U.S.
History
Ch. 3
Explorers Reach The Americas
Norsemen & Vinland
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Norsemen are northern Europeans from
present day Sweden, Norway, & Denmark.
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Great sailors.
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Settled both Iceland and Greenland by 985.
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Norse sailor and trader Leif Eriksson
explored northeastern North America in 1001.
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Settled the area in 1009 and called it
Vinland “land of wine”
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Settlement ended five years later after
conflicts with the Native Americans got too bad.
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No recorded history of the settlement,
only sagas, which are Norse legends.
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Archaeologists found traces of the Norse
settlement near present day Newfoundland (present day Canada)
Europe (Middle Ages)
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Middle Ages was a period of isolation in
Europe that came about after the collapse of the Roman Empire in 476.
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Middle Ages was a time when Europe’s kings
and queens – called monarchs – had very little power. Landowners called lords
ruled their own lands.
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Lords ruled lands called manors.
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Lords made laws for all who lived on the
manors
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Castle was at the heart of the manor.
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Manor’s operated on the Feudal System.
This meant that people living on the manor performed services for the lord and
the lord gave them protection.
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Landless peasants, called serfs, lived and
worked the manor. Serfs could not leave the manor. They were a part of the
manor and remained with the land even if a new lord took over.
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People lived this way for over 500 years.
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Feudal System ended around the year 1000.
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People began moving to the cities.
City Life
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Cities or towns had more freedoms, but
also had problems such as disease and overcrowding.
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Between 1347 & 1352 the Black Death (a
plague) spread throughout Europe and killed over ¼ of the population. Helped
kill the Feudal System
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Cities & Towns grew when the Feudal system
fell.
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New social class formed. The Middle
class.
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It was made up mostly of merchants who
bought and sold goods for a living. Also included lawyers, doctors, and
government officials.
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They focused on business & trade rather
than farming.
Crusades
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Religion was big part of European
lifestyle
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Crusades were a series of religious wars
fought between Christians and Muslims over the holy land of Palestine (contains
Jerusalem) which they both claimed.
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Wars were fought between 1096 & 1270
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European soldiers returned from the
Crusades with riches from the east such as knowledge, spices, silk, porcelain,
etc.
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Europeans wanted more of these goods &
wanted to trade with the east.
Rise of Nations in Europe
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The Middle Class wanted to trade with the
Far East
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They came together and helped monarchs
gain control and overthrow the feudal lords.
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By the 1200’s European Kings had enough
strength to begin forming nations such as France, England, Spain, Portugal, and
others.
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In Italy, the Italian merchants gained a
monopoly of trade with the Muslim markets.
Marco Polo
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Italian born into a merchant family.
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1271 Marco traveled to Cathay (China) with his uncle and father & spent
17 years there
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In 1295 Polo returned to Italy and told everyone of his journeys.
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He told of over 7,000 islands in the Sea of China called the Indies.
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He wrote a book about his journey. This helped spark the Renaissance
(began in the middle 1300’s and lasted until 1600).
Prince Henry the Navigator
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Prince Henry of Portugal wanted to make
Portugal the world’s largest sea power.
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He wanted to find a sea route around
Africa to Asia
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He studied Navigation, which is the
science of piloting ships.
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He called mapmakers, astronomers, &
shipbuilders from all over the Mediterranean to help plan the voyages.
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Caravel was designed under Henry’s
leadership. It was a sailing ship with triangular shaped sails, that easily
traveled upwind and along coastlines.
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He became known as “Prince Henry the
Navigator”.
Age of Exploration
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Time period that lasted during the 1400’s & 1500’s
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Led by Portugal
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Europeans sailed the oceans and explored new lands. World was mapped
more accurately than ever before.
African Empires
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Explorations down the coast of Africa
taught Europeans that Africa had many cultures & empires.
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These empires controlled trade between
Muslims of North Africa and the African West Coast. Traded things like gold,
salt, ivory, leather, iron, etc.
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The three empires existed in this order
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Ghana: 700 to 1050
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Mali: 1200 to 1500
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Songhai: 1500 to 1591
Portuguese Search for Riches
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Portuguese reached West African bulge and named its parts Gold Coast,
Ivory Coast, & Slave Coast.
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Each was named for the item they traded.
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Along slave coast Portuguese traded for human beings and returned them to
Portugal.
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These “enslaved persons” were forced to serve another person in ways
decided by the slaveholder.
Reaching India
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In 1488, Portuguese explorer Batholomeu Dias was near S. Africa and
rounded the tip when a two week storm pushed him around it.
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The King named the tip of Africa the “Cape of Good Hope”
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In 1497, Vasco da Gama rounded the tip of Africa and sailed to India by
1498. He loaded his ship with spices, silks, jewels, glassware, and other goods
and returned to Portugal.
