Who discovered America Columbus or. Discovery of America by Columbus. Lands discovered by Christopher Columbus
In what century Columbus discovered America, you will learn from this article.
In what century was America discovered?
The year that marked the discovery of America is rightfully considered a turning point in the life of all of Europe. The appearance of a new continent on the world map has inspired people on sea expeditions to explore and develop new territories. The most significant was the navigation of Columbus, who, looking for ways to India, stumbled upon previously unknown lands. But in what century he discovered America to the whole world, we will tell you right now.
America was discovered in the 15th century.
Who discovered North America?
The discovery of North America belongs to a Norwegian with Icelandic roots - Leif Erikson. He is believed to have been born in Iceland. But Erikson really wanted to go to the service of the Christian king of Norway, Olav Triggvason, and moved to a new country. Being engaged in sea expeditions, he reached Greenland. Here he met Bjarni Herjolfson, a navigator who discovered unknown lands west of Greenland, but he did not land on them. Leif Erickson bought a ship from a navigator and decided to go to new lands in order to explore them. According to the current Greenlanders saga, Leif and 15 of his sailors reached the ground covered with stones. This is the island now known as Baffin Island. It is located between Greenland and Canada. The next stop was dry land with forests and sandy beaches. It is assumed that it was a Labrador. Not stopping there, the Norwegians continued swimming and stopped in modern Newfoundland, building a village here for the winter.
There is no exact date when North America was discovered. Researchers agree that it was discovered at the beginning of the 11th century, based on the date of the chronology of Erikson's life - 970-1020.
Who discovered South America?
Until the end of the 15th century, Europeans knew about the existence of only three continents - Europe, Africa and Asia. They did not suspect about America at all, despite the fact that the mainland was inhabited by peoples and tribes.
The first who tried to open India by the southern route (and we all know that he discovered America), was the navigator Christopher Columbus. The discoverer was born in the family of a weaver in Italy. He knew how to make geographical maps, studied the works of scientists and notes of sailors. He was sure that our planet has a spherical shape and wanted to make a voyage to prove it.
Having moved to Spain, Christopher Columbus spent 8 years seeking the consent of the king for an expedition across the Atlantic Ocean in order to find sea routes to India. The Spanish king agreed and appointed the persistent navigator as master of the lands he had discovered.
In 1492, 3 caravels on board with a crew of 90 people set off. A long voyage led to the fact that the sailors began to demand the commander to turn the ships home. But Columbus' faith was strong. After 70 days, finally, the earth was visible in the distance. These were the Greater Antilles. Next was the island of Trinidad, off the coast of South America. Continuing south towards the mainland, Columbus discovered the islands of Haiti and Cuba. Thus, in 1492, South America was discovered to the world.
What Christopher Columbus did, you will learn from this article.
What did Christopher Columbus discover? Discoveries of Christopher Columbus
The navigator is the most mysterious person of the era of the Great Geographical Discoveries and travels. His life is full of mysteries, dark spots, inexplicable coincidences and deeds. And all because mankind became interested in the navigator 150 years after his death - important documents have already been lost, and Columbus's life remained fanned with speculation and gossip. Plus, Columbus himself hid his origin (for unknown reasons), the motives of his actions and thoughts. The only thing that is known is 1451 - the year of his birth and the place of birth - the Republic of Genoa.
He made 4 expeditions, which were supplied by the Spanish king:
- The first expedition - 1492-1493.
- The second expedition - 1493-1496.
- The third expedition - 1498 - 1500.
- The fourth expedition - 1502 - 1504.
During four expeditions, the navigator discovered many new territories and two seas - Sargasso and Caribbean.
Lands discovered by Christopher Columbus
It is interesting that all the time the navigator thought that he had discovered India, and behind it he would find rich Japan and China. But it wasn't. He owns the discovery and exploration of the New World. The islands discovered by Christopher Columbus are the Bahamas and Antilles, Saman, Haiti and Dominica, the Lesser Antilles, Cuba and Trinidad, Jamaica and Puerto Rico, Guadeloupe and Margarita. He is the discoverer of the lands of Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, as well as the northern coast of South America and the Caribbean part of Central America.
Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus
But the most important thing is that during his expedition Christopher Columbus discovered America. It happened on October 12, 1492, when he landed on the island of San Salvador.
And it all started like this: on August 3, 1492, the expedition of the European navigator, consisting of the ships Santa Maria, Nina and Pinta, set out on a long journey. In September, the Sargasso Sea was discovered. They walked along German for three weeks. On October 7, 1492, the Columbus team changes its course to the southwest, believing that they missed Japan, which they so wanted to discover. After 5 days, the expedition stumbled upon an island named by Christopher Columbus in honor of the savior of Christ San Salvador. This date - October 12, 1492 is considered the official day of the discovery of America.
A day later, Columbus landed and hoisted the Castilian banner. Thus, he formally became the owner of the island. Having explored the nearby islands, the navigator sincerely believed that these were the vicinity of Japan, India and China. At first, the open lands were called the West Indies. Christopher Columbus returned to Spain on March 15, 1493 on the ship Nina. As a gift to King Ferdinand II of Aragon, he brought gold, natives, plants unprecedented to Europeans - potatoes, corn, tobacco, as well as bird feathers and fruits.
We hope that from this article you have learned what discoveries of Christopher Columbus became famous all over the world.
When and who discovered America? The issue remains controversial to this day. Because first you need to decide: what is considered the discovery of America? First proven European visit to the New World? This happened half a millennium before Christopher Columbus (remember the Normans). The first settlement of Europeans on the new mainland arose at the same time. Although the Vikings did not appreciate their discovery…
But so is Columbus! The discovery of America at the end of the Middle Ages is of particular importance: it was from that time that the colonization of the new continent by Europeans began, and then its study. However, uncertainty remains. Consider: in the first two expeditions, Columbus explored only the islands adjacent to the New World. Only in the summer of 1498 did he set foot on the land of South America.
A year earlier, members of the English expedition, led by John Cabot, an Italian by birth, reached North America. And in this case, it was assumed that the "Kingdom of the Great Khan" (China) was discovered. In the spring of next year, the voyage was repeated. But the lack of economic benefits, income from such enterprises cooled the interest of the British in the development of new territories. Scientific achievements should be recognized and connected with the expansion of horizons of knowledge. And here - a complete misunderstanding of the essence of what has been achieved. It is more logical to determine the moment when the truth was first revealed. And then the name of Amerigo Vespucci comes to the fore.
But we must pay tribute to the feat of Columbus and his contribution to the knowledge of the Earth. It was he who obtained the evidence (albeit later significantly refined), received facts confirming the idea of the Earth's sphericity. It is no coincidence that he conceived a round-the-world trip and tried to implement it. Let Columbus imagine the Earth much smaller than it really is. More importantly, not only speculatively, in his imagination, but also really, thanks to his travels, he was convinced of the sphericity and closedness of the earthly space.
And yet, the oceans have turned from a great barrier into great connecting links connecting all the continents and all the peoples of the planet. Conditions have developed for the creation of a single all-terrestrial civilization (“oceanic”, according to the idea of L.I. Mechnikov). In the following centuries, it remained only to develop vehicles and establish contacts.
A significant fact: almost at the same time with the entry of Columbus into the land of South America, and Cabot - North, the Portuguese flotilla under the command of Vasco da Gama for the first time reached India by sea. Dozens of years later, the Spanish conquistador Vasco Balboa with a military detachment, having overcome the mountain slopes and dense thickets, crossed the Isthmus of Panama and was the first European to visit the shores of the unknown “South Sea”.
The World Ocean somehow immediately, almost overnight, submitted to people. Why did it happen? First of all, as a result of the appearance of navigational instruments, which make it possible to navigate on the high seas, as well as geographical maps of lands and oceans. Although the instruments and maps were imperfect, they made it possible to navigate in space, set specific goals and pave the way to them.
Christopher Columbus
Amerigo Vespucci was a fairly experienced helmsman and cartographer, he knew navigation; the last years of his life he was the chief pilot of Castile (he checked the knowledge of ship helmsmen, supervised the compilation of maps, and was involved in compiling secret reports to the government on new geographical discoveries). He took part in one of the first expeditions that reached the "Southern Continent" (as South America was originally called) and, perhaps, was the first to realize the essence of the achievement. In other words, he made a scientific theoretical discovery, while Columbus practically discovered new lands.
