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2.2 The Discovery of America




Lesson 2.2 The Discovery of America
5. The Time of Discoverers and Reformers
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This lesson contains 49 slides, with interactive quizzes, text slides and 2 videos.

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Lesson 2.2 The Discovery of America
5. The Time of Discoverers and Reformers

Slide 1 - Slide

What do you know about the Silk Route?

Slide 2 - Open question

Why did the Europeans start searching for sea routes to Asia?

Slide 3 - Open question

1453- Fall of Constantinopel
After the fall of  Constantinopel in the hands of the Ottomans a route over sea became more important for the Europeans.

Slide 4 - Slide

Things changed when the Ottoman (=Turkish) Sultan Mehmed II conquered Constantinople in 1453. The conquest gave the Ottomans a monopoly on trading using the Silk Route. 
They controlled all the trade between Asia and Europe and were able to increase the prices of products. They also demanded other extra payments from Europeans. The Ottoman monopoly made trading on the Silk Route and trade around the Mediterranean Sea less successful for Europeans. 

The route to the wealth of Asia seemed closed, but this did not stop the demand for the products. Instead, Europeans now started to look for other ways to go east: by traveling unknown seas.


Mehmet II, sultan of the Ottoman Empire

Slide 5 - Slide

Voyages of discovery

The Portuguese were the first to sail to unknown regions. They had spent time to build better ships (the caravel) and navigational instruments.
By slowly exploring the west coast of Africa, they hoped to find its most southern point. This would prove that it is possible to sail around Africa to Asia.
Year after year they went further and further south. Explorer Bartholomeu Dias was the first to reach the southern tip of Africa. He saw that the coast went north again and ordered his crew to sail back to Portugal to tell the news. When the king heard about the discovery, he was proud and filled with hope. That’s why he called the south point of Africa: Cape of Good Hope. He was confident that the discovery would lead Portugal to the wealth of Asia.


Slide 6 - Slide

5. The Time of Discoverers and Reformers
Lesson 2. Discovery and Conquest (1)


What is this lesson about?
The Spanish King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella united their two kingdoms and defeated the Moors in the south of Spain. After this, they looked for possibilities to expand their power and Catholic religion to other lands. Christopher Columbus convinced them to lend him ships to sail west. By doing this he discovered a new continent that would eventually be called America.

Slide 7 - Slide

Slide 8 - Slide

What is the name of the era + dates?

Slide 9 - Open question

Main Questions


  • What did king Ferdinand and queen Isabella hope to gain from supporting Columbus' expedition?
  • When and how did Columbus discover America?
  • How was the contact between the Spanish and the Indians?
  • Why was the New World named America?

Slide 10 - Slide

people in this lesson
king Ferdinand & queen Isabella
Christopher Columbus

Slide 11 - Slide

Important dates in this lesson:


1492: - Ferdinand and Isabella defeat the Moors in Granada
          - Columbus sails to America
1507: - the new world is named "America"

Slide 12 - Slide

Word Duty





KEY WORDS



Reconquista: the name for the war in which Christians reconquered 
Spain on the Moors 

Indians: the name Columbus gave to the natives of America 

New World: nickname of America given by Europeans who hoped 
to start a new life there

Slide 13 - Slide

Ferdinand was a prince of Aragon and Isabella a princess of Castile, two separate countries on the Iberian peninsula. They fell in love but they were instructed to marry others. They ignored this order and married in secret. They even became king and queen and in 1479 they decided that their countries should work closely together. Their goal was to unify their Lands into one strictly Catholic country. This country Later became known as Spain and it would become a dominant world power during the Age of Discovery. 



Slide 14 - Slide

1a. The Iberian peninsula is actually today's:
A
Portugal
B
Spain + Portugal
C
America
D
Spain + Aragon

Slide 15 - Quiz

1b. Drag the texts to the correct places in the map
Prince 
Ferdinand
the Moors
Princess 
Isabella

Slide 16 - Drag question

The Reconquista 

For centuries, Christian knights in Castile and Aragon had fought against the Moors in the south. The Moors were Muslims who had conquered large parts of the Iberian peninsula during the early middle ages. 

