutch laws. Due to economic difficulties, as well as fears that they would lose their English language and heritage, they began to make plans to settle in the New World. Their intended destination was a region near the Hudson River, which at the time was thought to be part of the already established colony of Virginia. In 1620, the would-be settlers joined a London stock company that would finance their trip aboard the Mayflower, a three-masted merchant ship, in 1620.
He also mastered geography, and most likely while traveling the coast of West Africa, he became obsessed with traveling West across the Atlantic Ocean to reach Cahty, China. In 1484 Columbus presented his idea to the king or Portugal. The Portuguese were just as interested as Columbus was, but they elected to travel around Africa instead of taking Columbus's route. The Portuguese had thought that Columbus's math was way off and that he would starve before making it to Cathy. Unbothered by rejection Columbus went to Isabella and Ferdinand for financial backing.
During his time, there were already stories about the discovery of the New World and the riches that await any person who goes there. These stories about the New World filled him with awe. In 1511, Cortes joined the fleet of Diego Velazquez as they conquered Cuba. Because of the important role he played in the conquest of Cuba, he was given lands and slaves. He was eventually rewarded by becoming the alcalde or mayor of Santiago de Cuba.
In the early 1600’s the colonization of the new world had started between the English and Spanish. Although they both came with very different things in mind they were both discovering America and looking for establishment. The English were focused on economic refuge, freedom of religion, and economic opportunity. The Spanish came to the New World for vastly different reasons. The Spanish came in search of silver, gold, and were driven by avidity.
The Colombian Exchange Essay Honors U.S. History The Colombian exchange, which started in 1492 and went on for centuries after, is when Spain sent Christopher Columbus to find a quicker trade route with Asia, which then led him to accidentally landing in the New world, also known as the Americas. Once he had landed, a new route of trade was discovered which impacted the lives of millions through every aspect of their culture as well as their everyday lives for centuries to come. The American Indians greeted the strangers with gifts and other items, but later the American Indians were surprised in the way that the strangers treated them back. Columbus and his men eventually decided that they would gain power over the Indians by gaining control over their population and culture. Later, Columbus traded native food from the Americas such as: corn, potatoes, pineapples, tomatoes, tobacco, beans, vanilla, and chocolate with the old world for wheat, sugar, rice, coffee, horses, cows, and pigs.