Expeditions and Voyages of Discovery…
The Settling of the Americas
Focus Questions:
1. Which groups of people arrived in the “New World” first?
2. By what means did they get here?
3. What were the settlers looking for?
4. What were the routes taken?
5. How would the voyages of exploration lead to nations claiming lands?
6. How would overlapping claims lead to wars among European nations?
7. Why did various British groups settle in N. America
8. How would colonial wars – impact the British/American colonies?
According to Theory/Scientific
Evidence…
• When did people first arrive in the New World?
• 17,000 years ago but perhaps further back…
• Evidence? Stone and bone tools
• Theory 1 - and most widely accepted – Land Bridge
• Theory 2 - By sea from Europe?
• Theory 3 - By sea from Polynesia…evidence?
The 3 Theories
1. Bering Strait Land Bridge
during the Ice Age
2. Polynesian/Pacific Route
3. Across N. Atlantic During
the Ice Age 17,000 years ago
Smithsonian Institute Archaeologist
Dennis Stanford suggests…
A link with peoples from Iberia/France
called the Solutrean culture – remains
controversial and is not yet accepted.
The Vikings Come to North America
circa 975AD - 1000AD
3 Key Players:
1. Erik the Red
2. Bjarni Herjolfsson
3. Leif Eriksson
The Crusades– Important
Serve as an impetus for exploration…
1. What were the crusades?
2. What did participants in them discover?
3. How did the Crusades serve as an impetus for
the voyages of discovery and exploration?
Participants who went to the Holy
Land experienced new things…
New things that upon return to their
homes were unwilling to do without.
• Trade Items
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Silks, cloths, tapestries, rugs
Spices, foods, olive oil, nuts
Fragrances/perfumes/incense
Precious/semi-precious gems
Ivories, exotic furs
Jewels, jewelry, precious metals
Technologies
2 Individuals who spurred on the
voyages of exploration
Came from different regions…
1200s… Southern Europe
1300s… West Africa
Marco Polo – Italian Merchant {1200s}
travelled throughout Mongol Empire
Upon his return…
Wrote and told of
wondrous things!
People doubted him,
Some scoffed – called
him a liar –others
began to wonder if it
could be true and if so…
From West Africa – Mali
Mansa Musa His pilgrimage is
legendary but true!
Timbuktu – grew into a
center of trade, wealth
And learning in 1300s
If Mansa Musa was so
wealthy…Europeans
wanted in on the trade too!
1400s Portugal leads the way!
Patron of Portuguese Exploration
Est. School of Navigation
• Trained captains in required
skills
• Making Charts
• Using Astrolabe
• Using Compass
• Sailing Caravel Ships
2 Explorers – Prince Henry’s
Early Graduates
Bart. Dias
Late 1480s got to Cape
Good Hope
and
Vasco Da Gama
late 1490’s
got to India
Spain now joins in to find trade routes –
going west…
3 key people begin Spain’s rise!
C. Columbus
He made 4 trips over 10 years
discovered numerous islands
Ferdinand and Isabella financed him
they set the stage for Spain’s rise to power
1492 Columbus opens the door – other European +
more Spanish Explorers will follow… ca.1500 -1550
• Vespucci, Balboa, De Leon, Magellan ,Cortez, Pizarro, Narvaez, Cabeza De Vaca,
Estevanico, Coronado, Se Soto, Cabrillo + later De Fuca, … just to name a few!
• Note – other nations of Europe are competing too!
Not to be out-done ...France Explores too!
At first France sought the N. West Passage but fails but it got empire instead!
Some of these explorers are,
in order of their expedition:
1st - Verrazano
2nd - Cartier
3rd - Champlain
4th - Marquette and Joliet
5th - LaSalle and Tonti
Cadillac and others…
Note: The French will have competition from England and the Netherlands!
England gets in on the quest too!
Seeks a passage to the East+ fails
mostly
All of these men sailed the North Atlantic and each largely failed!
John Cabot
aka. Giovanni Caboto – He starts
off in exploring N. Atlantic
Martin Frobisher
Humphrey Gilbert
Privateer – sought N. West Pass. Explorer sought N.W. Passage
Look “foolish” as a result
starts colony in New Foundland
Perhaps England’s Greatest
Privateer/Sea Dog/Explorer…
• Francis Drake
Looted and plundered Spanish ships for gold/silver, second to circumnavigate world!
• Still… no northwest passage to the East!
1585- England starts a colony at Roanoke
the colonists vanish leaving little trace…
Queen Elizabeth
granted permission to
Sir Walter Raleigh
By 1590 only abandoned buildings and the cryptic words Croatoan and Croa remained…
An Englishman sails for 2 nations early 1600s
Seeking a passage to “Indies” going N. East + N. West
Henry Hudson sails for the Dutch and the next year 1610 for England
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Dutch – fails to find N. East Passage but does sail up the Hudson R. and up New Foundland
English fails to find N. West passage, finds Hudson Bay, suffers mutiny – disappears w. few loyal crew
Thanks to Hudson – Dutch claim region around the Hudson River
Start settling New Netherlands – est. city New Amsterdam in 1624
Peter Minuit according to stories purchased Manhattan Is. for $24 worth
of trinkets and est. New Amsterdam/New Netherlands…
*Later he will offer his services to Sweden and help establish ”New Sweden “ in the
Delaware-Southern New Jersey region.
New Sweden – little remembered even
in New Jersey History but it did exist!
• New Sweden
Architectural contribution
over time evolved into this…
Dutch Contributions…
In Architecture – gambrel roof
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Von Steuben House in Riverdell, NJ
+
Some very important people
and ideas…
T.R.
F.D.R.
Also place names such as Brooklyn, Harlem, Orange County, NY, Fishkill, Normanskill, etc. etc. etc.
Other German/Dutch ideas… Kindergarten Christmas Tree Windmills Tulips Thaler = $
As for England they est. Jamestown in 1607
{Class labs covered this settlement in great detail}
Plymouth Colony est. 1620
and Massachusetts Bay Colony 1629
Mass. Bay Colony
founded/settled by Puritans
Plymouth Plantation
founded/settled by the Pilgrims