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navigator caravel
Christopher
Columbus
As Europeans searched for sea routes to Asia, Christopher Columbus reached the Americas.
Columbus’s journey permanently linked the Americas to the rest of the world.
Sailors seeking a route to Asia depended on the skill of their navigator.
A navigator plans the course of a ship by using instruments to find its position. In the 1400s, Portugal had a famous prince called Henry the
Navigator. Yet, Henry wasn’t a navigator. He never sailed on any of the ships trying to find Asia. So how did he earn his name?
Henry lived at Sagres, on the southwestern tip of Portugal. It was a site that overlooked the Atlantic Ocean. He invited astronomers, mathematicians, mapmakers, and navigators to Sagres. There he began a school of navigation.
Henry decided to organize and pay for sailing expeditions to explore the Atlantic and the west coast of Africa. He was hoping to find African gold, to learn more about geography, and to spread
Christianity. His ships traveled farther down the African coast than
Europeans had ever gone. Because Henry sponsored the voyages, the
English named him “the navigator.” Those voyages began Europe’s age of discovery. As you will read in this section, this age of discovery eventually led Europeans to the Americas.
Henry the Navigator sponsored voyages that helped Portugal find a water route to Asia.
Under Prince Henry, the Portuguese developed an improved ship called the caravel.
The caravel had triangular sails as well as square sails. Square sails carried the ship forward when the wind was at its back. Triangular sails allowed the caravel to sail into the wind. The caravel was better than other European ships of the time at this type of sailing.
In January 1488, the Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias (DEE•uhs) reached the southern tip of Africa. After sailing around it, he returned to
Portugal at the urging of his crew. Portugal’s king named the tip the Cape of Good Hope because he hoped they had found a route to Asia.
Ten years later, another Portuguese explorer, Vasco da Gama, followed
Dias’s route around the cape. He continued north along the eastern coast of Africa. Then he sailed east across the Indian Ocean to India. At last, someone had found an all-water route from Europe to Asia.
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That route meant that the Portuguese could now trade with Asia without dealing with the Muslims or
Italians. Portugal took control of the valuable spice trade. The merchants of Lisbon, Portugal’s capital, grew rich. Spain and other European rivals wanted to take part in this profitable trade. They began to look for their own water routes to Asia.
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS
1451–1506
Christopher Columbus’s son
Ferdinand wrote that his father
“took to the sea at the age of 14 and followed it ever after.”
Columbus’s early voyages nearly cost him his life. When he was 25, pirates off the coast of
Portugal sank his ship. Columbus survived by grabbing a floating oar and swimming to shore.
But he also learned a lot from sailing on Portuguese ships. The sailors taught Columbus about
Atlantic wind patterns. This knowledge later helped him on
By the time of da Gama’s voyage, an Italian sailor named Christopher Columbus thought he knew a faster way to reach Asia. Europeans had known for centuries that the earth is round. Columbus decided that instead of sailing around Africa and then east, he would sail west across the Atlantic. He calculated that it would be a short journey.
But Columbus made several mistakes. First, he relied on the writings of two people—Marco Polo and a geographer named Paolo Toscanelli—who were wrong about the size of Asia. They claimed that Asia stretched farther from west to east than it really did.
Second, Columbus underestimated the distance around the globe. He thought the earth was only two thirds as large as it actually is! Because of Polo and
Toscanelli, Columbus thought that Asia took up most of that distance. Therefore, he believed that the his history-making voyage.
What character traits, shown in Columbus’s early life, might have made him a good leader?
Atlantic Ocean must be small. And a voyage west to
Asia would be short.
In 1483, Columbus asked the king of Portugal to finance a voyage across the Atlantic. The king’s advisers opposed the plan. They argued that Columbus had miscalculated the distance to Asia. They also reminded the king of the progress that Portuguese explorers had made sailing down the coast of Africa looking for a route to Asia. The advisers persuaded the king not to finance the voyage. So in 1486, Columbus turned to Portugal’s rival, Spain.
