As everyone probably knows well, such a process as the discovery of the continent of America is a very broad topic, but this article will talk about the discovery of America briefly, laying out the main essence.
The discovery of America is one of the most important events in the world history of mankind, as a result of which the Old World - that is, Western Europe, learned about the existence of a new, huge continent called America.
Expeditions of Christopher Columbus - discovery of a new continent
Great navigator Christopher Columbus in 1492 year went on a sea voyage to to find a shorter route to the rich country of India.The King and Queen of Castile and Aragon sponsored this expedition, consisting of three ships.
12 October the same year Christopher Columbus reached the present day Bahamas and this day is considered the date of the discovery of a new continent. After that, they discovered a number of more islands. In March 1493 Columbus returned to Castile. Thus ended his first of four expeditions to America, which he discovered.
The second expedition already included a fairly large number of ships and people. If in the first there were only three ships and a crew of less than a hundred people, then in the second expedition there were seventeen ships or more 1 thousand people on board. The most important achievement of this expedition can be considered conquest of Haiti. After this, Columbus V 1496 year returns to Spain again.
Scope third expedition, which started V 1498 year, was much smaller - only six ships. The discovery of South America began precisely with the third expedition. This expedition was interrupted V 1500 year for the reason that Columbus was arrested and sent to Castile, but upon arriving there, he was completely acquitted.
Already at this moment, a huge number of people appeared who wanted to take credit for the brilliant discovery of Christopher Columbus. IN 1502 year, Columbus is struggling to be sponsored again for another search for a short sea route to India. During this expedition he discovered the shores of modern Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama and so on. But in 1503 year, Columbus's ship was wrecked, which forced him to stop his expedition to 1504 year, returning to Castile.
After this, Christopher Columbus never returned to America.
However, as further study of history showed, it was not Christopher Columbus who first set foot on the lands of the new continent; this was done long before his birth.
And yes, in general, humanity began to populate America only in 30 thousand years BC e.
And they discovered it for the first time, although they did not know that it was an entire continent, by none other than the masters of the seas - Vikings, back in the 10th century.
Leif Eriksson should be considered the discoverer. Leif is the son of Erik the Red, a Viking and navigator who discovered Greenland.
This fact is confirmed by traces of a Viking settlement found in L’Anse aux Meadows (the current territory of Newfoundland and Labrador (in Canada)).
As for Columbus's voyage, he himself believed that he had discovered not a new continent, but the shores of Asia. And only in his last years did he realize that he had discovered a new continent.
The open continent was named after one of the main explorers of the New World - Amerigo Vespucci. This memorable event took place in 1507 year, from that moment on the continent was considered independent.
There are also several hypotheses in history that other sailors could have discovered America. The most popular hypotheses are:
- in the fourth century BC. e. it could have been discovered by the Phoenicians;
- in the sixth century AD e. it could have been the Irish monk Brendan;
– approximately in 1421
year Chinese navigator Zheng He;
However, there is no confirmation of this yet.
The history of the discovery of America is quite amazing. These events took place at the end of the 15th century due to the rapid development of navigation and shipping in Europe. In many ways, we can say that the discovery of the American continent happened completely by accident and the motives were very banal - the search for gold, wealth, large trading cities.
In the 15th century, ancient tribes lived on the territory of modern America who were very good-natured and hospitable. In Europe, in those days, even then the states were quite developed and modern. Each country tried to expand its sphere of influence and find new sources of replenishment of the state treasury. At the end of the 15th century, trade and the development of new colonies flourished.
Who discovered America?
In the 15th century, ancient tribes lived on the territory of modern America who were very good-natured and hospitable. In Europe, even then the states were quite developed and modern. Each country tried to expand its sphere of influence and find new sources of replenishment of the state treasury.
When you ask any adult or child who discovered America, we will hear about Columbus. It was Christopher Columbus who gave impetus to the active search and development of new lands.
Christopher Columbus is the great Spanish navigator. Information about where he was born and spent his childhood is limited and contradictory. It is known that as a young man, Christopher was interested in cartography. He was married to the daughter of a navigator. In 1470, the geographer and astronomer Toscanelli informed Columbus of his assumptions that the route to India was shorter if one sailed west. Apparently then Columbus began to hatch his idea of a short route to India, and according to his calculations, it was necessary to sail through Canary Islands, and Japan will already be close there.
Since 1475, Columbus has been trying to implement the idea and make an expedition. The purpose of the expedition is to find a new trade route to India across the Atlantic Ocean. To do this, he turned to the government and merchants of Genoa, but they did not support him. The second attempt to find funding for the expedition was made by the Portuguese King João II, however, even here, after a long study of the project, he was refused.
