16th Century in America ● Christopher Columbus ● Amerigo Vespucci ● Colonisation

Christopher Columbus ● Biography ● Voyage to America

Biography ● birth: 1451 in Genoa (Italy) ● with 14 years he sailed the sea and learned Spanish ● 1476 he went to Lisbon ● 1479 he married Felipa Moniz Perestrello ● 1480 they got a son, Diego ● 1480: new idea: reach the Indies by sailing west across the “Ocean Sea” ● 1485: presented his plans to John II, King of Portugal

Biography ● 1486: presented his plans to Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella Iof Castile (Spain) ● 1492: C. had success ● 12 th October 1492 arrived “new world” ● 1502: last voyage ● death: 1506 in Valladolid (Spain)

Voyage to America ● The ships (Santa Maria, Pinta, Nina) left Spain on August 3 rd 1492 ● First: sailed south to the Canary Islands ● in September C. sailed westwards across the Atlantic ● 12 th October: arrived “the new world”

Voyage to America ● Columbus brought Christianity ● Columbus called the natives Indians because he thought he had arrived in India (wrong) ● First colony in Hispaniola (Haiti)

Americo Vespucci ● Biography ● The Birth of „America“

Biography ● birth: 1451 (1454?) in Florence (Italy) ● worked as a merchandiser, sailor and mapmaker ● Worked for Lorenzo die Pierfrancesco de Medici ● 1492: Medici sent him to work at their agency in Seville, Spain ● 1499 and 1501: took part at 2 explorations to South America ● Death: 1512 in Seville

The Birth of „America“ ● 2. voyage of Vespucci: realized that it was a new continent, not India ● wrote a account of a journey “Mundos Novus” ● and a letter to Medici ● 1504: V. account of a journey: in German ● 1507: Martin Waldseemüller, geographer and mathematician, and Matthias Ringmann published "Cosmographiae introducio" in this book, they called the continent America

Colonisation / The colonisation of Roanoke

The colony at Roanoke - facts ● Founded by Athur Barlowe and Philip Amadas in instruction of Sir Walter Raleigh in 1585 ● Queen Elisabeth I allows Sir Walter Raleigh to found the colony „Virginia“ ● Raleigh and 100 men went to Roanoke ● 1 st colonisation failed, colonists hat no food and had to ask the Indians for food ● Conflict with the Indians ends with the death of the indian- chief

Colony at Roanoke - colonisation ● 15 men were left to hold the position ● Roanoke the first britain colony ● 2 nd try of colonisation, this time with 117 colonists, not only men ● The 15 left men were killed by the locals ● John White new governor of Roanoke ● Left Roanoke after 3 years ● Returned on 1590, but the colony was deserted and surrounded by woodwalls

Colony at Roanoke ● On a bole J. White found the word „Croatoan“ ● Because of a hurricane J. White had to left the colony ● Roanoke is lost for the rest of the 16 th and the whole 17 th century –> Roanoke is called the „Lost colony“

Indians ● political circumstances ● Culture ● Conflicts with pilgrims

Indians – political circumstances (1500) ● Ca. 500 tribes with more than 175 different languages ● Small “groups”, big “nations”  diferent development ● Alliance between tribes ● Often little villiages, sometimes big towns ● Sometimes democratic, sometimes monarchistic ● Usually frendly, only a few tribes are aggressive ● Usually each tribe has a “Chief”

Indians – Culture ● Religion: Belief in natural gods; Belief in live after death ● Shamans - kind of cleric/priest ● Feathers as decoration - the more feathers the more important ● Music: flutes and drums

Indians – Conflicts with pilgrims ● Spanish pilgrims setteled in Florida (1521 – 1543) - killed nearly all indians they found ● 1584: Algonkin assisted some english pilgrims (first contact) - killed some indians because of a missed jar (Becher) ● 1587: Algonkin assisted other english pilgrims - one indian was killed by the pilgrims, indians killed all english people they found

Presentation presented by Noemi Heister, David Pahl, Julian Löseke & Frederik Auffenberg

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