Spain’s rulers, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, liked Columbus’s plan because they wanted a share of the rich Asian trade. As a strong
Catholic, the Queen also welcomed a chance to spread Christianity. But there were also reasons not to support Columbus. First, a royal council had doubts about Columbus’s calculations and advised Ferdinand and
Isabella not to finance him. Second, the Spanish monarchs were in the middle of a costly war to drive the Muslims out of Spain. Third,
Columbus was asking a high payment for his services.
The years of waiting had made Columbus determined to profit from his explorations. As a reward for his efforts, he demanded the high title
A. Comparing
Compare what happened after
Portugal began to control the spice trade to what happened when Italy controlled it.
A. Possible
Answer In both cases, rival countries tried to find ways to end that control.
Vocabulary monarch: a king or queen
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Admiral of the Ocean Sea and a percentage of any wealth he brought from Asia. He also expected to be made the ruler of the lands he found.
Finally in January of 1492, the Spanish conquered the last Muslim stronghold in Spain. The Spanish monarchs could now afford to finance
Columbus but still had doubts about doing so. Columbus left the palace to return home. But after listening to a trusted adviser, the king and queen changed their minds and sent a rider on horseback to bring
Columbus back. He and the rulers finally reached an agreement.
B. Drawing
Conclusions Did this agreement give Columbus what he was asking for? Explain.
B. Possible
Answer Almost everything. It offers him rewards, the title he wanted, and the position of governor. There is no mention of a specific percentage of wealth.
A V O I C E F R O M T H E PA S T
Your Highnesses . . . accorded me great rewards and ennobled me so that from that time henceforth I might . . . be high admiral of the Ocean Sea and perpetual Governor of the islands and continent which I should discover.
Christopher Columbus, letter to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella
Preparing to sail, Columbus assembled his ships—the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa María —at the port of Palos de la Frontera in southern Spain.
At first, Columbus had trouble finding a crew. Then a respected local shipowner agreed to sign on as captain of the Pinta.
Other crew members soon followed. About 90 men loaded the ships with enough food for one year, casks of fresh water, firewood, and other necessities.
Skillbuilder
Answers
1. between 4,000 and 5,000
2. Dias was venturing into new territory, while da Gama had the knowledge acquired by Dias to guide him.
1487–1504
E U R O P E
N O R T H
A M E R I C A
40
°
N
A T L A N T I C O C E A N
PORTUGAL
SPAIN
CUBA
SAN SALVADOR
Tropic of Cancer
A F R I C A
HISPANIOLA
P A C I F I C
O C E A N
0
°
Equator
S O U T H
A M E R I C A
GEOGRAPHY SKILLBUILDER Interpreting Maps
1. Movement Approximately how many miles did Columbus sail before he reached San Salvador on his first voyage?
2. Human-Environment Interaction Why do you suppose that Dias stayed close to the west coast of Africa during his voyage, while da Gama sailed farther out?
Tropic of Capricorn
40
°
S
Route of Dias, 1487–1488
Route of da Gama, 1497–1498
Routes of Columbus:
1492–1493
1493–1496
1498–1500
1502–1504
A S I A
I N D I A N O C E A N
0
0
1,000 Miles
2,000 Kilometers
41

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The tiny fleet of wooden ships glided out of the harbor on August 3,
1492. First they sailed southwest toward the Canary Islands off the northwest coast of Africa. From there, Columbus was relying on trade winds that blew toward the west to speed his ships across the ocean.
Once aboard ship, Columbus kept a log, or daily record of each day’s sailing. In fact, he kept two logs. One he showed to his men and one he kept secret. Columbus’s secret log recorded the truth about the journey.
A V O I C E F R O M T H E PA S T
[We] made 15 leagues [this] day and . . . [I] decided to report less than those actually traveled so in case the voyage were long the men would not be frightened and lose courage.
