Who discovered America before Columbus. Discovery of America by Columbus

Everyone from school knows the story of how in 1492 the Italian navigator Christopher Columbus reached the shores of America, mistaking it for India. Many believe that this historical moment is the discovery of America, however, everything was much more complicated.

First Europeans in North America

Modern archaeological data suggest that the real discoverers of America were the Scandinavian Vikings. Written sources telling about these travels are:

• "The Saga of the Greenlanders";
• "The Saga of Eric the Red".

Both works described the events of the end of the 10th - beginning of the 11th century. They told about the sea expeditions of the Icelanders and Norwegians to the west. The first person who decided on a long journey among polar ice was an adventurer and navigator Eric the Red. Eric committed several murders for which he was expelled first from Norway, then from Iceland. After the second exile, Eric gathered a whole flotilla of 30 ships and set off west. There he discovered a huge island, which he named Greenland. The first Viking settlements appeared here, gradually turning into full-fledged colonies that existed for several centuries.

However, the Vikings did not stop there and continued to move west. According to medieval evidence, at the end of the 10th century, the Vikings knew about the existence of a certain land called Vinland. The inhabitants of Vinland, according to the descriptions of the Scandinavians, were short, swarthy, with wide cheekbones and dressed in animal skins.

Similar legends existed among the indigenous people. North America. Among the Indians who lived in Canada, there was a legend about the mythical kingdom of tall white-skinned and fair-haired people who had a lot of gold and furs.

For a long time, the fact that the Vikings were in North America remained unconfirmed. But in the 1960s, a real Scandinavian settlement was discovered on the island of Newfoundland. Presumably, it was founded by Eric the Red, and then headed by his followers, including the daughter and daughter-in-law of the navigator. However, this Scandinavian colony did not last long. Due to conflicts with the Indians, the Vikings had to leave Vinland.

Another indisputable fact in favor of the presence of the Vikings in North America was put forward by geneticists. Scientists studying the origins of the modern inhabitants of Iceland discovered the presence of Indian blood in their genes. And in 2010, anthropologists were able to study the remains of an Americanoid woman, which influenced the genetic structure of the Icelanders. Obviously, she was taken as a slave from North America to Iceland at the beginning of the 11th century.

Thus, the first people who discovered America for Europeans were undoubtedly the Vikings.

Activities of Amerigo Vespucci

Due to the fact that the Vinland colony existed for only a few years, specific information about it was gradually erased from people's memory. Once open America again ceased to exist for Europeans. When Christopher Columbus set off on his journey, only two continents were depicted on world maps - Eurasia and Africa. In 1498 to India through Pacific Ocean passed the Portuguese Vasco da Gamma. His journey ended successfully, and then it became known in Europe that the lands reached by Columbus were not India at all. All this had a negative impact on the authority of the Italian navigator. Columbus was declared a fraud and stripped of all his discoverer privileges.

The person who mapped the new lands and, later, gave them his name, was the Florentine Amerigo Vespucci. Initially, Vespucci was a financier. In 1493, he was approached by Christopher Columbus, who had recently returned from his first expedition and wanted to continue exploring open lands. Columbus decided that the land he discovered was some islands in Asia that required closer study. Vespucci agreed to finance Columbus' subsequent voyages. And in 1499, Vespucci decided to leave the banking chair for the sake of sea adventures and he went on an expedition to unknown lands.

Vespucci's path lay to the shores South America, while the traveler used the maps that Columbus gave him. Vespucci carefully studied the coast and came to the conclusion that these were not separate Asian islands, but the whole mainland. Vespucci decided to call these lands the New World.

Many European monarchs became aware of the expeditions of the former banker. At the beginning of the 16th century, Vespucci served as a cartographer, cosmographer and navigator to the Spanish and Portuguese monarchs.

In total, Vespucci participated in three trips. In their course, he:

• explored the coasts of Brazil and Venezuela;
• explored the mouth of the Amazon;
• managed to climb the Brazilian Highlands.

From his travels, Vespucci brought slaves, sandalwood and travel notes, which were later published and sold in large numbers. In addition to his geographical discoveries, Vespucci described in his diaries the manners local residents, flora and fauna of new lands.

Already in 1507, the first maps appeared, on which a new continent was applied. According to the tradition that developed during this period, the lands of the New World began to be called America - in honor of Amerigo Vespucci.

For the first time, the idea to cross the Atlantic Ocean in order to find a direct and fast route to India was allegedly visited by Columbus as early as 1474 as a result of correspondence with the Italian geographer Toscanelli. The navigator made the necessary calculations and decided that the easiest way would be to sail through Canary Islands. He believed that from them to Japan there were only about five thousand kilometers, and from the Land of the Rising Sun it would not be difficult to find a way to India.

