claimed land in the new world for two different countries

He claimed this territory for the king of France.ĭuring the 1600s the French and English began to set up colonies. Lawrence River and reached the Great Lakes. In 1534 Jacques Cartier sailed down the St. In 1497, John Cabot, an Italian who sailed for England, landed on the east coast of Canada. The French and the English concentrated their journeys on the northern part of the continent, because they thought that there also had to be a north-western route to India. When the Spanish got there they took all of it away from the Incas. The Incas had great riches, vast amounts of gold and silver. These natives ruled an empire that expanded from Columbia to the northern parts of Argentina. In 15 Francisco Pizarro conquered the Incas.

One of the most important Spanish conquistadors was Hernando Cortes. With his men, he fought his way through 50 miles of jungle and was surprised to see a new sea, the Pacific Ocean. In 1513 the Spanish explorer Vasco de Balboa landed in Panama, the part of Central America that is very narrow. In exchange, they grew plants that were not known in Europe, like corn and potatoes and brought them back to the Old Continent. The Spaniards brought new products to the Americas ,like wheat, horses, cattle and sheep. They also made the native Indians work for them. They founded colonies and brought settlers to the New World. Because he thought he had reached the islands near India he called the natives Indians.ĭuring the early 1500s Spanish explorers travelled across most of Central and South America. After two months of sailing westward, he landed on an island of the Bahamas, San Salvador, on October 12, 1492. Queen Isabella of Spain admired young and brave men like Columbus and so she gave him three ships-the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria-and a crew of 90 men.Ĭolumbus left Spain on August 3, 1492. When he went to the king of Portugal to present his plan, but it was rejected. He thought that if he sailed west he would also reach the Spice Islands of Asia and India. Like many navigators of that time, Columbus also wanted to sail to India and the Far East. Instead of reaching India he discovered that there was an unknown mass of land in between, land that the Europeans knew nothing of.Ĭolumbus was born in Genoa, Italy in 1451 and during his early years his father took him on various sailing trips and wanted to make a merchant out of him. He achieved fame by sailing west in search of a sea route to India. He took some spices and gold back with him to prove that he had reached India.Ĭhristopher Columbus was probably the most famous explorer of the era. He reached the west coast of India in May 1498. In 1497 Vasco Da Gama set out from Lisbon, sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and into the Indian Ocean. The Portuguese named it the Cape of Good Hope because they were hopeful of finding a passageway to India. On his return voyage, he saw a piece of land that stretched out into the sea. In 1487, the Portuguese explorer Bartholomeu Dias sailed around the southern part of the continent and got as far as the east coast of Africa, but a storm made him turn back. They were convinced that by sailing around the coast of Africa they would find a route to India. They set up trading posts and collected gold and silver.

With the help of new kinds of ships that could sail faster and instruments, like the quadrant, they started the Age of Exploration.Īt the end of the 15th century the Portuguese started to explore the west coast of Africa. In the 15th century the overland routes were being controlled by the Turkish Empire, which made it even more difficult for European merchants to pass through.Īs a result, some European countries, like Spain and Portugal, decided to find out if there was a sea route to India. To make food taste better they used spices, like pepper or cinnamon.įor centuries Europeans brought these goods on a land route from Asia over thousands of dangerous kilometres. They dried meat and often used salt to make it last longer. In those days, people had no refrigerators to preserve their food. They wanted to buy and sell expensive and valuable products from Asia-like gold, jewels and silk. The populationstarted to grow more quickly and a new class of merchants emerged. By the end of the 15th century many things were changing in Europe.

Claimed land in the new world for two different countries