Christopher Columbus, quoted in Columbus and the Age of Discovery
By October 10, the men had lost both courage and confidence in their leader. They had been at sea for almost ten weeks and had not seen land for over a month. Afraid that they would starve if the trip went on longer, they talked of returning home. To avoid mutiny, Columbus and the crew struck a bargain. The men agreed to sail on for three more days, and Columbus promised to turn back if they had not sighted land by then. Two days later in the early morning hours of October 12, a sailor on the Pinta called out “Tierra, tierra” [Land, land].
C. Analyzing
Causes What caused Columbus to decide to keep two logs?
C. Possible
Answer He was afraid his crew would be frightened if they knew the truth, so he kept a phony log to share with them.
By noon, the ships had landed on an island in the Caribbean Sea.
Columbus believed that he had reached the Indies, islands in Southeast
Asia where spices grew. The islanders who greeted
Columbus and his men were Taino (TY•noh) people, but
NATIVE AMERICAN VIEW
OF COLUMBUS
In 1992, many Native Americans protested the 500th anniversary
Columbus mistakenly called them Indians.
Columbus named the island San Salvador. After unfurling the royal banner and flags, he ordered his crew to “bear witness that I was taking possession of this island for the of Columbus’s voyage. Suzan
Shown Harjo, who is Cheyenne and Creek, explained why.
King and Queen.” Eager to reach the rich country of Japan, which he believed was nearby, he left San Salvador. He took six or seven Taino with him as guides. For the next three months, he visited several of the Caribbean islands.
As Native American peoples in this red quarter of Mother
Earth, we have no reason to celebrate an invasion that caused the demise [death] of so many of our people and is still causing destruction today.
Finally, he reached an island that he named Española, which we call Hispaniola today. (See map on page 41.) On that island, Columbus and his men found some gold and precious objects such as
The Spanish enslaved the Taino, who nearly all died from disease and bad treatment.
This statue is one pearls. This convinced Columbus that he had reached Asia. He decided to return home, leaving 39 of his men on Hispaniola. Even before
Columbus left, his men had angered the Taino of the few Taino artifacts left from the 1500s.
people by stealing from them and committing violence. By the time Columbus returned ten months later, the Taino had killed the men.
Background
Today, the Indies are called the
East Indies. The islands of the
Caribbean are called the West
Indies.
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D. Possible
Answer It was the body people crossed to get from one continent to the other.
D. Making
Inferences How did the Atlantic become a bridge connecting
Europe, Africa, and the Americas?
In January 1493, he sailed back to
Spain. Firmly believing that he had found a new water route to Asia, he wrote to
Ferdinand and Isabella. The Spanish rulers called him to the royal court to report on his voyage. Neither Columbus nor the king and queen suspected that he had landed near continents entirely unknown to Europeans.
Columbus made three more voyages to the
Americas, but never brought back the treasures he had promised Spain’s rulers. He also failed to meet Queen
Isabella’s other goal. She wanted Christianity brought to new people.
When she learned that Columbus had mistreated and enslaved the people of Hispaniola, she became angry.
After the fourth voyage, Spain’s rulers refused to give Columbus any more help. He died in 1506, still believing he had reached Asia and bitter that he had not received the fame or fortune that he deserved.
In time, the geographic knowledge Columbus brought back changed
European views of the world. People soon realized that Columbus had reached continents that had been unknown to them previously. And
Europeans were eager to see if these continents could make them rich.
For centuries, Europeans had seen the ocean as a barrier. With one voyage, Columbus changed that. Instead of a barrier, the Atlantic Ocean became a bridge that connected Europe, Africa, and the Americas. As you will learn in Chapter 2, Columbus’s explorations began an era of great wealth and power for Spain. As Spain grew rich, England, France, and other European countries also began to send ships to the Americas.
A French mapmaker uses an instrument to learn his exact position on the globe.
Section
3
Assessment
Explain the significance of:
• navigator
• caravel
• Christopher
Columbus
On a diagram like the one shown, list the effects of
Columbus’s voyages.