For the last time, he came to the Spanish king with his project. At the beginning, his project was considered for a long time, there were even several meetings and commissions, this lasted several years. His idea was supported by bishops and Catholic kings. But Columbus received final support for his project after the victory of Spain in the city of Granada, which was liberated from the Arab presence.
The expedition was organized on the condition that Columbus, if successful, would receive not only the gifts and riches of new lands, but also receive, in addition to the status of a nobleman, the title: Admiral of the Sea-Ocean and Viceroy of all the lands that he discovers. For Spain, a successful expedition promised not only the development of new lands, but also the opportunity to trade directly with India, since according to the treaty concluded with Portugal, Spanish ships were prohibited from entering the waters of the western coast of Africa.
When and how did Columbus discover America?
Historians consider 1942 to be the year of the discovery of America, although these are rather approximate data. Discovering new lands and islands, Columbus had no idea that this was another continent, which would later be called the “New World”. The traveler undertook 4 expeditions. He arrived to new and new lands, believing that these were the lands of “Western India”. For quite a long time everyone in Europe thought so. However, another traveler Vasco da Gama declared Columbus a deceiver, since it was Gamma who found a direct route to India and brought gifts and spices from there.
What kind of America did Christopher Columbus discover? It can be said that thanks to his expeditions since 1492, Columbus discovered both North and South America. To be more precise, islands were discovered that are now considered either South or North America.
Who discovered America first?
Although historically it is believed that it was Columbus who discovered America, but in fact this is not entirely true.
There is evidence that the “New World” was previously visited by Scandinavians (Leif Eriksson in 1000, Thorfinn Karlsefni in 1008); this journey became known from the manuscripts “The Saga of Eric the Red” and “The Saga of the Greenlanders”. There are other “discoverers of America,” but the scientific community does not take them seriously because there is no reliable data. For example, America was previously visited by an African traveler from Mali - Abu Bakr II, a Scottish nobleman Henry Sinclair, and a Chinese traveler Zheng He.
Why was America called America?
The first widely known and recorded fact is the visit of this part of the “New World” by the traveler and navigator Amerigo Vespucci. It is noteworthy that it was he who put forward the assumption that this was not India or China, but a completely new, previously unknown continent. It is believed that this is why the name America was assigned to the new land, and not its discoverer, Columbus.
Columbus discovered America
The year this Spanish navigator discovered new land, is indicated in history as the 1492nd. And by the beginning of the eighteenth century, all other areas of North America had already been discovered and explored, for example, Alaska and the regions Pacific coast. It must be said that travelers from Russia also made an important contribution to the exploration 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 and his expedition reached the shores of North America. At the same time, he mistakenly believed that he was in India. From this moment begins the countdown of the era when America was discovered and its exploration and exploration began. But some researchers consider this date inaccurate, arguing that the discovery of a new continent occurred much earlier.
The year Columbus discovered America - 1492 - is not an exact date. It turns out that the Spanish navigator had predecessors, and more than one. In the middle of the tenth century, the Normans arrived here after they discovered Greenland. True, they failed to colonize these new lands, since 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 continent from Europe.
According to other sources, this continent was discovered by ancient sailors - the Phoenicians. Some sources call the middle of the first millennium AD the time when America was discovered, and the Chinese as the pioneers. However, this version also does not have clear evidence.
The most reliable information is considered to be about the time when the Vikings discovered America. At the end of the tenth century, the Normans Bjarni Herjulfson and Leif Eriksson found Helluland - “stone”, Markland - “forest” and Vinland - “vineyards” of 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 Bristol and Biscay fishermen, who called it the island of Brazil. However, the time periods of these expeditions cannot be called the milestone in history when America was truly discovered, that is, it was identified as a new continent.
Columbus - a true discoverer
And yet, when answering the question of 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. It was believed that this path was much shorter than the eastern one. Therefore, given the Portuguese monopoly on control over South Atlantic, obtained by the Treaty of Alcaçovas in 1479, Spain, always eager to obtain direct contacts with eastern countries, warmly supported the expedition of the Genoese navigator Columbus in a western direction.
Honor of opening
Christopher Columbus was interested in geography, geometry and astronomy from an early age. From a young age, he took part in sea expeditions and visited almost all the then known oceans. Columbus was married to the daughter of a Portuguese sailor, from whom he received 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, but 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 an entire continent, hitherto unknown to Europeans. But it happened. And from this time the history of the discovery of America began.
First expedition
For the first time, Columbus's ships sailed from Palos harbor on August 3, 1492. There were three of them. The expedition proceeded quite calmly to the Canary Islands: this section of the journey was already known to the sailors. But very soon they found themselves in a vast ocean. Gradually the sailors began to become despondent and begin to grumble. But Columbus managed to pacify the rebellious, maintaining hope in them. Soon signs began to appear - harbingers of the proximity of land: unknown birds flew in, tree branches floated up. Finally, after six weeks of sailing, lights appeared at night, and when dawn broke, a green, picturesque island, all covered with vegetation, opened before the sailors. Columbus, having landed on shore, declared this land to be the possession 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.
