The Big Idea• Christopher Columbus’s voyages led to new exchanges

between Europe, Africa, and the Americas.

Main Ideas

• Christopher Columbus sailed across the Atlantic Ocean and reached a continent that was previously unknown to him.

• After Columbus’s voyages, other explorers sailed to the Americas.

Columbus Sails Across the Atlantic

• Christopher Columbus– sailor from Genoa, Italy

– stories of wealth in Asia.

• King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain – paid for an expedition

across the Atlantic.

Columbus Sails Across the Atlantic

• On August 3, 1492– Columbus sets sail

across the Atlantic with three ships.

• On October 12, 1492– reaches the Americas.

Columbus Sails Across the Atlantic• Columbus and his crew

landed in the Bahamas– he named San Salvador

“Holy Savior.”

• Called native people Indians– Why?

• Interested in…?– GOLD– NOT the culture of the

Taino, the native people.

Columbus Sails Across the Atlantic

• Made three more voyages to the Americas.

• Impact of Columbus’s voyages on the world was not realized until years after his death

Impact of Columbus’s Voyages

SPAIN v. PORTUGAL

• Line of Demarcation:– Divided Atlantic Ocean

• Spain could claim all land west of that line

• Treaty of Tordesillas:– Moved line 800 miles

further west

Other Explorers Sail to the Americas

• Amerigo Vespucci

– Led Spanish fleet to present-day South American Coast

• Name Sound Familiar?

– German mapmaker labeled continents across the ocean America to honor him

Other Explorers Sail to the Americas

• Vasco Nunez de Balboa

– Present-day Panama

1513 – Pacific Ocean

Other Explorers Sail to the Americas

• Ferdinand Magellan

– Expedition in 1519

• circumnavigated, or sailed around, the world.

Name given the transfer of plants, animals, and diseases between Europe and the Americas.

The Columbian Exchange