Columbus’s Voyages
Effect Effect Effect Effect
Which effects were negative and which were positive?
a.
Why was Prince Henry eager to find an all-water route to Asia?
b.
Why did Spain's king and queen decide to support
Columbus's first voyage?
c.
Why was Columbus disappointed by the outcome of his four voyages to the Americas?
Analyzing Points of View
Explain how each of the following people might have viewed Columbus’s first voyage. Give reasons for their points of view.
THINK ABOUT
• Columbus
• Queen Isabella
• a Taino chief
A C T I V I T Y O P T I O N S
Use the map on page 41. Create an enlarged map of Columbus’s first voyage, or measure the distance of each voyage to list on a table.
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Spain claimed a large empire in the Americas.
The influence of Spanish culture remains strong in modern America.
Treaty of
Tordesillas mercantilism conquistador
Hernando Cortés
Montezuma
Francisco Pizarro
Pope Alexander VI had an important decision to make.
In 1493, the rulers of Spain and Portugal wanted him to decide who would control the lands that European sailors were exploring. Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain expected Alexander VI to give Spain the rights over many of these lands. But King John II of Portugal claimed territories, too. What would the new pope do?
In May 1493, the pope issued his ruling. He drew an imaginary line around the world. It was called the Line of Demarcation. Portugal could claim all non-Christian lands to the east of the line. Spain could claim the non-
Christian lands to the west. In this section, you will learn how Spain and Portugal led Europe in the race to gain colonies in the Americas.
Pope Alexander VI Treaty of
Tordesillas
(1494)
Line of
Demarcation
(1493)
King John II was unhappy with the pope’s placement of the line. He believed that it favored Spain. So he demanded that the Spanish rulers meet with him to change the pope’s decision. In June 1494, the two countries agreed to the Treaty of Tordesillas (tawr•day•SEEL•yahs). This treaty moved the Line of Demarcation more than 800 miles farther to the west.
The change eventually allowed Portugal to claim much of eastern South
America, which later became the Portuguese colony of Brazil. Following this agreement, Spain and Portugal increased their voyages of exploration.
European countries had three main goals during this age of exploration. First, they wanted to spread Christianity beyond Europe. Second, they wanted to expand their empires. Third, they wanted to become rich.
By increasing their wealth, European countries could gain power and security. An economic system called mercantilism describes how
Europeans enriched their treasuries. (See Economics in History on page
52.) Colonies helped nations grow rich in several ways. Colonies provided
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The main goal of mercantilism was to increase the money in a country’s treasury by creating a favorable balance of trade. A country had a favorable balance of trade if it had more exports than imports. Colonies helped a country have the goods to maintain a favorable balance of trade.
For example, say Spain sold $500 in sugar to France, and France sold $300 in cloth to Spain. France would also have to pay Spain $200 worth of precious metals to pay for all the sugar. Spain would then have a favorable balance of trade because the value of its exports
(sugar) was greater than the value of its imports (cloth). Spain would become richer because of the precious metals it received from France.
Sugar
$500
1. Finding Main Ideas Under mercantilism, what did a country need to do to become rich? Discuss the way colonies enriched a country according to mercantilism.
See Skillbuilder
Handbook, page R5.
2. Making Inferences Think about your own family budget.
What do you think would happen if your family collected less money than it paid for goods for several years? Do you think this situation would be the same for a nation as it would for a family?
For more information on mercantilism . . .
RESEARCH LINKS
CL ASSZONE .COM
Cloth
$300
Gold & Silver
$200
52 C
HAPTER
2 various raw materials as well as mines that produced gold and silver. In addition, colonies served as markets for goods made in the home country.
After Columbus’s first voyage, many explorers went to sea. Italian sailor
Amerigo Vespucci (vehs•POO•chee) set out in 1501 to find a sea route to
Asia. Vespucci realized that the land he saw on this voyage was not Asia.
A German mapmaker was impressed by Vespucci’s account of the lands, so he named the continent “America” after him. Another famous explorer was the Spaniard Vasco Núñez de Balboa. In 1513, he led an expedition through the jungles of Panama and reached the Pacific Ocean.
In 1519, Portuguese sailor Ferdinand Magellan set out to reach Asia by sailing west around South America. During the long journey, he and his fellow sailors suffered great hardship. A member of the crew described what they ate.
A V O I C E F R O M T H E PA S T
We were three months and twenty days without . . . fresh food. We ate biscuit, which was no longer biscuit, but powder of biscuits swarming with worms. . . . We drank . . . water that had been putrid for many days.
Antonio Pigafetta, quoted in The Discoverers
Although Magellan died during the trip, his crew carried on and became the first people to sail around the world.
Background
Magellan was killed after becoming involved in a local war in the
Philippines.

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A. Clarifying
Why did relations between the
Spanish and
Aztecs quickly break down?
A. Answer because Cortés wanted to conquer the empire
While Magellan’s crew was sailing around the world, the Spanish began their conquest of the Americas. Soldiers called conquistadors
(kahn•KWIHS•tuh• DAWRZ ), or conquerors, explored the Americas and claimed them for Spain.
Hernando Cortés was one of these conquistadors. After landing in Central America in 1519, Cortés and his army of
508 men set their sights on conquering the mighty Aztec Empire.
The Spaniards marched inland and formed alliances (agreements with friendly peoples) with the native peoples who hated Aztec rule. Upon reaching the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlán (teh• NAWCH •tee•TLAHN),
Cortés received a warm greeting from the Aztec emperor, Montezuma.
Relations between the two sides quickly collapsed, however, as Cortés sought to take control of the empire. After several fierce clashes, the
Aztecs drove the Spanish out.
Despite this defeat, the Spaniards and their allies regrouped. In May
1521, Cortés led his forces back to Tenochtitlán. At this point, the
Spaniards got help from an invisible ally. Many Aztecs fell victim to an outbreak of smallpox, which severely weakened their ranks. The germs that caused this disease had been brought to America by the Europeans.
After months of fighting, Cortés conquered the empire.
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HERNANDO CORTÉS
1485–1547
Hernando Cortés was born in Spain to a noble but poor family. In 1504, at the age of 19, he sailed to the Americas to seek his fortune. Although he became a wealthy landowner in Cuba, he was not satisfied. “I have come to win gold,” he said, “not to plow the fields like a peasant.” His great chance came when he was picked to lead the expedition to
Mexico. Strongwilled, shrewd, and cruel, Cortés succeeded against great odds.
MONTEZUMA
1466–1520
Montezuma, ruler of the Aztec Empire, rose to the throne in 1502. Eloquent and wise, his words carried weight with his subjects.
According to Juan de Tovar, a Jesuit, “When he spoke, he drew the sympathy of others by his subtle phrases and . . .
by his profound reasoning.”
Montezuma lived in great luxury, receiving officials and commoners alike at his lavish palace.
His subjects treated him almost as a god and were not allowed to look at him. Though brutal at times, he was said to be a just and effective ruler.
Which man would you prefer to have as leader of your country? Why?
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Estevanico was a slave who helped the Spanish explore parts of
North America. He was killed during
Coronado’s search for golden cities.
In 1531, a conquistador named Francisco Pizarro marched on the
Incas. The Incas had built a powerful and wealthy empire centered in the
Cuzco Valley in what is now Peru. With an army of only 180 men,
Pizarro conquered the Inca.
People have long been amazed that the great Aztec and Incan empires fell to such small groups of Spanish conquistadors.
But Spanish success can be explained by three major reasons.
1.
2.
3.
The spread of European diseases killed millions of Native Americans.
The Spanish were excellent soldiers and sailors. They also had superior weapons, such as guns.
Spain made alliances with Native Americans who were enemies of the Aztecs and Incas.
