Discovery of America by Columbus. Discovery of America: briefly

For the first time the idea to cross Atlantic Ocean, in order to find a direct and fast route to India, supposedly visited 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 the 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 is 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 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.

Dioscoro Pueblo. "The Landing of Columbus in America" (1862 painting)

Discovery of America- an event as a result of which a new part of the world became known to the inhabitants of the Old World - America, consisting of two continents.

Expeditions of Christopher Columbus

1st expedition

The first expedition of Christopher Columbus (1492-1493), consisting of 91 people on the ships Santa Maria, Pinta, Nina, left Pálos de la Frontera on August 3, 1492, turned from the Canary Islands to West (September 9), crossed the Atlantic Ocean in the subtropical zone and reached the island of San Salvador in the Bahamas, where Christopher Columbus landed on October 12, 1492 (the official date of the discovery of America). October 14-24, Christopher Columbus visited a number of other Bahamas, and on October 28-December 5 discovered and examined a section of the northeastern coast of Cuba. On December 6, Columbus reached Fr. Haiti and moved along the north coast. On the night of December 25, the flagship Santa Maria landed on a reef, but people escaped. Columbus on the ship "Nina" on January 4-16, 1493 completed the survey of the northern coast of Haiti and on March 15 returned to Castile.

2nd expedition

The 2nd expedition (1493-1496), which Christopher Columbus led already in the rank of admiral and in the position of viceroy of the newly discovered lands, consisted of 17 ships with a crew of over 1.5 thousand people. On November 3, 1493, Columbus discovered the islands of Dominica and Guadeloupe, turning to the North-West - about 20 more Lesser Antilles, including Antigua and the Virgin Islands, and on November 19 - the island of Puerto Rico and approached the northern coast of Haiti. On March 12-29, 1494, in search of gold, Columbus made an aggressive campaign into Haiti, and crossed the Cordillera Central ridge. On April 29-May 3, Columbus with 3 ships passed along the southeastern coast of Cuba, turned from Cape Cruz to the South, and on May 5 discovered about. Jamaica. Returning on May 15 to Cape Cruz, Columbus walked along south coast Cuba to 84° west longitude, discovered the Jardines de la Reina archipelago, the Zapata peninsula and the island of Pinos. June 24, Christopher Columbus turned east and explored August 19-September 15 the entire South coast Haiti. In 1495 Christopher Columbus continued the conquest of Haiti; March 10, 1496 left the island and June 11 returned to Castile.

3rd expedition

The 3rd expedition (1498-1500) consisted of 6 vessels, 3 of which Christopher Columbus himself led across the Atlantic Ocean near 10 ° north latitude. On July 31, 1498, he discovered the island of Trinidad, entered the Gulf of Paria from the south, discovered the mouth of the western arm of the Orinoco River Delta and the Paria Peninsula, marking the beginning of the discovery of South America. Then leaving for the Caribbean Sea, Christopher Columbus approached the Araya Peninsula, discovered the island of Margarita on August 15, and on August 31 arrived in the city of Santo Domingo (on the island of Haiti). In 1500, Christopher Columbus was arrested on a denunciation and sent to Castile, where he was released.

4th expedition

4th expedition (1502-1504). Having obtained permission to continue searching for a western route to India, Columbus with 4 ships reached the island of Martinique on June 15, 1502, and the Gulf of Honduras on July 30, and discovered from August 1, 1502 to May 1, 1503 the Caribbean coasts of Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama to Uraba Bay. Turning then to the North, June 25, 1503 was wrecked off the island of Jamaica; help from Santo Domingo came only a year later. Christopher Columbus returned to Castile on November 7, 1504.

