PERIOD / TIMELINE
- 1492 Columbus lands in Americas
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BIG IDEAS
- Background:
- Collapse of Byzantium, 1453 (Christian) to Ottomans (Muslim)
- Italian merchants cut off from previous trade networks
- Christian conquest of Spain and Spanish Inquisition
- European motives:
- trade, religion, political competition
- primary motive = direct access to South and East Asian markets
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Notes & connections: details of issues, concepts, themes & events
- * Christopher Columbus was convinced he could reach China and India via a westward trajectory across the Atlantic Ocean
- Spain finally agreed to sponsor Columbus only after the Portuguese discovered a viable route to India circumnavigating Africa
- The Portuguese figured out the Atlantic rout after developing the “volta da mar”, a circular route following winds and currents to and from Portugal that led Portuguese boats further west, leading to their discoveries of the Canary Islands, the Azores, and, eventually, Brazil.
- For this reason, Brazil became a Portuguese colony and today Portuguese is the national language
- Spanish discovery of the Americas was ultimately realized by America Vespucci for whom the “Americas” is named, a Florentine explorer who recognized that Columbus had not reached the islands east of India and China (the “the Indies”) and had instead discovered a new continent (thus “West Indies” for Caribbean islands and the term “Indian” for the indigenous peoples of the Americas).
- Soon after news of Columbus’ expeditions the British organized an exploration headed by John Cabot (a Venetian, Italy, navigator) who in 1497 became the first European to explore the North American coast
- It is possible that Columbus had, prior to his 1492 expedition, visited Iceland, Greenland or, possibly, Canada in 1477, as he is thought to have visited Bristol, England, which maintained trade with Iceland.
- Cabot sailed from Bristol, so he used the knowledge of Bristol mariners for his attempt to by-pass the Americas and find a western route to Asia
- Cabot’s explorations laid the basis for subsequent British and French competition for control of modern Canada, especially Newfoundland, Quebec and the Great Lakes regions.
- In 1523, the Florentine (Italy) navigator, Giovanni de Verrazzano led an expedition on behalf of France to find a westward Atlantic route to India. Verrazzano explored the North American coast from the Carolines to modern-day New York. The “Verrazzano Bridge” in New York City is named in his honor.
- In 1534, Jacques Cartier led the first French expedition to the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the St. Lawrence River. Subsequent French expeditions further explored the St. Lawrence River waterways and established trade relations with Native Americans, especially the Iroquois.
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