Discovery of America

Early History of America

BIRLA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE, Hyderabad

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

• First known Europeans to reach Americas – Vikings, 11th C; established a colony – Vineland (fertile region)

• Abandoned and never returned; Europeans intrigued but did not possess the resources; Trade through Mediterranean

• A series of interconnected developments provided impetus for exploration and subsequent colonization of Americas• Reformation and Counter reformation• Renaissance• Unification of small states into larger ones with centralized political

power• New technology in navigation and ship building• Establishment of overland trade with the East• Subsequent transformation of the medieval economy• Desire to supplant trade moguls, fear of Ottoman empire

Introduction:

Hyderabad Campus

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

• Henry the Navigator – Sagres Institute; Voyages to Africa• The legend of Prester John; His school developed the

quadrant, the cross-staff, and the compass, made advances in cartography, and designed and built highly maneuverable little ships known as caravels

• 1487 – Bartolomeu Dias – tip of Africa• 1488 – Vasco Da Gama – India; Jewels and Spices• 1500 – Pedro Alvares Cabral – Brazil• Trading posts in the South China Sea, the Bay of Bengal,

and the Arabian Sea• These water routes undercut the power of Italian states and

Lisbon became Europe’s new trade capital

Portugal

Hyderabad Campus

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

• Spain’s ambitions launched by Christopher Columbus; Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria – San Salvador, Cuba, Haiti and returned with several products unknown to Europeans

• Coconuts, tobacco, sweet corn, potatoes–and with tales of dark-skinned native peoples whom he called “Indians”

• No gold or silver but western route to India• Dispute between Portugal and Spain – Papal Bull, 1493 and

Treaty of Tordesillas, 1494• Columbus – 3 more voyages – Subsequent explorations

revealed that he discovered a new world• Named after Amerigo Vespucci - In 1507 Waldseemüller

published a book in which he named the new land “America

Spain

Hyderabad Campus

BITS Pilani, Pilani CampusHyderabad Campus

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

• 1513 – Florida, Juan Ponce de León• 1519-22 Ferdinand Magellan’s journey round the world• 1519 to 1521 – Hernando Cortes – Expedition against Aztec

empire of Mexico – Gold• 1531 – Francisco Pizarro – Peru – Conquest of Incas –

silver• 1535 – Buenos Aires• By 1650 Spain’s empire was complete and its ships were

carrying plunder back to Spain

Further explorations - Spain

Hyderabad Campus

BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus

• Utopian• Savage and dangerous• Civilize the world – Christianity• Second coming of Christ• Tradition derived from crusader’s struggle to free Holy land

Religious motivation

Hyderabad Campus