The Explorers

Christopher Columbus

• Born in Genoa, Italy in 1451; first job was a helper with his father’s cheese stand

• Worked as a business agent after 1473 & sailed much of the Mediterranean

• Married Filipa Perestrelo in 1479, but she either died or CC left her in 1485

• Very interested in the Bible & Christianity; came to see his voyages in apocalyptic terms

• Columbus was mostly wrong in his ideas: believed Japan was 2300 miles from Europe (actually 12,200)

• Knowledge of the trade winds was CC’s big advantage

• In 1485, CC proposes western voyage to King John II of Portugal, but is rejected; eastern route to Asia soon discovered

• Italians reject CC in 1488, as does Henry VII of England; Ferdinand & Isabella of Spain agree to finance in 1492

• CC will be made Viceroy of all lands he discovers; very generous terms bc monarchs doubt he’ll return

• Landed in Bahamas on first voyage; became governor of Hispaniola in 1490s

• Arrested for atrocities in 1499, dies in 1506

Prince Henry the Navigator

• 3rd child of the King of Portugal, born in 1394• Fascinated by Africa after capturing a Muslim port in

Morocco• Hopes to find source of the African gold trade, starts

exploring west coast in 1420s• Helps develop the caravel, a lighter ship that could sail

further & faster• Henry was NOT a sailor, but financed many

expeditions• Died in 1460

Vasco da Gama

• Born in Portugal in 1460 or 1469

• Sailed to India, arriving on May 20, 1498; first European to reach India by sea

• Helped shape the extensive Portuguese Empire, which would cover large parts of 4 different continents

Ferdinand Magellan

• Born in northern Portugal in 1480, but served the King of Spain Charles I

• Searching for a westward route to the Indies, discovered the Pacific Ocean & completed first circumnavigation of the world

• Land in the Philippines in 1521, killed at the Battle of Mactan by a poisoned arrow shot by followers of Lapu-Lapu

Francisco Pizarro

• Born in Spain in 1471 or 1476• Mostly illiterate, he was a distant cousin of Hernan

Cortes• Sailed to the New World in 1519 and made several

expeditions into South America• Obsessed with finding riches, esp in Peru• Battle of Cajamarca: Pizarro & his force of 168 men

defeats last Incan emperor Atahualpa who commands a force of 80,000

• Assassinated by political enemies in 1541