Christopher Columbus first arrives in the Americas in 1492

1501 – Portuguese explorer AmerigoVespucci claims that the lands discovered by Columbus was NOT Asia, but rather was a new world

1507 – A German mapmaker names the American continent after Vespucci

Over the next 200 years, other European explorers sail across the Atlantic in search of new lands to claim Portugal, England, France, Netherlands

(Dutch)

Rivalry between Spain and Portugal over territory in the new world was very intense

1493: Pope Alexander VI suggests dividing the territory Line of Demarcation: imaginary dividing line drawn

north to south through the Atlantic Ocean All territory to the west = Spain

All territory to the east = Portugal

Line of Demarcation

(1493)

Rivalry between Spain and Portugal over territory in the new world was very intense

1493: Pope Alexander VI suggests dividing the territory Line of Demarcation: imaginary dividing line drawn

north to south through the Atlantic Ocean All territory to the west = Spain

All territory to the east = Portugal

1494: Spain and Portugal sign the Treaty of Tordesillas– moves the Line of Demarcation further west

Line of Demarcation

(1493)

Line of Demarcation

(Treaty of Tordesillas 1494)

Conquistador: Spanish for conqueror

1519 – 1521: Hernando Cortez defeats the Aztecs Montezuma II – Aztec

emperor

1532: Francisco Pizarro defeats the Inca

More advanced weapons & DISEASE!

By the middle of the 16th

century, Spain has an American Empire

Northwest Passage: route over North America to Asia

France establish colony (New France) in modern day Canada Based on trade

English establish colony in Jamestown, Virginia

Dutch establish colony called New Netherland in modern day NE United States

Central & South America North America

Europeans seek cheap labor --- began using enslaved Africans

Atlantic Slave Trade: the buying and selling Africans for work in the Americas

Between 1500 & 1600, nearly 300,000 Africans were transported to the Americas

1700s: nearly 1.3 million

The global transfer of foods, plants, and animals during the colonization of the Americas