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The quest for fame and fortune drove many men to explore the furthest reaches of the world. Names like Columbus, Vespucci, and Desoto live in infamy, but the untold story is the impact these explorers had on the native inhabitants of the lands they visited. Treasure comes in many forms, land, fame, and wealth, but there is always a price that must be paid. Follow this adventure through time to learn about the cost of treasure hunting on native peoples of the Americas.
Christopher Columbus Gets Lost and Misses Out on Naming of New Land Discovery!
Christopher Columbus Gets Lost and Misses Out on Naming of New Land Discovery!
Queen Isabella Funds Exploration for Spain
Traveling around the world by ship is as expensive today as it was hundreds of years ago. Few people had enough money to travel by ship. Early exploration had to be funded by someone who was rich and wanted to be richer. Christopher Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci were two explorers who needed money to buy ships and pay for a sailing crew. They found a sponsor for their trips by convincing Queen Isabella of Spain that they could find a faster way to Asia.
A water route to Asia would benefit Spain because they would be able to buy and sell spices faster and make more money from trade than other countries. At the time, the only way to get certain spices was to travel across the land into Asia which took a long time and was very dangerous. They hoped going to Asia by boat would be more safe and faster.
Christopher Columbus Lost Hero of Exploration
Christopher Columbus was the first explorer to sail west across the Atlantic ocean in 1492. This was a big deal because many people believed the Earth was flat. Sailing past the horizon (as far as the eye can see) would result in falling off the edge of the Earth! Columbus did not believe this. He hoped to land on the eastern coast of the Asian continent in India. When he finally crossed the Atlantic ocean and landed, he believed he was in India. So he called the native people he encountered 'Indians.'
Amerigo Vespucci Honored by Naming America
A few years after Columbus's voyage, in 1497, Amerigo Vespucci also crossed the Atlantic. (Queen Isabella funded several explorers at the same time.) When Vespucci landed, he knew that he was not in India. He believed that he had discovered a new land. Since Amerigo Vespucci identified the land as a new discovery, it was named after him instead of Columbus. That is why America is called America and not Christopha or Columbia.
Ferdinand Magellan Credited with Sailing Around the World
Ferdinand Magellan, a well known explorer and map maker, finally resolved the question about the new land that was discovered. His expedition sailed from Spain in 1519 all the way around the southern tip of South America, across the Pacific, through the Indonesian islands, and around the southern tip of Africa until making it back home to Spain in 1522. Magellan died on the trip so he never made it back to Spain, but 18 of his crew members did.
He encountered many challenges along the way. One of the most challenging parts of his journey was crossing the Pacific ocean. Since he was the first person to encounter the Pacific ocean, he got to name it. He named it Pacific, because it was much more peaceful than the Atlantic ocean had been. He and his crew nearly starved to death while crossing the Pacific ocean because the trip took so long. They were on open water, with no land in sight, for three months.
Magellan created maps to document his route along the way. This trip made him the first person to lead an expedition that circumnavigated the entire Earth. It also proved that the land on the other side of the Atlantic ocean was not part of Asia, but an entirely new continent.
Map of Magellan's Route Around the World with Dates
Queen Isabella of Spain
Christopher Columbus
Amerigo Vespucci
Ferdinand Magellan
Columbus and Vespucci Explored, Magellan Mapped, and DeSoto Conquered
Columbus and Vespucci Explored, Magellan Mapped, and DeSoto Conquered
Once people in Europe learned that an entire new land existed across the Atlantic ocean, some of them decided to travel there to get rich. Hernando DeSoto was from a family that did not have much land but was considered part of the royal family (noble). He decided to travel to the newly discovered America and take whatever he found of value. This type of explorer was known as a conquistador.
He started in Central America and joined forces with another conquistador called Francisco Pizarro. Together, they conquered the Incan empire and returned to Spain as wealthy men.
DeSoto's trip was so successful that he returned to the Americas again a few years later. This time he focused on the southern part of North America in current day Florida. His primary goal for this trip was finding gold and claiming the land for Spain.
He traveled through Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana. He was the first European to see the Mississippi river. He used natives as guides through the land, often against their wishes. DeSoto died in 1542 during the trip and his men sank his body in the Mississippi river so the natives could not find it.
They did not find gold but they did claim the land for Spain. This was important because other European explorers were also coming to America. Each country wanted to claim as much land as possible for themselves.
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