But Columbus was able to fulfill his dream only after a few years, he repeatedly tried to interest the Spanish monarchs in this event, but his demands were recognized as excessive and expensive. And only in 1492, Queen Isabella gave a trip and promised to make Columbus an admiral and viceroy of all open lands, although she did not donate money. The navigator himself was poor, but his colleague, the shipowner Pinson gave his ships to Christopher.

Discovery of America

The first expedition, which began in August 1492, was attended by three ships - the famous "Nina", "Santa Maria" and "Pinta". In October, Columbus reached the land and ashore, it was an island that he named San Salvador. Confident that this was a poor part of China or some other undeveloped land, Columbus, however, was surprised by many things unknown to him - he first saw tobacco, cotton clothes, hammocks.

Local Indians told about the existence of the island of Cuba in the south, and Columbus went in search of it. During the expedition, Haiti and Tortuga were discovered. These lands were declared the property of the Spanish monarchs, and Fort La Navidad was created in Haiti. The navigator went back together with plants and animals, gold and a group of natives, whom the Europeans called the Indians, since no one had yet suspected the discovery of the New World. All found lands were considered part of Asia.

During the second expedition, Haiti, the archipelago of Jardines de la Reina, the island of Pinos, Cuba were examined. For the third time, Columbus discovered the island of Trinidad, found the mouth of the Orinoco River and Margarita Island. The fourth voyage made it possible to explore the shores of Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, and Nicaragua. The path to India was never found, but South America was discovered. Columbus finally realized that south of Cuba lies a whole mainland - a barrier to rich Asia. The Spanish navigator initiated the exploration of the New World.

The discovery and exploration of South America is closely connected with the name of the Spanish navigator Christopher Columbus. It was thanks to him that the world learned about new, previously unexplored lands. However, this discovery turned out to be accidental, since the main task of the Columbus expedition was to find a short way to India.

History of the discovery of South America

Until the 15th century, the territory of South America was inhabited by indigenous people - Indians, who had their own unique culture, traditions and customs. Their civilization developed in a closed territory, without any outside influence.

The long-term isolation of the American Indians was broken on October 12, 1492, when the expedition of Christopher Columbus accidentally stumbled upon one of Bahamas. After a month of wandering across the Atlantic Ocean, his ships Santa Maria, Nina and Pinta moored on land that the navigator mistakenly took for West Coast India. After a cursory exploration of the islands and coastline north coast South America, the navigator returned to his homeland.

Rice. 1. Christopher Columbus

After reporting his discovery to the king of Spain, Columbus received significant financial support, and with 17 ships he returned to the West Indies - the West Indies - as he continued to count. The purpose of this expedition was simple - to search for gold in new lands. This is how Haiti was conquered and mastered. Later, Christopher Columbus made two more expeditions to the shores of South America, but he never realized his mistake.

The real discovery of South America as a new continent took place in the 16th century thanks to the Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci. Having moored to the shores of the West Indies, an experienced sailor quickly realized that Columbus was mistaken.

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Vespucci dubbed the discovered and described lands the New World, and later the continent was dubbed in his honor - this is how the name "America" ​​appeared. However, Christopher Columbus also did not go unnoticed - one of the South American countries, Colombia, was named after him.

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The discovery of America by Columbus forever changed the way people thought about the globe. This event became one of the most important in the history of all mankind.

Having learned that new lands were discovered by the Spanish navigator, a stream of lovers of easy money poured there. Travelers dreamed of countless treasures that could be found in the New World. Such people - invaders from Portugal or Spain - were called conquistadors.

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In a blind pursuit of wealth, they ruthlessly destroyed local residents, robbed their settlements, devastated the occupied territories. However, along with this barbarism, new lands were explored: maps of the mainland and coast, descriptions of nature and relief were created.

A great contribution to the study of the mainland was made by one of the most famous explorers of his time - the German scientist Alexander Humboldt. For 20 years he most carefully studied South America: its flora and animal world, indigenous people, geological features. The book he wrote later became almost the only complete and reliable source of information about the New World.

What have we learned?

Studying one of the interesting topics in grade 7 geography, we learned who discovered South America, how the process of conquest and exploration took place, and how the discovery of this continent influenced the idea of ​​​​medieval people about the structure of our planet.

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What Christopher Columbus did, you will learn from this article.

What did Christopher Columbus discover? Discoveries of Christopher Columbus

The navigator is the most mysterious person of the era of the Great Geographical Discoveries and travel. His life is full of mysteries, dark spots, inexplicable coincidences and deeds. And all because mankind became interested in the navigator 150 years after his death - important documents have already been lost, and Columbus's life remained fanned with speculation and gossip. Plus, Columbus himself hid his origin (for unknown reasons), the motives of his actions and thoughts. The only thing that is known is 1451 - the year of his birth and the place of birth - the Republic of Genoa.

