  Vikings were sea raiders who terrorized coasts of western Europe  Vikings were first Europeans to discover North America  500 years before Columbus  Discovered the route to North America by following migrating birds Vikings were first!

  Erik the Red  Established settlements in Greenland  Leif Eriksson  Son of Eric the Red  Missed destination and discovered eastern Canada  Tried to settle in Vinland  Fought with Native Americans  Left Vinland and only returned for timber Viking Explorers

 Going West to go East

  Born and raised in Genoa, Italy  Son of a weaver  Learned to sail on both merchant ships and warships  Ship he was on sank in battle, and he landed in Portugal  Found a job making maps  Columbus was the exception  Made it life’s work to lead expedition west Christopher Columbus

  Columbus had difficulty finding someone to pay for his expedition  Portugal  Thought his travel estimate was too low  Once a da Gama found a route, they were no longer interested  Asked for assistance from Venice, Genoa, and England Finding Financial Support

  Requested help from Ferdinand and Isabella  Advisors convinced them not to  Were more concerned with driving out Muslims  To keep Columbus in Spain, gave him money and ordered all towns to give him shelter  In 1492, after fall of last Muslim kingdom agreed to fund his voyage On to Spain

  Set sail on August 3, 1492  90 men, and 3 ships  Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria  Columbus kept a diary of how far they traveled that day  Wrote down less miles to keep the men from getting scared  Landed on the island of San Salvador on October 12,1492  Believed he had arrived in Asia First Voyage

  When local natives greeted him he called them Indians  Columbus was disappointed not to find riches he expected  Searched other islands and located gold  Columbus would make 3 other trips to the Americas  When he died still believed he had found Asia Landfall

  Columbus ran his ship aground and took it as a sign to establish a colony there  When he left for Spain, instructed his men  To trade for gold  Treat locals well  Establish a town  When he returned he discovered his men had angered the locals and had been killed Colonies in Hispaniola

  Columbus thought natives  Could be easily converted  Make them work for them  Columbus encouraged starting trade of Indian slaves  Forced Indians to mine for gold  Slavery was a response to make a profit  Europeans were ok with idea of enslaving Indians because they could be converted Native American labor

  Queen Isabella was an opponent of enslaving Indians  belonged to monarchs and could not be owned by anyone else  Many Indians were sent to plantations off coast of Portugal  Bartolome de Las Casas  Defender of Indians  Protected them from mistreatment by settlers  Spanish government passed laws protecting Indians  Hard to enforce them Indian Slave Trade

  Exchange of plants, animals, technology, and germs between Europe and Americas  Europeans took home  Corn, beans, peanuts  Europeans brought  Horses, guns  Disease brought by Europeans devastated Native Americans  Had no resistance built up to the diseases  Thousands died from smallpox and measles Columbian Exchange

  Amerigo Vespucci  Italian who sailed under Spanish flag  Tried to sail west to get to Asia in 1499  When he reached America, thought he reached Asia  Another voyage in 1501  Sailed along coast of South America  Realized it could not be part of Asia  German mapmaker proposed naming ne continent America  For “Amerigo, the discoverer Naming America