The land where there is gold
The natives are peaceful and good-natured savages. Noticing the greed of those who sailed for the gold jewelry that hung in the noses and ears of the aborigines, they told with signs that in the south there was a land literally abounding in gold. And Columbus moved on. In the same year, he discovered Cuba, which, although he mistook it for the mainland, or rather, the eastern coast of Asia, he also declared it a Spanish colony. From here the expedition, turning east, landed in Haiti. Moreover, along the entire route the Spaniards met savages who not only willingly exchanged their gold jewelry for simple glass beads and other trinkets, but also constantly pointed to south direction, when asked about this precious metal. Which Columbus named Hispaniola, or Little Spain, he built a small fortress.
Return
When the ships landed in Palos harbor, all the inhabitants came ashore to greet them with honors. Columbus and Ferdinand and Isabella received him very graciously. The news of the discovery of the New World spread very quickly, and those who wanted to go there with the discoverer gathered just as quickly. 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 in 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 competition with them, also trying to find northwestern routes to Asia. For example, the Genoese Cabot under English flag discovered the island of Newfoundland and, according to some reports, came very close to the North American coast: to the peninsulas of Labrador and Nova Scotia. Thus, the British began to lay the foundation for their dominance in the North American region.
Third and fourth expeditions
It began in May 1498 and ended in November 1500. As a result, the island of Trinidad and the mouth of the Orinoco were 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 - journey from May 1502 to November 1504, Columbus discovered Central America. His ships sailed along the coasts of Honduras and Nicaragua, reaching from Costa Rica and Panama all the way to the Gulf of Darien.
New continent
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 the hypothesis that the lands that Columbus discovered were not China, or even India, but a completely new continent. This idea was confirmed after the first trip around the world 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 in honor of the Bristol philanthropist Richard America from England, who financed the second transatlantic voyage in 1497, and Amerigo Vespucci after that took his nickname in honor of the continent named so. 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 mid-sixteenth century, Jacques Cartier, a French navigator, reached the shores of Canada, giving the territory its modern name.
Other contenders
The exploration of the continent of North America was continued by such navigators as John Davis, Alexander Mackenzie, Henry Hudson and William Baffin. It was thanks to their research that the continent was studied right up to the Pacific coast.
However, history knows many other names of sailors who landed on American soil even before Columbus. These are 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 Zhee He, the Portuguese Juan Corterial, etc.
But, in spite of everything, Christopher Columbus is the person whose discoveries had an unconditional impact on the entire history of mankind.
Fifteen years after the time when America was discovered by the ships of this navigator, the very first geographical map of the continent was compiled. Its author was Martin Waldseemüller. Today it, being the property of the United States, is stored in Washington.
The lands were the most common: the founding of cities, the discovery of deposits of gold and wealth. In the 15th century, navigation was actively developing, and expeditions were set up in search of the unexplored continent. What was on the continent before the arrival of Europeans, when Columbus discovered America, and under what circumstances did this happen?
The story of the great discovery
By the 15th century, European states were different high level development. Each country tried to expand its sphere of influence, searching for additional sources of profit to replenish the treasury. New colonies were formed.
Before the discovery, tribes lived on the continent. The natives were distinguished by their friendly character, which was favorable for the rapid development of the territory.
Christopher Columbus, while still a teenager, discovered the hobby of cartography. A Spanish navigator once learned from the astronomer and geographer Toscanelli that if he sailed westward, he could reach India much faster. It was 1470. And the idea came just in time, since Columbus was looking for another route that would allow him to reach India in short terms. He assumed that it was necessary to build a route through the Canary Islands.
In 1475, the Spaniard organized an expedition, the purpose of which was to find a quick route by sea to India across the Atlantic Ocean. He reported this to the government with a request to support his idea, but received no help. The second time Columbus wrote to King João II of Portugal, however, he was also rejected. He then turned again to the Spanish government. Several commission meetings were held on this issue, which lasted for years. The final positive decision on financing was made after the victory of Spanish troops in the city of Granada, liberated from Arab occupation.
If a new route to India was discovered, Columbus was promised not only wealth, but also a noble title: Admiral of the Sea-Ocean and Viceroy of the lands he would discover. Since Spanish ships were prohibited from entering the waters for west coast Africa, then such a step was beneficial for the government in order to conclude a direct trade agreement with India.
In what year did Columbus discover America?
Officially, the year of the discovery of America in history is recognized as 1942. Having discovered undeveloped lands, Columbus did not imagine that he had discovered a continent that would be called the “New World”. In what year the Spaniards discovered America can be said tentatively, since a total of four campaigns were undertaken. Each time the navigator found new lands, believing that this was the territory of Western India.
