Isabella & Ferdinand, monarchs of Spain paid for the voyages of Columbus

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS (c. 1451 – May 20, 1506) Born in Genoa Italy. explorer, navigator, and colonizer. Under the auspices of the monarchs of Spain (Isabella & Ferdinand) he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean to establish permanent settlements in the “New World”.

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS European kingdoms were beginning to establish new trade routes and colonies, motivated by imperialism and economic competition Columbus proposed to reach the East Indies (So. & SE Asia) by sailing westward. The Spanish Crown, which saw a chance to enter the spice trade with Asia through this new route.

Columbus sailed under the flag of Spain

Columbus’ ships (first voyage): NINA – PINTA – SANTA MARIA

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS – voyage to the “NEW WORLD During his first voyage in 1492, he reached the New World instead of arriving at Japan as he had intended, landing on an island in the Bahamas archipelago (he named "San Salvador“). Over the course of three more voyages, he visited the Greater and Lesser Antilles, as well as the Caribbean coast of Venezuela and Central America, claiming all of it for the Crown of Castile

Explorers from Portugal and Spain Although Columbus was correct in theory, the figures he presented to the king and queen about the earth's size were wrong. He also had no idea that the Americas lay across the Atlantic. As a result, when Columbus reached an island in the Caribbean after about two months at sea, he thought he had reached the Asian islands known as the Indies. As a result, he called the people living there Indians.

Columbus brought back to Spain native people and “riches” from the New world

Explorers from Portugal and Spain March 1493 he returned with many exotic items from the lands he had explored, including parrots, jewels, gold, and plants unknown in Europe. He also brought several Native Americans back to Spain, where they were baptized as Christians. Believing that he had found a new route to Asia, the Spanish hailed Columbus as a hero.

Columbus never admitted that he had reached a continent previously unknown to Europeans, rather than the East Indies for which he had set course. Columbus called the inhabitants of the lands that he visited indios (Spanish for "Indians"). His strained relationship with the Spanish crown and its appointed colonial administrators in America led to his arrest and dismissal as governor of the settlements on the island of Hispaniola in 1500, Ending in protracted litigation over the benefits that he and his heirs claimed were owed to them by the crown.

Columbus was not the first European explorer to reach the Americas, preceded by the Viking expedition led by Leif Erikson in the 11th century. Columbus’ voyages led to the first lasting European contact with the Americas, a period of exploration, conquest, and colonization, lasting several centuries. These voyages thus had an enormous effect on the historical development of the modern Western world. He spearheaded the transatlantic slave trade and has been accused by several historians of initiating the genocide of the Hispaniola natives. Columbus himself saw his accomplishments primarily in the light of spreading the Christian religion.

DIVIDING THE WORLD (SPAIN – PORTUGAL)

LINE OF DEMARCATION The LINE OF DEMARCATION division of territory (world) between SPAIN & PORTUGAL … first defined by Pope Alexander VI (1493) revised by the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494). Spain won control of lands discovered west of the line, while Portugal gained rights to new lands to the east.

TREATY OF TORDESILLAS The TREATY OF TORDESILLAS signed June 7, 1494, divided newly discovered lands outside Europe between Portugal and the Crown of Castile. The lands to the east would belong to Portugal and the lands to the west to Castile . The treaty would be observed fairly well by Spain and Portugal, despite considerable ignorance as to the geography of the New World. The Treaty omitted all of the other European powers… who generally ignored the treaty.