It was midnight on October 11, 1492. Another two hours - and an event will come true, which is destined to change the entire course of world history. On the ships, no one was fully aware of this, but literally everyone, from the admiral to the youngest cabin boy, was in suspense. The one who first saw the land was promised a reward of ten thousand maravedis, and now it was already clear to everyone that the long voyage was drawing to a close ...
1.India
Columbus was quite sure all his life that he sailed to the east coast of Asia, although in fact he was about 15 thousand kilometers from it. At that time it was already known that the Earth was round, but there were still very vague ideas about the size of the globe.
It was believed that our planet is much smaller, and that if you sail from Europe strictly to the west, you can find a short sea route to China and India - countries that have long attracted travelers with their silk and spices. It was this path that Christopher Columbus dreamed of finding.
In 1483, Christopher Columbus proposed a project to King João II, but after a long study, Columbus's "excessive" project was rejected. In 1485, Columbus moved to Castile, where, with the help of merchants and bankers, he sought to organize a government naval expedition under his command.
2. Convince the Queen
It took Columbus 7 years to convince the King and Queen of Spain and their learned advisers to help him organize an expedition across the ocean.
In 1485, Columbus entered Spain. The only way for him to fulfill his dream and set sail is to get the support of the Spanish king Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. At first, no one believed him. The scientists of the court simply did not understand how it was possible to sail to the west to reach the lands that are far to the east. It seemed like something completely impossible.
Here is what they said: “Even if it were possible to somehow descend to another hemisphere, how to get up from there back? Even with the most favorable wind, the ship will never climb the huge water mountain, which forms the bulge of the ball, even if we assume that the Earth is really spherical ”.
Only in 1491, Columbus was able to get an appointment with Ferdinand and Isabella again and convince them that he could indeed find a sea route to India.
Columbus at a reception at the Spanish King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella
3 a team of prisoners
The crew of ships had to be assembled from prisoners serving sentences - no one else agreed to voluntarily participate in a dangerous voyage. Still would! After all, it was impossible to predict in advance how long this journey would last and what dangers might be encountered on the way. Even if scientists did not immediately believe in Columbus's plan, what can we say about ordinary sailors.
Former criminals and dregs of society will receive an entire continent under their rule.
4 three caravels
Columbus was provided with three caravels: “Santa Maria” (about 40 meters long), “Niña” and “Pinta” (about 20 meters each). Even for that time, these ships were very small.
Taking them across the ocean, accommodating 90 crew members, seemed like an incredibly daring decision. For example, only Columbus himself, the captains of the ships and several other crew members had their own beds. The sailors had to take turns sleeping on the floor in a cramped hold, on damp barrels and boxes. And so on for many weeks on the way.
Three small wooden ships - "Santa Maria", "Pinta" and "Niña" set off from the port of Paloje (Atlantic coast of Spain) on August 3, 1492. About 100 crew members, the very minimum of food and equipment.
5 ship riot
They have never had to swim so far into the ocean and so far from their native shores. Columbus even deliberately decided not to tell everyone what distance had already been covered, and called much smaller numbers. With joy, the sailors were ready to believe in any sign of approaching land: for example, whales, albatrosses or algae floating on the surface of the water. Although in fact, all these "signs" have nothing to do with the proximity of land.
6.Magnetic arrow
One of the first in the world, Christopher Columbus was able to observe how the deflection of the magnetic needle occurs.
At that time, it was not yet known that the compass needle points not exactly to the north, but to the magnetic north pole. Once Columbus discovered that the magnetic needle does not point exactly in the direction of the North Star, but deviates more and more from this direction. He was, of course, very frightened. Is the compass on the ship inaccurate or broken? Just in case, Columbus also decided not to report this observation to almost anyone.
Compass of the late 15th century (similar to that of Columbus)
7 the first islands
Before the land appeared on the horizon on October 12, 1492, 70 days of sailing passed. However, the seen outlines of the coast were not at all a continent, but a small island, which was later named San Salvador.
In total, Columbus made four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean (and all four times thought he was approaching the shores of India). During this time, he visited many islands of the Caribbean Sea and only during the third voyage saw the shores of the continent. On his fourth voyage for several months, Columbus led ships along the coast, hoping to find a strait leading to long-awaited India. Of course, no strait was found. The completely exhausted sailors were forced to return to the already familiar islands with nothing.