Christopher Columbus
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Became interested in the island of Cipango (present day Japan) from Marco
Polo’s book
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Columbus figured that since the world was round, he could sail west and
reach Asia.
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Columbus was Italian, but went on expeditions with the Portuguese and
became an expert navigator
Portugal says “NO”
Spain says “YES”
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Columbus asked Portugal to sponsor a trip
to Asia by sailing west.
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King John and the Portuguese thought it
would be to far and said no.
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Columbus went to Spain & tried to convince
the Spanish rulers Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand to finance his trip, but
they also refused for the same reasons.
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7 years later Queen Isabella agreed to
finance his plan.
Voyage Across the Atlantic
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Aug. 3, 1492, Columbus left Spain with
three small ships.
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Largest was the flagship named the Santa
Maria
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Other two were Pinta and Nina
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He had a crew of 90 men and boys.
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Trip started well and they had good wind
for two months.
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The crew got impatient and demanded that
they turn around, or they would mutiny.
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Columbus promised to return home if land
was not spotted within 3 days.
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October 12, 1492, after 70 days and 2,400
miles of sailing, Columbus found land.
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Columbus landed on a sand beach and named
it “San Salvador” which meant “Holy Savior”. This island today is a part of the
Bahamas and located about 50 miles from Florida.
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He was sure that he was in the East Indies
& called the local peoples (who were the Taino) Indians.
Exploring the Caribbean
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Columbus searched for Cipango, but found present day Cuba.
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Looking for mainland China, Columbus discovered another island that he
named Hispaniola (Haiti and Dominican Republic today)
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Here he lost the Santa Maria when she ran aground
Columbus Returns
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March 4, 1493, Columbus returned home to Spain.
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Returned with gold, spices, and other goods, and was still convinced that
he had landed in the Indies.
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Spanish rulers were most interested in the gold.
First Colony
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Columbus returned 3 more times between 1493 & 1502
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Established a colony in 1496 on the island of Hispaniola. Colony was
named Santo Domingo. It was the first European colony in the Western
Hemisphere.
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Colony – settlement made in another land by people who are ruled by their
home countries.
Meaning of Columbus’ Voyage
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He died never knowing he had found 2 new
continents.
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Started a European craze to explore &
colonize new lands.
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America received its name from an Italian
explorer named Amerigo Vespucci. Why not Columbus?
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Vespucci explored and mapped the area, but
realized that it was a new land and wrote about it.
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A German mapmaker read his work in 1507.
The mapmaker drew a map of the two continents, and labeled them “America” b/c of
Vespucci’s name
Spain conquers the Caribbean
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After Columbus’ voyage, Spain conquered
Hispaniola, Cuba, Puerto Rico, & Jamaica
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Killed thousands of Native Americans and
enslaved the rest.
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Established plantations that grew
sugarcane and cotton and forced Native Americans to work them.
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Priests were sent to spread the Catholic
Religion.
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People and goods were shipped from the
Caribbean to Europe. This became known as the Columbian Exchange.
Balboa & the Pacific
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Europeans were still looking for a water
route to Asia
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Spanish explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa
discovered a route across the Americas, but it was a land route.
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In 1513 he traveled 45 miles across the
Isthmus of Panama on foot.
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Reached a huge expanse of water. Balboa
claimed the water for Spain. He had discovered the Pacific Ocean.
Magellan
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A Portuguese explorer that was sailing for
Spain. He was convinced he could find a way around the tip of S. America and
make it to Asia.
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Began journey in 1519 with 5 ships
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Magellan reached South America claiming
lots of land for Spain.
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Had lots of trouble at the southern tip
when he reached a narrow strait.
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Found a calm ocean on western side of S.
America. He named it Pacific, which means peaceful (compared to the stormy
Atlantic).
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In 1521 reached the Philippine Islands &
Magellan was killed here
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1522, the Victoria (the last of his ships)
returned to Spain
English Sail West
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England is the first European nation to follow Spain
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John Cabot was an Italian Sea Captain. He led England’s first voyage to
America.
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First trip in 1497. He returned & spoke of a huge landmass north of
where Columbus had landed (this was Canada).
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Made another voyage next year and explored the North American coast.
Cabot and some others stayed in the New World, but they disappeared without a
trace. It is still a mystery.
The Northwest Passage
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Everyone was still looking for a sea route
through the Americas
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Many thought there was a passage up North,
and they actually named the unknown place the Northwest Passage.
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French began looking for it in 1524 with
Italian sailor Giovanni da Verrazano.
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He explored the northern sections of
present day U.S.
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Verrazano did not find a route through
North America.
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French tried to find it again 10 years
later in 1534 with French navigator Jacques Cartier.
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He sailed up the St. Lawrence River and
claimed present day Canada for France, but did not find the passage