PresentationExpress

1
Objectives

• Identify the goals of Christopher Columbus.
• Explain the consequences of his journey to the
  Americas.
• Analyze the effects of European contact with the
  people of the Americas.

2
Terms and People

• Bartolomeu Dias Portuguese mariner who sailed
  around southern Africa in 1487
• Vasco da Gama Portuguese mariner who sailed
  around southern Africa to India in 1498
• Christopher Columbus Italian mariner sailing
  for Spain who in 1492 sailed west to reach Asia
  but reached the islands of the Caribbean instead
• John Cabot Genoese mariner employed by the
  English who sailed to Newfoundland in 1497

3
Terms and People (continued)

• Pedro Alvarez Cabral Portuguese mariner who
  reached the coast of Brazil in 1500
• Amerigo Vespucci - Genoese mariner who explored
  South Americas coast in 1501 Europeans
  mapmakers called the new continents America, a
  variant of his name
• Ferdinand Magellan - mariner whose 1519-1522
  expedition succeeded in encircling the globe
• conquistador - Spanish soldier who explored and
  conquered central Mexico

4
Terms and People (continued)

• Hernán Cortés - conquistador who invaded
  present-day Mexico in 1519 and conquered the
  Aztecs
• Moctezuma - Aztec ruler
• Columbian Exchange - the global exchange of
  plants, animals, ideas, and diseases between
  Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas after
  Columbus made his first transatlantic voyage in
  1492

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How did European exploration affect the Americas?
With the goal of reaching Asia, European sailors
continued their journeys of exploration.
In 1492, Christopher Columbus landed in the
Americas, planning to conquer the land, exploit
its wealth, and convert its people to
Christianity a pattern followed by later
explorers.
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In the 1400s, the Portuguese sought a route to India, the East Indies, and China.
Bartolomeu Dias In 1487, Dias used the winds of the South Atlantic to get around the southern tip of Africa.
Vasco da Gama In 1498, da Gama exploited Diass discovery to reach India, opening an enormously profitable trade route.
The Portuguese dominated the trade routes south and east around Africa.
7
By default, the Spanish looked westward into the
open Atlantic.

• The Spanish hoped to find islands in the west
  that they could exploit.
• They also hoped that, by leaping from one set of
  islands to another, explorers could one day reach
  the coveted coast of China.

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The Italian mariner Christopher Columbus had
heard stories about mysterious lands to the west.
Columbus was determined to make a westward voyage
in search of China.
He hoped to convert the Chinese to Christianity
and use their wealth to begin a new crusade
against Islam.
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Funded by Spain, in 1492 Columbus reached the
Bahamas, which he claimed for Spain.
In all, Columbus made four voyages to what he
thought was the East Indies, near Asia. He used
force to conquer Native Americans on the islands.
Columbus had not reached Asia, but he had found a
land that would bring riches and power to
European Christendomat the expense of Native
Americans and African slaves.
10
Columbuss Voyages, 1492-1504
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In 1494, Spain and Portugal negotiated the Treaty
of Tordesillas.

• The treaty drew a boundary line through the
  mid-Atlantic, giving the Spanish lands west of
  the line and the Portuguese lands east of the
  line.
• Other European kings refused to honor the treaty.
• No one bothered to consult the Native Americans.

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• John Cabot sailed to Newfoundland in 1497.
• Pedro Alvarez Cabral reached the coast of Brazil
  in 1500.
• Amerigo Vespucci explored South Americas coast
  in 1501.
• The crew of Ferdinand Magellan finished circling
  the globe in 1522.

Other explorers soon confirmed that, by sailing
west, Columbus had reached the shores of two
continents previously unknown to Europeans.
13
Conquistadors extended Spains empire in the
Americas, treating Native Americans brutally in
the process.

• The Spanish killed or enslaved thousands of
  Native Americans.
• Many were forced to convert to Christianity.
• The Spanish destroyed their cities, stole their
  gold, and exploited their natural resources.

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With steel-edged swords, guns, and horses, the
conquistadors destroyed native civilizations.
Hernán Cortés conquered the Aztecs.
Francisco Pizarro defeated the Incas.
15
Even more deadly than brutal attacks, however,
was disease.
Europeans unknowingly transmitted new diseases to
native populations.
As Native American populations fell, the Spanish
turned to African slaves for the labor they
needed to build their growing colonies.
16
Europeans who came to the Americas in the 1400s
began the Columbian Exchange.

• Colonists brought European plants and animals to
  the Americas.
• This affected Native Americans in both positive
  and negative ways, but they adapted.
• People in Europe increased their yields by
  growing plants from the Americas.

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The Columbian Exchange

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The Columbian Exchange helped trigger enormous population shifts around the world.
European Population Growth Large harvests aided by new American crops caused the European population to grow from 80 million in 1492 to 180 million by 1800.
Native American Population Decline The Native American proportion of the global population collapsed from 7 percent in 1492 to less than 1 percent in 1800.