5.3 The Discovery of America - T -

• History
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 2

Lesson 5.3 The discovery of America

5. The Time of Discoverers and Reformers

Theory

Main Questions

• What was the Reconquista in Spain?
• What did Ferdinand and 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?

people in this lesson

king Ferdinand & queen Isabella

Christopher Columbus

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"

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

In this lesson:

• In 1492 the king and queen of Spain supported Columbus in his mission to find a westward route to the Indies.
• After a 6 weeks voyage across the Atlantic Ocean Columbus reached an island he called San Salvador.
• Columbus believed he had reached the Indies.
• Columbus left 31 men behind and sailed back to Spain to bring the good news.
• He made 3 more trips to find gold and spices and he died still believing he had reached the Indies.
• In 1502 Amerigo Vespucci discovered that Columbus had found a whole new world.
• The New World was named America.

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. 

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

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"

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)

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

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

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

In the United States, 

the second Monday in October  is

Columbus Day.

Summary 5.3

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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?

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