Columbus Sails to the West

Do Now

• If I wanted to sail west from Europe to the Moluccas Islands (Spice Islands), what might be two problems that I may encounter?

Aim

• Were European attempts at finding a quick passage to the Spice Islands successful?

PQ1

•Who was Christopher Columbus?

Christopher Columbus • Late 1400s• Italian navigator from Genoa,

Italy• Columbus persuaded King

Ferdinand (1492) and Isabella to finance his Indies enterprise– Happy to do so (driven Muslims

from Spain)– Sought new sources of wealth

• August 3, 1492 Columbus sailed west

• October 12, 1492 Columbus found land

PQ2

• To what extent was Columbus convinced he discovered the East Indies (Spice Islands)?

PQ3

•What divided land between Spain and Portugal?

Line of Demarcation

• Spain and Portugal pressed rival claims to the lands of Columbus

• 1493: Pope Alexander VI stepped in– Set a demarcation line dividing

the non-European world into two zones

– Spain had land to the west– Portugal had land to the east– 1500: Portuguese captain Pedro

Alvarez Cabral was blown off course as he sailed around Africa• Landed in Brazil; he claimed it

for Portugal

PQ3

• What were other exploration attempts and were they successful?

Vasco Nunez de Balboac. 1513

Ferdinand Magellan 1519-1521

John Cabot of England1497

Henry Hudson sailing for the Dutch

Exit Card

•Were European attempts at finding a quick passage to the Spice Islands successful? Explain.