All of them, - writes Columbus, - walk naked, in which their mother gave birth, and women too ... And the people I saw were still young, all of them were no more than 30 years old, and they were well-built, and the bodies and faces of they were very beautiful, and their hair was coarse, just like a horse's, and short ... Their facial features were correct, their expression was friendly ...
8 Indians
Columbus called the aborigines found on the islands Indians - because he sincerely considered the lands found as part of India. It is surprising that this "erroneous" name of the native inhabitants of America has survived to this day.
Moreover, we were lucky with the Russian language - we call the inhabitants of India Indians, distinguishing them from the Indians by at least one letter. And, for example, in English, both words are spelled exactly the same: "indians". Therefore, when it comes to American Indians, they are called immediately with a clarification: "American Indians" or simply "Native Americans" ("Native Americans").
Everything here seemed unusual and new: nature, plants, birds, animals and even people.
9 Columbian exchange
Columbus brought from his voyages many products not yet known to Europeans: for example, corn, tomatoes and potatoes. And thanks to Columbus, grapes appeared in America, as well as horses and cows.
This movement of food, plants and animals between the Old World (Europe) and the New World (America) lasted several hundred years and was called the "Columbus Exchange".
10 Astronomy
At the most dangerous moment, Columbus was miraculously saved ... knowledge of astronomy!
During the last voyage, the team found itself in a very difficult situation. The ships were wrecked, food was running low, the people were exhausted and sick. All that remained was to wait for help and hope for the hospitality of the Indians, who were not too peacefully disposed towards foreigners.
And then Columbus came up with a trick. He knew from astronomical tables that a lunar eclipse would occur on February 29, 1504. Columbus called the local leaders to him and announced that in punishment for their hostility, the god of the white people decided to take the moon from the inhabitants of the island.
Indeed, the prediction came true - exactly at the specified time the moon began to be covered with a black shadow. Then the Indians began to beg Columbus to return the moon to them, and in exchange they agreed to feed the strangers the best food and fulfill all their wishes.
The most important event in the history of great geographical discoveries, and indeed of world history in general, was columbus's discovery of America - an event as a result of which the inhabitants of Europe discovered two continents called the New World, or America.
The confusion began with the names of the continents. There is strong evidence for the version that the lands of the New World were named after the Italian philanthropist Richard America from Bristol, who financed the transatlantic expedition of John Cabot in 1497. The Florentine traveler Amerigo Vespucci, who visited the New World only in 1500 and after whom America is believed to be named, took a nickname in honor of the already named continent.
In May 1497, Cabot reached the shores of Labrador, becoming the first officially registered European to set foot on American soil, two years before Amerigo Vespucci. Cabot mapped the coast of North America from New England to Newfoundland. In the calendar of Bristol for that year we read: “... on the day of St. John the Baptist found the land of America by merchants from Bristol, who arrived on a ship called "Matthew".
Christopher Columbus - Discovery of America
Christopher Columbus is considered the official discoverer of the continents of the New World. He was originally from Italy, came to Spain from Portugal. Having found a familiar monk in a monastery near the city of Palos, Columbus told him that he had decided to sail to Asia by a new sea route - across the Atlantic Ocean. He was admitted to an audience with Queen Isabella, who, after his report, appointed an academic council to discuss the project. The council members were mainly clergy. Columbus vigorously defended his project. He referred to the evidence of ancient scientists about the sphericity of the Earth, to a copy of the map of the famous Italian astronomer Toscanelli, which depicted many islands in the Atlantic Ocean, and beyond them - the eastern shores of Asia. He convinced the learned monks that the legends spoke of the land beyond the ocean, from the shores of which sea currents sometimes bring tree trunks with traces of their processing by people.Columbus was an educated man: he knew how to draw maps, drive ships, knew four languages. He managed to convince the academic council of the validity of their expectations.
The rulers of Spain believed the traveler and decided to conclude a treaty with Columbus, according to which, if successful, he received the title of admiral and viceroy of the lands open to him, as well as a significant part of the profit from trade with the countries where he would be able to visit. Thus began the era of geographical exploration and discovery, which was initiated by Christopher Columbus with the discovery of America.
