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, 1492.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….

HT T P : / / V I D E O . N AT I O N A L G EOGR A PH I C . C OM /V I D E O / P L AY E R / K I D S / H I S T O RY- K I D S / C H R I S T O PHER -

C O LUMBUS - K I D S . H TM L

AMERIGO VESPUCCIVespucci 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 BALBOAVasco 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 hungerMagellen 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.”