Christopher Columbus

1492-1503

Trade

Under the Mongol Empire's hegemony over Asia, Europeans had long enjoyed a safe land passage called the "Silk Road", to China and India, which were sources of valuable goods such as silk, spices, and opiates.

With the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the land route to Asia became much more difficult and dangerous.

Europeans needed a new passage to China and India.

Early Life Christopher Columbus was born in Northern Italy where he

found his love for the ocean When Columbus was 25 he moved to Portugal with his brother

and became a mapmaker. He also went on voyages to Africa where he came up with his ideas for a western route.

Columbus presented his ideas to the Portugal King, King John II and was rejected after King John consulted with other experts deeming the voyage impossible

Columbus then went to Spain where he impressed Queen Isabella

Eventually, the Spanish King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella agreed to fund Christopher Columbus’ voyage west to Asia.

Original Map interpretation

Voyages

Between 1492 and 1503, Columbus completed four round-trip voyages between Spain and the Americas, all of them under the sponsorship of the Crown of Castile.

Christopher Colombus was origionally from Portugal, but he sailed for King Fernando and Queen Isabella

These voyages marked the beginning of the European exploration and colonization of the American continents, and are thus of enormous significance in Western history.

First Voyage

The Indigenous People

The indigenous people he encountered, the Lucayan, Taíno, or Arawak, were peaceful and friendly.

Noting their gold ear ornaments, Columbus took some of the Arawaks prisoner and insisted that they guide him to the source of the gold

Second Voyage

Third Voyage

Fourth Voyage

The Four Voyages

Did Columbus Discovey America?

Did Columbus ever reach North America?

If Columbus did not discover America then who did?

Amerigo Vespucci Amerigo Vespucci was Italian and sailed for Portugal In 1501 on his second voyage across the Atlantic Amerigo

Vespucci discovered that both South and North American were completely separate continents form Asia

He made this discovery by sailing along the coast of South American and near the North American mainland

He named the continents after himself Christopher Columbus died believing that he discovered a

westward route to Asia. Amerigo Vespucci wrote two letters on his journey

describing his encounters with the Native Americans

Vespucci Voyages

Leif Ericson

An explorer from Norway actually sailed to America 500 years before Columbus and Vespucci

Quote from the list of the top ten explorers : “Leif Ericson, son of Eric the Red, was

probably walking the beaches of Massachusetts, naked and five hundred years before you [Columbus]. Eric, an outlaw just like his father before him, made landings from Greenland in Canada and the States as early as 1004 or 1005 AD”

In 1964 under Lyndon Johnson’s precedency Leif Ericson was proclaimed the first European to walk on North American soil

Ericson Voyages