In Spanish, this war against the Moors is called the Reconquista ('reconquer'). When Isabella and Ferdinand became king and queen, only the southern tip of Spain was still ruled by the Moors. This Muslim emirate of Granada was a place of wealth and culture and the Spanish royal couple had made it their common goal to defeat it and bring the whole Iberian peninsula under Catholic religion. Ferdinand and Isabella defeated the Emir of Granada in 1492. After this, they could look to expand their power and religion to other lands. One of their next decisions was to listen to a remarkable plan of an Italian called Christopher Columbus.



Reconquista of Granada, painted in 1882
Ferdinand and Isabella

Slide 17 - Slide

Catholic
Aragon
Muslim
Reconquista
Castile
2. Make the correct combi-
nations
Isabella
Moors
Spain
Ferdinand
Granada

Slide 18 - Drag question

3. Why did Ferdinand and Isabella not support
Columbus before 1492?

Slide 19 - Open question

Columbus

Slide 20 - Mind map

Christopher Columbus 

Columbus was born in the Italian town of Genoa in 1451. In his memoirs he wrote that he became a sailor at the age of ten. When he was older, he and his brother came up with a plan in which he would sail to the west, across the Atlantic Ocean, to reach Asia. He hoped to find a faster route to the spice islands and China.
For this plan he needed money and ships, so he tried to sell the idea to Venice, Genoa and to the kings of England and Portugal. He was out of luck, because they felt that the costs were too high and they all believed that it would be impossible to travel the full distance. Sailors would simply run out of supplies. 

It seemed that the king and queen of Spain were his last chance to make his dream come true. It is said that king 
Ferdinand personally convinced his queen to support the expedition. They lent Columbus three ships: the Santa 
Maria, the Pinta, and the Nina. They also supported him with money for supplies. 




Christopher Columbus and his ship "Santa Maria"

Slide 21 - Slide

Slide 22 - Video

4. Why would the native Americans be happy to see Columbus and his crew?

Slide 23 - Open question

A sea route to the west 
On 6th September 1492, Columbus commanded his sailors to 
set out on one of the farthest adventures in history. He knew that his journey was not going to be easy. 
There were no maps of the Atlantic ocean or possible lands beyond it, so nobody knew what to expect. 
After weeks of seeing only ocean, his men became impatient and insecure. To keep everybody calm Columbus fooled his men and he made them believe that according to his calculations they were closer to home than they believed. In his journal he wrote: (see Source A)

On 12th October 1492, a young sailor named Rodrigo de Triana yelled that he saw land. From their ships the explorers saw a lush green land, a lot of water and trees filled with fruits. With small boats they rowed to the island. Columbus stepped onto the beach and planted the flag of Ferdinand and Isabella. He named the island San Salvador. Columbus had not discovered a sea route to Asia; instead he had reached an island in the Bahamas, just off the coast of North America. 



Source A
monday, 10 September. This day and night sailed sixty leagues. Reckoned only forty-eight leagues, that the men might not be terrified if they should be long upon the voyage

Extract from the journal of the First Voyage of Columbus (1492)

Slide 24 - Slide

4b. Why would the Spanish king Ferdinand react differently to the proposals of Columbus?

Slide 25 - Open question

4c. Columbus' crew was made up of criminals who had to choose between sailing to the other side of the world or to rot in jail.

Why would it have been hard for Columbus to get a
normal crew for his voyage?

Slide 26 - Open question

5. Read source A. Columbus told his crew:
A
that they were going slower than they were actually going
B
that they were going faster than they were actually going

Slide 27 - Quiz

6. Read source A. Why would Columbus lie to his crew
about how fast they were going?

Slide 28 - Open question

7. On a long voyage, food would gradually run out.
At some point Columbus reached a "point of no return".
Can you think of what that meant?

