EXPLORATION A NEW WORLD

History of America To start…you have to go back 30,000 years. That is when the first human beings arrived in North America. During the last ICE AGE.

PEOPLE FROM ASIA WALKED ACROSS A LAND BRIDGE THAT HAD BEEN EXPOSED BY THE FROZEN WATER. THEY WERE NOMADIC HUNTERS, FOLLOWING HERDS OF GIANT ANIMALS LIKE THE WOOLY MAMOTH… THEY DID NOT KNOW THEY WERE GOING TO A NEW WORLD.

FOR MANY YEARS, PEOPLE CROSSED THE LAND BRIDGE, AND THEN THE ICE AGE ENDED. THE ICE MELTED, AND WATER COVERED UP THE BRIDGE…LEAVING THE PEOPLE IN THE AMERICAS TOTALLY ISOLATED FROM THE REST OF THE WORLD FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS.

_land_bridge-noaagov.gifhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Beringia _land_bridge-noaagov.gif

IN 1000 CE VIKING SEAFARERS FOUND A NEW LAND. THEY ESTABLISHED A NEW SETTLEMENT…BUT EVENTUALLY THEY WENT HOME…AND DIDN’T TELL ANYONE ABOUT THIS “NEW WORLD”

1492 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS CONVINCED THE KING AND QUEEN OF SPAIN TO PAY FOR SHIPS AND SUPPLIES FOR A VOYAGE. HE PROMISED THEM RICHES AND GOLD…HIS DESTINATION WAS ASIA… THE EAST INDIES

COLUMBUS SAILS WEST

AND ENDS UP…

THE WEST INDIES HE LANDS ON AN ISLAND IN THE CARIBBEAN AND CLAIMS IT FOR SPAIN… HE SEES NATIVES ON THE BEACH AND CALLS THEM… INDIANS COLUMBUS MAKES A MISTAKE!

SEVERAL YEARS LATER A MAN NAMED AMERIGO VESPUCCI IS SAILING ON A SHIP ALONG THE COAST OF SOUTH AMERICA… HE SAID…I DON’T THINK THIS IS ASIA! “I think this is a NEW world!” HE ENDS HAVING THE WHOLE NEW WORLD NAMED AFTER HIM… AMERICA

SPAIN AFTER COLUMBUS DISCOVERED AMERICA, SPAIN SENT MANY SHIPS AND SOLDIERS TO AMERICA. THE CONQUISTADORES CLAIMED EVERYTHING THEY SAW FOR SPAIN.

SPANISH EMPIRE Florida and Southwest Mexico and central America All of Latin America except…BRAZIL

SPANISH

COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE SPANISH EXPLORERS BROUGHT MANY NEW THINGS HOME…THINGS PEOPLE IN EUROPE HAD NEVER SEEN BEFORE: CORN POTATOES CHILI PEPPERS CACAO BEANS

SOMETHING SCARY Traders from the New World brought something back to Europe that scared people so badly they wouldn’t even touch it at first…they were definitely afraid to eat it…they said it was devil’s fruit

OLD WORLD TO NEW Things were brought to the New World from Europe and Asia. Cows/ pigs/ horses Wheat/ sugar/ grapes Gunpowder/ guns And something very, very bad… DISEASE

WITHIN A DECADE 90% OF THE NATIVE AMERICANS HAD DIED FROM DISEASES LIKE CHOLERA, AND SMALLPOX.

The Spanish Took tons of gold and silver from their empire in the New World. They became the most powerful country in the world! Who worked in the mines? Native Americans were made to work for the Spanish- they were treated very harshly.

The French The French saw all the riches coming out of the New World…and wanted to get their share. They wanted gold, like the Spanish… If they couldn’t find gold, then they wanted to find what Columbus had been looking for… a way to get to Asia.

French exploration French explorers traveled up and down the coast of North America, going up every river, looking for a way to get through to the other side. They never found a waterway to the Pacific…but they did discover the Great Lakes and a big river… The Mississippi

Good as gold! The French didn’t find gold, but they found something almost as valuable in the courts of Europe… fur! French fur trappers came to Canada and hunted beavers and foxes…but they needed help. They paid the Native Americans to help them find furs.

Of all the European groups that arrive in the New World, the French get along with the Native Americans the best. The French needed the Native Americans cooperation.

Louisiana The French explored and claimed the territory around the Great Lakes, Canada, and along the Mississippi- an area they named after their king- Louis.

FRENCH EMPIRE CANADA AROUND THE GREAT LAKES ALONG THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER NEW ORLEANS

FRENCH

The last to arrive The British were the last of the great European powers to settle in the New World. They had been too busy fighting wars at home to have time to start new colonies. In 1607 they were ready…