Discovery of America by Columbus: year 1492
On August 3, 1492, three ships "Santa Maria", "Pinta" and "Niña" with 90 participants set sail from the port of Paloe. The ships' crews consisted mainly of convicted criminals. It's been 33 days since the expedition left the Canary Islands, and the land was still out of sight. The team began to grumble. To calm her down, Columbus wrote down the distances traveled in the logbook, deliberately understating them.
On October 12, 1492, sailors saw a dark strip of land on the horizon. It was a small island with lush tropical vegetation. Tall people with dark skin lived here. The natives called their island Guanahani. Columbus named it San Salvador and declared it a possession of Spain. This name and stuck to one of the Bahamas. Columbus was fully confident that he had reached Asia. Having visited other islands, he asked the locals everywhere if it was Asia. But I did not hear anything in tune with this word. Columbus left some of the people on the island of Hispaniola, and he himself went to Spain. To prove that he opened the way to Asia, Columbus took with him several Indians, feathers of unseen birds, some plants, among them maize, potatoes and tobacco. On March 15, 1493, in Palos, he was greeted as a hero.
This was the first visit of the Europeans to the islands of Central America, as a result of which the foundation was laid for the further discovery of unknown lands, their conquest and colonization.
In the 20th century, scientists drew attention to information that suggested that contacts between the Old World and the New took place long before the famous discovery of America by Columbus.
In addition to hypotheses about the settlement of America by the "ten tribes of Israel", as well as the Atlanteans, there is a number of strong scientific evidence that America was visited long before Columbus. Some researchers even claim that the culture of the Indians was brought in from the outside, from the Old World. In academic science, more supporters have the theory that the civilizations of America developed almost completely independently until 1492.
The hypotheses about Egyptians, Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Chinese, Japanese, and Celts still remain unconfirmed, but there is quite reliable data on the Polynesian visit to America preserved in their legends; in addition, it is known that the Chukchi established an exchange of fur and whalebone with the ancient population of the northwestern American coast, but it is impossible to establish the exact date of the beginning of these contacts. Europeans also visited the American continent during the Viking Age. Contacts of the Scandinavians with the New World began around 1000 AD and continued approximately until the XIV century.
The name of the Scandinavian navigator and ruler of Greenland Leif I Ericsson the Blessed is associated with the discovery of America. This European made the discovery of North America five centuries before Columbus. His campaigns are known from Icelandic sagas preserved in such manuscripts as The Saga of Eric the Red and The Saga of the Greenlanders. Their reliability has been confirmed by archaeological discoveries of the 20th century.
Leif Eriksson was born in Iceland to Erik the Red, exiled from Norway along with his entire family. Eric's family in 982 was forced to leave Iceland, fearing blood feud, and settled in new colonies in Greenland. Leif Eriksson had two brothers, Thorvald and Thorstein, and one sister, Freydis. Leif was married to a woman named Thorgunna. They had one son, Torkell Leifsson.
Before his trip to America, Leif made a trade expedition to Norway. Here he was baptized by King Olaf Tryggvason of Norway, an ally of Prince Vladimir of Kiev. Leif brought a Christian bishop to Greenland and baptized its inhabitants. His mother and many Greenlanders converted to Christianity, but his father, Eric the Red, remained a pagan. On the way back, Leif saved the wrecked Icelander Thorir, for which he received the nickname Leif the Happy. On his return, he met a Norwegian named Bjarni Herjulfsson in Greenland, who said that he saw the outlines of land in the west, far out to sea. Leif became interested in this story and decided to explore new lands.
Around the year 1000, Leif Eriksson sailed west with a crew of 35 on a ship bought from Bjarni. They discovered three regions of the American coast: Helluland (probably the Labrador Peninsula), Markland (possibly Baffin's Land) and Vinland, which got its name from the large number of vines. Presumably this was the coast of Newfoundland. Several settlements were founded there, where the Vikings stayed for the winter.