He made 4 expeditions, which were supplied by the Spanish king:

• The first expedition - 1492-1493.
• The second expedition - 1493-1496.
• The third expedition - 1498 - 1500.
• The fourth expedition - 1502 - 1504.

During four expeditions, the navigator discovered many new territories and two seas - Sargasso and Caribbean.

Lands discovered by Christopher Columbus

It is interesting that all the time the navigator thought that he had discovered India, and behind it he would find rich Japan and China. But it wasn't. He owns the discovery and exploration of the New World. The islands discovered by Christopher Columbus are the Bahamas and Antilles, Saman, Haiti and Dominica, the Lesser Antilles, Cuba and Trinidad, Jamaica and Puerto Rico, Guadeloupe and Margarita. He is the discoverer of the lands of Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, as well as the northern coast of South America and the Caribbean part of Central America.

Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus

But the most important thing is that during his expedition Christopher Columbus discovered America. It happened on October 12, 1492, when he landed on the island of San Salvador.

And it all started like this: on August 3, 1492, the expedition of the European navigator, consisting of the ships Santa Maria, Nina and Pinta, set out on a long journey. In September, the Sargasso Sea was discovered. They walked along German for three weeks. On October 7, 1492, the Columbus team changes its course to the southwest, believing that they missed Japan, which they so wanted to discover. After 5 days, the expedition stumbled upon an island named by Christopher Columbus in honor of the savior of Christ San Salvador. This date - October 12, 1492 is considered the official day of the discovery of America.

A day later, Columbus landed and hoisted the Castilian banner. Thus, he formally became the owner of the island. Having explored the nearby islands, the navigator sincerely believed that these were the vicinity of Japan, India and China. At first, the open lands were called the West Indies. Christopher Columbus returned to Spain on March 15, 1493 on the ship Nina. As a gift to King Ferdinand II of Aragon, he brought gold, natives, plants unprecedented to Europeans - potatoes, corn, tobacco, as well as bird feathers and fruits.

We hope that from this article you have learned what discoveries of Christopher Columbus became famous all over the world.

Brought by a storm far to the west of Africa, they found a fertile, well-watered wooded country. But these stories, as well as the remains of ancient American monuments, bearing, according to some, the imprint of the Phoenician, Greek and Egyptian culture, do not give sufficient grounds for assuming that the western continent was already discovered by ancient navigators. An indication that already in the 5th century. n. e. from China there could be communication with America through Kamchatka and the Aleutian Islands, was made as early as 1761 by the author of the history of the Mongols de Guin. He tried to prove that the Chinese knew America under the name Fuzang. The scientist Klaproth thinks that Japan was called Fuzang. The researcher Neumann argued that at that time Chinese navigators really went to Fuzang and that the description of this country is suitable only for Central America.

From Europe, the Normans were the first to open the way to America. Erich the Red-haired in 982 moved from Iceland to Greenland and founded a colony on its western coast, which later had 2 cities, 16 churches, 2 monasteries and 100 settlements and was under the department of a special bishop. On the way to these settlements, Bjarni Herjulfson (986) was carried aside by a storm and was the first to see the New World. Erich's son Leif discovered in 1000 Helluland(stone ground) Markland(land of forests) and rich in grapes Vinland, which are believed to be the present Labrador, the country near the mouth of the St. Lawrence River and along the Hudson Bay. This assumption is confirmed by the fact that runic stones of a Germanic character are found here. The discovery of such stones at nearly 73° north latitude indicates how far the Greenlandic Normans penetrated. The colonies in Vinland, however, did not last long, partly due to internal strife, partly due to hostility with the Skrelingers, as the settlers called the native Eskimos. Only from time to time the Normans from Greenland visited Vinland and Markland, but in 1347 these visits ceased, and at the end of the 15th century. the once flourishing Greenlandic colony has completely died out due to frequent attacks by the Eskimos and thanks to the appearance of the "black death". Two Venetians, the brothers Antonio and Niccolò Zeni, brought to Europe the news that between 1388 and 1404 an expedition had been undertaken with Faroe Islands(Friesland), who explored some places along north coast America. However, their stories, mixed with Greek fables, do not provide any reliable information. Biscay fishermen are also said to have reached the shores of Newfoundland long before Columbus.

But the glory of the real discovery of the American mainland belongs to the Genoese Christopher Columbus . With three poorly equipped ships, he set off west to find the shortest route to India and China, and, sailing from the harbor of Palos on August 3, 1492, on October 12 of the same year, landed on one of the Bahamas - Guanagani (now San Salvador ). In the same year, Columbus discovered Cuba and Hispaniola (Haiti), the following year, the islands of Dominica, Maria Galante, Guadeloupe, Antigua, Puerto Rico, and a few years later all the islands, later called the West Indies, became known. Only after Giovanni (John) Cabot (1497) discovered Newfoundland, Labrador and the coast of the North American mainland to Florida, Columbus reached (1498) the Orinoco River and the coast of Cumana, and thus also entered the mainland of America.