Candidates for pioneers

The first people who settled in America are the native Indians, who crossed there about 30 thousand years ago from Asia along the Bering Isthmus.
In the 10th century, around 1000, the Vikings led by Leif Eriksson. L'Anse aux Meadows has the remains of a Viking settlement on the continent. This historical and archaeological site (L'Anse-au-Meadows) is recognized by scientists as evidence of transoceanic contacts that took place before the discovery made by Columbus.
In 1492 - Christopher Columbus (Genoese in the service of Spain); Columbus himself believed that he opened the way to Asia (hence the name West Indies, Indians).
In 1507, the cartographer M. Waldseemüller proposed that the discovered lands be named America in honor of the explorer of the New World Amerigo Vespucci - this is considered the moment from which America was recognized as an independent continent.
There are good reasons to believe that the continent was named after the English patron Richard America from Bristol, who financed the second transatlantic expedition of John Cabot in 1497, and Vespucci took his nickname in honor of the already named continent [ ] . In May 1497, Cabot reached the shores of Labrador, becoming the first officially recorded European to set foot on the North American continent. Cabot mapped the coast of North America from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland. In the Bristol calendar for that year we read: “... on St. John the Baptist was found in the land of America by merchants from Bristol, who arrived on a ship from Bristol with the name "Matthew" ("metik").

Hypothetical

In addition, hypotheses were put forward about visiting America and contact with its civilization by seafarers before Columbus, representing various civilizations of the Old World (for more details, see Contacts with America before Columbus). Here are just a few of these hypothetical contacts:

in 371 BC. e. - Phoenicians
in the 5th century - Hui Shen (a Taiwanese Buddhist monk who traveled to the country in the 5th century

October 12, 1492 the first expedition Christopher Columbus reached the island of San Salvador, which is part of the Bahamas. Its coast was the first land on the American continent that Europeans saw, so this day is considered the official date of the “discovery of America”.

Columbus was born in Italy to a poor Genoese family. He studied at the University of Pavia and lived in Genoa until 1472, and then in Savona. In the 1470s, he participated in several sea trading expeditions.

It is believed that as early as 1474 the astronomer and geographer Paolo Toscanelli He told Columbus in a letter that India could be reached by a much shorter sea route if you sailed west. The assumption was based on the ancient doctrine of the sphericity of the Earth, but the calculations of scientists of the 15th century about the size of the planet were incorrect. Based on them, Toscanelli believed that getting to India around the globe would be shorter than going around Africa through the Cape of Good Hope.

Columbus caught fire with this idea and drew up his project of a sea voyage to India. Having made his own calculations on the basis of the Toscanelli map, he decided that it was most convenient to sail through the Canary Islands, from which, in his opinion, Japan was about five thousand kilometers in a straight line.

In 1476, Columbus moved to Portugal, where he lived for nine years. In 1483, he proposes his project to the Portuguese king João II. There is evidence that at first the king wanted to support a bold project, but after a long study he rejected it. The likely reason was that the new sea route to India threatened the Portuguese monopoly on the spice trade.

In 1485, after his project was rejected in Lisbon, Columbus moved to Castile, where, with the support of mainly Andalusian merchants and bankers, he organized a government ocean expedition under his leadership.

The first expedition of Christopher Columbus (1492-1493), consisting of 91 people on the ships Santa Maria, Pinta, Nina, left the port of Palos de la Frontera on August 3, 1492. On September 9, the squadron turned west from canary islands, crossed the Atlantic Ocean in the subtropical zone and reached the island of San Salvador in the Bahamas, where Christopher Columbus landed on October 12, 1492 (the official date of the discovery of America).

On October 14-24, the Columbus expedition visited a number of other islands of the archipelago, and on October 28 - December 5, they discovered and explored a section of the northeast coast of Cuba. During this period, the Pint disappeared. Her captain Pinzon Sr. was distinguished by unauthorized actions and repeatedly got out of subordination. He left Columbus near the island of Cuba, hoping to discover another imaginary island.

On December 25, 1492, the flagship Santa Maria landed on the reefs. By using local residents managed to remove guns, supplies and valuable cargo. From the wreckage of the ship on the island of Haiti, a fort was built, called La Navidad (Christmas). Columbus left 39 sailors here, armed the fort with cannons from the Santa Maria and left them supplies for a year, and on January 4, 1493, taking several islanders with him, he went to sea on a small Nina.

