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 from the Faroe Islands (Friesland), which had explored some places along the northern coast of 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 next 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 , which the storm brought here on the way to the Cape of 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 but the eastern shores of 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. Lassalle penetrated inside northern Canada to the Mississippi in 1682, 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, Cook, during his third trip, traveled around the western coast of North America from 45 ° north latitude beyond the Bering Strait to the Cape Prince of Wales he discovered.
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.
«- Okay, take care of it! There are many memories associated with this suitcase.
- What memories? No trip...
- About all the trips we never took…»
Jack and Jill: Suitcase Love
Nowadays, everyone is hearing that the discovery of America belongs to a gentleman named Christopher Columbus. This is where the school program to cover such a grandiose event usually ends, and those who are interested have to independently search for the necessary information in the library and the Internet. At this moment, the most interesting thing comes: a person learns that with Columbus' visit to America, not everything is so simple. There is evidence that he was not at all the first there, that many years before his first steps along the shores of the New World, Scandinavian Vikings, Biscay fishermen and other travelers were already frolicking there.
Today we will try to go through all the stages of the discovery of America, which are known to us from reliable sources, and to establish who was the first to officially set foot on the coast of a new continent and declared it the New World.
Columbus expedition, 1492
The end of the 15th century, there are still many unexplored places on Earth where no human has ever set foot. Obsessed with great plans to conquer everything and everything, the Spaniards decide to create a Great Expedition to the Canary Islands, consisting of three high-speed caravels, one of which was the Santa Maria, a ship whose admiral was Christopher Columbus. Ahead of him were months of travel and one of the main achievements in the history of mankind. On August 3, 1492, the ship weighed anchor and set sail.
Admiral of all seas and oceans
In the spring of 1492, a few months before the expedition, Christopher Columbus, or, as the Spaniards called him, Don Cristoval Colon, was in an audience with the royal couple who ruled Spain. Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon invited the explorer to conclude an agreement according to which Christopher Columbus is recognized as the admiral of all seas and oceans, as well as a high-ranking governor of all lands and islands that he can discover during the journey. It would be unforgivable to refuse such an offer.
An additional incentive in the proposal of the kings was the fact that one-tenth of all the wealth, treasures and goods that Columbus manages to exchange or find on new lands, the traveler can take for himself, while the remaining nine-tenths will go to the royal treasury. It was a truly generous offer that could have made Columbus one of the richest men in Europe.
Along with the title and wealth, Don Cristoval Colon was offered guarantees that his title would be hereditary forever. He will also be able to retain his privileges for life in the unexplored lands of India discovered by him in advance. All participants in the journey were convinced that, setting sail to the West, Columbus would reach the eastern shores of India, but a surprise awaited them.
« The admiral decided to count the fractions of the way less than actually passed, in the event that the voyage turned out to be long, so that people would not be overcome by fear and confusion»
The true goals of Christopher Columbus
Despite all the royal promises, the true motives and ideas of Columbus about the Earth of that time remain the subject of controversy to this day. Historians recognize the significant contribution of the great traveler to the history of mankind and his influence on the era of the Great Geographical Discoveries. However, this does not change the fact that Columbus was driven more by mercantile interests than by an exploratory spirit.
A generous offer from the royal couple, as well as the opportunity to discover new trade routes and the untold riches of the East, were much more interesting than disappearing in the middle of a storm or dying from an unknown disease on unfamiliar shores. It was the thirst for money that became the main incentive for the accomplishment of the most striking geographical discoveries by travelers of those times.
However, if Columbus was prudent, then he also had no mind. Many modern historians assume that the discoverer knew in advance where he would sail. That there is no India beyond the Atlantic Ocean, there is a New Land, boundless and uninhabited. There were even rumors that Columbus had a certain map, on which the researchers noted not only the already discovered islands in the Atlantic Ocean, but also the east coast of the mainland, which would later be called South America.
AT In 1474, the Florentine scientist Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli, who devoted his life to astronomy, geography and mathematics, sent a letter to the Portuguese king in which he drew conclusions about the geography of our planet, given that it is a ball. Toscanelli argued that in this way India could be reached much faster by sailing across the Atlantic Ocean. There is evidence that Columbus somehow obtained this letter, or a copy of it, with an attached map showing new lands. However, no one has been able to prove it..
