EUROPEANS EXPLORE THE WORLD Lesson 3

 Columbus was a respected Italian sailor in the 1400s.  He had a new plan to reach Asia by sailing west across the Ocean Sea (this is what they used to call the Atlantic Ocean!) CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS  Columbus took his plan to the King of Portugal in 1482 – he said NO.  In 1485 King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain said YES!

 Spain said YES to Columbus because he promised the king & queen wealth and new lands.  Columbus also told the monarchs that he was going to take the Catholic religion to the people of Asia. WHY DID SPAIN SAY YES?

 On August 3, 1492 Columbus and 90 sailors left from Spain.  They took three ships: the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. COLUMBUS’S VOYAGE  They did not reach land until October 12,  Columbus thought he had reached Asia.  He was actually in San Salvador! (the Bahamas)

 All monarchs wanted to send sailors on Columbus’s route.  In 1497 the King of England paid an Italian named Giovanni Caboto to lead an expedition.  Caboto took a route much further north than Columbus. AN UNKNOWN CONTINENT  Caboto reached present-day Canada! (He thought it was Asia)  He told England that he found a land so full of fish that no one would ever starve.  He was renamed “John Cabot.”

EVEN THOUGH MANY PEOPLE BELIEVED THAT COLUMBUS AND CABOT FOUND NEW ROUTES TO ASIA, SOME HAD THEIR DOUBTS….

EOGRAPHIC.COM/VIDEO/P LAYER/KIDS/HISTORY- KIDS/CHRISTOPHER- COLUMBUS-KIDS.HTML

AMERIGO VESPUCCI  Vespucci traveled on the Ocean Sea and did not see any evidence that Columbus & Cabot were actually in Asia.  Vespucci has the idea that they had been in an unknown continent/a new world.  This continent was named AMERICA after Amerigo Vespucci.

VASCO NUNEZ DE BALBOA  Vasco Nunez de Balboa was the first to PROVE Vespucci’s idea.  He crossed the land between North and South America through the Isthmus of Panama.  He actually reached the Pacific Ocean not Asia.

FIRST VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD  The problem is still there: no western route to Asia   Spain sent Ferdinand Magellen with 5 ships to try to find a water route to Asia.  He tried many rivers, but never found a way to cut across South America from the Atlantic to the Pacific by WATER.

 The voyage was ROUGH – disease, storms, conflict with natives and hunger  Magellen himself never made it back.  18 men out of 250 returned to Spain alive in 1522, BUT those 18 made it all the way around the world!

SPAIN CHALLENGES PORTUGAL  Spain and Portugal always disagreed about who owned what land.  Both nations were Catholic so they decided to ask the pope to settle the argument.

 The pope drew a line on a map to settle the argument.  All the land to the left of the line belonged to Spain.  All the land to the right belonged to Portugal.  A treaty was signed to “seal the deal.”