Upon returning to Greenland, Leif gave the ship to his brother Thorvald, who instead went to explore Vinland further. Thorvald's expedition was unsuccessful: the Scandinavians encountered the Scralling - North American Indians, and in this confrontation Thorvald died. If you believe the Icelandic legends, according to which Eric and Leif made their campaigns not at random, but based on the stories of such eyewitnesses as Bjarni, who saw unknown lands on the horizon, then in a sense America was discovered even before 1000. However, it was Leif who first made a full-fledged expedition along the shores of Vinland, gave him a name, landed and even tried to colonize it. The first maps of Vinland were compiled from the stories of Leif and his people, which formed the basis of the Scandinavian "Saga of Eric the Red" and "Saga of the Greenlanders".
This information, preserved by the Icelandic sagas, was confirmed in 1960, when archaeological evidence of an early Viking settlement was discovered in L'anse aux Meadows on the island of Newfoundland. Columbus's discovery of America at that time was indeed a discovery, because they were nothing about the New World did not know. But Columbus was not the discoverer in the full sense of the word. At present, the exploration of the territory of North America by the Vikings long before Columbus's travels is considered a definitively proven fact. Scientists have reached an agreement that the Vikings among Europeans were indeed the first to discover North America, but the exact place their settlement is still unknown.At the beginning, the Vikings did not distinguish between their settlement in Greenland and Vinland, on the one hand, and Iceland, on the other. The feeling of different worlds appeared only after meeting with local tribes that were very different from the Irish monks in Iceland. "The Saga of Eric the Red" and "The Saga of Grenlan dzah ”was written about 250 years after the colonization of Greenland and tells that there were several attempts to establish a settlement in Vinland, but none of them lasted more than two years. There are several possible reasons why the Vikings abandoned the settlements, among which were disagreements among the male colonists regarding the few women accompanying the journey, and armed clashes with local residents, whom the Vikings called Scrallings. Both of these factors are indicated in written sources.
Until the 19th century, historians considered the idea of \u200b\u200bViking settlements in North America exclusively in the context of the national folklore of the Scandinavian peoples. The first scientific theory appeared in 1837 thanks to the Danish historian and antiquarian Karl Christian Rafn. In his book American Antiquities, Rafn conducted a comprehensive examination of the sagas and investigated possible sites on the American coast, with the result that he concluded that the country of Vinland, discovered by the Vikings, did exist. History continues to lift the veil of its secrets. Scientists have yet to verify the likelihood and timing of an even earlier discovery of America and contact with this continent by immigrants from the Old World.
The question of who discovered America usually does not raise many questions. But bad luck - when? Earlier, I, for example, simply assumed that somewhere in the middle of the last millennium. It's a shame ... Such things, of course, you need to know. In this story I will discuss this. :)
When America was discovered
The discovery of America by Europeans can be considered literally the most significant event in history. After all, after that, a huge number of Europeans rushed to the new continent, as a result of which success in trade was ensured for many years. After all, there were many useful natural resources on this continent.
And now some numbers - 1492. This year is the official year of the discovery of America. And this great event happened quite by accident, because Christopher Columbus was going to get to India in this way. He studied geography almost all his life and was going to find a western route to India, he believed that it could be much shorter than the eastern one.
Few know, but the travels and discoveries of Columbus did not end there. Since 1493, he led several more expeditions, during which many nearby islands were discovered, for example.
However, at that time it was not yet clear where the sailors ended up. There were versions that this is the eastern coast of India. Some have argued that it is. And only Amerigo Vespucci, having explored the coast of Brazil, came to an unambiguous conclusion - this is a new continent. It was in his honor that this continent was named, although it was not he who discovered it.
I have prepared a small selection of interesting facts about the discovery of America:
- Few know that Columbus barely managed to get permission to travel across the ocean. He decided to organize an expedition back in 1485.
- On the ships of the Columbus expedition were not sailors, but every rabble. Ordinary sailors and residents of Spain did not want to go on a voyage across the ocean, no one knew how it would turn out. Columbus had to recruit a team of criminals in prison.
- Columbus had three small ships on which to travel across the ocean was a real suicide. But Columbus apparently drank champagne, as they say. :)
The discovery of America is one of the greatest events in human history. The history of the discovery of a huge continent is fraught with many interesting and surprising facts. To this day, there is debate about who actually discovered America. Everyone knows that the name of the discoverer is Christopher Columbus, why is the land named in honor of Amerigo Vespucci, and who else visited the continent before Columbus ... More about this and many other things - later in the article.
