Essay #4
RENAISSANCE AND EXPLORATION
By: Anonymous
Before the Renaissance, exploration was not common. The only voyages that are noteworthy are that of Eric the Red to Greenland in or around 982 and of Leif Ericsson to Vinland (Nova Scotia) in or around 1000. However, the Renaissance saw many changes in geography, including the discovery of a new continent. Christopher Columbus, the best known of the explorers, was born in Genoa in 1451. As a boy, he became initiated to sailing by one of his kinsmen, a sea captain. While living as a map drawer in Portugal, he concluded that it would be possible to sail to India by going directly west, instead of going through the Mediterranean Sea. After 8 years of pleading the Spanish and French governments, Spain’s King Ferdinand V and Queen Isabella I gave him a grant to lead an expedition to the west.
After a long voyage, on October 12, 1492, Columbus and his fleet of 3 ships landed on what is believed to be the Bahama island of San Salvador. Columbus still believed he had reached India. He went on to discover Cuba (which he believed was Japan) and Hispaniola. Columbus set sail for Spain on January 14, 1493. A storm blew the only remaining ship of his fleet off course to Portugal, but Columbus arrived in Spain in mid-March. The King and Queen, pleased with the results of the first expedition, financed a larger, 17 ship expedition which explored the West Indies for 4 years. Columbus led a third expedition, but he was chained and sent home by his men. On his fourth expedition, he explored Central America and Jamaica. Columbus died shortly after this expedition, in 1506, bitter because he had not found the treasures of India, and unaware that he had discovered a new continent. Other explorers went from where Columbus had left off. Ferdinand Magellan led an expedition that went around the world.
Hernando Cortez sailed to Mexico, where he conquered and eventually destroyed the Aztec empire of Montezuma. Francisco Pizarro conquered Peru. At this point in history, Spain was quickly gaining new lands and riches and becoming the most powerful European country. English, French and Dutch explorers would soon come to claim territories for their homeland. This led to the colonization of the Americas and the rise of the French and English empires.