Conspiracy theories surrounding the discovery of America
Like any other high-profile scientific discovery, the Columbus voyage quickly acquired its conspiracy theories from detractors and simply because of a lack of information. We do not have the opportunity to check the events that took place in the 15th century, so conjectures and theories will continue to exist. These include the rumors that Columbus himself was looking for an opportunity to travel to the West, because he knew that there was a New Land, so he tried to persuade the kings to equip an expedition for him.
According to some theories, Columbus simply went along the "beaten path" from other navigators who discovered this route long before him. Indeed, to make such a desperate journey across the unfriendly Atlantic Ocean for the ships of those times seemed, if possible, then deadly.
Despite the fact that the majority of historians are of the opinion that it was Columbus who discovered America, there are many people, including respected ones in the scientific community, who suggest that the mainland was discovered long before Columbus's historical journey in 1492. One of the main proponents of this theory was an Englishman named Gavin Menzies, who once wrote a book called 1421, or the Year China Discovered the World.
The public loves conspiracy theories, which is why Menzies's book has caused unrest among the masses. At the same time, the scientific community is in no hurry to take seriously everything said in this book.
« Thursday, 11 October. They sailed west-southwest. For all the time of the voyage, there had never been such excitement at sea. We saw "pardelas" and green reeds near the ship itself. People from the caravel "Pinta" noticed a reed and a branch and fished out a hewn, possibly iron, stick and a piece of reed, and other herbs that would be born on the earth, and one plank. People on the caravel "Ninya" saw other signs of the earth and a twig dotted with wild rose berries. Everyone was inspired and delighted to see these signs.»
Diary of the First Voyage, Christopher Columbus
The Great Journey of the Chinese
Despite the fact that the names of almost all great travelers are of European origin, the desire to explore the world was inherent in everyone on Earth.
In the spring of 1421, when the famous Christopher Columbus had not even been born yet, in one of the Chinese cities called Tangu, the ships of the fleet of the Great Emperor were preparing to sail. The venerable Zheng He became the commander of the flotilla. More than a hundred huge unique ships went to the open sea. None of the powers in the world had similar ships: they were real autonomous floating giants that could calmly survive any bad weather on the high seas.
At that time, the great festival of the Forbidden City was held in China, after which the emperor instructed his admiral Zheng He to act as a kind of taxi driver and disperse high-ranking guests to their homes, who arrived from all over the world. When the admiral completed the task, the emperor ordered him not to rush to return home, but instead look "to the ends of the earth" and collect tribute from all the barbarians that they meet on the way, and also wrap them in Confucianism in order to make them civilized people.
This journey of the Golden Fleet was the largest of all undertaken by China. For three years, sailors explored our planet, and in his book, Gavin Menzies suggested that it was the Chinese travelers who were able to draw up an approximate map of the globe, plotting all six continents on it, and also bypassed all the oceans.
Obsessed with his idea to dispel the influence of Columbus, Menzies for many years collected the facts of the Great China Journey bit by bit, which have remained to us since those times. His task was made more difficult by the fact that all of Zheng He's diaries and ship logs had been destroyed or lost.
Some of Menzies' efforts were successful. For example, he established the fact that the wreckage of giant Chinese ships, the so-called "junks", were found off the coast of almost all continents. Despite the fact that historians prefer to believe that the wreckage of the junks could have been brought to Australia and America by the current, the research of Gavin Menzies cannot be ignored in the framework of modern history. Also, archaeologists have found Chinese maps, on which all the continents, including America, were plotted. Menzies is sure that these maps are much older than Columbus himself.
Amerigo Vespucci and the famous confusion
At school, we were often told that even though Christopher Columbus discovered America, it got its name in honor of another explorer. The fact is that Columbus never figured out where he sailed. Until recently, the researcher was sure that these were the eastern shores of India and the Eurasian continent.
The traveler's research was inspired by the Italian Amerigo Vespucci, who a few years later shared his thoughts on the discovery of Columbus with his mentor Francesco del Medici. In them, he suggested that the new lands that Columbus spoke about in Spain are not the eastern part of India, and this is a completely new mainland. These letters, as well as Vespucci's thoughts on other travels, were published in a large collection in 1507, which for some reason was called "The New World and New Countries Discovered by Amerigo Vespucci of Florence."
The significance of the discovery of America by Columbus was lost in the writings, and in the same year, the German cartographer Waldseemüller, based on the letters of Vespucci, proposed naming the new part of the world America in honor of the name Amerigo. All this he reflected in his book "Introduction to Cosmography". It is noteworthy that although Vespucci wrote about Columbus, Waldseemüller did not attach any importance to this.