Slide 29 - Open question

First contact with local inhabitants 

Soon after Columbus set foot on land, the local inhabitants of the island came up to him and his men. He believed that he had arrived in the Indies, so he called them Indians. In his journal he wrote: (see source B)

Columbus gave the inhabitants glass beads and other objects of little value to him, but this seemed to make the Indians even more friendly towards him. He wrote: (see source C)

The Indians brought parrots, cotton threads, darts and many other things as gifts for Columbus and his crew. He received them and they explained to him that gold could be found on a bigger island, not far from their own.



Source B
"They appear to be people who are very poor in everything. They are as naked as the moment they were born. They have handsome bodies, and their skin colour is neither white nor black.Their long hair is coarse, almost like that of a horse's tail. Some of them painted their bodies in white, black or red colours."


Source C
"I think that they could be good servants, and they could easily become good Christians for they do not seem to have a religion themselves."


Christopher Columbus setting foot in the New World

Slide 30 - Slide

8a. Why did Columbus call the local inhabitants "Indians"?

Slide 31 - Open question

8b. If you look at the name Columbus used, did he
realise he had made an important new discovery?

Slide 32 - Open question

9. What type of sources are Source A, B and C?
A
primary non written
B
secondary non written
C
primary written
D
secondary written

Slide 33 - Quiz

A new world 
Columbus continued his expedition and when he sailed further 
east he came to another large island that he called Hispaniola. There the Santa Maria ran aground, and at Christmas he ordered to build a fortress from her wooden remains. He named this fortress Navidad, which means Christmas. By doing that he founded the first 
European settlement in America. 

At this moment, Columbus decided that he should head back to Spain. Thirty-one sailors were left behind while Columbus started his trip back. When he came back to Spain he showed Ferdinand and Isabella the gifts he had received and seven Indians that he had captured. Columbus was sad to tell that he did not find much gold and no spices, but he was willing to go back to search again. 

Columbus would make three more trips until he died in 1506. Until his last breath, he believed that he had discovered a western sea route to Asia. In 1502, the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci discovered that Columbus had not found a sea route to Asia, but a New World. In 1507 a German cartographer used Vespucci's first name for this new continent: America.






Indians attack the Spaniards at Navidad
Columbus arrives in the New World, engraving from 1594

Slide 34 - Slide

10. What type of source is this for someone studying Columbus?
A
primary non written
B
secondary non written
C
primary written
D
secondary written

Slide 35 - Quiz

11a. In what sense were the voyages of Columbus and Vasco da Gama the same?
Write down two similarities

Slide 36 - Open question

11b. In what sense were the voyages of Columbus and Vasco da Gama different?

Slide 37 - Open question

12a. Why was the New World eventually called "America"?

Slide 38 - Open question

12b. Do you know what country was named after Columbus later?

Slide 39 - Open question

In this world map, made in 1507 by Martin Waldseemüller, the name America was first used.

Slide 40 - Slide

14. Look at the map by Waldseemüller.
Which continent is still missing in this map?

Slide 41 - Open question

15a. Which one is the odd one out?
A
the Americas
B
West-Indies
C
East-Indies
D
New World

Slide 42 - Quiz

15b. Explain your choice of question 15a.

Slide 43 - Open question

In the United States, 
the second Monday in October  is
Columbus Day.

Slide 44 - Slide

15. Use the pictures in the previous slide to describe the controversy of the celebration of Columbus Day.

Slide 45 - Open question

Make your own summary using the main questions:

  1. What was the Reconquista in Spain?
  2. What did Ferdinand and Isabella hope to gain from supporting Columbus' expedition?
  3. When and how did Columbus discover America?
  4. How was the contact between the Spanish and the Indians?
  5. Why was the New World named America?

Slide 46 - Slide

Here you can ask a question about something from this lesson that you don't fully understand.

Slide 47 - Open question

Slide 48 - Video

congratulations
congratulations

Slide 49 - Slide