At the end of the fifteenth century, the Spanish navigator Christopher Columbus with his expedition reached the shores of North America, mistakenly believing that he had arrived in India. It was from this moment that the era of the discovery of America began and the beginning of its development and research. However, there are researchers who consider this date inaccurate, insisting that the new continent was discovered much earlier.
The first information about the existence of a new continent, later called America, appeared in the prehistoric period. These events happened by chance. The motives for discoveries were, as a rule, the search for habitable lands (the desire to survive), the search for gold and large trading cities.
The first were the Paleo-Indians
The first to settle in America about 15 thousand years ago were people from Asia. In the Pleistocene epoch, as a result of the melting of ice sheets (Laurentian and Cordillera), a narrow corridor was formed between Russia and Alaska. The so-called land bridge between the western coast of Alaska and Siberia, or the Bering Isthmus, connected the continents of Asia and North America as a result of falling ocean levels.
The Paleo-Indians, the ancient settlers of America, came from Asia to America across the Bering Isthmus following the movement of prey - large animals. Migrations took place before the closure of the corridor, that is, the closure of the Laurentian and Cordillera glaciers. In the future, the settlement of America already took place by sea or on ice. When the ice age ended and the ice plates melted, the settlers who arrived in America were isolated from other continents.
It turns out that for the first time the American continents were discovered by nomadic Asian tribes, who originally settled in North America, then occupied Central and South America. It was they who later became the Native American peoples.
The legend of the Irish monks
According to popular Irish legend, in the 6th century, a group of Irish monks led by Saint Brendan traveled west by boat in search of new lands. Seven years later, the monks returned home and said that they had discovered the lush land that is what is now Newfoundland.
However, there is no precise evidence to support the fact that Irish monks not only saw, but also visited the coast of North America. In 1976, British traveler Tim Severin decided to prove that such a trip was possible. He made an exact replica of the monastic ship and sailed from Ireland to North America, following a route once described by traveling monks. As a result, the researcher reached Canada.
Vikings and "Vinland"
In 984, the Scandinavian navigator Eric Krasus discovered Greenland as a result of exploring ancient sea routes. In 999, his son, Leif Eriksson, having gathered a crew of 35 people, set off on one ship from Greenland to Norway. In about 1000, Leif Erikson reached North America on a voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. There, on the territory of the modern Canadian island of Newfoundland, he founded a Norwegian settlement.
Because of the abundance of vineyards on this land, the Vikings named the settlement "Vinland", which means "Grape land" in English. But Erickson and his team did not stay there for a long time. Due to hostile relations with the native North Americans, they only stayed a few years before returning to Greenland.
In the sagas, the Vikings who settled in America are referred to as Native Americans - "Skreling". Most of the sagas come from Scandinavian folklore, but in 1960, Helge Ingstad, a Norwegian archaeologist, found at the northern tip of Newfoundland, Canada, the first European Viking settlement of the late 11th century, which is identical to the settlements in the Scandinavian countries. This historical and archaeological site, called "L" Anse aux Meadows ", scientists recognize as evidence of transoceanic contacts that took place prior to the discovery made by Columbus.
Sailors from China
In disputes "who discovered America" \u200b\u200beven facts about Chinese visits to America emerge. Gavin Menzies, a British naval officer, advanced the theory of Chinese colonization of South America. According to him, a Chinese explorer named Zheng He, who commanded an armada of wooden sailing ships in the early 15th century, discovered the continent in 1421. According to the officer, Zheng He used advanced navigation techniques to explore areas such as Southeast Asia, India and the east coast of Africa.
In his book 1421 - The Year China Discovered the World, Gavin Menzies wrote that Zheng He was heading for the east coast of the United States and, presumably, established settlements in South America. Menzies's theory is based on evidence from ancient shipwrecks, data from Chinese and European maps and reports that were compiled by navigators of the time. However, the theory is in doubt.