Having conquered the major Native American empires in Central and South America, the Spaniards began to explore other parts of North and South America.
B. Drawing
Conclusions
What was the most important reason for the
Spanish success in conquering territory in the
Americas?
B. Possible responses Some students will say disease. Others might say better weapons.
The Spaniards hoped to collect treasures from North America as they had from Mexico and Peru. Rumors of golden cities kept Spanish hopes high. For example, the Spaniard Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and
Estevanico, a slave of North African descent, wandered across the continent and heard Native American stories about cities of gold.
Between 1539 and 1542, three expeditions set out to find these cities.
Francisco Vázquez de Coronado traveled through present-day Arizona and New Mexico. Hernando de Soto set out from Florida to explore the southeast. Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo sailed up the California coast. But all three failed to find the fabled cities of gold.
For a while, it seemed that the Spaniards would explore the Americas all by themselves. As you will read in the next section, however, the
Spanish would soon face competition from other Europeans.
Section
1
Assessment
Explain the significance of:
• Treaty of Tordesillas
• mercantilism
• conquistador
• Hernando Cortés
• Montezuma
• Francisco Pizarro
Review the section and find four events to place on a time line that shows how
Spain built its empire.
1492
Spain Builds an Empire
1542
Which event do you think is the most important? Why?
a.
Why did Europeans explore different territories?
b.
Why did Spain succeed in conquering so much of the
Americas?
c.
What was significant about the Magellan expedition?
Comparing What was similar about the conquests of Mexico and Peru?
THINK ABOUT
• the conquistadors
• the size of their armies
A C T I V I T Y O P T I O N S
Use the library or Internet to find a photograph of an Aztec or Incan artifact.
Create a replica or write a description of the object.
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Henry Hudson
John Cabot
Giovanni da
Verrazzano
Jacques Cartier
Spanish Armada
Samuel de
Champlain
New France
Other European countries competed with Spain for control over territory in the Americas.
European culture has strongly influenced American culture.
In 1609, an Englishman named Henry Hudson set sail from
Europe. He sailed under the Dutch flag and hoped to find a route to China. Arriving at the coast of present-day New York, he sailed up the river that now bears his name. In his journal, Hudson described what he saw.
A V O I C E F R O M T H E PA S T
The land is the finest for cultivation that I ever in my life set foot upon, and it also abounds in trees of every description. The natives are a very good people; for, when they saw that I would not remain, they supposed that I was afraid of their bows, and taking the arrows, they broke them in pieces and threw them into the fire.
Henry Hudson, quoted in Discoverers of America
Hudson did not find a passage to Asia, but he led another expedition in 1610, this time sailing for the English. He made his way through ice-clogged waters in Canada and entered a large bay, today called Hudson Bay. There he sailed for months, but still found no westward passage.
After enduring a harsh winter, his crew rebelled. They put Hudson, his young son, and several loyal sailors in a small boat and set them adrift (shown at right). Hudson’s party was never heard from again.
80˚W
Hudson
Bay
15
35
–1
53
6
60˚W
60
° N
Hudson 1610
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
Cartier
15
34
Cabot
1497
NORTH
AMERICA
Hudson
1609
Hudson’s voyages showed that some European countries hoped to find a westward route to Asia as late as the 1600s. While Spain was taking control of the Americas, other Europeans were sending out expeditions to find the Northwest Passage, a water route through North America to Asia.
One of the first explorers to chart a northern route across the Atlantic in search of Asia was the Italian sailor John Cabot.
In 1497, Cabot crossed the Atlantic Ocean to explore for the English. He landed in the area of
Newfoundland, Canada. He was certain that he had reached Asia and claimed the land for England. The next year he set sail once more, hoping
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1500–1550
Cabot 1497
ENGLAND
0
Explorers’ Routes
Spanish
Portuguese
French
English
Aztec Empire,
1519
Inca Empire,
1525
1,000 Miles
Cabrillo
1542–1543
0 2,000 Kilometers
P A C I F I C
O C E A N
N O R T H
A M E R I C A
Coronado
1540–1542
Santa Fe
Cabeza de Vaca
1528–1536
Tenochtitlán
(Mexico City)
GEOGRAPHY SKILLBUILDER
Interpreting Maps
1. Movement How many years did it take Cabeza de Vaca to travel from
Florida to Central Mexico?