At the time of Amerigo, his letter was allegedly printed, which reported on his visit to the southern mainland as early as 1497, that is, before Columbus. But this is not documented. It looks like nothing like that ever happened. But Amerigo's non-involvement in such misunderstandings is beyond doubt. He did not claim the laurels of the discoverer and did not try to assert his priority. This was affected by the popularization of knowledge and the spread of printing.
In Europe, reports of new lands and peoples were in great demand. People understood all the greatness of the deeds performed, their enormous significance for the future. Printing houses promptly printed messages about travels to the west. One of them appeared in 1503 in Italy and France: a small pamphlet entitled The New World. The preface says that it has been translated from Italian into Latin, "so that all educated people know how many wonderful discoveries have been made these days, how many unknown worlds have been discovered and how rich they are."
The book was a great success with readers. It is written vividly, interestingly, truthfully. It reports (in the form of a letter to Vespucci) about sailing in the summer of 1501 on behalf of the King of Portugal across the stormy Atlantic to the shores of the Unknown Land. It is not called Asia, but the New World.
A little later, another message was published about the voyages of Amerigo Vespucci. And in the end, a collection appeared, including stories by various authors about the voyages of Columbus, Vasco da Gama and some other travelers. The compiler of the collection came up with a catchy title that intrigues readers: "The New World and New Countries Discovered by Alberico Vespucci of Florence."
Thousands of readers of the book could decide that it was Amerigo (Alberico) who discovered both the New World and new countries, although this does not follow from the text at all. But the title is usually better remembered and more impressive than any paragraphs or chapters of the book. In addition, the descriptions written by Amerigo were vivid and convincing, which, no doubt, strengthened his authority as a discoverer.
A little later, Vespucci's "New World" was published in Germany under the title "On the Antarctic Belt." And then the same work, already under the guise of a letter to the lord of a small German kingdom, appeared as an addition to Ptolemy's famous and now classic Cosmography. The whole work was called as follows: “Introduction to cosmography with the basics of geometry and astronomy necessary for it.
Amerigo Vespucci
To this, 4 voyages of Amerigo Vespucci and, in addition, a description (map) of the Universe both on the plane and on the globe of those parts of the world that Ptolemy did not know about and which are open in modern times. About the discovery of America, it is said as follows: "Amerigo Vespucci, truly speaking, has informed mankind more widely about this." The authors of the supplement were sure that Amerigo was the first to set foot on the new continent back in 1497. Therefore, it was proposed to name the discovered land "by the name of the wise man who discovered it."
Rather fantastic outlines of the New World with the inscription: "America" were put on the world map. The sound of this word turned out to be attractive to many people. He was willingly put on the cards. Spread - spontaneously - the opinion of Amerigo as the discoverer of the New World. And among the specialists, the image of a clever rogue, an ambitious swindler who appropriated his name to an entire continent, was becoming more and more definite.
So, a sincere fighter for justice, Las Casas, angrily denounced Amerigo in his writings. But there was not a single document confirming such accusations. Vespucci himself never suggested that the open lands be named after themselves. He quite definitely wrote: "These countries should be called the New World" and referred to facts obtained in travels and research.
The Austrian writer Stefan Zweig said well about Vespucci: “And if, in spite of everything, the sparkling ray of glory fell on him, then this happened not because of his special merits or special guilt, but because of a peculiar combination of circumstances, mistakes, accidents, misunderstandings... A person who talks about a feat and explains it can become more significant for posterity than the one who accomplished it. And in the uncalculable play of historical forces, the slightest push can often cause the strongest consequences ...
America should not be ashamed of its name. This is the name of an honest and courageous man who, already at the age of fifty, set sail three times in a small boat across an unknown ocean, as one of those “unknown sailors”, hundreds of whom at that time risked their lives in dangerous adventures ... This mortal name was transferred to immortality not by the will of one person - it was the will of fate, which is always right, even if it may seem that she is acting unfairly ... And today we use this word, which was invented by chance, in a fun game, as a matter of course, the only conceivable and the only correct one is the sonorous, light-winged word America.
True, there is reason to believe that the New World was named after the Bristol philanthropist Richard America (England), who financed the second transatlantic voyage of John Cabot in 1497, and after that Amerigo Vespucci took the nickname in honor of the continent so named. To prove this version, the researchers cite the facts that Cabot reached the shores of Labrador two years earlier, and therefore became the officially registered first European to set foot on the new land.
Navigators such as John Davis, Alexander Mackenzie, Henry Hudson and William Buffin continued to explore the continent of North America. And thanks to their research, a new continent was explored up to the Pacific coast. But history knows many other names of sailors who visited the new land even before Amerigo Vespucci and Columbus. This is Hui Shen - a Thai monk who visited there in the 5th century, Abubakar - the Sultan of Mali, who sailed to the American coast in the 14th century, the Earl of Orkney de Saint-Clair, the Chinese explorer Zhehe He, the Portuguese Juan Korterial, etc.
Brought by a storm far to the west of Africa, they found a fertile, well-watered wooded country. But these stories, as well as the remains of ancient American monuments, bearing, according to some, the imprint of the Phoenician, Greek and Egyptian culture, do not give sufficient grounds for assuming that the western continent was already discovered by ancient navigators. An indication that already in the 5th century. n. e. from China there could be communication with America through Kamchatka and the Aleutian Islands, was made as early as 1761 by the author of the history of the Mongols de Guin. He tried to prove that the Chinese knew America under the name Fuzang. The scientist Klaproth thinks that Japan was called Fuzang. The researcher Neumann argued that at that time Chinese navigators really went to Fuzang and that the description of this country is suitable only for Central America.
From Europe, the Normans were the first to open the way to America. Erich the Red-haired in 982 moved from Iceland to Greenland and founded a colony on its western coast, which later had 2 cities, 16 churches, 2 monasteries and 100 settlements and was under the department of a special bishop. On the way to these settlements, Bjarni Herjulfson (986) was carried aside by a storm and was the first to see the New World. Erich's son Leif discovered in 1000 Helluland(stone ground) Markland(land of forests) and rich in grapes Vinland, which are believed to be the present Labrador, the country near the mouth of the St. Lawrence River and along the Hudson Bay. This assumption is confirmed by the fact that runic stones of a Germanic character are found here. The discovery of such stones at nearly 73° north latitude indicates how far the Greenlandic Normans penetrated. The colonies in Vinland, however, did not last long, partly due to internal strife, partly due to hostility with the Skrelingers, as the settlers called the native Eskimos. Only from time to time the Normans from Greenland visited Vinland and Markland, but in 1347 these visits ceased, and at the end of the 15th century. the once flourishing Greenlandic colony has completely died out due to frequent attacks by the Eskimos and thanks to the appearance of the "black death". Two Venetians, the brothers Antonio and Niccolò Zeni, brought to Europe the news that between 1388 and 1404 an expedition had been undertaken from the Faroe Islands (Friesland), which had explored some places along the northern coast of America. However, their stories, mixed with Greek fables, do not provide any reliable information. Biscay fishermen are also said to have reached the shores of Newfoundland long before Columbus.
But the glory of the real discovery of the American mainland belongs to the Genoese Christopher Columbus . With three poorly equipped ships, he set off west to find the shortest route to India and China, and, having sailed from the harbor of Palos on August 3, 1492, on October 12 of the same year, landed on one of the Bahamas - Guanagani (now San Salvador ). In the same year, Columbus discovered Cuba and Hispaniola (Haiti), the next year the islands of Dominica, Maria Galante, Guadeloupe, Antigua, Puerto Rico, and a few years later all the islands, later called the West Indies, became known. Only after Giovanni (John) Cabot (1497) discovered Newfoundland, Labrador and the coast of the North American mainland to Florida, Columbus reached (1498) the Orinoco River and the coast of Cumana, and thus also entered the mainland of America.
America's discoverer Christopher Columbus. Artist S. del Piombo, 1519
Brazil was discovered in 1500 by the Portuguese Cabral , which the storm brought here on the way to the Cape of Good Hope. Yucatan was discovered in 1507 by Pignon and Dias de Salis. Ponce de Leon discovered Florida in 1512, and Nunez de Balboa crossed in 1513 the Isthmus of Panama and reached the opposite sea, which he, coming from the north, called the "South Sea". In 1515, Grijalva arrived in Mexico, and Fernand Cortes conquered it in 1519. In 1520, Fernando Magallans ( Magellan) passed the strait, named after him by Magellan, and proved the fallacy of the opinion that the newly discovered lands are nothing but the eastern shores of Asia. From that time on, they began to distinguish between the West Indies (America) and the East Indies (India proper).
Ferdinand Magellan
In 1524, the Florentine Giovanni Verazzani explored, on behalf of France, the eastern coast of North America. In 1527, Pizarro discovered Peru in South America, and Cabot discovered Paraguay. In 1529, Becerre and Grijalva from Mexico sailed to California; in 1533 Welser landed in Venezuela, Cartier - in Canada, Diego de Almagro - in Chile, Pedro de Mendos - at the mouth of La Plata. The following year, Cartier sailed to St. Lawrence Bay. In 1541 Orellana explored the Amazon River. Fernando de Soto - Mississippi, Philipp von Hutten - inland countries of South America. Thus, 50 years after the discovery of a new part of the world, the entire American mainland, in general terms, was known, with the exception of the northern and northwestern parts.
Conqueror of Mexico Hernan Cortes
With the discovery of Cape Horn by Lehmer and Schuten, the southern tip of the American mainland was determined (in 1616), but attempts to explore its northern shores remained fruitless. . On the West Coast of America Francis Drake, having passed through the Strait of Magellan, already in 1578 reached 45 ° north latitude, but only in 1648 the Cossack Dezhnev managed to cross the strait separating Asia from America. Subsequently, this strait in 1725 - 1728 was explored by Bering and named after him. Lassalle penetrated inside northern Canada to the Mississippi in 1682, who then went down the river to its very mouth. South America, explored Condamine, having traveled the entire Amazon to the very mouth.
The voyages of Burneby, Gerne, and Hutcheson (1747-1775), as well as the Red River expedition of the Frenchman de Page (1767), greatly expanded knowledge of the interior of North America. At the same time (1747 - 1751) Kalm and Löfling explored the Spanish possessions, and John Byron - Patagonia and the Falkland Islands. Only at the end of the 1770s, Cook, during his third trip, traveled around the western coast of North America from 45 ° north latitude beyond the Bering Strait to the Cape Prince of Wales he discovered.
From the end of the 18th century, a number of scientific and very successful expeditions to America began. Alexander Humboldt and Bonpland explored (1799 - 1803) its equatorial regions; McKinair (1804) - the British West Indies; Michaud - Western Alleghenies; in 1806 Lewis and Clark - countries along the upper Missouri and Columbia. Kruzenshtern traveled in 1803 northwest coast. Spiks, Martius, Naterer and others accompanied the Archduchess Leopoldina to Brazil in 1817 and together with Eschwege gave detailed information about this country. In addition, many attempts were made to penetrate between the islands of the North Polar Sea, as well as to explore the eastern shores of Greenland. Expeditions undertaken by the British, Americans, Germans, and others penetrated to 83 ° north latitude .
In the 19th century, travel and new discoveries in America became extremely numerous, but now for the most part they have taken on the private nature of the study of certain narrow areas. Between studies of a general nature or covering large regions, one more thing should be mentioned: the journey of the English Spies and Low in 1834-35 from Lima through the Andes along Ucayali and Marañon to the mouth of the Amazon; ethnological and meteorological studies of Gabels in Central America in 1864 - 1871; archaeological discoveries by Desire Charne (1880 - 1882) in Mexico, Yucatan and Guatemala. The most remote parts of South America between the headwaters of Paraguay and Parana served as the subject of study of many travelers and expeditions in 1882 - 1889, between which Fontana, Feilberg, Calvamonte and Beauvais had particular success, while Krevo died on the Pilcomaya River, and Tuara failed only to establish the right message, but even to penetrate from Paraguay to Bolivia through the desert of the Gran Chaco. This path was passed only in 1889 by Calvamonte and Arana. One of the largest studies (1868 - 1876) belongs to Reis and Stübel, who traveled in Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia.
Columbus discovered America
The year when this Spanish navigator discovered a new land is indicated in history as 1492. And by the beginning of the eighteenth century, all other regions of North America were already discovered and explored, for example, Alaska and the regions of the Pacific coast. It must be said that travelers from Russia also made an important contribution to the study of the mainland.
Development
The history of the discovery of North America is quite interesting: it can even be called accidental. At the end of the fifteenth century, a Spanish navigator with his expedition reached the shores of North America. However, he mistakenly believed that he was in India. From this moment, the countdown of that era begins, when America was discovered and its development and exploration began. But some researchers consider this date to be inaccurate, arguing that the discovery of a new continent happened much earlier.
The year of discovery of America by Columbus - 1492 - is not an exact date. It turns out that the Spanish navigator had predecessors, and moreover, not one. In the middle of the tenth century, the Normans got here after they discovered Greenland. True, they failed to colonize these new lands, because they were repelled by the harsh weather conditions of the north of this continent. In addition, the Normans were also frightened by the remoteness of the new mainland from Europe.
According to other sources, this continent was discovered by ancient navigators - the Phoenicians. Some sources call the middle of the first millennium of our era the time when America was discovered, and the Chinese are the pioneers. However, this version also does not have clear evidence.
The most reliable information is considered to be the time when the Vikings discovered America. At the end of the tenth century, the Normans Bjarni Herjulfson and Leif Ericsson found Helluland - "stone", Markland - "forest" and Vinland - "vineyard" land, which contemporaries identify with the Labrador Peninsula.
There is evidence that even before Columbus in the fifteenth century, the northern continent was reached by fishermen from Bristol and Biscay, who called it the island of Brazil. However, the time periods of these expeditions cannot be called that milestone in history when they discovered America for real, that is, identified it as a new continent.
Columbus is a real pioneer
And yet, when answering the question in what year America was discovered, experts most often name the fifteenth century, or rather its end. And Columbus is considered the first to do this. The time when America was discovered coincided in history with the period when Europeans began to spread ideas about the round shape of the Earth and the possibility of reaching India or China along the western route, that is, through the Atlantic Ocean. At the same time, it was believed that this route is much shorter than the eastern one. Therefore, taking into account the Portuguese monopoly on control over the South Atlantic, received by the Alcasovas agreement of 1479, Spain, always striving to obtain direct contacts with eastern countries, warmly supported the expedition of the Genoese navigator Columbus in the western direction.
Opening honor
Christopher Columbus was interested in geography, geometry and astronomy from an early age. From a young age, he participated in sea expeditions, visited almost all the then known oceans. Columbus was married to the daughter of a Portuguese sailor, from whom he inherited many geographical maps and notes from the time of Henry the Navigator. The future discoverer carefully studied them. His plans were to find a sea route to India, however, not bypassing Africa, but directly across the Atlantic. Like some scientists - his contemporaries, Columbus believed that, having gone west from Europe, it would be possible to reach the Asian eastern shores - those places where India and China are located. At the same time, he did not even suspect that on the way he would meet a whole mainland, until then not known to Europeans. But it happened. And since that time, the history of the discovery of America begins.
First expedition
For the first time, the ships of Columbus set sail from the harbor of Palos on August 3, 1492. There were three. Before the Canary Islands, the expedition proceeded quite calmly: this segment of the journey was already known to the sailors. But very soon they found themselves in a boundless ocean. Gradually, the sailors began to fall into despondency and raise a murmur. But Columbus managed to pacify the recalcitrant, maintaining hope in them. Soon signs began to come across - harbingers of the proximity of land: unknown birds flew in, tree branches sailed. Finally, after six weeks of sailing, lights appeared at night, and when dawn broke, a green picturesque island, all covered with vegetation, opened up before the sailors. Columbus, having landed on the coast, declared this land the possessions of the Spanish crown. The island was named San Salvador, that is, the Savior. It was one of the small pieces of land included in the Bahamas or Lucayan archipelago.
Land where there is gold
The natives are peaceful and good-natured savages. Noticing the greed of those who sailed to the golden ornaments that hung in the nose and ears of the natives, they told with signs that in the south there is a land literally abounding in gold. And Columbus went on. In the same year, he discovered Cuba, which, although he took it for the mainland, more precisely, for the eastern coast of Asia, he also declared a Spanish colony. From here, the expedition, turning east, landed in Haiti. At the same time, along the way, the Spaniards met savages who not only willingly exchanged their gold jewelry for simple glass beads and other trinkets, but also constantly pointed to the south direction when they were asked about this precious metal. On which Columbus called Hispaniola, or Lesser Spain, he built a small fortress.
Return
When the ships landed in the harbor of Palos, all the inhabitants came ashore to greet them with honors. Very graciously received Columbus and Ferdinand with Isabella. The news of the discovery of the New World spread very quickly, just as quickly gathered those who wanted to go there with the discoverer. At that time, Europeans had no idea what kind of America Christopher Columbus discovered.
Second trip
The history of the discovery of North America, which began in 1492, continued. From September 1493 to June 1496, the second expedition of the Genoese navigator took place. As a result, the Virgin and Windward Islands were discovered, including Antigua, Dominica, Nevis, Montserrat, St. Christopher, as well as Puerto Rico and Jamaica. The Spaniards firmly settled on the lands of Haiti, making them their base and building the fortress of San Domingo in its southeastern part. In 1497, the British entered into rivalry with them, also trying to find northwestern routes to Asia. For example, the Genoese Cabot under the English flag discovered the island of Newfoundland and, according to some reports, came very close to the North American coast: to the Labrador and Nova Scotia peninsulas. So the British began to lay the foundation for their dominance in the region of North America.
Third and fourth expeditions
It began in May 1498 and ended in November 1500. As a result, the mouth of the Orinoco was also discovered. In August 1498, Columbus landed on the coast already on the Paria Peninsula, and in 1499 the Spaniards reached the shores of Guiana and Venezuela, after which - Brazil and the mouth of the Amazon. And during the last - fourth - trip from May 1502 to November 1504, Columbus had already discovered Central America. His ships passed along the coast of Honduras and Nicaragua, reached from Costa Rica and Panama up to the Gulf of Darien.
new mainland
In the same year, another navigator - whose expeditions took place under the Portuguese flag - also explored the Brazilian coast. Having reached Cape Cananea, he put forward a hypothesis that the lands discovered by Columbus are not China, and not even India, but a completely new mainland. This idea was confirmed after the first round-the-world trip made by F. Magellan. However, contrary to logic, the name America was assigned to the new continent - on behalf of Vespucci.
True, there is some reason to believe that the new continent was named after the Bristol philanthropist Richard America from England, who financed the second transatlantic voyage in 1497, and Amerigo Vespucci after that took the nickname in honor of the continent so named. To prove this theory, researchers cite the facts that Cabot reached the shores of Labrador two years earlier, and therefore became the officially registered first European to set foot on American soil.
In the middle of the sixteenth century, Jacques Cartier, a French navigator, reached the coast of Canada, giving the area its modern name.
Other contenders
The development of the continent of North America was continued by such navigators as John Davis, Alexander Mackenzie, Henry Hudson and William Buffin. It was thanks to their research that the continent was studied up to the Pacific coast.
However, history also knows many other names of sailors who moored to American soil even before Columbus. This is Hui Shen - a Thai monk who visited this region in the fifth century, Abubakar - the Sultan of Mali, who sailed to the American coast in the fourteenth century, the Earl of Orkney de Saint-Clair, the Chinese explorer Zhehe He, the Portuguese Juan Corterial, etc.
But, in spite of everything, it is Christopher Columbus who is the man whose discoveries had an unconditional impact on the entire history of mankind.
Fifteen years after the time when the ships of this navigator discovered America, the very first geographical map of the mainland was compiled. Its author was Martin Waldseemüller. Today it, being the property of the United States, is kept in Washington.
