Age of Exploration: Chapter 4-Christopher Columbus

​Believed he could reach East Indies by sailing west

​Believed that the Earth was smaller than what most people believed

​Spent 7 years trying to convince rulers to sponser expeditions

​King Ferdinand and Queen Isabell of Spain agree

​Promised to claim land for Spain

​Was given three ships, Nina, Pinta, Santa Maria

​Left Spain on August 3, 1492

​Sailed to Canary Islands and resupplied

​set sail for unchartered waters

​faced mutiny from crew

​found land on October 12, 1492

​Thought he made it to East Indies

• ​Was actually in the Bahamas

​Named land San Salvador and claimed it for Spain

​Was greated by native Taino's

​He called them Indians, (again he thought he made it to India?

​Sailed on to find mainland China

​Landed on present day Cuba and Hispanola (Dominican Republic and Haiti)

​Columbus tells King and Queen about all the things he had seen

​Is rewarded with money and land

​Is given the title "Admiral of the Ocean Sea"

​Not everyone convinced Columbus reached the east

​Poruguese believed he had found unchartered land off coast of Africa or in the Atlantic Ocean

​Spain and Portugal become huge trading rivals

​Disputes break out between the two

​Pope (both countries are Catholic) tries to settle disagreements

​Diplomats finally work out agreement

• ​imaginary line from North Pole to South Pole and west of Verde Islands

• ​Everything west of line could be claimed by Spain

• ​Everything east of line could be claimed by Portugal

• ​No country could claim lands already claimed by a Christian ruler.

​Almost all lands in North and South America (except Brazil) are under Spanish control

​Brazil was given to Portugal (even though they wouldn't discover it for several more years (da Gama)

​Indigenous peoples were completly disregarded and had no rights to land

​Spain sent out more expeditions to determine what lands were actually within their side of the line.

​Columbus made three more voyages to the Americas

​2nd voyage he mapped most of the Caribbean islands

• ​established permanent colony of Santo Domingo, Hispanola

• ​Searched for gold but found none

​3rd voyage Columbus explored the north coast of South America

• ​Columbus's brothers angered the indigenous people by forcing them to work in gold mines

• Also angered Spanish settlers of Hispanola by favoring some over others

• ​Word gets back to Spain and Columbus is removed as govenor

  • ​Brothers are forced to return to Spain

​4th voyage saw Columbus shipwrecked on Jamaica for one year

​When Columbus died in 1506, almost nobody noticed

​Amerigo Vespuci was exploring coast of South America in 1501 and wrote about his voyage

• ​Described it as a densely populated continent and refered to it as a "New World".

​German mapmaker read Vespuci's accounts and labeled this new continent America in honor of Vespuci, not Columbus