Columbus's accidental discovery
1942 is considered the year of the discovery of America, although some historians consider these figures to be fairly rough. Columbus discovered America by accident. While discovering new lands and islands over the course of four expeditions, Columbus did not even imagine that this was a completely different continent, which would later be called the "New World". Each time, arriving on new and new lands, the traveler believed that these are the lands of "Western India".
All Europe thought so for quite a long time, until another navigator Vasco da Gama declared Columbus a deceiver, since it was Gamma who found the direct route to India, visited there and brought local gifts and spices. There are suggestions that Columbus died convinced that he had opened a new path to India, and not at all a new, previously unknown side of the world.
The mysterious name of the continent
Why was the new continent named not in honor of Columbus who discovered it, but in honor of the navigator Amerigo Vespucci? The visit of the traveler Vespucci to this part of the "New World" is the first widely known and recorded fact. In 1503, he sent a letter to his Medici friend with the following text “These countries should be called the New World ... Most of the ancient authors say that there is no continent south of the equator, but only the sea, and if some of them recognized the existence of a continent there, then they did not consider it inhabited. But my last trip proved that their opinion was erroneous and completely contrary to the facts, since in the southern regions I found a continent more densely populated by people and animals than our Europe, Asia or Africa, and, in addition, the climate is more moderate and pleasant than in any of the countries known to us ... "
It was he who was the first to suggest that the discovered lands were not India or China, but a new unknown continent. And the quote from his letter that has flown around the world became a good reason for the decision to name the new continent in honor of the then unknown sales representative, and not in honor of the famous discoverer. The name America first appeared in 1507 in Martin Waldseemüller's Introduction to Cosmography. Under the same name, a new continent is also represented on the first globe of Johann Schener (1511).
An interesting fact is that not a single mention of Vespucci's initiative was found to assign his name to open overseas lands.
For the curious
There is ample reason to believe that the continent was named after the English philanthropist from Bristol, Richard America, who financed John Cabot's second transatlantic expedition in 1497. Vespucci also took the nickname in honor of the already named continent. Cabot became the first officially registered European to set foot on the North American continent, reaching the shores of Labrador in May 1497. It was he who mapped the coast of North America - from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland. Bristol entered the following entries into its calendar that year: “… on the day of St. John the Baptist found the land of America by merchants from Bristol, who arrived by ship from Bristol with the name "Matthew."
Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus. 1492. (Briefly)
First landing of Christopher Columbus on the shores of the New World: in San Salvador, Wisconsin, October 12, 1492.
Spanish painter Tolin Puebla Theophilus Dioscorr (1831-901)
Date: 1492
"Old World" called the region of the Earth known to Europeans before the discovery of America. It included Europe, Asia and Africa. "New World"- this is America.
Discovery of America- this is the name of the event as a result of which the inhabitants of the Old World learned about the existence of America - the New World.
From the history:
Christopher Columbus (1451-1506).Genoese. Navigator, Spanish admiral.
Columbus undertook 4 expeditions. America was discovered as a result of the first expedition. The king of Spain of this period is Ferdinand, the queen is Isabella (she supported H. Columbus).
1st expedition- 1492-1493gg.
Ship: "Santa Maria", "Pinta", "Niña".
Route:Palos da la Flonter, a city in Spain - Canary Islands - crossing the Atlantic Ocean - San Salvador island in the Bogamo archipelago (12 october 1492 - the official date of the discovery of America) - Cuba - the island of Haiti - Castile (Italy)
H. Columbus himself believed that opened the way to Asia, calling the land West - India, and the inhabitants - Indians.
In Spain, H. Columbus was greeted with great honors. The king appointed him "admiral of the sea - ocean", viceroy of those lands that he discovered and will open in the future.
Ironically, the discovery of the land did not give Columbus wealth. He died in poverty, forgotten by everyone.
During the expedition 1501-1502 biennium... florentine sailor Amerigo Vespucci came to the conclusion that Columbus had discovered a new continent. In 1507, a new land appeared on the map, conventionally called "The Land of Amerigo", later America.
Events in the history of Russia of this period:
Period of reign IvanaIII (1462-1505)
1492-1494 - successful war with Lithuania, annexation of Vyazma and other cities.
Prepared by: Melnikova Vera Alexandrovna