Columbus began to think that he was following the wrong route after Vasco de Gama's expedition. The traveler arrived in India and returned in a short time with rich goods, accusing Christopher of deception.
It later turned out that Columbus discovered the islands and continental parts of North and South America.
Which traveler discovered America earlier?
It is not entirely true to say that Columbus became the discoverer of America. Before this, the Scandinavians landed on the lands: in 1000 - Leif Eriksson and in 1008 - Thorfinn Karlsefni. This is evidenced by the historical records “The Saga of the Greenlanders” and “The Saga of Eric the Red”. There is other information about travel to the “New World”. Traveler Abu Bakr II, a resident of the Celestial Empire Zheng He and a nobleman from Scotland Henry Sinclair arrived from Mali to America.
There is historical evidence indicating that in the 10th century New World visited by the Normans after the discovery of Greenland. However, they were unable to develop the territories due to heavy weather conditions, unsuitable for agriculture. In addition, the journey from Europe was very long.
Visits to the mainland by the navigator Amerigo Vespucci, after whom the continent was named.
The discovery of America for Europe by Christopher Columbus in 1492 is the most important milestone in human history. The appearance of a new continent on the geographical map changed people’s understanding of planet Earth, forced them to comprehend its enormity, the countless possibilities of understanding the world and themselves in it. , the brightest page of which is the discovery of America, gave a powerful impetus to the development of European science, art, culture, the creation of new productive forces, the establishment of new production relations, which ultimately accelerated the replacement of feudalism with a new, more progressive socio-economic system - capitalismYear of discovery of America - 1492
First discovery of America by the Normans
The sailing of the Normans to the shores of North America was unthinkable without their settlement in Iceland. But the first Europeans to visit Iceland were Irish monks. Their acquaintance with the island occurred approximately in the second half of the 8th century.
“30 years ago (that is, no later than 795), several clerics who were on this island from February 1 to August 1 informed me that there, not only during the summer solstice, but also on the previous and subsequent days, the setting sun seemed to only hides behind a small hill, so that even the most short time it is never dark... and you can do any kind of work... If the clergy lived on the high mountains of this island, then the sun, perhaps, would not be hidden from them at all... While they lived there, days always gave way to nights, except for the period of the summer solstice; however, at a distance of one day's journey further north, they discovered a frozen sea" (Dicuil - Irish medieval monk and geographer who lived in the second half of the 8th century AD)
About 100 years later, a Viking ship was accidentally washed up on the shores of Iceland by a storm.
“They say that people from Norway were going to sail to the Faroe Islands... However, they were carried west, into the sea, and there they found mainland. Entering the eastern fjords, they climbed high mountain and looked around to see if they could see smoke somewhere or any other signs that this land was inhabited, but they didn’t notice anything. In the fall they returned to the Faroe Islands. When they went out to sea, there was already a lot of snow on the mountains. That's why they called this country Snow Land."
Over time, a large number of Norwegian residents moved to Iceland. By 930 there were about 25 thousand people on the island. Iceland became the starting point for further travels of the Normans to the West. In 982-983, Eirik Turvaldson, who became Eric the Red in the Russian tradition, discovered Greenland. In the summer of 986, Bjarni Herulfson, sailing from Iceland to the Greenland Viking village, lost his way and discovered land to the south. In the spring of 1004, the son of Eric the Red, Leiv the Happy, followed in his footsteps, discovering the Cumberland Peninsula (south of Baffin Island), the eastern coast of the Labrador Peninsula and the northern coast of Newfoundland Island. The northeastern shores of North America were then visited more than once by Viking expeditions, but in Norway and Denmark they were not considered important, since their natural conditions were unattractive
Prerequisites for the discovery of America by Columbus
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the fall of Byzantium under the blows of the Ottoman Turks, the birth of the Ottoman Empire in the eastern Mediterranean and Asia Minor led to the cessation of overland trade relations along the Great Silk Road with the countries of the East
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Europe's critical need for spices from India and Indochina, which were used not so much in cooking, but as a hygiene item, for making incense. After all, Europeans washed their faces in the Middle Ages rarely and reluctantly, and a quintal (measure of weight, 100 pounds) of pepper in Calicut or Hormuz cost ten times less than in Alexandria.