2. Region Which continent did the
English and French explore?
De Soto
1539–1542
15
3
5
–1
536
40˚ N
1534
C art ier
A T L A N T I C
O C E A N
Verrazzano 1524
PORTUGAL
AZORES
CANARY
ISLANDS
G u l f o f
M e x i c o
Cortés 1519
St. Augustine
Ponce de León
1512–1513
CUBA HISPANIOLA Tropic of Cancer
Veracruz
Pizarro
1530–1533
C a r i b b e a n
S e a
Balboa
1510–1513
Santo Domingo
Colum b us 1
5 02–
1
5
04
S O U T H
A M E R I C A
1 4 9
9–15
00
1501–1502
V e s u p c c i
00 a
C b ra l15
M a g e ll a n
15
9
1
EUROPE
FRANCE
SPAIN
MADEIRA
A F R I C A
M ag e lla n's
Cr ew
0˚ Equator
15
22
Skillbuilder
Answers
1. Eight
2. North America to reach Japan. He was never seen again. Even so, his voyages were the basis for future English colonies along the Atlantic shore of North America.
In 1524, another Italian, Giovanni da Verrazzano, set out under the
French flag to find the Northwest Passage. He explored the Atlantic coastline of North America, but there was no passage to be found.
France tried again between 1534 and 1536 with the voyages of Jacques
Cartier (ZHAHK kahr•TYAY). Cartier traveled up the St. Lawrence
River to the site of present-day Montreal. At that point, rapids blocked the way and ended his search for the Northwest Passage. It would be almost 75 years before the French would return to colonize the region.
A. Reading a Map
Use the maps on pages 55 and 56 to see the areas
Cabot, Hudson,
Verrazzano, and
Cartier visited.
French and English claims to North America angered Spain, which had claimed the land under the Treaty of Tordesillas. The tensions between
Spain, England, and France stemmed from religious conflicts in Europe, such as the Reformation, which you read about in Chapter 1. These conflicts also led to fighting in the Americas.
Florida was one of the battlegrounds between the Spanish and the
French. In 1564, a group of French Protestants, called Huguenots
(HYOO•guh• NAHTS ), founded a colony called Fort Caroline. Before long,
Spanish troops under the command of Pedro Menéndez de Avilés arrived in that area. “This is the armada of the King of Spain,” he announced, “who has sent me [here] to burn and hang the Lutheran [Protestant] French.”
Menéndez built a fort, St. Augustine, a short distance away. Then he brutally massacred the French.
Vocabulary armada: a fleet of warships
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B. Possible
Response
England remained independent, and Spain was weakened.
B. Drawing
Conclusions
Why was the defeat of the
Spanish Armada important?
Religious differences and the quest for national power also led to conflict between Spain and England. In 1558,
Queen Elizabeth I, a Protestant, came to the English throne. Spain, which was Catholic, plotted to remove the
Protestant queen. But Elizabeth fought to defend
England and challenge Spain’s power at sea.
Although England’s navy was not as powerful as
Spain’s, the English fleet had many speedy ships with skillful sailors. Daring sailors, known as sea dogs, used these ships to attack the Spanish. The Spanish sailed bulky, slow-moving ships called galleons. These galleons brought gold and silver from the Americas to Spain.
Sir Francis Drake became the most famous of the sea dogs because of his bold adventures and attacks against the Spanish. In 1577, Drake began a three-year voyage that took him around the world. During this voyage, he raided Spanish ports and ships in South
America. He stole great amounts of treasure from them. When he arrived home in 1580, he was a national hero. Not only had Drake and his men hounded the Spanish, but they were also the first
Englishmen to sail around the world.