On January 6, 1493, off the northern coast of Hispaniola, the Nina unexpectedly ran into the Pinta. Pinson Sr. explained his absence by the influence weather conditions. Under the circumstances, Columbus decided not to initiate disciplinary proceedings, and on January 16, the two ships set out on their return journey.

The road back turned out to be difficult - in the Atlantic the ships were swept away by a storm and they again lost each other. However, in the end, everything ended well: on March 9, the Nina dropped anchor in Lisbon, where João II received Columbus as His Serene Highness and ordered to supply him with everything necessary.

March 15 "Nina" returns to Spain. On the same day, "Pinta" comes there. Columbus brings with him the natives (who are called Indians in Europe), some gold, plants never seen before in Europe, fruits and bird feathers.

Despite the rather modest results, the significance of the first expedition of Columbus was, without exaggeration, epochal. At the same time, the discoverer himself did not realize the true scale of his discoveries, despite the fact that after that he undertook three more expeditions. Until his death in 1506, Columbus continued to believe that the discovered by him american lands are part of Asia.

At the same time, the formal priority of Columbus in the discovery of America in the modern world is the subject of discussion. It has been established that the islands and coastal regions of North and Northeast America were visited by the Normans hundreds of years before Columbus. It is possible that Europeans and Africans from ancient times could accidentally reach the shores of tropical America.

However, the fact remains that only the discoveries of Columbus were of world-historical significance, since only after his voyages did the American lands enter the sphere of geographical representations.

Expeditions of Christopher Columbus

1st expedition

The first expedition of Christopher Columbus (1492-1493), consisting of 91 people on the ships Santa Maria, Pinta, Nina, left Palos on August 3, 1492, turned west from the Canary Islands (September 9), crossed the Atlantic Ocean in subtropical zone and reached the island of San Salvador in the Bahamas, where Christopher Columbus landed on October 12, 1492 (the official date of the discovery of America). On October 14-24, Christopher Columbus visited a number of other Bahamas, and on October 28-December 5, he discovered and explored a section of the northeast coast of Cuba. On December 6, Columbus reached Fr. Haiti and moved along its northern coast. On the night of December 25, the flagship Santa Maria landed on a reef, but people escaped. Columbus on the ship "Nina" January 4-16, 1493 completed the survey of the northern coast of Haiti and March 15 returned to Castile.

2nd expedition

The 2nd expedition (1493-1496), which Christopher Columbus led already in the rank of admiral, and in the position of viceroy of the newly discovered lands, consisted of 17 ships with a crew of over 1.5 thousand people. On November 3, 1493, Columbus discovered the islands of Dominica and Guadeloupe, turning to the North-West - about 20 more Lesser Antilles, including Antigua and the Virgin Islands, and on November 19 - the island of Puerto Rico and approached the northern coast of Haiti. On March 12-29, 1494, in search of gold, Columbus made an aggressive campaign into Haiti, and crossed the Cordillera Central ridge. On April 29-May 3, Columbus with 3 ships passed along the southeastern coast of Cuba, turned from Cape Cruz to the South, and on May 5 discovered about. Jamaica. Returning on May 15 to Cape Cruz, Columbus walked along the southern coast of Cuba to 84 ° west longitude, discovered the Jardines de la Reina archipelago, the Zapata Peninsula and the island of Pinos. On June 24, Christopher Columbus turned east and surveyed the entire southern coast of Haiti on August 19-September 15. In 1495 Christopher Columbus continued the conquest of Haiti; March 10, 1496 left the island and June 11 returned to Castile.

3rd expedition

The 3rd expedition (1498-1500) consisted of 6 vessels, 3 of which Christopher Columbus himself led across the Atlantic Ocean near 10 ° north latitude. On July 31, 1498, he discovered the island of Trinidad, entered the Gulf of Paria from the south, discovered the mouth of the western branch of the Orinoco Delta and the Paria Peninsula, marking the beginning of the discovery of South America. Having then left for the Caribbean Sea, Christopher Columbus approached the Araya Peninsula, discovered Margarita Island on August 15, and on August 31 arrived in the city of Santo Domingo (on the island of Haiti). In 1500, Christopher Columbus was arrested on a denunciation and sent to Castile, where he was released.