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misconception of medieval geographers about the size of the earth. It was believed that the Earth evenly consists of land - the giant continent of Eurasia with an appendage of Africa - and ocean; that is, the sea distance between the extreme western point of Europe and the extreme eastern point of Asia did not exceed several thousand kilometers
Brief biography of Christopher Columbus
Born in Genoa in 1451. He was the first-born in a large weaver's family. He participated in his father's manufacturing and trading enterprises. In 1476, by chance, he settled in Portugal. He married Felipe Moniz Perestrello, whose father and grandfather were actively involved in the activities of Henry the Navigator. Settled on the island of Porto Santo in the Madeira archipelago. Was allowed access to family archives, reports on sea voyages, geographical maps and driving directions. Frequently visited the harbor of Porto Santo Island
“in which nimble fishing boats scurried and anchored ships sailing from Lisbon to Madeira and from Madeira to Lisbon. The helmsmen and sailors of these ships whiled away the long hours of stay in the port tavern, and Columbus had long and useful conversations with them... (He learned from) experienced people about their voyages in the Sea-Ocean. A certain Martin Vicente told Columbus that 450 leagues (2,700 kilometers) west of Cape San Vicente, he picked up a piece of wood in the sea, processed, and very skillfully, with some kind of tool, clearly not iron. Other sailors met boats with huts beyond the Azores Islands, and these boats did not capsize even on a large wave. We saw huge pine trees off the Azores coast; these dead trees were carried by the sea at a time when strong westerly winds blew. Sailors came across corpses of broad-faced people of “non-Christian” appearance on the shores of the Azores island of Faial. A certain Antonio Leme, “married to a Madeiran,” told Columbus that, having traveled a hundred leagues to the west, he came across three unknown islands in the sea” (Ya. Svet “Columbus”)
He studied and analyzed contemporary works on geography, navigation, travel notes travelers, treatises of Arab scientists and ancient authors and gradually drew up a plan to reach the rich countries of the East by the western sea route.
The main sources of knowledge on the issue of interest for Columbus were five books
- "Historia Rerum Gestarum" by Aeneas Silvia Piccolomini
- "Imago Mundi" by Pierre d'Ailly
- "Natural History" by Pliny the Elder
- "The Book" of Marco Polo
- Parallel Lives of Plutarch
1492, April 30 - the royal couple approved a certificate granting Columbus the titles of Admiral of the Sea-Ocean and Viceroy of all lands that would be discovered by him during his voyage along the said Sea-Ocean. Titles were complained forever “from heir to heir,” at the same time Columbus was elevated to the rank of nobility and could “name and title himself Don Christopher Columbus,” had to receive a tenth and an eighth share of the profits from trade with these lands, and had the right to litigate all litigation. The city of Palos was approved as the expedition's preparation center.
“He had heart-to-heart conversations with the Palos residents and said everywhere that the expedition needed brave and experienced sailors and that great benefits would accrue to its participants. “Friends, go there, and we will go on this hike all together; you will leave poor, but if, with God’s help, you manage to open up the land for us, then, having found it, we will return with gold bars, and we will all get rich, and we will receive a big profit.” Soon volunteers flocked to Palos harbor, wanting to take part in the voyage to the shores of an unknown land.”
Columbus's ships
Discovery of America. Briefly
- 1492, September 16 - Diary of Columbus: “They began to notice many tufts of green grass, and, as one could judge from its appearance, this grass had only recently been torn from the ground.”
- 1492, September 17 - Diary of Columbus: “Discovered that since sailing from the Canary Islands there was not so little salt water in the sea.”
- 1492, September 19 - Diary of Columbus: “At 10 o’clock a dove flew onto the ship. We saw another one in the evening.”
- 1492, September 21 - Diary of Columbus: “We saw a whale. A sign of land, because whales swim close to the shore.”
- 1492, September 23 - Diary of Columbus: “Since the sea was calm and warm, people began to grumble, saying that the sea here was strange, and the winds would never blow to help them return to Spain.”
- 1492, September 25 - Diary of Columbus: “The earth appeared. He ordered us to go in that direction.”
- 1492, September 26 - Diary of Columbus: “What we took for earth turned out to be heaven.”
- 1492, September 29 - Diary of Columbus: “We sailed our way to the West.”
- 1492, September 13 - Columbus noticed that the compass needle did not point to the North Star, but 5-6 degrees to the northwest.
- 1492, October 11 - Diary of Columbus: “We sailed west-southwest. During the entire voyage there had never been such rough seas. We saw “pardelas” and green reeds near the ship. People from the Pinta caravel noticed a reed and a branch and caught a stick hewn, possibly with iron, and a fragment of a reed and other herbs that were born on the ground, and one tablet
1492, October 12 - America is discovered. It was 2 o’clock in the morning when a cry of “Earth, earth!!!” was heard on board the faster “Pinta”, which was walking slightly ahead. and a bombard shot. The outline of the shore appeared in the moonlight. In the morning the boats were lowered from the ships. Columbus with both Pinsons, a notary, a translator, and a royal controller landed on shore. “The island is very large and very flat and there are a lot of green trees and water, and in the middle there is big lake. There are no mountains,” wrote Columbus. The Indians called the island Guanahani. Columbus named it San Salvador, now Watling Island, part of the Bahamas archipelago
- 1492, October 28 - Columbus discovered the island of Cuba
- 1492, December 6 - Columbus approached big island, called by the Indians Borgio. Along its shore “beautiful valleys stretch, very similar to the lands of Castile,” the admiral wrote in his diary. Apparently that’s why he named the island Hispaniola, now Haiti
- 1492, December 25 - "Santa Maria" struck reefs off the coast of Haiti. The Indians helped remove valuable cargo, guns and supplies from the ship, but the ship could not be saved.