ST. AUGUSTINE
The thick stone walls of the fort at St. Augustine (shown below) still stand guard over the Florida coast today. Founded in 1565,
St. Augustine is the oldest permanent European settlement in the United States. For more than two centuries, St. Augustine was an important outpost of Spain’s empire in the Americas. Many
Spanish colonial buildings remain at the site. The fort is now a national monument.
The attacks of Drake and other sea dogs enraged Philip
II, the Spanish king. Determined to teach the English a lesson, Philip sent the Spanish Armada to conquer England and restore Catholicism to that nation. This fleet, made up of 130 ships, set out for England in the summer of 1588.
The English and Spanish navies met in the English Channel, which separates England from the European continent. In their smaller but faster craft, the English darted among the Spanish warships, firing deadly rounds with their cannons. Confused and crippled, the armada was retreating when it was hit by a severe storm. With half of its ships destroyed, the armada barely made it home.
Spain was still quite strong after the defeat of the armada. It quickly rebuilt its navy and maintained its large colonial possessions. But Spain would never again be as powerful as it was in 1588.
The English victory over Spain had two important effects. First, it ensured that England would remain independent and Protestant.
Although England was less powerful than Spain, England proved that it could defend itself. Second, Spain’s image suffered. The world saw that Spain could be beaten. Other nations joined England in challenging Spain.
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English adventurers like Drake continued to attack Spanish interests abroad. In addition, England challenged Spanish claims to lands in
North America, such as California and Newfoundland. Even so,
England took a cautious approach to overseas expansion. The English government refused to provide money to start colonies. Instead, private citizens had to provide the money for colonization. As a result, England did not establish a successful colony in America until after 1600.
France and the Netherlands were also looking for ways to gain wealth through exploration and colonization. At first, their goal in the
Americas was to find the Northwest Passage to Asia. When that search failed, they began to focus on North America itself.
The Frenchman Samuel de Champlain (sham•PLAYN) explored the
St. Lawrence River. In 1608, he founded a fur-trading post at Quebec.
This post became the first permanent French settlement in North
America. Champlain’s activities opened a rich fur trade with local Native
Americans. After a couple of decades, New France, as the colony was called, began to thrive.
At the same time, the Dutch were building a colony called New
Netherland. It was located along the Hudson River in present-day New
York. After Hudson’s voyage up the river in 1609, the Dutch built Fort
Nassau in 1614, near the site of the modern city of Albany.
In 1626, the Dutch bought Manhattan Island from Native
Americans. The Dutch then founded the town of New Amsterdam on that site, where New York City is currently located. New Netherland was soon thriving from the fur trade with Native Americans.
These early French and Dutch colonies, however, were small compared to the large empire Spain was building in the Americas. You will read about Spain’s empire and the impact of colonization in the next section.
C. Possible
Response They were not as powerful as Spain. At first, they looked for the Northwest
Passage and only set up colonies when they could not find it.
C. Making
Inferences Why do you think it took France and the Netherlands so long to set up colonies in the
Americas?
Section
2
Assessment
Explain the significance of:
• Henry Hudson
• John Cabot
• Giovanni da
Verrazzano
• Jacques Cartier
• Spanish Armada
• Samuel de
Champlain
• New France
Use a chart like the one below to show how European nations competed for power.
England
France
Netherlands
Spain
A C T I V I T Y O P T I O N S
a.
What were the English,
French, and Dutch searching for in their early voyages of exploration?
b.
How did England defeat the Spanish Armada?
c.
Where did the French and
Dutch set up their first
American colonies?
Making Inferences Why do you think England founded colonies later than
Spain did?
THINK ABOUT
• conditions in Spain and England
• the lands each country discovered
Research the life of one of the explorers discussed in this section. Compose a song or design a Web page about that person.
58 C
HAPTER
2