COLUMBUS EXPLORES NEW LANDS

What was Columbus looking for when he set sail across the Atlantic Ocean? What did he find?

Today our planet may not seem vast. People vacation all over the world. Flying across oceans can take just a few hours. But it was a different story 500 years ago.

The date was August 3. The year was Christopher Columbus was about to make a voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. He wanted to find a shorter route from Europe to Asia. Leaving Spain with three ships, he had high hopes for success.

On October 12, Columbus and his crew spotted land. It was an island. Columbus called it San Salvador, and that’s what we call it today.

During the next few weeks, Columbus traveled around the islands of the Caribbean Sea. Even though these islands are close to North America, Columbus thought they were off the coast of Asia!

In March 1493, Columbus and his crew returned to Spain. But he wasn’t finished traveling! He made three more voyages across the Atlantic Ocean,, and no two were alike. During his second voyage, he explored other areas in the Caribbean.

He visited the islands of Dominica, Guadeloupe, Antigua, and Puerto Rico. During Columbus’s third voyage, in 1498, he landed in South America. By this time he knew he wasn’t near Asia.

Nor South America North America ASIA COLUMBUS

On Columbus’s fourth and final voyage, in the early 1500s, he traveled along the coast of Central America.

South America North America Central America

To remember Columbus’s discoveries in the New World, we have a holiday called Columbus Day. On this day we think about how Columbus forever changed life in North and South America.