The public liked the style of the young German scientist, and a few years later, in 1520, during a scientific meeting of the greatest minds of those times, the name America was put on the general geographical map of the planet.
Since then, the controversy has not subsided. If Columbus did not understand that he discovered the New World, and Vespucci did it for him, then can the discovery of the mainland be attributed to the latter?
However, there is evidence that people conditionally discovered new continents long before the travel of the Chinese, Columbus and Vespucci's assumptions.
Ambitious Vikings
At the end of the 10th century, when Europe had not yet thought of dominating the whole world, a large boat with Nords on board set sail from the coast of Iceland. They were commanded by Björni Hjorlfson, a Norwegian stern Viking, who was motivated by a thirst for adventure and profit.
Björni Hjorlfson went to sea to reach Greenland, where a Viking colony had already settled, who traded with Scandinavia. But Hjorlfson lost his way due to a storm, and a few days later arrived at the shores of an unknown land, which were dotted with dense impenetrable forests. Björni decided not to take risks and not land on an unfamiliar shore, but simply sailed along it, remembering everything he saw along the way. A few days later, the Viking still managed to swim to Greenland, where he told about what he had seen.
Hjorlfson's stories inspired another Greenlander, Leif Erickson, the son of the same Erik the Red, who was famous among the Viking peoples for his heroic character. The spirit of adventure led Leif along with his comrades along the route told by Björni. First, their boat sailed to the rocky shore, which is now called Baffin Island. The area here seemed lifeless, everything around was covered with glaciers. Deciding that there was no life and nothing good on this land, the Vikings went on, simultaneously giving the stone land a name - Helluland, the Country of Boulders.
Then the travelers reached the Canadian coast, covered with vegetation and forests. The Vikings also gave this land a name - Markland, Forest Land. The young and eager for profit did not stop there, so they went further south. A few days later they dropped anchor in one of the coastal bays. Having gone ashore, friends found real wild grapes among other vegetation, so they called this area Vinland. Modern historians have found that this bay is now located in Massachusetts.
Returning after a long journey along unfamiliar lands, the Nords did not want to miss the opportunity to settle them, so two years later they equipped a new expedition. Leif's brother, the famous Thorvald, went to the shores of America and anchored in the place of his brother's last anchorage - in Vinland. Here they unexpectedly met local residents - Indians who appeared in the bay on their pirogues. Everyone knows that the Vikings were not timid and were not averse to fighting, so the Norwegians simply killed a few Indians, and captured the rest. On the same night, the Indians came to avenge the murdered brothers, and brought down a hail of arrows on the Viking camp. One of them hit Torvald, and he died a few days later.
In 1003, the Vikings again came to the shores of America, now with serious intentions to settle in the uninhabited lands. Almost two hundred people sailed here on three boats, established relations with the local population and even built a village here. However, the Indians soon sharply changed their attitude towards uninvited guests, and flatly refused to share their lands with them. A bloody war broke out again between people, and traces of the Scandinavians soon completely disappeared from the shores of America.
The question of who discovered America usually does not raise many questions. But here's the problem - when? Previously, for example, I 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, this continent had many useful natural resources.
And now some numbers - 1492. This year is the official year of 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 people know, but Columbus's travels and discoveries 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 navigators got to. There were versions that this is the eastern coast of India. Some have claimed that it is. And only Amerigo Vespucci, having explored the coast of Brazil, came to an unequivocal conclusion - this is a new continent. It was in his honor that this continent was named, although he did not discover it at all.
I have prepared a small selection of interesting facts about the discovery of America:
- Few people know that Columbus barely managed to get permission to travel across the ocean. He decided to arrange an expedition back in 1485.
- On the ships of the Columbus expedition were not sailors, but all sorts of rabble. Ordinary sailors and residents of Spain did not want to travel across the ocean, no one knew what it would turn out to be. 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. :)
October 12, 1492 is a significant date in world history, because it was on this day that the expedition of Christopher Columbus reached the island of San Salvador and thereby discovered a new continent - America. We will deal with the main prerequisites for such an “incident”, highlighting some facts, analyze the course of the expedition itself and briefly summarize its results for the states of that time.
