A Changing World
Chapter 3, Lesson 2
Lesson Objectives
 Describe the aims, obstacles, and
accomplishments of early explorers.
 Trace the routes of explorers and identify the
areas they claimed.
Vocabulary
• Isthmus
• Treaty
England Explores
• King Henry the VII of England wanted to
compete with other European nations for land
and wealth.
• King Henry hired Italian born John Cabot to
sail across the Atlantic Ocean for England.
• Cabot sailed in 1497 and reached the coast of
Canada.
• He too believed he had found the Indies.
A New Map of the World
• Amerigo Vespucci did not believe Columbus and
Cabot had found Asia.
• Between 1499 and 1502 Vespucci sailed the
Atlantic and came to realize that the world was a
bigger place than was believed and that he was
not in Asia, but had found a new continent.
• A map of his and other explorer’s discoveries was
published and the New World was named in
honor of Amerigo Vespucci.
Reaching the Pacific
• In 1513, Vasco Nunez de Balboa and other
explorers made an expedition across the
Isthmus of Panama and found the Pacific
ocean.
• Balboa proved Amerigo Vespucci was right
about an unknown continent.
Balboa’s Exploration and Discovery of
the Pacific Ocean
A New View of the World
• In 1519, Ferdinand Magellan left Spain with five
ships and about 250 sailors with the aim of
finding a western route to Asia.
• Magellan and his crew discovered many new
lands and named the pacific Ocean.
• Magellan was killed in a battle with natives in the
Philippines.
• Finally, just twelve days short of three years, the
surviving 18 crew members made it back to Spain
in 1522.
• They had sailed around the world!
A New View of the World
(continued)
• To settle disputes between Spain and Portugal over
land in the Americas, the leaders of the Catholic church
drew a line on a map through the Atlantic Ocean.
• Portugal was promised land on the east of the line
while Spain was promised land to the west.
• When the location of this line was finalized, Spain and
Portugal signed the agreement called the Treaty of
Tordesillas.
• That is the reason the language of Brazil is Portuguese,
while the rest of South America generally speak
Spanish.
The Treaty of Tordesillas