- 1493, January 4 - Columbus set off on his return journey. He had to sail back on the smallest ship of the Niñe expedition, leaving part of the crew on the island of Hispaniola (Haiti), since even earlier the third ship, Pinta, separated from the expedition, and Santa Maria ran aground. Two days later, both surviving ships met, but on February 14, 1493 they were separated in a storm
- 1493, March 15 - Columbus returned to Palos on the Niña, and the Pinta entered Palos harbor with the same tide.
Columbus made three more voyages to the shores of the New World, discovered islands and archipelagos, bays, bays and straits, founded forts and cities, but he never learned that he had found a way not to India, but to a world completely unknown to Europe
The question of who discovered America is probably the most difficult in the sense that it is difficult to dot all the i’s. You’ll say, “Christopher Columbus,” and the answer will be, “Then why isn’t America called Columbia?” And you will instantly get lost. And if such a question were to come up on the exam, it would be a disaster! Let's look at this question: who was actually the first to discover this incredible continent?
All versions
When we talk about the discovery of North and South America, we must not forget for whom the arrival of European navigators on the continent was a discovery. This was a discovery for Europeans who had been pottering around in their Europe for more than a thousand years: first they had Hellenic civilization there (Greece and), then the dark Middle Ages began. They were busy burning witches at the stake, and far from searching for new lands.
After all, long before the Europeans (and before Columbus), America was discovered (for themselves):
- 15,000 (fifteen thousand) years ago, back in the Ice Age, enterprising guys from Asia were most likely looking for warm places. Along the glacier that now connects Eurasia and North America, the Bering Strait, they came to the continent. And they became a local, autochthonous population. And Columbus called the local aborigines Indians because he thought he had discovered India!
- In the 6th century, the Irish, led by Saint Brendan, sailed to North America. It is unclear why the Irish would suddenly look for the New World, and there was no exact evidence of this fact. Until, in 1976, the desperate explorer Tim Siverin built an exact copy of the Irish boat and sailed here from Ireland under his own power!
- In the 10th century, the Vikings, who were avid sailors and most likely looking for prey, sailed here. So the search for prey led far to the southwest of Greenland, and they ended up here. Perhaps the first Vikings founded the first European settlements here! So in 1960, archaeologist Helge Ingstad discovered traces of such a settlement in Canada!
- In the 15th century, the Chinese, before Columbus, discovered South America. So said British naval officer Gavin Menzies. The Chinese also looked for India to get rich and, according to the British theory, colonized South America.
I think it now becomes clear to you for whom Columbus (if it was really him) discovered America - for the Europeans.
Discovery of America
The reasons that pushed Europeans to search for new lands were prosaic: the European market was overflowing with goods, colonies were needed to sell them. Europe was actively moving towards colonial capitalism. You can find other reasons in our article.
Spain - the strongest state of that Medieval Europe - was no exception. The crown actively sponsored all the expeditions of various scoundrels who promised to open new lands for it. Since the name of the navigator who discovered America is Christopher Columbus, let’s take a closer look at his personality.
Christopher Columbus, famous navigator (1451 - 1506)
Christopher was actually from Genoa. In his youth he studied at the University of Pavia. Around 1474, the famous geographer and astronomer Paolo Toscanelli fired a bullet at Columbus in a letter that the route to India was actually shorter than all sorts of court scoundrels believed. From that time on, Christopher became interested in this event - to find a way to the legendary India. Next, Christopher traveled throughout Europe, collecting information about the location of this very India. As a result, in the mid-80s of the 15th century, he drew up his project - the path to there.
All discussions about this project came to nothing. Even a meeting with the king and queen yielded nothing. Columbus intends to move to France in the early 90s and try his luck there. But Queen Isabella still realized what Spain could lose. As a result, the expedition was finally equipped.
America was discovered by Europeans during the first expedition of 1492-1493. It consisted of three ships: Santa Maria, Niña and Pinta. The year 1492 is considered the year of the discovery of America.
Amerigo Vespucci (1454 - 1512)
The remaining three expeditions were exploratory: Europeans explored a new area. Until the end of his life, Columbus himself was sure that he had discovered India. So why did the New World come to be called America? Who discovered it: Columbus or Vespucci?
The fact is that in 1499, a cheerful old man, Amerigo Vespucci, set off on one of the expeditions to the New World. The old man went to assess the financial capabilities of the New World, took notes and, most importantly, compiled a serious map of the new continent.
Therefore, in 1507, cartographer Martin Waldseemüller proposed naming new continents in honor of this cheerful old man. That's why America is called that.
Best regards, Andrey Puchkov
The most important event in the history of the great geographical discoveries, and world history in general, there was the discovery of America - an event as a result of which the inhabitants of Europe discovered two continents called the New World, or America.
The confusion begins with the names of the continents. There is strong evidence for the version that the lands of the New World were named after the Italian philanthropist Richard America from Bristol, who financed the transatlantic expedition of John Cabot in 1497. And the Florentine traveler Amerigo Vespucci, who visited the New World only in 1500 and after whom America is believed to have been named, took his nickname in honor of the already named continent.
In May 1497, Cabot reached the shores of Labrador, becoming the first recorded European to set foot on American soil, two years before Amerigo Vespucci. Cabot compiled a map of the coast of North America - from New England to Newfoundland. In the Bristol calendar for that year we read: “...on St. John the Baptist (June 24), the land of America was found by merchants from Bristol who arrived on a ship named “Matthew.”
Christopher Columbus is considered the official discoverer of the New World continents. Cristobal Colon (Christopher Columbus) knew how to draw maps, drive ships, and knew four languages. He was originally from Italy and came to Spain from Portugal. Having found a familiar monk in a monastery near the city of Palos, Columbus told him that he had decided to sail to Asia by a new sea route - along the Atlantic Ocean. He was allowed an audience with Queen Isabella, who, after his report, appointed a “scientific council” to discuss the project. The members of the council were mainly clergy. Columbus ardently defended his project. He referred to the evidence of ancient scientists about the sphericity of the Earth, to a copy of the map of the famous Italian astronomer Toscanelli, which depicted Atlantic Ocean many islands, and behind them are the eastern shores of Asia. He convinced the learned monks that the legends spoke of a land beyond the ocean, from the shores of which sea currents sometimes bring tree trunks with traces of their processing by people.
The rulers of Spain nevertheless decided to conclude an agreement with Columbus, according to which, if successful, he would receive the title of admiral and viceroy of the lands he discovered, as well as a significant part of the profits from trade with the countries where he was able to visit.
On August 3, 1492, three ships set sail from the port of Paloe - Santa Maria, Pinta, Niña - with 90 participants. The ships' crews consisted mainly of convicted criminals. 33 days had already passed since the expedition left the Canary Islands, and still no land was visible. The team began to grumble. To calm her down, Columbus wrote down the distances traveled in the ship's log, deliberately underestimating them.
On October 12, 1492, sailors saw a dark strip of land on the horizon. It was a small island with lush tropical vegetation. Lived here tall people with dark skin. The natives called their island Guanahani. Columbus named it San Salvador and declared it a possession of Spain. This name stuck with one of the Bahamas. Columbus was confident that he had reached Asia. Having visited other islands, he asked local residents everywhere whether this was Asia. But I didn’t hear anything consonant with this word. Columbus left some people on the island of Hispaniola, led by his brother, and sailed to Spain. To prove that he had discovered the route to Asia, Columbus took with him several Indians, feathers of unprecedented birds, some plants, including maize, potatoes and tobacco, as well as gold taken from the inhabitants of the islands. On March 15, 1493, he was greeted as a hero in Palos.
This was the first time Europeans visited the islands of Central America. As a result, the beginning was laid for the further discovery of unknown lands, their conquest and colonization.
In the 20th century, scientists drew attention to information that suggested that contacts between the Old World and the New occurred long before famous journey Columba.
In addition to the frankly fantastic hypotheses about the settlement of America by the “ten tribes of Israel”, as well as the Atlanteans, there is a number of serious scientific data that America was visited long before Columbus. Some researchers even argue that Indian culture was brought from outside, from the Old World - this direction of scientific thought is called diffusionism. The theory that American civilizations developed almost completely independently before 1492 is called isolationism and has more adherents in academic science.
Hypotheses about the visit of America by the Egyptians remain unconfirmed (the famous traveler Thor Heyerdahl was an active supporter of the version of Egyptian voyages to America), as well as by the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, representatives of the states of Central Africa, the Chinese, the Japanese and the Celts.
But there is quite reliable data about the visit of America by the Polynesians, preserved in their legends; It is also known that the Chukchi established an exchange of fur and whalebone with the ancient population of the northwestern American coast, but it is impossible to establish the exact date of the beginning of these contacts.