4th expedition

Data

Hypotheses

in the 5th century - Hui Shen (Taiwanese monk)
in the 6th century - St. Brendan (Irish monk)
there are versions according to which, at least from the 13th century, America was known to the Knights Templar
OK. d. - Henry Sinclair (de St. Clair), Earl of Orkney (c. 1345 - c. 1400)
in - Zheng He (Chinese researcher)
in Juan Corterial (Portuguese)

Notes

Literature

Magidovich I.P. History of discovery and exploration of North America. - M .: Geografgiz, 1962.
Magidovich I.P. History of discovery and exploration of Central and South America. - M .: Thought, 1963.
John Lloyd and John Mitchinson. The book of general delusions. - Phantom Press, 2009.

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See what the "Discovery of America" is in other dictionaries:

Discovery of America by the expedition of Christopher Columbus- The Columbus expedition began on August 3, 1492, when the ships Santa Maria, Pinta and Nina left the bay Spanish city Palos de la Frontera. On September 16, 1492, bunches of green began to appear on the expedition's path ... ... Encyclopedia of newsmakers

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Invention, find. Discovery of America, invention of gunpowder. Finding... Dictionary of Russian synonyms and expressions similar in meaning. under. ed. N. Abramova, M.: Russian dictionaries, 1999. discovery invention, find, know-how, patent; acquisition; Start … Synonym dictionary

Opening- Discovery ♦ Découverte To make a discovery is to make evident what already existed (as opposed to invention) but was unknown. Such are the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus and the discovery of the law of universal gravitation by Newton. Concept ... ... Philosophical Dictionary of Sponville

OPENING- - the identification of natural things, phenomena, patterns, etc., really existing in nature, but not known before (the discovery of America, the periodicity of elements, mineral deposits, etc.), which is dominated by internal ... ... Philosophy of Science and Technology: Thematic Dictionary

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Books

Christopher Columbus and the Discovery of America, D. Windsor. Illustrated historical and critical study, translated from English by F. I. Bulgakov. The book contains information about the sources, about the ancestors and homeland of Columbus, his life in Portugal and ...

The continents known today as North and South America were discovered in the prehistoric period. Before the arrival of European explorers in the Americas, tens of millions of indigenous peoples lived here. The lands of the Americas have been repeatedly "discovered" by peoples coming from different parts of the world over many generations, beginning with the Stone Age, when a group of hunters first visited a land that was really an unexplored New World.

It becomes curious why then it is believed that America was discovered by Christopher Columbus. In addition, there are other theories about who first discovered America: Irish monks (6th century), Vikings (10th century), sailors from China (15th century), etc.

The first settlers in America

The route of migration of tribes from Asia to North America

The first people who settled in America came there from Asia, probably about 15,000 years ago. During the Pleistocene epoch, the ice sheets of the Laurentian and Cordillera glaciers, as a result of melting, formed a narrow corridor and a land bridge between Russia and Alaska. A land bridge between the western coast of Alaska and Siberia, known as the Bering Isthmus, opened due to falling ocean levels and connected the continents of Asia and North America.

Interesting fact: In place of the Bering Isthmus, the current Bering Strait was formed, separating Asia and North America. The strait was named after the officer of the Russian fleet Vitus Bering, who crossed it in 1728.

Settlement of the Americas by Indigenous Peoples

The ancient settlers of America - the Paleo-Indians - passed through the Bering Isthmus from Asia to America following the movement of large animals. These migrations occurred before the Laurentian and Cordilleran glaciers closed and closed the corridor. The settlement of America continued in the future by sea or on ice. After the ice plates melted and the ice age ended, the settlers who arrived in the Americas became isolated from other continents. Thus, the American continents first discovered nomadic Asian tribes about 15 thousand years ago, who initially settled North America, then spread to Central and South America and later became Native American peoples.