Columbus and the Age of Exploration

The Age of Exploration

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Columbus lied to his crew about the distance they had travelled as not to worry them and on the 12th of October eventually they saw land.

He thought he had landed in India but had in fact landed on an island in the Caribbean. He claimed the island for Spain and named it San Salvador. He returned to Spain in March bringing with him native goods and people. He was made Governor but failed to control his men from robbing, torturing and murdering the natives and returned to Spain bitter and disappointed. He died in The new continent was named after Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian mapmaker who proved that the land found by Columbus did not resemble the Asian coast. We would love to hear your feedback, comments, ideas or anything else you'd like to say.

Are you a teacher? His second voyage in carried a large fleet with the intention of conquering the native populations and establishing colonies. At one point, the natives attacked and killed the settlers left at Fort Navidad. Over time the colonists enslaved many of the natives, sending some to Europe and using many to mine gold for the Spanish settlers in the Caribbean. The third trip was to explore more of the islands and mainland South America further. Columbus was taken prisoner on board a ship and sent back to Spain. But a hurricane, then being denied entrance to Hispaniola, and then another storm made this an unfortunate trip.

His ship was so badly damaged that he and his crew were stranded on Jamaica for two years until help from Hispaniola finally arrived. In , Columbus and his men were taken back to Spain. He was not in good health. He spent much of the last of his life writing letters to obtain the percentage of wealth overdue to be paid to him, and trying to re-attain his governorship status, but was continually denied both.

Columbus died at Valladolid on May 20, , due to illness and old age. Even until death, he still firmly believing that he had traveled to the eastern part of Asia. Legacy Columbus never made it to Asia, nor did he truly discover America. Perhaps his greatest contribution was that his voyages opened an exchange of goods between Europe and the Americas both during and long after his journeys.

Columbus day was made a federal holiday in It is recognized on the second Monday of October. Explorer of the New World. Compass Point Books, Tales of Endurance and Exploration. The Worlds of Christopher Columbus. Cambridge University Press, Use the tabs on the left to view either 1 or multiple journeys at a time, and click on the icons to learn more about the stops, sites, and activities along the way. Of course, if they did convert, they were also subject to the Spaniards, who were the pope's official representatives in the New World.

He then set his sights to the north. The Spanish had always been interested in finding the Northwest Passage for commercial reasons, but by this time, the Jesuits were interested in it, too. They had largely written off La Florida as a place to evangelize and hoped that such a passage could quickly take their priests to the more promising land of China. After the Spanish presence in the Chesapeake Bay had been eliminated, the English moved in.

They had been bit players in the New World up to that point, unsuccessfully attempting to save the French settlement at Charlesfort in and looting the Spanish galleons transporting gold and silver back to Spain. England's most accomplished pirate, Sir Francis Drake, even circumnavigated the globe from to In three voyages from to , Martin Frobisher explored the icy waters between Greenland and Canada, searching for that ever-elusive passage to China. After he was lost at sea, Gilbert's cousin, Walter Raleigh , took over the patent. Raleigh assembled an elite group of would-be colonizers.

These included the brilliant mathematician Thomas Hariot , who instructed sailors on the art of open-sea navigation, and Richard Hakluyt the younger , an Anglican minister and enthusiastic geographer, who provided compelling arguments in favor of the English settlement of America. In , Raleigh funded an English colony at Roanoke in the same Outer Banks region where the explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano had claimed to have seen the Pacific Ocean more than a half century earlier. Although this and a subsequent colony both failed , the colonization attempts included a visit to the Chesapeake Bay during the winter of — There the Englishmen found the ports to be deeper and safer, and the Indians friendlier.

Although the Spaniards had largely given up their attempts to settle in this area, they still resisted English incursions. They quite reasonably feared that the English would use ports at Roanoke or in the Chesapeake as safe havens for pirates such as Sir Francis Drake and Christopher Newport. Their protection of this coastline, in other words, was a means of protecting Spanish shipping in the Caribbean.

Despite their efforts, though, they did not discover the location of the Roanoke colony in time to destroy it, and although they considered an attack against the Jamestown settlement, founded in , the king refused to give the order. So ended more than a century of feverish competition over control of the Atlantic coast and the area of present-day Virginia. The Age of Exploration. Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, 26 Aug.

Thanks to your advocacy efforts on our behalf, we're happy to report that the recently passed Omnibus Spending Bill includes a very small increase in funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities!

Age of Exploration: Christopher Columbus

While our work is not over with regards to the upcoming budget to be passed in the fall, the Omnibus Spending Bill represents an endorsement of the important work that the humanities do for our communities. These funds will continue to support our work of providing free access to authoritative content about Virginia's history and culture. The Santa Maria at anchor The Age of Exploration Contributed by Brendan Wolfe The Age of Exploration began in earnest with the first voyage of Christopher Columbus in and ended, at least where present-day Virginians are concerned, with the founding of Jamestown in Background For Europeans of the Late Middle Ages, the known world was relatively small, mysterious, and imbued with Christian symbols.

Time Line - Soldiers from the kingdom of Castile part of present-day Spain land on the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa, near present-day Morocco and Western Sahara, and conquer the natives who live there. May 4, - Pope Alexander VI issues a bull, Inter caetera , that decrees that all newly discovered lands west of a line of longitude running through the eastern part of present-day Brazil belong to Spain, and everything east to Portugal.

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September 24, —November 7, - Christopher Columbus completes three additional voyages to the New World. He is probably the first European to encounter the American mainland since the Vikings. In both he sails down the east coast of South America. April 22, - Sailing far to the west in an attempt to pick up the best winds down the west coast of Africa, Pedro Alvares Cabral sights what is present-day Brazil in South America. He claims it for Portugal.

One known copy remains. The document is designed to be read in Spanish by Spanish explorers to American Indians, introducing them to Christian doctrine. Magellan dies in the Philippines before the voyage is completed.

North Atlantic sailings prior to Christopher Columbus

June—July - Two ships under the command of Pedro de Quejo and Francisco Gordillo sail from the Bahamas to explore an area to the northwest and gather Indian slaves. One of the ships is lost on the voyage, which likely includes the exploration of an area along the coast of present-day South Carolina. Sixty Indians are taken hostage. It is the first-known European settlement in mainland North America. After a long and improbable journey, a handful of survivors will reach Mexico in It provides the fullest account of American Indians living on the Atlantic coast prior to Thomas Hariot's A briefe and true account of the new found land of Virginia May 28, - Hernando de Soto and ten ships carrying soldiers, eight secular priests, four Dominican friars, tradesmen, royal representatives, horses, hundreds of pigs, and mastiff dogs land near present-day Tampa Bay, Florida.

He reestablishes a colony, calling it France-Roy. The new settlement quickly fails.

December 18, - Philip II of Spain, worried that the French intend to land in the area, orders that a settlement be immediately established at the Point of Santa Elena in present-day South Carolina. May 1, - By this day the Englishman Thomas Stukeley is preparing a rescue voyage to Charlesfort, a French settlement on the coast of present-day South Carolina.

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The mission is in part funded by Queen Elizabeth I. But rather than sail to North America, Stukeley, who is possibly a Spanish spy, attacks French and Portuguese shipping off the coast of Spain.

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