Basic prerequisites
It is not entirely correct to talk about the prerequisites for the discovery of America in isolation from the context of other great geographical discoveries: in addition to the Columbus expedition, many attempts were made to reach new lands by sea. There are three main factors that are crucial for the formation of such aspirations in many states and travelers:
- Not so long ago, Byzantium fell under the onslaught of the Ottoman Turks, which was the birth of the Ottoman Empire. Since the latter was located in the east of the Mediterranean and in Asia Minor, all trade relations ("Silk Road") with the countries of the east were terminated.
- Spices, which were purchased in India and Indochina, as well as many other goods, were extremely important for European states.
- In the 14th century, learned geographers misunderstood the size of the Earth. It was believed that all land was limited to the continents of Eurasia and Africa; they also thought that the distance between the western point of Europe and the eastern point of Asia was no more than a few thousand kilometers.
Expedition progress
The beginning of the expedition is considered to be August 3, 1492 when: it was on this day that three ships (“Santa Maria”, “Pinta”, “Nina”) began their journey from the Spanish city of Palos de la Frontera. The first documented event was the appearance of aquatic algae on the way, which occurred on September 16th. We mention this fact for a reason: during the passage through the body of water with algae, the Sargasso Sea was discovered. The next event occurred on October 7, 1492, when the course was seriously changed: it seemed to the crew that the ships had passed Japan. Therefore, the expedition headed southwest.
Soon - on October 12 - from the ships they saw one of the famous Bahamas, which received the name San Salvador - a kind of symbolic tribute to the image of Jesus Christ. According to available information, the land was spotted by the sailor of the caravel "Pinta" Rodrigo de Triana, who never managed to receive the reward promised by the King of Spain afterwards.
It is worth noting that the duration of the Bahamas archipelago is more than a thousand kilometers: it “stretches” from Florida to Haiti and includes about three thousand islands of different sizes. On October 13, Columbus decided to land, during which he planted the Castilian banner; in fact, it was an official "taking over": a corresponding document was even drawn up.
For two weeks, the expedition moved south, during which islands such as Cuba and Haiti were discovered. Since the geographical representations of the 15th century were seriously different from modern ones, Columbus considered these lands to be East Asia. Subsequently, the open territories received the corresponding name - "West Indies".
The next important incident happened already in December - on the 26th, the ship "Santa Maria" was not lucky enough to get on the reefs. Due to the help of the natives - the indigenous people - the sailors managed to cope with the scourge: guns, supplies, and valuable cargo were removed. The wreckage of the ship became the basis for the creation of a fort, which became the first settlement of Europeans on the new continent. Its name is known to many - "Navidad".
The next major date is March 15, 1493, when the expedition returned to their homeland. It is worth noting that Columbus took with him the natives ("Indians"), a certain amount of gold and plants outlandish for Europeans, among which were potatoes, tobacco and corn. Subsequently, three more expeditions were carried out, which we will not describe in detail; we only note that their result was the discovery of the islands of Jamaica, Dominica, Puerto Rico, as well as the territories of Honduras, Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
moment of awareness
It should be noted that at the time of the return of the expedition, many did not realize the significance of the discovery made. Columbus himself was vehemently disappointed: the natives did not make a special impression on him, and no wealth was found during the expedition. Soon - in 1494 - the so-called. Treaty of Tordesillas, which divided the open territories between Portugal and Spain. At that time, it was unknown that the entire western part of the American continent thus passed into the possession of the latter. Soon after the return of Columbus, many travelers headed towards open lands, but the realization of what had happened did not come immediately.
In itself, the name "America" appeared only in 1507: this is how cartographers named the continent in honor of Amerigo Vespucci. The latter is also a famous discoverer: it was he who first suggested that the discovered lands were not India at all, but the so-called. "New World". He sent reports in 1502 and 1504.
Results
Obviously, the results of the discovery of a new continent were stunning: the situation in the world has fundamentally changed. Active development of new lands began, the development of shipbuilding was spurred on. It is natural that for some time international relations were significantly strengthened, but soon new territories became the cause of numerous conflicts.
Another important point is cardinal changes in the economy. There was a so-called. "revolution" of prices, due to the flow of various metals (gold, silver and some others). World trade has strengthened significantly, and a huge number of new products have appeared.
Naturally, certain areas of science and technology began to develop more rapidly. Moreover, the discovery of America was reflected even in culture: Europeans learned about a fundamentally different structure of society, which was reflected in the works of Thomas More.