America's discoverer Christopher Columbus. Artist S. del Piombo, 1519

Brazil was discovered in 1500 by the Portuguese Cabral , whom the storm brought here on the way to the cape Good Hope. Yucatan was discovered in 1507 by Pignon and Dias de Salis. Ponce de Leon discovered Florida in 1512, and Nunez de Balboa crossed in 1513 the Isthmus of Panama and reached the opposite sea, which he, coming from the north, called the "South Sea". In 1515, Grijalva arrived in Mexico, and Fernand Cortes conquered it in 1519. In 1520, Fernando Magallans ( Magellan) passed the strait, named after him by Magellan, and proved the fallacy of the opinion that the newly discovered lands are nothing more than eastern shores Asia. From that time on, they began to distinguish between the West Indies (America) and the East Indies (India proper).

Ferdinand Magellan

In 1524, the Florentine Giovanni Verazzani explored, on behalf of France, the eastern coast of North America. In 1527, Pizarro discovered Peru in South America, and Cabot discovered Paraguay. In 1529, Becerre and Grijalva from Mexico sailed to California; in 1533 Welser landed in Venezuela, Cartier - in Canada, Diego de Almagro - in Chile, Pedro de Mendos - at the mouth of La Plata. The following year, Cartier sailed to St. Lawrence Bay. In 1541 Orellana explored the Amazon River. Fernando de Soto - Mississippi, Philipp von Hutten - inland countries of South America. Thus, 50 years after the discovery of a new part of the world, the entire American mainland, in general terms, was known, with the exception of the northern and northwestern parts.

Conqueror of Mexico Hernan Cortes

With the discovery of Cape Horn by Lehmer and Schuten, the southern tip of the American mainland was determined (in 1616), but attempts to explore its northern shores remained fruitless. . On the West Coast of America Francis Drake, having passed through the Strait of Magellan, already in 1578 reached 45 ° north latitude, but only in 1648 the Cossack Dezhnev managed to cross the strait separating Asia from America. Subsequently, this strait in 1725 - 1728 was explored by Bering and named after him. inside northern Canada penetrated to the Mississippi in 1682 by Lassalle, who then went down the river to its very mouth. South America, explored Condamine, having traveled the entire Amazon to the very mouth.

The voyages of Burneby, Gerne, and Hutcheson (1747-1775), as well as the Red River expedition of the Frenchman de Page (1767), greatly expanded knowledge of the interior of North America. At the same time (1747 - 1751) Kalm and Löfling explored the Spanish possessions, and John Byron - Patagonia and the Falkland Islands. Only at the end of the 1770s did Cook, during his third trip, travel around western shores North America from 45 ° north latitude beyond the Bering Strait to Cape Prince of Wales discovered by him.

From the end of the 18th century, a number of scientific and very successful expeditions to America began. Alexander Humboldt and Bonpland explored (1799 - 1803) its equatorial regions; McKinair (1804) - the British West Indies; Michaud - Western Alleghenies; in 1806 Lewis and Clark - countries along the upper Missouri and Columbia. Kruzenshtern traveled in 1803 northwest coast. Spiks, Martius, Naterer and others accompanied the Archduchess Leopoldina to Brazil in 1817 and together with Eschwege gave detailed information about this country. In addition, many attempts were made to penetrate between the islands of the North Polar Sea, as well as to explore the eastern shores of Greenland. Expeditions undertaken by the British, Americans, Germans, and others penetrated to 83 ° north latitude .

In the 19th century, travel and new discoveries in America became extremely numerous, but now for the most part they have taken on the private nature of the study of certain narrow areas. Between studies of a general nature or covering large regions, one more thing should be mentioned: the journey of the English Spies and Low in 1834-35 from Lima through the Andes along Ucayali and Marañon to the mouth of the Amazon; ethnological and meteorological studies of Gabels in Central America in 1864 - 1871; archaeological discoveries by Desire Charne (1880 - 1882) in Mexico, Yucatan and Guatemala. The most remote parts of South America between the headwaters of Paraguay and Parana served as the subject of study of many travelers and expeditions in 1882 - 1889, between which Fontana, Feilberg, Calvamonte and Beauvais had particular success, while Krevo died on the Pilcomaya River, and Tuara failed only to establish the right message, but even to penetrate from Paraguay to Bolivia through the desert of the Gran Chaco. This path was passed only in 1889 by Calvamonte and Arana. One of the largest studies (1868 - 1876) belongs to Reis and Stübel, who traveled in Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia.