King Henry VII of England hired John Cabot to explore for new lands across the Atlantic in 1497. Cabot reached the coast of Canada, believing he had found Asia. Later explorers like Amerigo Vespucci realized this was in fact a new, unknown continent. In 1513, Vasco Nunez de Balboa crossed Panama and became the first European to sight the Pacific Ocean, proving Vespucci correct. Ferdinand Magellan led the first expedition to sail around the entire world between 1519-1522, in the process discovering many new lands and proving the world was larger than previously believed. The Treaty of Tordesillas was signed in 1494 to settle territorial disputes between Spain and Portugal over newly discovered lands

1. 11/18/16
A Changing World
Chapter 3, Lesson 2
Ms. Walsh

2. England Explores
• King Henry the VII of England wanted to
compete with other European nations for land
and wealth.
• King Henry hired Italian born John Cabot to
sail across the Atlantic Ocean for England.
• Cabot sailed in 1497 and reached the coast of
Canada.
• He too believed he had found the Indies.

3. A New Map of the World
• Amerigo Vespucci did not believe Columbus and
Cabot had found Asia.
• Between 1499 and 1502 Vespucci sailed the
Atlantic and came to realize that the world was a
bigger place than was believed and that he was
not in Asia, but had found a new continent.
• A map of his and other explorer’s discoveries was
published and the New World was named in
honor of Amerigo Vespucci.

4. Reaching the Pacific
• In 1513, Vasco Nunez de Balboa and other
explorers made an expedition across the
Isthmus of Panama and found the Pacific
ocean.
• Balboa proved Amerigo Vespucci was right
about an unknown continent.

5. Balboa’s Exploration and Discovery of
the Pacific Ocean

6. A New View of the World
• In 1519, Ferdinand Magellan left Spain with five
ships and about 250 sailors with the aim of
finding a western route to Asia.
• Magellan and his crew discovered many new
lands and named the Pacific Ocean.
• Magellan was killed in a battle with natives in the
Philippines.
• Finally, just twelve days short of three years, the
surviving 18 crew members made it back to Spain
in 1522.
• They had sailed around the world!

8. A New View of the World
(continued)
• To settle disputes between Spain and Portugal over
land in the Americas, the leaders of the Catholic church
drew a line on a map through the Atlantic Ocean.
• Portugal was promised land on the east of the line
while Spain was promised land to the west.
• When the location of this line was finalized, Spain and
Portugal signed the agreement called the Treaty of
Tordesillas.
• That is the reason the language of Brazil is Portuguese,
while the rest of South America generally speak
Spanish.

9. The Treaty of Tordesillas