Europeans visited the American continent during the Viking Age. Scandinavian contacts with the New World began around 1000 AD and presumably continued until the 14th century.
The name of the Scandinavian navigator and ruler of Greenland, Leif Eriksson the Happy, is associated with the discovery of the New World. This European visited North America five centuries before Columbus. His campaigns are known from the Icelandic sagas, preserved in such manuscripts as “The Saga of Eric the Red” and “The Saga of the Greenlanders.” Their authenticity was confirmed by archaeological discoveries of the 20th century.
Leif Eriksson was born in Iceland into the family of Erik the Red, who was expelled from Norway along with his entire family. Eric's family was forced to leave Iceland in 982, fearing blood feud, and settle in new colonies in Greenland. Leif Eriksson had two brothers, Thorvald and Thorstein, and one sister, Freydis. Leif was married to a woman named Thorgunna. They had one son, Torkell Leifsson.
Before his trip to America, Leif made a trading expedition to Norway. Here he was baptized by King Olaf Tryggvason of Norway, an ally of Prince Vladimir of Kyiv. Leif brought a Christian bishop to Greenland and baptized its inhabitants. His mother and many Greenlanders converted to Christianity, but his father, Erik the Red, remained a pagan. On the way back, Leif saved the shipwrecked Icelander Thorir, for which he received the nickname Leif the Happy.
Upon his return, he met a Norwegian named Bjarni Herjulfsson in Greenland, who said that he saw the outline of land in the west, far out to sea. Leif became interested in this story and decided to explore new lands.
Around the year 1000, Leif Eriksson and a crew of 35 sailed west on a ship purchased from Bjarni. They discovered three regions of the American coast: Helluland (presumably the Labrador Peninsula), Markland (probably Baffin Island) and Vinland, which received its name for the large number of grapevines growing there.
Presumably this was the coast of Newfoundland. Several settlements were founded there, where the Vikings stayed for the winter.
Upon returning to Greenland, Leif gave the ship to his brother Thorvald, who instead went to explore Vinland further. Torvald's expedition was unsuccessful: the Scandinavians encountered the Skralings, North American Indians, and in this skirmish Torvald died. If you believe the Icelandic legends, according to which Erik and Leif did not make their trips at random, but based on the stories of eyewitnesses like Bjarni, who saw on the horizon unknown lands, then in a sense America was discovered even before the year 1000. However, it was Leif who was the first to make a full-fledged expedition along the shores of Vinland, gave it a name, landed on the shore and even tried to colonize it. Based on the stories of Leif and his people, which served as the basis for the Scandinavian “Saga of Eric the Red” and “Saga of the Greenlanders,” the first maps of Vinland were compiled.
This information, preserved by the Icelandic sagas, was confirmed in 1960, when archaeological evidence was discovered in the town of L'Anse aux Meadows on the island of Newfoundland. early settlement Vikings. Currently, the exploration of the territory of North America by the Vikings long before the voyages of Columbus is considered a definitively proven fact. Scientists have reached a consensus that the Vikings were indeed the first Europeans to discover North America, but the exact location of their settlement is still a matter of scientific dispute. At first, the Vikings did not distinguish between exploring lands and
population in Greenland and Vinland, on the one hand, and Iceland, on the other. The feeling of another world appeared to them only after meeting with local tribes, which were significantly different from the Irish monks in Iceland. For more than 11,000 years before this, the continent was already inhabited by numerous indigenous peoples, the American Indians.
The Saga of Eric the Red and the Saga of the Greenlanders were written approximately 250 years after the colonization of Greenland and suggest that there were several attempts to establish a settlement in Vinland, but none lasted more than two years. There may be several reasons why the Vikings abandoned settlements, including disagreements among the male colonists regarding the few women accompanying the voyage and armed skirmishes with local residents, which the Vikings called skralings - both of these factors are indicated in written sources.
Until the 19th century, historians considered the idea of Viking settlements in North America exclusively in the context of the national folklore of the Scandinavian peoples. The first scientific theory appeared in 1837 thanks to the Danish historian and antiquarian Karl Christian Rafn. In his book “American Antiquities,” Rafn conducted a comprehensive examination of the sagas and explored possible sites on the American coast, as a result of which he concluded that the country of Vinland, discovered by the Vikings, really existed.
There is disagreement among historians regarding the geographical location of Vinland. Rafn and Erik Wahlgren believed that Vinland was located somewhere in New
England. And in the 1960s, a Viking settlement was discovered through excavations in Newfoundland, and some scientists think that this was the site chosen by Leif. Others still believe that Vinland must be further south, and that the discovered settlement refers to a hitherto unknown, later attempt by the Vikings to settle in America.
History continues to lift the veil of its secrets. Scientists have yet to verify the likelihood and timing of earlier contacts with the American continent by immigrants from the Old World.