23.03.2016
The name of the American continent is strongly associated with the name of Christopher Columbus, the famous discoverer of the New World. There is evidence that even before the 15th century, Europeans managed to reach the shores of America. These were the Vikings, who in the 10th century sailed to the coast of the Labrador Peninsula. However, their travels were not of great practical importance for Europe, they were generally unknown to contemporaries. Therefore, the honor of being considered the first person to cross the Atlantic Ocean and reach the new continent began to belong to Columbus. Although the question is still sometimes asked: “Who was the first to discover America - Christopher Columbus or Amerigo Vespucci?” So, first things first…
In 1492, Christopher Columbus, trying to get to India by a short route from the east side, discovered the islands of Central America. Columbus hatched the project of an expedition to the west for ten years, and it took another eight years to find organizers and sponsors. He pitched the idea to Genoese merchants, Portuguese, French, English rulers, and, more than once, Spanish royal couples.
Ultimately, it was the Catholic Monarchs, Isabella and Ferdinand, who agreed to patronize Columbus, gave him a noble title and promised a monopoly on income from the territories that he could discover. On his first voyage in 1492-1494, this Spanish subject (although he was Italian by birth) discovered the islands: Haiti (Hispaniola), Cuba, San Salvador (one of the Bahamas).
Columbus returned to his homeland in full confidence that he had reached East Asia, mistaking Cuba for the peninsula of China. In the next sea voyage to the shores of the still unexplored islands, already several thousand people set off on 17 ships. In search of gold and other treasures, Europeans began to seize the islands and subjugate the natives, who were called Indians.
Dominica, Guadeloupe, Jamaica, Montserrat, Antigua, Puerto Rico and other names were put on the maps. But the mainland of "India" has still not been discovered, just like the gold promised to the king. Upon learning of the discontent of his patrons, Columbus was forced to return to Spain in order to somehow justify himself. He managed to return the favor of the rulers and obtain the right to the sole study of the lands of the West Indies.
The third expedition in 1498 turned out to be more modest, managing to raise funds to send only six ships. But it was this time that Columbus was able to explore about 300 km of the mainland of Central America. Once at the mouth of the Orinoco River, he realized that such a large river must flow from a large landmass. But he could not continue the expedition due to illness.
In 1499, Vasco da Gama triumphantly returned to Portugal, opening the sea route to the real India. Columbus, after such news, completely lost the confidence of the Spanish monarchs and was even taken into custody. He was soon released under the patronage of influential friends who financed the expedition. However, the monopoly on land development was taken away from Columbus. And the supply of settlers in the West Indies (as this region was still called) was entrusted to the new financial manager of the Florentine trading house - Amerigo Vespucci.
Vespucci was an employee of the trading house that sponsored the second and third expeditions of Columbus. The successes of the navigator aroused curiosity in the Florentine, and when the opportunity arose, he himself set off on a long journey across the Atlantic Ocean. On a voyage in 1499, he received a position as navigator on the ship of Admiral Alonso de Ojeda. Using the maps compiled by Columbus, Ojeda easily led his crew to the coast of the mainland.
They landed on the territory of modern Suriname. Moving along the coast, the travelers reached the Gulf of Maracaibo, where Vespucci saw houses standing in the water on stilts. He called this country "Little Venice" - Venezuela. In 1500, a map of the West Indies was published, where, among others, all the names given by Amerigo Vespucci during the expedition of Alonso de Ojeda were applied. The author of the map was the pilot Juan de la Cosa.
Vespucci, returning from his first trip, moved from the Spanish Cadiz to Lisbon, from where, already under the patronage of the Portuguese king, he twice visited the shores of the new continent. Information about Vespucci's travels was preserved in letters to his patron Lorenzo Medici and the gonfalonier (guardian of justice) of the Florentine Republic and longtime friend Pietro Soderini. These texts aroused great interest in Europe and were translated into French, German, Italian and Spanish (the originals were written in Latin).
The German cartographer and publisher Martin Waldseemüller published the book "Introduction to Cosmography", where he also published Vespucci's letters, in which he called the open lands the New World. The publisher himself was so delighted with the described travels that he proposed to name the mainland in honor of Amerigo. The public supported this idea. So America got its modern name.
The achievements of Columbus quickly faded into the background among his contemporaries, because after him much more large-scale discoveries began to occur in the continental regions of the New World. However, when looking at the events of more than five hundred years ago, the primacy of Christopher Columbus in the exploration of America is no longer in doubt.
